THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE Ex Libris ; C. K. OGDEN ,.:.-,.... nl mffl&S&. GEORGE MOORE RGE MOORE MERCHANT AND PHILANTHROPIST SAMUEL SMILES, LL.D. m AUTHOR OF "LIVES OF THE ENGINEERS," SELF-HELP," "THRIFT, ETC. WITH A PORTRAIT BY G. F. WATTS, R.A., ETCHED BY RAJON. SECOND EDITION. GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, LONDON: BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL NEW YORK: 416, BROOME STREET. 1878. LONDON ! R. CLAV, SONS, AND TAYLOR, BREAD STKEKT HILL. PREFACE. I HAVE written this book at the earnest request of Mrs. Moore. The subject was brought under my notice by the late Mr. William Longman and Mr. Murray, at the instance of Mrs. Moore. They both recommended me to write the book, though neither of them were to publish it. I was at first unwilling to undertake the Life ; my health not permitting me to undertake much brain- work. Besides, I was far advanced with another book which had been advertised, and which I was unwilling to postpone. I knew a great deal about Mr. Moore's benevolence towards the poor, the helpless, and the orphans ; but I thought that some other person, who had known Mr. Moore intimately, might have done greater justice to the subject. I called upon a leading City merchant to ask his opinion. He thought it impossible for anything in- teresting to be written about George Moore. As to his munificence, there were hundreds of men in London as good as he ! " What can you make," he vi PREFACE. asked, " out of the life of a London warehouseman ? " This statement discouraged me, and I felt disposed to return to my former work. It was not until Dr. Percival, Head Master of Clifton College, called upon me, that I ascertained something of the actual life and character of George Moore. He spoke of the Man, and not of the Warehouseman. He said, in a letter which I after- wards received from him, " There is so much genuine character in the Cumberland Folk, that I feel sure you will be attracted by them ; and I hope you will find that the incidents of Mr. Moore's boyhood and early life are sufficiently characteristic to enable you to use some of the excellent material furnished by the habits and traditions of the district. Then, I hope you may find sufficient illustrations in his middle life, of his really splendid pluck and energy ; and again in his later life, of his rare liberality. This last trait ought to be very instructive, because of its extreme rarity among men who have had to struggle as he did. I don't think I have come across any other self-made man who had so entirely 'got the chill of poverty out of his bones.' " I was also encouraged by the Rev. G. C. Bell, Master of Marlborough College, who wrote to Mrs. Moore as follows : " I am rejoiced to hear that a memoir of your husband is to be published ; for the example of his life, with its combination of ' self-help ' and unselfishness, well deserves a permanent record ; and it may be full of stimulus and encouragement to many. I had indeed," he added, "good reason to be grateful to him for many substantial kindnesses, made PREFACE. vii all the more precious by the kind of fatherly interest that he took in those he cared for. He was, in truth, a large-hearted man, whose like I never knew." This was, indeed, encouragement enough. I ac- cordingly went down to Whitehall, George Moore's country seat in Cumberland, to look over his papers. I there found a story, a romance, followed, alas ! by a tragedy. Mr. Moore had written out an account of his early life, which I have introduced in the course of the following pages. He had also left a Diary, containing a daily entry during the last twenty years of his life. These, together with his numerous papers, have furnished abundant information for his history from its beginning to its end. To show the respect and love with which George Moore was regarded by men of the highest influence and character in the Church and society, several reminiscences are given in the following memoir, the principal of which are from the Archbishop of Canter- bury, the Bishop of Carlisle, the Dean of Carlisle, the Rev. Daniel Moore, and the Master of Marlborough College. These recollections cannot fail to be read with deep interest. Biographers, like portrait-painters, are sometimes suspected of painting men as they ought to be, rather than as they are. To avoid this objection, I have quoted George Moore's own words from his Autobio- graphic notes, and from his Diary ; and thus enabled the story to be told as much as possible in his own words and in his own way. I have said that I began this work with unwilling- ness ; but I can add that as I wrote I felt that I had viii PREFACE. to do with the life of no ordinary man. George Moore, in some ways, stands apart from other men. He yielded to no hindrances ; he was overcome by no difficulties; he was consistent in his aims, in all the good work that he did. This, the story of his life will fully show. I need scarcely say that I have been greatly helped by Mrs. Moore, who has furnished all the necessary information, and supplied many of the most interesting descriptions in the book. I have also been much indebted to the Rev. W. M. Gunson, Cambridge ; the Rev. Alfred Gates, Mary- port; James Cropper, Esq., Ellergreen, Kendal ; Alfred Chapman, Esq., and many others, for the information they have communicated as to the life, habits, manners, and character of their deceased friend. Mrs. Moore desires me to state, in this Preface, that Mr. Moore's intimate friend, Mr. Bowker, formerly of Christ's Hospital, took much trouble in arranging the materials for a sketch of the life ; and that though these materials have not been used by me, her gratitude to him remains the same. It has been the one wish of Mrs. Moore's heart that a proper memorial of her husband's life should be placed on permanent record. I hope that I have gratified her wish, and that the public will be satisfied with the result. S. S. LONDON, May, 1878. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. THE MOORES OLD TIMES IN CUMBERLAND. The Moores of Overgates Torpenhow Churchyard Cumberland Scenery The .Border-land The Sol way Peel Towers The Mosstroopers Debat cable Land The Graemes The Scottish Reivers Tenure of Land by Border service Survival of Freebooting Bewcastle Tombstones The Cumberland Statesmen Their Thrift and Industry Decadence of the Statesmen The Moores in the Olden Times Thomas Moore of Mealsgate Birth of George Moore His home at Mealsgate Pages \ 18 CHAPTER II. GEORGE MOORE'S BOYHOOD. Christening of George Moore His Great-uncle and Godfather Death of his Mother George Moore's Father His Second Marriage The Stepmother George goes to School Blackbird Wilson ; his Method of Teaching Routine of the School Barring-cot Wrestling " Scots and English " Bird- nesting Walk to Carlisle Hunting John Peel Hunt with the Dalesmen Harvest Holidays Earns money by shearing Harvest Customs Finishes his School education Determines to leave Home Pages 19 33 CHAPTER III. APPRENTICESHIP. The Battle of Life Apprenticed with Messenger, Wigton Sells his Donkey Wigton The Half-Moon Inn The Apprentice's Work The Tyrant of the Shop Card-playing and Gambling Midnight Adventure Repentance Life at Wigton Visits Aunt Dinah at Bolton Hall The Haunted Room George sent into Scotland Crossing the Solway Sands End of the Apprenticeship His Sister Mary Determines to leave for London The Grey-Goat Inn Influences of a Country Boy's education Pages 32 46 CHAPTER IV. IN LONDON. Travelling by Coach Journey to London Arrival at the "Swan with Two Necks " Wrestling-match at Chelsea George Moore wins a Prize Tries to obtain a situation His Disappointments Obtains a situation Removal of his Hair-trunk Enters his situation at Flint, Ray, and Co. His love of Cum- berland Improves his education Sees his future Wife A Serious Difficulty Charged with being a Thief Determines to obtain another situation His Success Encounter with the Border Cattlestealer His Sentence mitigated. Pages 47- 64 CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. COMMERCIAL TRAVELLER. Moore enters the house of Fisher, Stroud, and Robinson Fisher blames his Stupidity Things he had to learn, Accuracy, Quickness, Promptitude Country and Town-bred Boys His Self-education at Midnight His Improve- ment Bearing his Brother's Burdens His last Wrestle Visit to the House of Commons Becomes Town Traveller Appointed to Liverpool and Man- chester Circuit His Success as a Traveller The Napoleon of Watling Street Competition Visit to Cumberland Visits the Scenes of his Boyhood Encounter with Groucock Competition with Groucock Moore leaves Fisher's for a Partnership Pages 65 80 CHAPTER VI. PARTNER AND TRAVELLER. Beginnings of Groucock and Copestake Change of Premises George Moore's Capital His power of work His Travelling Ground The Commercial Panic Makes many friends Mr. Brown's account of him His determination to obtain orders Selling the Clothes off his Back The Pinch of Snuff Rapid Increase of the Business His Christmases at the Warehouse Difficulty in providing Money Dangerous Embarkation for Ireland Crossing More- cambe Sands Escapes with his Life Results of the Partnership A Slander raised against the Firm Results of the Action George Moore's M arriage. Pages 8196 CHAPTER VII. TRIP TO AMERICA HUNTING. Moore gives up Travelling Extension of Premises Site of John Milton's Birth- place Becomes ill Mr. Lawrence advises him to hunt His head Phreno- logically examined Hunts at Brighton across the Downs His first Fox-hunt Terrible Disasters Colonel Conyer's Advice Trip to America His Rules on Shipboard New York The Public Institutions Philadelphia The Solitary System Baltimore River Hudson Lakes George and Champlain Montreal Quebec Niagara Boston Impressions of America Leaves for England Establishes Lace-factory at Nottingham Resumes Fox-hunting Hunts with Lord Dacre's Hounds with Lord Lonsdale's with Lord Fitz- hardinge's Great Jump in Gloucestershire Hunts with Lord Southampton's Hounds No wickedness in hunting Pagfs 97 114 CHAPTER VIII. SAFETY VALVES. Moore joins a Life Assurance Society Advises Young Men to Insure Cumber- land Benevolent Society Gives his First Guinea Becomes prominent in the Society His Speech, 1850 Urges Cumberland Men to join it Commercial Travellers' Schools Moore's regard for Commercial Travellers The Institu- tion Founded Moore becomes Treasurer Growth of the Institution New Buildings erected Moore travels the Country for Subscriptions Mr. Dickens acts as Chairman of Annual Dinner Prince Albert opens the Commercial Travellers' Schools The "Orphans' Day" Moore's Advice to Boys leaving School. Pages 115132 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. VISITS TO CUMBERLAND. " Auld Cummerland " Moore remembers his old friends Wigton Mechanics' Institute Visits Shap Wells Visits Mealsgate Visit of Lord Mayor to Cumberland At St. Bees Visit to Wigton The Lawson Family Hunting Visit to Brayton Mr. Howard of Greystoke Castle Visit to Lord Carlisle at Na worth Castle Ball in Belted Will's Hall Visit to Lord Carlisle at Dublin Pages 133 144 CHAPTER X. WORK IN CUMBERLAND. Education in Cumberland Moore endeavours to improve the Schools Erects New Schoolhouse at Bolton The old Schoolmasters The new School at Allhallows Visits all the neighbouring Schools Master of Plumbland School Uldale School Bothel School Establishes Perambulating Library The Stations The Fetes George Moore's Speech Villiers, Bishop of Carlisle - The Bishop preaches at Allhallows The Competitive Examinations Circular of Mr. Moncrieff The Revival of Education in Cumberland Pages 145 164 CHAPTER XL POLITICS PHILANTHROPY. Extension of Business Knowledge of Character The Busy Man the best Worker Moore pricked as Sheriff Pays the Fine rather than serve Elected Alder- man Appointed Deputy-Lieutenant A Moderate Liberal A Free-Trader Requested to stand for Nottingham and West Cumberland Reasons for not entering the House of Commons Canvasses for Lord John Russell Can- vasses West Cumberland voters Invitation from Lord Lonsdale Lord John Russell Assists Sir Wilfrid Lawson Finishes the canvass with a Fox-hunt Residence in Kensington Palace Gardens Entertainments Visits the London Prisons Establishes Brixton Reformatory Lord Shaftesbury Marries un- married People Refuge for Fallen Women Reformatory and Refuge Union Home for Incurables London Porters' Benevolent Association Sympathy the Secret of Life Pages 165 183 CHAPTER XII. RELIGIOUS LIFE DEATH OF MRS. MOORE. Mr. Moore's Papers as to Religious Life His Illness Repentance His difficul- ties and Temptations The Rev. Daniel Moore Mr. Groucock's Illness and Death Looks for a sudden Conversion At last is comforted The New Birth Establishes Family Prayers at the Warehouse Rev. Mr. Richardson Family worship in Milton Street Spiritual Elevation of Cumberland Folks Establishes Missionaries Mealsgate and Wigton Scripture Readers estab- lished Opposition of Clergymen House in Kensington Palace Gardens finished Mrs. Moore's Illness and Death Purchase of Whitehall Estate - Memorial Fountain at Wigton Organ presented to Parish Church. Pages 184 20 1 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIII. ITALY PHILANTHROPIC WORK IN LONDON. Tour in Italy Lyons Nice Siena Rome Return to London Invited to stand for Nottingham Refusal Leaves Royal Hospital for Incurables Establishes British Home for Incurables Royal Free Hospital ; the Freehold purchased Porters' Benevolent Association Warehousmen's and Clerks' Schools Commercial Travellers' Schools National Mercantile Assurance Company Ragged Schools Lord John Russell's Nomination Helps Young Men wanting situations Letter from a Carlisle Draper . . Pages 202 222 CHAPTER XIV. LONDONERS OVER THE BORDER. Destitute population at the Victoria Docks The Rev. Mr. Douglas collects Sub- scriptions A great Subscription Detraction and Envy begin George Moore and Alderman Dakin investigate the Accounts The complicated Accounts The crowd of Witnesses Report of the Investigators Mr. Douglas cleared Mr. Moore's friendship with all denominations Home Mission Societies Mission at Bow Churchyard Rev. Mr. Rodgers engaged as Chaplain National Orphan Home Mixing up of Guests Bible-readings Diocesan Home Mission Theatre-preaching George Moore's Diary Extracts from Diary Pages 223 238 CHAPTER XV. WHITEHALL, CUMBERLAND. Description of Whitehall and Harbybrow Whitehall the " Fairladies" of Rel- gauntlet Purchase of the Whitehall Estate Mr. Howard's assistance The House and Grounds repaired Book-hawking by Colporteurs Country Town Missions established Hospitality at Whitehall Recommences hunting A Wild Spot on the Fells George Moore's Trap in the Wood Poor pay of Cumberland Clergy Chapels in the Dales Puzzle Hall Clergymen's Stipends Villiers, Bishop of Carlisle Leaves Carlisle for Durham Loneli- ness of George Moore A Friend advises him to marry The Lady found George Moore again marries Tour in Italy Mr. Adams-Acton's estimate of George Moore Pages 238 254 CHAPTER XVI. CIIAK1TA1ILE WORK IN LONDON RACKED SCHOOLS. Progress of Commercial Travellers' Schools George Moore founds a Scholar- shipfollowed by Mr. Stockdale and Dr. Butler Copestake Scholarship "Kill your Fox" An indefatigable Beggar Journeys through the Country Illness of Mr. Moore Arrangement of his Affairs The Rev. Mr. Rodgers as Chaplain The Rev. Francis Morse, Nottingham Patronage of Books Invited to represent the City Treasurer to the Garibaldi Fund Extracts from the Diary Little Boys' Home Mr. Walter's Speech The Outcasts of London Vi-its London at Midnight Treasurer of Field Lane Ragged Schools Uses of the Institution Paga 255 274 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVII. LIFE IN CUMBERLAND. George Moore's arrival at his Border Tower Attendance at Meetings The Hall His business His Smoking-room Entertainments Competitive Exa- minations Lord Brougham Tne Archbishop of York -The Romance of Cheapside Pleasure and Business Whitehall Picnics Farming Short- horns Bishops and Dissenting Ministers The Wesleyan Chapels freed of Debt Entertainments to the Poor and the Widows 'The Household Servants The Missionaries The Young Men from London The Porters The Branch Managers Immorality of Cumberland Dowager Countess Waldegrave Im- provement of Cottage Dwellings Cottage Gardens Hunting in Cumberland Accident in Hunting Moore's shoulder put out His last Hunt. Pages 275294 CHAPTER XVIII. CHRIST'S CHURCH, SOMERS TOWN FISHMONGERS' COMPANV. Particularity in Accounts Voyage to Antwerp Encounter with Archdeacon Denison Faithfulness and Outspokenness in Religion A Lover of the Bible The Emperor of Russia Religious Principle a Power -Religious Teaching The London Middle-class Schools " Hang Theology !" Controversy with Mr. Tite Religious Instruction established Heathendom of London George Moore builds a Church Description of Somers Town The Church and vSchools Archbishop of Canterbury-elect His Sermon and Speech Moore's Help to Dissenters Mr. Spurgeon Dr. Stoughton The Christian Community The Little Boys' Home Help to many Charities Asked to represent Mid-Surrey in Parliament Called a Turncoat Prime Warden of the Fishmongers' Company Visits their Estates in Ireland Banquets of the Company Moore's Speeches The intense pain in his dislocated shoulder Calls upon Mr. Hutton, the Bone-setter Is cured Mems. from his Diary. Pages 295 322 CHAPTER XIX. EDUCATION IN CUMBERLAND CHRIST'S HOSPITAL. Competitive Examinations conducted by the Diocesan Education Society The Rev. Dr. Jex-Blake at Wigton Parting Address of the Schoolmasters George Moore's Reply Loss by Farming Magistrate at Wigton Entertain- ment to Navvies Christ's Hospital Dr. Jacob's Sermon Management of the Hospital denounced George Moore elected an Almoner Reforms intro- duced Girls' Schools improved The Duke of Cambridge elected George Moore's fights His Reasons for removing the Hospital to the Country Endowments of Christ's Hospital London School Board Jubilee of Com- mercial Travellers' Schools Founds a Scholarship Its Objects. Pages 323339 CHAPTER XX. RELIEF OF PARIS. Paris besieged by the Germans The Inhabitants Starved Mansion-House Fund -Provisions sent from London to Paris George Moore and Colonel Wortley Their Journey to Paris Arrival at Great Northern Railway The Horses xiv CONTENTS. all eaten Conveyance of the Food to George Moore's Warehouse Its Dis- tribution Hungriness of the Inhabitants Journey to Versailles Food dis- tributed in the Arrondissements The Bon Marche Letters from England about lost friends State of Paris George Moore's Helpers Destruction by the Germans Archbishop of Paris The Chiffoniers Outbreak of the Commune Assassination of Darboy the Archbishop Cardinal Manning Destruction of Property Distribution of the Mansion-House Funds Mrs. Moore's letter from Paris Pages 340 362 CHAPTER XXI. HIGH SHERIFF OF CUMBERLAND. George Moore nominated High Sheriff His duties The Northern Assize Sir John Mellor and Sir Robert Lush Geering the Coachman Recovery of the Prince of Wales George Moore's Speech The Summer Assizes Deaths of old friends James Wilkinson Breeks Hasell of Dalemain Convalescent Hospital, Silloth Boarding-out Pauper Children Conference at Gilsland Mr. Moore's Paper on Boarding-out Mr. Cropper, Ellergreen Journey into Scotland Interview with ex-Empress of the French Days in the Highlands Fisher, the Coach-driver Meetings in Cumberland Bishop of Peterborough Arrangement of Salaries Offices at Bow Churchyard Visits to Cambridge Professor Sedgwick Asked to represent the County of Middlesex Reasons for refusal - .... Pages 362 384 CHAPTER XXII. LATER WORKS OF BENEVOLENCE. Wreck of the Northfleet Widow Stephens's story The Cabmen's Mission Cab- men's Supper Sir Wilfrid Lawson's rhyme Visit to the Mission Hall Funeral of Dr. Livingstone Dean of Westminster's Letter Church at Somers Town Rev. P. S. O'Brien appointed Visitations to the Sick Poor Sent to Vichy Visit to Paris His Farm and Shorthorns Sells his Short- horns Miss Rye and Emigration Boarding-out Pauper Children The Cum- berland Missionaries The Whitehall gatherings Conference of Missionaries Busy Life at Whitehall Everybody wants "more" Descendant of an Irish King Hospitable Entertainments at Whitehall Visit of the Archbishops Fishmongers' Hunt Dinner "Faithful Jack" .... Pages 386 413 CHAPTER XXIII. GOOD WORKS DONE IN SECRET. George Moore's ideas of Duty Sympathy Servants Husband and Wife - Young Men at Bow Churchyard Some become Clergymen and Ministers Students assisted at St. Bees and Cambridge Sends forth a good Example Young Men wanting Situations Addresses at the Warehouse Mercifulness Forgiveness Kindness Life at Bow Churchyard Life at Whitehall Illus- tration of his kindness Helps to Poor Clergymen Their acknowledgments Story of a Clergyman Christmas Presents to Poor Clergymen His Almoners City and County Missionaries Distribution of Books Disabled Missionaries Christmases in London and at Whitehall . . Pages 415 435 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXIV. THE END OF GEORGE MOORE'S LIKE. Thoughts of Departure Friends dying away Deaths of Mr. Porter, of Mr. Howard of Greystoke, of Sir Hope Grant, of Mr. Copestake, of Mr. Osborne Arrangement with his Partners Death of Mr. Stockdale Account of George Stockdale Diary of 1876 Begins the year with benevolent Gifts Con- valescent Hospital at Littlehampton Reward of his Servants at Bow Churchyard More Deaths The Royal Academy Money-order System of the Post-office Somers Town Church Visit to Vichy Clerical Aid Educa- tion Society Last Visits Conferences at Whitehall Many Visitors Last Speech at Wigton Returns to London Education of Poor Boys Assisted by Dr. Percival Visit to Muncaster Castle The Shadow of Death The Nurses' Home, Carlisle Mrs. Moore's Portrait His last benevolent act Notes of Speech Visit to Carlisle The accident to Mr. Moore His Death His Burial The Funeral Sermons The Memorials The Lifeboat Dr. Butler's Testimony Pa^es 436 478 CHAPTER XXV. REMINISCENCES OF GEORGE MOORE. The REV. DANIEL MOORE'S Account George Moore's power His Self-reliance His Experiences of Men Gives the Means of Self-elevation The Com- mercial Travellers' Schools. ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY'S Account Dean of Carlisle Bishop Percy Revival of Education in Cumberland Montague Villiers. Dr. Tait, when Bishop of London Addresses at Bow Churchyard "Londoners over the Border" George Moore's Wide Benevo- lence The DEAN OF CARLISLE George Moore guided by fixed principles. The BISHOP OF CARLISLE George Moore's Thoughtfulness His Benevolence His Unobtrusiveness His Love of Schoolmasters His Determination His sense of Justice His Religious Opinions Attachment to the Church of England. The MASTER OF MARLBOROUGH COLLEGE Connection with Christ's Hospital Remarkable and Individual Character of George Moore. Pages 479498 CHAPTER XXVI. SUMMARY OF GEORGE MOORE'S CHARACTER. George Moore's life a succession of Growths Wigton London Recollection of old friends His Adversities Religious Conversion Responsibility His own Household Bow Churchyard Help to the Helpless George Moore's name a passport to Success Simplicity and Directness His Physique His Portrait A Man of Power His Vigour and Determination His Rebuffs "Do Your Best" His Carefulness of Time Promptitude in Emergencies His Moral Courage His Faith in God's Word Proper Uses of Money Unspoiled by Prosperity Refusals of high Office and Honours Love of the Poor Love of Nature Love of Flowers His Benevolence His Church- manship Sympathy his "grandest word" Influence on the Character of others United Teachers of \Vigton Foreshadowings of Death Works unfinished George Moore's Epitaph Pages 499 518 GEORGE MOORE. CHAPTER I. THE MOORES OLD TIMES IN CUMBERLAND. GEORGE MOORE was born at Mealsgate, Cumberland, on the gth of April, 1806. He was the third of a family of five. He had two brothers, Thomas and William, and two sisters, Sarah and Mary. George's father, John Moore, was a man of ancient descent, though of moderate means. He be- longed to the rank of Statesman a title held in as high regard in the North as that of the Order of the Garter. " I am prouder," says a well-known scholar, " of beinor a Cumberland Statesman than a Cam- o bridge Don ! " But the Cumberland statesmen, like the English yeomen, are fast passing away. The old Moores lived at their paternal estate at Overgates for more than three hundred years. Over- gates is in the parish of Torpenhow, a few miles to the south-west of the market-town of Wigton. The village of Torpenhow consists of a straggling street of little old houses, grey or whitewashed. The ancient church, dedicated to St. Michael, stands at the south end of the village. The " pellitory from U, THE MOORESTOKPENHOW. [CHAP. I. out the wall " l of Shakespeare grows luxuriantly near the churchyard gate. People still come from long distances to gather it for medicinal purposes. Inside the churchyard we come upon the resting- places of the old Moores. There they lie, genera- tion after generation. The Moores of Overgates ; the Moores of Bothel ; the Moores of Highwood Nook; the Moores of Kirkland ; and the Moores of Meals- gate. They seem to have been a long-lived race. Many of them lived to eighty and upwards. Thomas Moore of Mealsgate, grandfather of George Moore, was buried among his fathers in Torpenhow Church- yard, aged seventy-eight. The Archaeological Society of Cumberland held one of their meetings at Torpenhow 2 in 1876, when the vicar, the Rev. Mr. Gem, read a paper on the history of the parish. In the course of his observations, he noted the great changes which had taken place in the small landholders of the county. " Of the families now possessing land in the parish," he said, " none can be traced back to the year 1651 (when the register 1 Officinal is franctaria. 3 There has been some discussion as to the origin of the word Torpenhow. Some say it is Danish, being the "How," or hill, of Torpen, a Norse hero. Others say it is " Thorpe," or the village on the "How" or "Hill." But the most generally received view is, that the word represents the language of the various races who have successively occupied Cumberland. Thus the Britons (or Cumbrians) called the rising topped hill " Pen " : then the Saxons (or Anglians), not understanding the meaning of the word, called it " Tor-pen " ; and lastly the Danes, who occupied the neighbourhood, called it "Torpenhow." The same process of adding newer significations is still going on. Thus the neighbouring people speak of Torpenhow Brow. This last theory has the support of the late Dr. Donaldson, who, in his New Cratylus, quotes it in connection with Ham-ton-wick, all the three syllables of this name meaning the same thing. Another word might be suggested for the origin of Torpenhow the word " Torpen " or " Terpen," used in Friesland, meaning the mounds on which the old villages and churches were erected. CHAP. I.] CUMBERLAND SCENERY. 3 books commence), excepting the Plasketts of West House, the Railtons of the Smithy, the Dobsons of the Nook, the Fishers of Whitrigg, the Bushbys of Bothel, represented by the Rev. Edward Bushby, Fellow of St. John's, Cambridge, and the Moores of Overgates and Kirkland, represented by Miss Moore of Kirkland, Mr. Thomas Moore of Mealsgate, and Mr. George Moore of Whitehall." Torpenhow parish is situated on the south bank of the river Ellen. The land rises gradually from the river until it reaches its highest points at Camphill, Caermote, and Binsey. From the high grounds a splendid view is obtained, southward, of the Cumber- land mountains, Skiddaw towering high above all. Bassenthwaite Water lies quietly sleeping under the shadow of the majestic hills which surround it. The high lands from which we look down remain very much as nature left them. The country here- abouts is wild and lonely. Scarcely a house or a person is to be seen. The land is poor and uncultivated. It is half moor, half inclosed pasture. A few Fell sheep and black Scotch cattle grub for grass among the roots of the whins and heather. Yet it is not without its beauties for the lover of nature. The glorious moun- tains, the far-off sweeps of gorse, the wild smell of the heather, the sea air from the west blowing fresh against your face, the large purple shadows dropped by the passing clouds upon the moor, the lark singing over-head, the bumble-bee humming close by; and above all, the infinite silence ! That indeed is a picture to be remembered. Looking towards the north, over Torpenhow, the view is altogether different. In the bottom of the valley lies the river Ellen. You see the little farmstead of Overgates, the original home of the B 2 THE SOLWA Y. [CHAP. I. M cores. Far away, over woods and pastures and cornfields, over grassy knolls and winding valleys, over clusters of farmhouses half hid in clumps of sycamores, over villages, mere specks of whiteness nestling among green fields, over stately homes and ruined castles, you see the northern border of Cum- berland. In the distance the Sol way lies in the sunlight like a silver strip of brightness. Beyond the Firth, the lowlands of Dumfries and Kircudbright stretch away glimmering through the sunshine. Above and beyond them the Scottish mountains are seen, Criffel standing out boldly and alone. 1 The Solway Firth extends inland, between Scotland and England, from Maryport to Carlisle. It is in many places about twelve miles across. The tide runs up and down with great force, especially at neap tides. The Solway might be thought a sufficient protection for Cumberland during the troublous times which pre- ceded the union of the crowns of England and Scot- land. But it was no such protection against hungry and warlike people. The Solway can be crossed at low tide by horsemen who know the secrets of its depths and eddies. For this reason, amongst others, the northern part of Cumberland was constantly ex- posed to the depredations of the Scots. They waded the Solway, pillaged the villages and farmsteadings, 1 There is a local proverb " When Skiddaw wears a cap Criffel wots full well of that," meaning that when clouds and mists gather about the brow ot Skiddaw, in Cumberland, the people of Annandale, in Scotland, where Criffel is situated, may expect bad weather. Fuller, in his Worthies of England, says that the proverb " is spoken of such who must expect to sympathise in their sufferings, by reason of the vicinitv of their habitations." CHAP, i.] BORDER TOWERS. 5 and carried off to Annandale and Nithsdale all the cattle they could seize and drive before them. For this reason the people of Cumberland, a few hundred years ago, always stood at arms. The en- trances to the villages were defended by a double ditch, and by gates fastened with an iron chain. This was the case at Wigton. Those who could, fortified their houses, and left a space beneath, into which their cattle might be driven at night. A little beneath Overgates, in the valley of the Ellen, there are two border castles, or Peel towers, which afford a good example of the fortified houses of these days. One of these is called Harbybrow, now in ruins, and the other is Whitehall, recently renovated and enlarged, the country-seat of the subject of this story. These border castles stand about a mile from each other. It is said that there was once an under- ground road between them. The original towers are lofty, square, and massive. The walls at the lower part are about nine feet thick. They are divided into three stories. Harby- brow remains very much as it was. It has an arched chamber underneath the old cattle keep. During the Scottish raids, the men and the cattle entered the tower by the same door. The cattle were driven into the arched chamber, while the men fastened the door and mounted to the higher stories. If assailed, they stood to arms, threw down huge stones, or poured boiling water or lead upon those who ventured to assail the little garrison. But when the cattle were secured, that was rarely done. The mosstroopers had no means of laying siege to fortified places. In the meantime the country was up. During the border raids, people were stationed on the higher BORDER MORALITY. [CHAP. i. grounds to keep a strict look out. The names of " Watch-hill " and " Beacon-top " still point to such localities. 1 The church towers were also used for the same purpose. The country was apt to be ravaged for twenty miles along the border. The tenants of the manors were obliged, by the firing of the beacons, to attend their lords in their border service. If re- quisite, their attendance might be prolonged for forty days. There was little or no cultivation of the land at that time. Indeed payment of rent was scarcely known until after the Union. All that the landlord gained from those residing upon his estate was per- sonal service in battle or in pursuit, and perhaps a share of the spoil taken by rapine from the Scotch side of the border. The morality of those days was of a very wild de- scription. Freebooting was considered a respectable profession on both sides of the border. It was like piracy at sea, of which neither Raleigh nor Drake were ashamed. To be a freebooter or a mosstrooper was not considered a term of reproach. The freebooter did not keep a " gig," but he kept a pricker, on which he scoured the neighbouring county for plunder. Every man fought for his own hand, like Harry-o'-the-Wynd. If they could not steal from the neighbouring border, they stole from each other. 2 They were quite as dangerous to their neighbours as to their enemies. 1 The Cumberland beacons that were lighted up to assemble the surrounding population to arms were Blackcombe, Mulcaster Fell, St. Bees Head, Workington Hill, Moothay, Skiddaw, Landale Top, Carlisle Castle, Lingy-close Head, Beacon Hill, Penrith, Dale Raughton, Brampton Mote, and Spade-adam Top. 2 There is a wild path across the mountains, far south in Cumber- land, very unlikely to be disturbed by the Scotch mosstroopers, for it is between Borrowdale and Ravenglass, still called " The Thieves' Road." It must have been so called from the Lancashire and Cumberland reivers. CHAP. I.] THE DEBATABLE LAND. They were very valiant men too. Many were the instances of dash and daring among them. The Elliots, Armstrongs, and Scotts were as daring on the one side, as the Graemes, Rutledges, and Howards were on the other. Their names have been alike immortalised in the ballad lore of the border. The Scotch were, however, the hungriest of the two. Whenever their food fell short, they determined on a raid. Though they were ready, as the Armstrongs were, to rob each other, they preferred harrying their neighbours across the border. 1 They could then com- bine their personal views of plunder with something like a spirit of patriotism. There was a portion of land between the two countries which was long known as the Debatable Land. It was long a source of contention. It was situated north of Carlisle, between the rivers Esk and Sark. It belonged neither to England nor Scotland. The land was infested by thieves and banditti, to whom, in its mossy, boggy, and uncultivated state, it afforded a desirable refuge. They robbed alike the English and the Scotch. Once, when a battle was going on, some of the men succeeded in robbing their fellow-troopers of their horses. The inhabitants of the Middle or Western Marches were unrestrained mosstroopers and cattle-stealers, " having no measure of law," says Camden, " but the length of their swords." When caught by their enemies, they were dealt with by Jeddart justice, that is, they were first hanged and then tried. 1 A saying is recorded of a Border mother to her son, "Ride, Roley, ride; hough's i' the pot" meaning that the last fat sheep was being boiled, and that it was high time for him to go and fetch more. An equally good story is told of a Cumberland matron. So long as her provisions lasted she set them regularly on the table, but as soon as they were finished, she brought forth two pairs of spurs and said, " Sons, I have no meat for you ; go, seek for your dinner." MOSSTROOPING. [CHAP. i. The Graemes were among the chief occupants of the Debatable Land. A document quoted in the History of Cumberland says, concerning the Graemes of Netherby and others of that clan, " They were all stark mosstroopers and arrant thieves, both to Eng- land and Scotland outlawed ; yet sometimes connived at, because they gave intelligence forth of Scotland, and would raise four hundred horse at any time upon a raid of the English into Scotland." And so it was of the Elliots and Armstrongs on the northern side of the border, which led to the popular saying, " Elliots and Armstrongs, 1 ride thieves all." From these grim borderers have descended General Elliot, who so bravely defended Gibraltar ; Sir James Graham, one of our greatest statesmen ; and Sir William Arm- strong, the inventor of the Armstrong gun. When the hungry Scots prepared to make a raid southward, they mounted their wiry horses, met at their appointed places, and either waded the Solway or forded the Liddel or the Esk. They crossed the border by secret by-ways known only to themselves. They knew every road across the mosses, and every ford across the rivers. They also knew every channel of escape from Cumberland to the north. The men were armed with long spears, a two-handed sword, a battle- axe or a Jedburgh staff, and latterly with dags or pistols. Each trooper carried his own provisions which consisted for the most part of a bag of oatmeal. They trusted to the booty they seized for eking out their meals. So soon as it was known that the reivers were abroad that they had crossed the Solway from An- 1 In the sixteenth century the Armstrong clan, under the com- mand of the English chief, Sir Ralph Evans, ravaged almost the whole of the west border of Scotland. CHAP. I.] PURSUIT IN HOT-TROD. nandale, or come down from Eskdale or Liddesdale all Cumberland was roused. The beacons blazed out at Carlisle, Watch-hill, Torpenhow, Landale-top, Bea- con-hill, and Skiddaw, The. mounted troopers gathered at the appointed places, harnessed in jacks, and armed with spears and swords, Away they went in hot-trod ! So soon as they came upon the mosstroopers the sleuth-hounds 1 were set upon their track, and wherever they went they blew their horns to summon their countrymen to their help. They also carried a burning wisp of straw or wood at their spears' point ; 2 and raised a cry similar to that of the Indian warwhoop. It appears that those who heard this cry were bound to join in the chase under penalty of death. The pursuit might last for days or for weeks. The regulations of the barony of Gilsland, still preserved by the Earl of Lonsdale, show the nature of the border- service of the tenants. Every tenant was required to keep a good, able, and sufficient horse " such a nagge as is able at anye tyme to beare a manne twentie miles within Scotlande and backe againe without a baite." They were to be provided with a "jacke, steale-cap, sword, bowe, or speare," and were to be ready " to serve the Lord Warden or their officers upon sixe houres warninge, in anye place where they shall be appointed to serve." They were also required to appoint a watch 1 As late as 1616 there was an order from the King's Commissioners of the Northern counties that a certain number of sleuth-hounds (so called from their quality of tracing the slot, or track of men and animals) should be maintained in every district in Cumberland bordering on Scotland. The breed of this sagacious dog is nearly extinct. 2 A practice borrowed from the Norsemen, who formed large settlements round the Solway Firth, as is still indicated by the names of places, and especially of headlands. The Highlanders also bor- rowed their fiery cross from the Norsemen, many of whom became chiefs of the Highland clans. io LANDS HELD BY BORDER SERVICE. [CHAP. I. over their farms by day and by night ; and, when a, foray occurred at night, " the partie that is harried to keepe a beaken burning of some height, of intente hat notwithstandinge all the country be in a fraye he fier may be a token where the hurt is done, that all menne may know which way to drawe." 1 The old statesmen held their lands by border ser- vice, as appears from the old title-deeds. They were required to be ready to follow the fray when the mosstroopers were abroad. They must be armed, horsed, and ready to fight. In the recital attached to a decree in the Court of Chancery 2 relating to the Woodvilles or Woodhalls, of Waterend, near Cocker- mouth, it is stated that the "plaintiffs (the statesmen), and the other tenants there, or their assigns, had time out of mind been seized to them and their heirs, by and according to the ancient and laudable custom of tenant-right then used, being within the West Marches of England over against Scotland ; " and further, that they held "their several tenements by serving upon the said borders of England over against Scotland, at their own proper costs and charges, within the said West Marches, then and so often as thereunto they should be required by the Lord Warden of the said West Marches, for the time being, or his sufficient deputy or deputies, as well as defending the frontiers of the said Marches, as in offending the opposite Marches as occasion served." The freebooting raids between the borderers of the two countries continued long after the union of the crowns. Shortly after James I. came to the throne of England, he set up a claim to all the small estates in 1 LYSON'S Magna Britannia, vol iv., Cumberland xi. xii. 2 Dated the 25th April, 1597. LONSDALE'S Worthies of Cumber- land: "Memoir of Dr. Woodville," p. 231. CHAP, i.] END OF FREEBOOTING. 11 Cumberland and Westmoreland, on the plea that the statesmen were merely the tenants of the crown. The statesmen met to the number of two thousand, at Ratten Heath, between Kendal arid Stavely, where they came to the resolution that " they had won their lands by the sword, and were able to hold them by the same." After that meeting, no further claim was made to their estates on the part of the crown. But freebooting had not yet come to an end. The disposition to plunder had become part of the bor- derers' nature. Mosstrooping continued during the English Revolution and the Commonwealth ; and after the Restoration it reached to such a height that it was found necessary to enact laws of great seventy for the protection of the more peaceful bordermen. The magistrates were authorised to raise bodies of armed men for the defence of property and order ; and provision was made for supporting them by local taxation. Bloodhounds were again used to track the mosstroopers to their retreats among the hills. These measures, in course of time, had their due effect. Yet it was not until some time after the union of England and Scotland, in Queen Anne's reign, that the border hostilities died away, and the inhabitants were left to cultivate their land in peace. Yet cattle-stealing and sheep-stealing the survivals of the old freebooting system still continued to be carried on. Juries were never found wanting when a cattle-stealer was to be tried. The punishment was short and sharp hanging by the neck. Even in modern times it is difficult to induce a Carlisle jury to convict a man of murder ; but when the offence is sheep-stealing, the conviction is certain. When the late Baron Martin crossed Shapfell, on his Northern Circuit, he used to say, " Now we have got into 12 CUMBERLAND STATESMEN. [CHAP. i. Cumberland, where we can scarcely get a jury to con- vict a man of murder, even though he has killed his mother ; but they will hang a man for sheep-stealing ! " The story is told of a stranger who visited Bew- castle formerly the centre of a wild district for the purpose of examining the Runic pillar in the church- yard. On looking round among the tombstones, he was surprised to find that they commemorated none but female deaths. He made a remark to this effect to the old woman who accompanied him : " Ou, Sir, do ye no ken what for ? They're a' buried at that weary Caerl ! " He found, in fact, that the male inhabitants of the district had either been transported or hanged at Carlisle ! The modern Cumberland Statesmen are the north- ern yeomen of England. They are men who work hard, live frugally, and enjoy an honest independence. They are neither squires nor labourers. They stand betwixt both. They till their own soil and consume their own produce. They sell the cattle and corn which they do not require, to buy the household articles which they cannot produce. They used to weave their own cloth. In olden times, the " Grey coats of Cumberland " was a common phrase. But all this has passed away ; and statesmen are now sinking into the class of ordinary farmers, or even labourers. The statesmen of the mountain districts so many of them as still remain are a very primitive class of people. They know nothing of the rate of discount or the price of gold. They have enough of the world's gear to serve their purpose. They are un- corrupted by modern luxury. They are content ; and happy to enjoy the golden mean of Agur. They pass a simple and inoffensive life amidst the lonely hills which surround them. " Go," said one of these CHAP. I.] CHARACTER OF STATESMEN. 13 statesmen to a tourist, "go to the vale on the other side of yon mountain. You will find a house ; enter it, and say you came from me. I know him not, but he will receive you kindly, for our sheep mingle iipon the mountains!" These men have no inclination to change, either in their life and customs, or in their O ' * sheep-farming. " At Penraddock/' says an agricul- tural report on Cumberland, " we observed some singularly rough- legged, ill-formed sheep, and on asking an old farmer where the breed came from, he replied, ' Lord sir, they are sic as God set upon the land : we never change them 1 ' ' These are the people whom Wordsworth himself a Cumberland man has described with so much character and feeling. 1 The statesmen of the low-lying districts towards the north are of a sturdier character. They have more mother wit and backbone. Their forefathers, being constantly on the alert to resist the inroads of the Scots, have handed down to their sons their fearless resolution and undaunted courage. They bear the greatest fatigue with patience. They live contented on humble fare, though their hospitality to strangers is open-handed and liberal. Though not rich in money or land, they are rich in character and healthful contentment. They are satisfied with their social position, and are even proud of it. To be " an able and honest statesman " used to be one of the highest titles in Cumberland. 1 1 Close upon the border, the Cumberland men are rougher and readier than those towards the south. They have scarcely outgrown the mosstrooping life of their forefathers. Many of them are " Bworder Cowpers," dealing in horses and cattle. One of them tried to recommend himself to a travelling Scotsman by claiming kindred, affirming that he was a Border Scot. " Gude faith, I dinna doubt it," quoth the other; "for the selvage is aye the warst part o' the web ! " 14 MANNERS OF STATESMEN. [CHAP. I. The statesman's household was a school of thrift and industry. The clothing was made at home. The women wore linsey-wolsey cloth of their own making. The young men and lads thought them- selves well clad if they went to kirk in home- spun hodden-gray. Stalwart sons and comely maidens were brought up on porridge, oatcakes, and milk ; in fact there could be no better food. These were occasionally varied with barley bannocks, Whillimer cheese, potato-pot, a bit of bacon, and an occa- sional slice of salt-beef or mutton in winter. What could they require more ? Their sharpness of appe- tite was whetted by the keen atmosphere of the mountain air. " Come in," said a tenant to his landlord one day, " an hev a bit o' dinner afwore ye gang." The landlord went in amongst the family, the servants, and the labourers, who were about to " set to." Near the end of the table was a large hot-pot, containing beef or mutton, cut into pieces, and put into a large dish along with potatoes, onions, pepper and salt. This was the famous Cumberland " taty-pot." The farmer, after helping himself, thrust the dish towards the landlord, and said, " Noo ye man help yersel, and howk in! Theer's plenty meat at bottom, but its rayther het ! " Nor does this food disagree with the well-appetised Cumbrians. They are for the most part men of large stature. They are big-boned and broad-chested. Their firm muscles, well-knit joints, and vigorous hands give them great advantage as wrestlers. What they want in agility and suppleness they make up for in strength. Although the Statesman worked hard and lived on humble fare, his wife was a Dame ; his eldest son was the Laird ; and when there was no son, his eldest CHAP. I.] DIFFERENCES BETWEEN STATESMEN. 15 daughter was the Lady. Thus, while the statesman himself was at the plough, the laird was driving the cattle to market, and the lady was working at the churn. Getting up in the morning was a great point. The Cumberland ballad-maker, when deploring the introduction of new customs fifty years ago, when the country was " puzzened round wi' preyde," goes on to say " We used to gan ta bed at dark, An' rose agean at four or five ; The mworn's the only time for wark If fwok are healthy and wad thrive." The difference between one statesman and another consisted principally in character. Where the states- man was slow, sluggish, and inert, he gravitated rapidly downwards. No changes were made in the improvement of the farm. The old hive became filled with drones. The sons dropped down to the condi- tion of farm servants and day-labourers. When the statesman borrowed money and got into the hands of the lawyers, he never got out of them until the land was sold. On the other hand, another statesman, of a better sort, would keep the rooftree up by dint of energy and forethought. He would give his sons a fair education, set before them a good example, instil into them principles of independence and self-help, and send them into the world braced with courage and the spirit of duty. The eldest son became the statesman, like his father before him. The second son sometimes became a " priest " the ordinary name for a clergy- man in Cumberland, while the others emigrated to the colonies, or entered into the various avenues of business life at home. On the whole, however, it must be confessed that the statesmen of Cumberland, like the yeomanry of 1 6 DECADENCE OF STATESMEN. [CHAP. I. England, have been rapidly disappearing during the last century. Sir James Graham spoke of the cavalcade of mounted statesmen who accompanied Mr. Blamire into Carlisle, on his appointment as High Sheriff in 1828, as "a body of men who could not be matched in any other part of the kingdom. The sight they had seen that day was such as they could never forget. The yeomanry of Cumberland were the finest and purest specimens of a set of men, who in 'all periods of its history had been the strength and pride of their country." But the fifty years that have passed away since then have seen great changes. Wealth is everywhere absorbing landed property. Small hold- ings are disappearing ; small estates are blotted out ; and the Cumberland statesman is already becoming a thing of the past. 1 During the long period that George Moore's fore- elders lived at Overgates, few records of their lives have been preserved. They had their part in the border raids. They were always ready to join in the fray when the mosstroopers were abroad. At the western end of Overgates house, there was a con- cealed place in which a nag or charger was kept ; for 1 " One thing," says Dr. Lonsdale, " is manifest in the history of the yeomen, and that is, their gradual decadence, especially during the last thirty years. Many a ' canny house, ' where yeomen had for centuries kept their yule, "taught their sons and grandsons the traditions of their home, no longer shelter 'the weel-kent folk o' ither days.' Even the names of their founders are forgotten. This disappearance of names, if not of habitations, in many rural districts, brings about reflections of by no means an agreeable kind. Among many changes affecting both men and interests in these northern counties, there is no change more marked than that arising from the purchasing of real estates and the absorption of small holdings of a few potato fields or share of pasturage, once the pride of decent folk content in their changeless life, by larger landed proprietors. ' 111 fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where Wealth accumulates and Men decay.' " CHAP I.] MOORE OF MEALSGATE. 17 in those days a nag was almost as good as a man. When the war-cry of " Snaffle, spur, and spear ! " was raised, the Moores of Overgates mounted like the rest and galloped off to the meeting-place. The border towers and the cattle-keeps were in the valley below, almost within sight of the homestead ; and when the muster took place, away they went after the " ruffian Scots." Thus the Moores lived until the troublous times had passed away, and peace fell upon the border lands. The young men and women intermarried with the sons and daughters of the neighbouring statesmen. For the most part they settled near the paternal home. Thus there were the Moores of Bothel the Moores of High wood-Nook, and the Moores of Kirkland all in the parish of Torpenhow. In the churchyard we read the names of the forgotten dead sometimes on a broken gravestone covered with grey lichens. None of them seem to have come to any fame in the world's history. It was a little circle they lived in. Anxious thrift and carefulness were their portion. They lived their lives of joy and sorrow, of homely experience and of daily work, little heedful of the troubles and turmoils of the outer world. They did their duty, and then they went to rest. Thomas Moore, a younger son of the statesman at Overgates, was born in 1733. He went to Bothel in his youth to assist his brother in the work of the farm. In 1773 he went to Mealsgate, where he purchased a farm of sixty acres, recited in the deeds as " the Mealsgate tenement in the parishes of Bolton or Allhallows." There he lived a careful, frugal, and in- dustrious life. Fair, market, and church, were the only little breaks in his life of daily toil. He married, and had an only son John Moore, the father of c 1 8 BIRTH OF GEORGE MOORE. [CHAP. I. George. John did not marry until he was thirty-five. We learn from the Family Bible that on the i5th of February, 1800, he brought home Peggy Lowes, the daughter of a neighbouring statesman, as his wife. The register goes on to say that Thomas Moore was born on the 27th of January, 1802 ; Sarah on the lyth of January, 1804; George on the Qth of April, 1806; Mary on the 5th of March, 1808; and William on the 3Oth of March, 1810. Thomas Moore was now getting an old man. He lived to see all his grand- children born. Then he passed away, and was laid amongst his forefathers in Torpenhow churchyard, at the ripe age of seventy- eight. The house at Mealsgate lies on the main road between Wigton and Cockermouth. It is a house of two stories, standing a little back from the road. A brook runs through the orchard before the house. It wanders along the valley through the Whitehall estate, and runs into the river Ellen, near Harbybrow. A few scattered cottages lie about the place, constituting the village of Mealsgate. On entering the Moores' dwelling, you pass at once from the outer door into the general sitting-room. This, in Cumberland phrase, is known as " The House." A large old-fashioned fireplace occupies one end the " ingle neuk," round which the family held their general conclave and told stories of the olden time during the winter evenings. At the other end of the room, opposite the fireplace, is the Parlour, which is visually appropriated as a bedroom by the married pair. Behind is the kitchen and the other offices. A stair- case of the simplest kind leads up to the four small low-roofed bedrooms above. Such is the house at Mealsgate in which the subject of the following story was born and brought up. CHAPTER II. GEORGE MOORE'S BOYHOOD. AFTER the birth, the christening. George Moore of Bothel was to " stand for" the child. He was an old bachelor, a man of good means, and he meant to " do something " for his godson. A large party of Moores assembled at Mealsgate on the christening morning. It must have been regarded as a matter of considerable importance. A chaise was brought from Wigton to convey the mother and child up the hill to Bolton Church. Chaises were very uncommon in Cumberland in those days. The roads were unsuitable for wheeled carriages. Chaises were called those " queer trundlin' kists on't roads." Horseback was the usual method of conveyance ; and women went on pack-saddles. But on this occasion, as the mother was delicate and the child was young, a postchaise was brought from Wigton to convey them to Church. The child was baptized in the name of his great-uncle and godfather, George Moore. His father afterwards said of him that " he had begun the world with a chaise, and he was likely to end it with a chaise." Old George Moore of Bothel, the godfather of the child, was as good as his \vord. When he died in c 2 20 DEATH OF HIS MOTHER. [CHAP. n. 1817, at the ripe age of eighty-two, he left his god- son a legacy of ioo/., together with a big hair-trunk. The ioo/. was to be paid to him when he reached the age of twenty-one ; but by the time it was paid it amounted, with accumulations of interest, to about I7O/, It was then found very useful. The hair-trunk also had its history. It had the letters " G. M." marked in brass-nails on the top. The hair-trunk went to Wigton, to London, to America, and is still in the possession of the family at Mealsgate. It is more than 150 years old. The earliest recollection of George Moore was a very painful one. He was about six years old when his mother died. She was laid in the parlour, next to the room known as " the house." The boy turned into the parlour as usual, went up to his mother, touched her, but she did not move ! He saw the cold pale face, and the shrouded body. This was his first idea of Death, and it left a startling impression on his mind. He saw his mother taken away by men in black, followed by a long train of mourners ; and he saw her no more. The same night he was taken by his father to sleep with him in the same bed from which his mother had been taken in the morning. The boy was frightened, startled, almost horror-struck. He did not sleep ; he was thinking of his departed mother. The recol- lection of that day and of that night haunted him all his life. It left in his mind a morbid horror of death. It was so strong that he could never after- wards see any dead person. His intense vitality recoiled from the terrible accompaniments of that mystery which we call Death. And yet he had nearly his whole life before him. Such losses as these must soon be forgotten, or remem- CHAP, n.] GEORGE MOORE'S FATHER. 21 bered only with sorrow ; otherwise life would be in- tolerable. It might be thought that John Moore, who took his boy to sleep with him that night, was a hard and unfeeling man. But this was not the case. Let George Moore himself speak of his father's character. " My father," he says, " was a fine specimen of the North Country yeoman, whose fore-elders had lived at the same place for generations. His integrity, generosity, and love of truth left influences on my life and character for which I can never be too thankful. I have often said that I think he never told a lie in his life. The only time he flogged me was for telling a lie ; and I never felt so sorry for any- thing as to have grieved him. " His great failing was in believing others so impli- citly. His generosity got the better of his judgment. He lost a great deal of money by becoming bound for friends at public sales of cattle. The purchaser being unable to pay, my father had to find the money. Very often it was never repaid. Had it not been for the thrifty and careful habits of the family, our estate would long ago have passed into strange hands. At the same time, my father was one of the most straight- forward of men. He had as great a moral courage as any man I ever knew. I can well remember his order- ing a man out of his house who came in drunk, and reprimanding others who had done some bad deed. John Moore of Mealsgate was indeed a terror to evil- doers." Some five years after his wife's death, John Moore married again. The children were growing up un- trained and ill-tended. There wanted some clever woman about the house to look after the bairns while John was afield at his work. The consequence was that he married Mary Pattinson, sister of the Rev. 22 EDUCATION IN CUMBERLAND. [CHAP. II. Mr. Pattinson, of Caldbeck. She proved an active and managing housemate. She was a good wife as regarded her husband ; but she did not get on very well with the elder children. They regarded her as an intruder, and were predisposed to resist her authority. "My step-mother," says George Moore, " was invariably kind to me, but the elder children probably had a strong prejudice against her. At all events, as regarded the family, she did not add to the happiness of our household." At the age of eight, George Moore was sent to school. The school to which he went was situated at Bolton- gate, about two miles from Mealsgate. It used to lie at the corner of Bolton churchyard, separated from the church itself by the parish burying-ground. It has recently been pulled down to make room for more graves. To that school George Moore walked daily, wet or dry, to receive his miserable quotum of " education." Very little provision was made in those days for the education of the rising generation, Cumberland was no better than the other English counties. Any man who had a stick-leg, or a club-foot, or a claw-hand, thought himself fit to be a teacher. The three R's formed the amount of the accomplishment given. The teaching was altogether lifeless and humdrum. What was knocked into the boys was done for the most part by caning and whipping. In George Moore's case the teaching was given by a man addicted to drink. His name was Blackbird Wilson. He was called Black- bird because he could imitate the singing of any bird in the neighbourhood, and especially of the blackbird. Here is George Moore's account of him : " The master, Blackbird Wilson, was an old man, fond of drink. The scholars were sent out to fetch it CHAP II.] GEORGE MOORE'S SCHOOLDA YS. 23 for him three or four times a day. He used to drive the learning into us with a thick ruler, which he brought down sharply upon our backs. He often sent the ruler flying amongst our heads. The wonder is that he did not break our skulls. Perhaps he calculated on their thickness. His rule was to drive reading, writing, and arithmetic into us by brute force. He never attempted to make learning attractive. He did not cultivate the understanding or endeavour to teach us the good of knowledge. Such being the case, I was never fond of school. I often played the truant, and rambled about whenever I could get away. In- deed I should have been much oftener absent, had it not been for the dread of the terrible floggings which were then as common in Cumberland as elsewhere. My determination not to study followed me through my school-days ; and often, indeed, have I repented of my folly in not learning as much as I could when at school, for I have often felt the mortification of being ignorant. My faults were those of an energetic and wayward disposition, unhelped by a mother's sympathy and solace." When Blackbird Wilson retired from the office of schoolmaster, he was succeeded by Mr. Allison, a humanerand better teacher. The Rev. W. M. Gunson, M.A., has furnished the following information as to the teaching and routine of the school while he attended it. He says, " Dull tradition and immobility are very con- servative in isolated country places like Bolton ; and I believe that an account of my school time will accurately represent that of George Moore's. The curriculum consisted of the three R's, with spelling. I have no recollection of learning anything like grammar or parsing. One other thing, however, was carefully taught, the Church Catechism. In Lent, every year, 24 BARKING OOT. [CHAP. n. we spent much time in committing it to memory, and on the afternoon of Easter Sunday we were publicly examined in it by the clergyman in the church, in pre- sence of the largest congregation that assembled on any day of the year; for the parents were there, wishing to hear their children acquit themselves well. *' The arrangements of the school itself were rude and rough enough. The fire was lighted in the mornings, and the school swept out by two of the boys in turn, specially told off for the purpose. Their duty lasted for a week, at the end of which they had the privilege of naming their successors for the follow- ing week. When coals were wanted, the money to buy them was raised by levying a tax of twopence or three-half-pence each on all the scholars. Many of the children, who came from a distance, brought a cold dinner with them, and ate it in the school. The time that remained at the midday interval was mostly spent in bathing in the river Ellen, which runs about half a mile from the school. This contributed to cleanliness and health, and gave the boys a love of cold water which clung to them through life. " One of the holidays occurred in harvest time. It was secured by a process of barring t' maister oot. As soon as any of the scholars announced that they had seen t' first stook, 1 a conspiracy was entered into ; and during the midday interval the boys shut them- selves up in the school, and barricaded the door and windows against outsiders. On the master re- turning from his dinner, entrance was denied him. He generally made a show of violence to break in, but of course he never succeeded. When he found his efforts vain, he called a parley. The first condition 1 The earliest shock of corn cut CHAP. II.] SCHOOLBOY WRESTLING. 25 the boys insisted on was freedom from punishment for the barring oot ; and when that was promised, they then proceeded to negotiate as to the length of the holiday that was to be given. Their rebellion being always successful, was, like other successful rebellions in wider spheres of action, regarded as an act of schoolboy loyalty and patriotism, and when it was over, all alike enjoyed its successful results." The amusements of the boys during play-hours were in some respects peculiar to the district. Wrest- ling, or worsling, was their most famous sport. The boys tried their strength with each other. They got to know the best way of takiri hod ; the chips and the hypes ; the buttocks and cross-buttocks ; the back- heeling, the hank and the click inside. The wrest- ling of Cumberland and Westmoreland is well known. The game, as practised there, is not so savage as that of Cornwall. There is no hard kicking of the shins or legs, and the boys or men who have thrown each other continue the same good friends as ever. Men of all classes wrestle, statesmen, ploughmen, cobblers, labourers, and even clergymen. One of the most noted wrestlers in Cumberland was a curate the Rev. Abraham Brown. William Richardson of Caldbeck, and George Irving, the publican at Bolton Gate (whose whisky Blackbird Wilson so much relished), were the most noted wrestlers in the neighbourhood. The boys began to try their physical powers early. They wrestled with each other on the village greens. George Moore, like his schoolfellows, often tried his hand. He was strong and wiry ; tenacious and perse- vering. He learnt the various tricks of the art; and before he left school there were few boys, who could stand before him. \Ve shall afterwards find that he acquired some celebrity from his power of wrestling. 26 GEORGE MOORPS AMUSEMENTS. [CHAP. n. Another game of the schoolboys was Scots and English. This was doubtless a survival of the old border warfare. The boys form two parties, which respectively represent the Scots and English. They fix upon two strongholds, at the distance of from sixty to a hundred yards apart. A boundary line is drawn, and each party deposits their coats, waistcoats, and bonnets at the proper hold. The sport then begins. The boys run across the line, and endeavour to make prisoners of each other ; at the same time that they plunder the enemy in the most dexterous manner, without becoming prisoners. If they are taken prisoners they are carried to a supposed place of confinement, though sometimes the prisoners are mutually permitted to pillage for the conquerors. The same game is played, with some slight variations, on the Scottish side of the Border. Among George Moore's other amusements was that of bird-nesting. He was accustomed with other boys to search the bushes which overhung the Dowbeck burn and the trees which skirted the river Ellen. He climbed trees that no one else dared to climb. He searched the Peel Towers of Whitehall and Harby- brow. They were haunted by jackdaws, whose eggs he wished to secure. They built their nests in the old wide chimneys of the towers. With his usual daring, he had himself let down by ropes from the top of the .towers to the places where the nests were built. Thus he brought home lots of eggs, and when he had blown them and strung them, he hung them in long rows over the mantelpiece at Mealsgate. George Moore was an excellent player at marbles. He was so successful, that the other boys thought that the merit was due to the marbles and not to the player. They consequently bought his marbles for a CHAP. il.J WALK TO CARLISLE. 27 penny apiece, though they cost him only five for a halfpenny. As he was not allowed any pocket-money, the money thus earned was sometimes found very useful. For instance, on one occasion, when eleven years old, he went from Mealsgate to Carlisle to see a man hanged who had passed a forged Scotch note. He was accompanied by another boy. They started early in the morning, and made their way to Carlisle, walking a distance of seventeen miles. They reached the Sands, where the execution was to take place. But the boys, being so little, could scarcely see over the heads of the people who crowded round the gallows. George, with his usual resolution, determined to push himself forward, and got as near to the gallows as possible. He pushed through amongst the people's legs, and when he got to the troop of dragoons who surrounded the scaffold, he passed under the horses' legs, and thus got to the front rank. He saw all that happened. When the man was hanged, George swooned away. When he came to himself, he found that some hot coffee was being poured into his mouth. He could never afterwards bear the taste of coffee. After the execution, he walked home again ; thus doing thirty-four miles walking in a day a remarkable proof of strength in so young a boy. George Moore, though an unwilling scholar, enjoyed his truant days and his holidays very much. " Being passionately fond of horses," he says, " whenever I escaped from school, I spent the time in leading the horses with the carts of some farmer in the neighbour- hood." He had also the ambition of following the hounds. One day he got hold of his father's half- blind mare and mounted her barebacked. He could not take the saddle, for that might be missed. But 28 D'YE KEN JOHN PEEL. [CHAP. n. away he went in search of John Peel and his hounds, which he understood were to hunt that day over the adjoining fells : D'ye ken John Peel with his coat so gray ? D'ye ken John Peel at the break of day ? D'ye ken John Peel when he s far, far away, With his hounds and his horn in the morning f 'Twas the sound of his horn brought me from my bed, Ari the cry of his hounds has me ofttimes led ; For Peel's view holloa would 'waken the dead, Or a fox from his lair in the morning. John Peel was an enthusiastic and hair-brained fox- hunter. His name was very widely known. The song from which the above verses are taken is known all over the world, wherever English hunters have penetrated. It was heard in the soldiers' camps at the siege of Lucknow. It is well known in America. Boys whistle the tune, or sing the song, all over Cumberland. 1 1 John Woodstock Graves, the author of D'ye ken John Peel, gives the following account of its composition : "Nearly forty years have passed since John Peel and I sat in a snug parlour at Caldbeck among the Cumbrian mountains. We were then both in the heyday of manhood, and hunters of the older fashion ; meeting the night before to arrange the earth-stopping, and in the morning to take the best part of the hunt the drag over the mountains in the mist while fashionable hunters still lay in their blankets. Large flakes of snow fell that evening. We sat by the fireside hunting over again many a good run, and recalling the feats of each particular hound, or narrow breakneck escapes, when a flaxen-haired daughter of mine came in, saying, ' Father, what do you say to what Grannie sings ? ' Grannie was singing to sleep my eldest son now a leading barrister in Hobart- town with an old rant called Bonnie Annie. The pen and ink for hunting appointments being on the table, the idea of writing a song to the old air forced itself upon me, and thus was produced, im- promptu, D'ye ken John Peel with his coat so gray ? Immediately after, I sang it to poor Peel, who smiled through a stream of tears CHAP. II.] JOHN PEEL. 29 John Peel lived at Uldale, near Caldbeck, between Brocklebank Fell and the High Pike, not far from Bolton church. Everybody knew him and his hounds. They knew where he was to meet, and where he was to hunt. He had a rare mongrel pack of hounds. They were of all sorts and sizes, yet they were good hunters. He had an immense affection for his dogs, as they had for him. A mutual feeling seemed to exist between them. One who knew him said, that if he threatened, or even spoke sharply to a dog, he would be found wandering and hiding for two or three days together, unless he had previously expressed his always return- ing kindness. Whenever they came to a dead lock he was sure to be found talking to some favourite hound as if it had been a human being. The dogs seemed to know all that he said relative to hunting as well as the best sportsman in the field. John Peel hunted everything, from a rabbit to a fox. Even the sheep were not secure against his hounds. Boys used to assemble from all quarters to see the hunt start, and to follow it on foot as far as they could. Happy were they who, like George Moore, could obtain a barebacked horse. For this they would endure any punishment. The first hunt of George Moore's with John Peel's hounds occurred about the year 1 8 1 6 ; though the famous old huntsman lived on till 1854, and died full of honours at the ripe age of seventy-eight. 1 which fell clown his manly cheeks : and I well remember saying to him in a joking style, ' By Jove, Peel, you'll be sung when we're both run to earth ! ' " Songs and Ballads of Cumberland and the Lake Country, by S. GILPIN. 1 John Peel possessed a small estate near Caldbeck. He spent the greater part of his fortune in keeping up his hounds and harriers. He used to sell a bit of his land from time to time to carry on the hunt. At length he became much embarrassed. The Cumberland 3 o SHEPHERDS' FOX-HUNTS. [CHAP. n. There was another sort of hunt in which George Moore took a still keener interest than in the hunt with John Peel on a barebacked horse. This was a hunt with the Dalesmen, who are all keen hunters. The shepherds look upon the fox as their natural enemy. They are not like the low-country hunters, who cherish the fox, find covers for him, and regard the unhallowed man who kills him as a vulpicide. In Cumberland and Westmoreland the fox, in lambing time, takes to the hills. On his way he robs some atild wife's henroost ; and when he reaches the higher grounds he begins worrying the lambs. The hue- and-cry is then got up against him. The shepherds collect their collies, and determine to hunt the fox and . destroy him. The cry goes abroad that there is to be a hunt. All the runners in the neighbourhood join the shepherds. They bring dogs of all sorts, Scotch terriers, retrievers, Dandie Dinmonts, Bedlington terriers, bulldogs, greyhounds, foxhounds, and every- thing that will run. All is done on foot, so that the fleetest is in at the death. The shepherds soon find out the fox. They know where he is by the remains of his last lamb-feast. They track him to the adjoining holes, and his smell soon betrays where he is. Sometimes he is drawn like a badger ; and then he is worried where he is. At other times he hears the yelping of the dogs and the noise of his pursuers, and hastens away. " There he is ! Yoicks ! " There is a terrible run; up hill and down dale; through bogs and marshes ; over the fell and down into the hollow beyond, where he is lost in some " borrant." hunters then called a meet, and before parting they sang John Peel in full chorus, presenting him with a handsome gratuity, which enabled him to shake off his encumbrances and to die in peace and quiet. CHAP. II.] HARVEST-TIME. 31 But the shepherds are out again next day, and they never cease their efforts until they have killed the fox or driven him away from the sheepwalks. George Moore's schooldays were not yet over. Though he was fond of fun, frolic, wrestling, birds- nesting, and hunting, he was a general favourite ; he was such a helpsome boy. He thought nothing of getting up early in the morning and walking nine or ten miles over the fells to Over Water to get a basket of fish for the family. In the autumn, he would walk a long way up Binsey Hill for blaeberries. During the war time, the necessaries of life were all very dear. Everything was taxed to the uttermost. Poor people could scarcely live. Salt was sixteen shillings a stone. This told very heavily on the states- men ; for salt was necessary for many things connected with farming and cattle-keeping. " I was much delighted," says George Moore in his autobiography, " when the harvest holidays came. As my brother did not pay me any wages, and as I only had my meat and clothes, I hired myself out, when the home fields were cut, to the neighbouring farmers ; and I was thus enabled to get some pocket- money which I could call my own. I started at sixpence a day, and by the time that I was ten years old I got eighteenpence a day. When I reached the age of twelve, being a very strong boy, I ' carried my rig ' with the men. I sheared with the sickle, and kept time and pace with the full-grown shearers. For this I earned two shillings a day, with my food. This was considered unequalled for a boy of my age to accomplish." There were several customs peculiar to Cumber- land and Westmoreland which were then always observed in harvest-time. At the finishing of the 32 A KURN! A KURN ! [CHAP. ir. corn-cutting, the great object of each man was to shear the last shock of corn, as it was thought lucky to do so. Therefore each tried to hide beneath his feet or at " dyke back " a little shock of corn, so as to get the last cut. He who succeeded, plaited it at night and hung it up on the beams of the house, where it remained until Christmas morning, when it was given to the best milk cow. Before leaving the field, the shearers all clustered together, and one of them said : " Blessed be that day that our Saviour was born, Our maister s got his hay housed and all his corn shorn ! " Then all shouted together " A Kurn ! A Kurn ! Halloo ! " That night the K urn-supper was provided, of which butter-sops formed the indispensable part. This was composed of wheaten flour baked on a girdle, like oatcakes. It was then broken up into small fragments, and mixed with butter, sugar, and rum, and afterwards with half-churned cream. Then followed songs, country-dances, and reels, danced to a neighbour's fiddle ; sometimes even measure was kept to a tune given by a good singer, or, better still, by the best whistler of the party. To return to George Moore's early education. After leaving Blackbird Wilson's school at Boltongate, for which his father paid six shillings and sixpence a quar- ter, he was sent to Pedler Thommy's school at Crook- dyke, near Leegate. Thommy had been a pedler, as his name indicated. Though he had broken down, as a pedler, he was thought good enough to be a school- master. He was not a good teacher, though he was much less cruel and drunken than the Blackbird. CHAP. II.] SCHOOL EDUCATION FINISHED. 33 About this time George Moore formed an acquain- tance with the Daniels of Newland's Row, Mealsgate. One of the boys was a good wrestler, and George had many a hard struggle with him on the Leesrig pasture. In the evenings, he used to go into their house, and there he learnt to knit Joseph Daniels seated at one end of the fender, and George Moore at the other, the girls sitting by at their wheels. They all went to learn dancing together at the Apple- tree public-house at Mealsgate. By this time George had reached the age of twelve. His father sent him to a finishing school at Blenner- hasset. He remained there for only a quarter : the cost was eight shillings. " The master," he says, " was a good writer and a superior man indeed a sort of genius. For the first time I felt that there was some use in learning, and then I began to feel how ignorant I was. However, I never swerved from my resolve to go away from home. I had no tastes in common with my brother. I felt that I could not hang about half idle, with no better pros- pect before me than of being a farm-servant. So I determined that I would leave home at thirteen and fight the battle of life for myself." CHAPTER III. APPRENTICESHIP. BUT how was the battle of life to be fought ? How was George Moore to enter upon the struggle ? Where was he to begin ? In a very small way, as with all beginnings. A draper in Wigton, called Messenger, having intimated to Daniel Wilkinson that he wanted an active boy, Wilkinson immediately answered, " I know the very boy for you ! " The boy was George Moore. Wilkinson, being a friend of the Moores, told them that Messenger would come out some day and see his proposed apprentice. John Moore did not welcome the suggestion. He did not wish his boy to be a draper, or anything of the sort. Why should he not " stick by the land," as his fathers had done before him ? He thought it rather humiliating that either of his sons should enter trade. Nevertheless Messenger came out to Mealsgate to see the boy. Old Moore would not hear of George going to Wigton. " If you want a boy take Thomas, but leave me George ; he's far the better worker." Thomas, however, would not go. He was the eldest, and the heir to the property. If any one was to go, it must be George. CHAP, in.] APPRENTICESHIP AT WIGTON. 35 Mrs. Moore, George's stepmother, wished him to go. He was a favourite of hers, and seeing his eager- ness, she strongly advised his father to let him go to Wigton. She did not think he could be of much use at Mealsgate. He would hang on to the estate ; and after all he could never rise much above the rank of farm-servant. Besides, George reiterated his determination to leave home. He could not get even the wages that he earned on the farm. He wanted to do something for himself. He would go to Wigton. In the meantime Messenger had been looking into the lad's face. every day. At length he takes part in the work and pleasures of man. He ploughs, or sows, or reaps in Nothing, cr nought. 46 LEAVING FOR LONDON. [CHAP. in. the fields of the home farm. Or he enjoys country sports running, wrestling, or hunting the rougher the better, and he becomes healthy and robust. In the winter evenings he hears the stories of border life, and thus learns the lessons of his race. He also will be bold and valiant, as his fathers were. What old Stilling said to his grandson on leaving home, John Moore might well have said to his son on leaving Cumberland for London : " Your forefathers were good and honourable people, and there are very few princes who can say that. You must con- sider it the greatest honour you can have, that your grandfather and great-grandfather, and their fathers, were men who were beloved and honoured by every- body, although they had nothing to rule over but their own households. Not one of them ever married disgracefully, or acted dishonourably towards a woman. Not one of them coveted what did not belong to him ; and they all died full of days and honour." CHAPTER IV. IN LONDON. FIFTY years since it took two days and two nights to make the journey from Carlisle to London by coach. It was a long, tedious, and wearisome journey. We complain of railways now, but what should we say if we were driven back to the old stage-coaches ? The passenger was poked up in a little box inside, scarcely able to move or get breath. If he went outside, it was delightful by day, but wearisome by night, especially when the weather was bad. He had to sleep sitting, with his back to the luggage and the edge of a box for his pillow. At a lurch of the coach he woke up with a start, finding himself leaning forward or in- clining backward, or likely to fall side-long from the coach. Railway travellers now consider themselves very much aggrieved if they are half an hour late ; yet good-natured people of the olden times were quite satisfied if they were only half a day late. Though it then took two days and two nights between Car- lisle and London, the journey is now performed, all the way inside, in seven hours and a half, with almost unvarying regularity. Yet we are not satisfied. And yet there was a great deal of pleasure in travel- ling by coach fifty years ago. The beauties of the 48 JOURNEY TO LONDON. [CHAP. iv. country were never out of sight. You passed through shady lanes and hedgerows ; by gentlemen's seats, with the old halls standing out amidst the clumps of trees ; along quiet villages, where the people, springing up at the sound of the horn, came to their doors to see the coach pass. There was the walk up-hill, or along green pastures or bye-lanes, to ease the horses as they crept along. There was the change at the post-town, the occasional meal, and sometimes the beginnings of friendship. All this was very enjoyable, especially to young fellows on their way to London for the first time, to see the great city and its wonders. The coach by which George Moore travelled, went through Lancaster, with its castle perched upon the top of the hill. Then, by a pleasant drive through moors and dales, and by many a pleasant town, though now blurred with the smoke of a thousand chimneys, the coach proceeded to Manchester. The town did not then contain one-third of the population it does now. From thence the coach drove on through the midland shires to London. It was fine spring weather. The buds were bursting, and many of the trees were already green. The journey was still in- teresting, though towards the end it became mono- tonous. At last, on the morning of the third day, the coach reached Highgate Hill, from which George Moore looked down on the city of London, the scene of his future labours. The end of the journey was approaching, and again it became more than usually interesting. Hamlets were passed ; then cottages and villas. Then rows of streets ; although green fields were still dotted about here and there. The enormous magnitude of the place already surprised the young traveller. The coach went through street after street, down Old St. CHAP, iv.] WRESTLING A T CHELSEA. 49 Pancras Road, down Gray's Inn Lane, along Holborn and Newgate Street, until at last it stopped at the " Swan with Two Necks," in Lad Lane, Wood Street. After paying the coachman, Moore was recommended to go to the " Magpie and Pewter Platter," for the purpose of obtaining accommodation. He succeeded ; and went there, hair trunk and all. George Moore arrived in London on the day before Good Friday, 1825. He was too much fatigued to look after a situation on that day. On the following morning all the shops were shut. He had therefore to wait until Saturday before he could begin to look for a place. What was he to do on Good Friday ? He knew that all the Cumberland men in London were accustomed to have their annual wrestling-match on that day, and he accordingly went to Chelsea to observe the sports. When he arrived at the place, he found the wrest- ling-green crowded with north-country people, big, brawny men, of great girth, noted wrestlers and amateur wrestlers, mingled with sporting and slightly " horsey " people. There were many life-guardsmen and foot-guardsmen ; for it must be known that the Border-land, by reason of the big men it contains, is the favourite recruiting-ground for Her Majesty's body- guards. More life-guardsmen have come from Long- town, and from the Westmoreland and Yorkshire moors, than from any similar localities in the kingdom. George Moore found amongst the crowd a young Quaker from Torpenhow, who had won the belt at Keswick a few years before. 1 They had known each 1 It was not with the consent of his family that this young Quaker followed the sport of wrestling. But little boys in the north take to it as ducklings take to the water. When the Keswick match above referred to was about to come off, the young man's mother hid his 50 CUMBERLAND WRESTLING. [CHAP. iv. other before, and now renewed their acquaintance. George, inspired by the event, entered his name as a wrestler. He was described by some who were present on the occasion, as " very strong-looking, middle-sized, with a broad chest and strongly de- veloped muscles." His hair was dark and curly, almost black. His eyes were brown, and glowed under excitement to a deeper brown. His face glowed with health. His bearing was free and open ; it might be called abrupt. But he was civil to every- body. To those who do not know the rules of Cumberland wrestling, it may be mentioned that though it is an athletic sport, it is conducted in perfect good humour, the loser always taking his fall as a joke. It is prac- tised by boys and men on the village greens in the north, and is not in any way mixed up with betting or drinking, though it is somewhat different when prac- tised in London. The wrestlers stand up chest to chest, Sunday clothes to prevent him going to take part in it. But he had another set of second-best clothes hid under a berry-bush in the garden ; and after he had donned them, he set off for Keswick, running the whole way about sixteen miles before he had got his breakfast. Arrived at the toll-bar, outside the town, he went into the house and bought a penny bun. He could not afford to buy a breakfast, for he had only a shilling, which he had borrowed for the occasion. In the town he went into a public house and drank a glass of porter. This made him terribly sick. He made his way to the wrestling-ground, where he arrived as white as a sheet. Nevertheless his name had been entered, and when he was called he went into the ring. He threw the first man that stood against him. Then he threw another, and another, and another, all heavier men than himself. He had still four of the best men to throw men who had carried off the best prizes in former years Armstrong, Frears, Richardson, and Lock. The second last he threw by his slick at back d heel, and the last by the outside stroke. When the last man was thrown, the victor was taken on to the shoulders of the on-lookers and carried round the ring, with a fiddler and a piper playing before him. He was then invested with the belt, and after he had got his prize, he hurried home again. CHAP, iv.] GEORGE MOORE IN THE RL\G. 5 1 each placing his chin on the other's right shoulder, and his left arm above the right of his opponent. They then grasp each other round the body. There is often a difficulty in takiri hod. Each tries to get an advantage in getting the under-grip. When both men have got hold the play begins, and they endea- vour to throw each other on to the ground. The one who touches the ground first, and is undermost, is the loser. Though force goes for much, skill is also indispensable. The " chips," or dexterous strokes, are numerous including the hype, the swinging-hype, the buttock, the cross-buttock, the back-heel, the click inside, and the outside stroke. These would afford ample subjects for the illustration of a beautiful athletic art. 1 When George Moore's name was called, he " peeled " and stepped into the ring. The first man he came against was a little bigger than himself, but George threw him so cleverly that the question was asked on every side " Who's that ? W'here does he come frae ? What's his name?" His name was soon known, and as he again wrestled and threw his man, he was hailed with the cries of " Weel done, George Moore." The difficulties of the wrestlers increase as the sport goes forward. All the weak men have been thrown ; now come the strong against the strong. Observe how careful they are in takiri hod. Each strives to gain some advantage over his antagonist. They give and take, and bob and dodge round the ring. Then the cry rises, " They've haud ! " What an excitement ! The men are locked as in a vice ! Every 1 English sculptors have been imitating the Greek to death. Why not give us some English art ? Nothing can be seen more lithe, vigorous, and muscular than the wrestlers on an English \ilhige- green in the north of England. K 2 52 RESULT OF THE WRESTLING. [CHAP. iv. muscle is straining and quivering. Then great strokes are played ; but it is done so quickly that the " chip " can scarcely be seen ; and down goes one of the men, with the other over him. As the game proceeded, George Moore had a difficult fellow to meet. He was a man of great weight a well-known champion wrestler, called Byers. He had already settled a " vast o' men ; " and now he had to settle this youth of eighteen from Wigton. George worked his way round about him until he got a good grip. Byers tried to grass him by the right leg hype. Then George, taking Byers firmly in his arms, threw him bodily over his head! Byers touched the ground first, and George was victor. " Weel done, George Moore ! " was again re-echoed round the ring. At length he met a man who was " ower kittle for him " a noted champion wrestler, also from Cumber- land. He was famous for his left-leg striking, and clicking inside the heel. After a long struggle George went down under his opponent's favourite chip. Nevertheless he came out of the ring winner of the third prize. After the sports were over, the young fellows came and spoke to him. They knew that he was one of their county-men. His strong Cumberland accent could not belie that. Some of them came from his own neighbourhood. They insisted upon his going with them to the neighbouring public-house, where they treated him to drink. The whole incidents of the day must have elated the lad. Though he had always taken pride in his mode of wrestling, his achievements that day con- stituted him a hero. Acquaintances crowded about him. They wished him at once to fix a meeting, which should be held in the course of a few days. Betting began for and against him, and he observed that some CHAP, iv.] LOOKS FOR A SITUATION. 53 of the lads were taking more drink than was good for them. He was at once reminded of his card-playing at Wigton, of his father at home, and of the many reasons why he should keep himself out of this environment of mischief. He accordingly summoned the resolution to tell his new acquaintances that he could not attend the appointment, for it was his determination not to wrestle in the proposed match. He accordingly left them, much to their indignation. He retraced his way to the city alone. In the course of the afternoon he learnt that the inn, indeed the very bed in which he had slept, had become notorious; for Thurtell, the well-known murderer, had been taken from it by the police some time before. This gave him such a horror, that he felt he could not sleep there again. He accordingly looked out for a lodging in the neighbourhood. He was fortunate in finding one near Wood Street. The lodging-house was kept by a motherly body from the north ; and her great kindness to the stranger lad helped to give him a lasting belief in the goodness of woman. On the next morning the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday he set out, full of spirits, to find a situation. The result of his day's work was very disappointing. He was not only discouraged, but provoked. Wherever he went, he was laughed at because of his country-cut clothes and his broad Cumberland dialect. But he consoled himself. He did not expect to find a situation at once. He must try again. He would begin again on Monday morn- ing, and persevere until he succeeded. There must be plenty of persons in that enormous city wanting a draper's assistant. He accordingly went out early in the morning, and returned late at night. The result was the same utter disappointment. Not a person 54 HIS DISAPPOINTMENT. [CHAP. iv. would have him. Some pretended they could not understand his northern dialect. Was such a lad likely to serve customers ? After his first inquiry he was generally shown to the door. " The keenest cut of all I got," he says, " was from Charles Meeking of Holborn. He asked me if I wanted a porter s situation. This almost broke my heart." He himself, however, admits that he was rather " green " and uncultivated ; and that there was little wonder that the West-end shopkeepers did not give him a place behind their counters. When after- wards referring to this early part of his career, he said, " I had no one to take me by the hand. My very appearance was against me, for the Wigton tailors were not so expert as they are now ; and when I applied for a situation it was difficult to convince them that it was a place behind the counter that I wanted, and not some meaner situation. My dialect too was against me ; for though it is pretty broad now, it was much broader then. After beating about London for an entire week, I began to think myself a not very marketable commodity in the great city." 1 Still he persevered. He went nearly all over London. He entered as many as thirty drapers' shops in a day, always with the same result. It was the same in the east as it was in the west. There was no employment for him none whatever. He passed amid the roar and clatter of the streets pushing his way amongst the keen eager faces of the city, or amidst the careworn crowds of people like himself, wanting work and unable to obtain it. The second Sunday in London came round. He 1 Speech to the boys of the Commercial Travellers' School. CHAP, iv.] OBTAINS A SITUATION. 55 began to realise the solitariness and the solitude of London. Every house looked black at him. Every door was closed against him. He felt himself an utter stranger. No one knew anything of his troubles and sorrows. If they knew, they would not have cared. What was he among so many ? He thought it almost heartless that these multitudes should be go- ing about on their errands of enjoyment and worship, without taking any notice of him. But his was only the case of thousands. To those who are friendless, London is the most solitary place in the world. He must, however, send home his promised letter, to tell his father how he was getting on. But when he had written his letter, it was so blotted with tears that he could not send it. He would wait for another week. Early next morning he was at it again. He tried shop after shop : " No vacancy ! " " At last," he says, " I was in despair. I now determined, as I could not find an opening in London, to go out to America. I called at Swan and Edgar's in Piccadilly, and told a young man there, of the name of Wood, that I was going to take my passage. He then informed me that Mr. Ray, of Flint, Ray, and Co., Grafton House, Soho Square, had sent to inquire if any one knew where I was. Mr. Ray had come from Cumberland himself. He was a Statesman's son. His family had owned Lesson Hall for many generations. He knew about my father's family, and wished to befriend me. I went at once to see him, and he engaged me, more from pity than from any likeli- hood of mine to shine in his service. My salary was to be ^30 a year ; and I joyfully accepted his offer." Thus, while George Moore, in his despair, was lamenting that he had not a friend in London, his 56 REMOVAL OF HIS HAIR TRUNK. [CHAP. iv. friend was waiting for him and even searching for him. Mr. Ray had been informed that the son of his old friend had left Wigton for London ; and not seeing him nor hearing of him, he had sent round to Swan and Edgar's to make inquiry about him Cumberland men are very clannish. They are generally ready to help each other in time of need. Hence the timely assistance which Mr. Ray rendered to George Moore a kindness which the latter never forgot in the course of his after life. On the Monday morning after he had been engaged, George Moore set out to enter upon his situation. He must also get his ancestral hair trunk removed to his new quarters. It contained his clothes, his money, and all that he possessed. He hired a man from the street, the owner of a pony-cart, to carry his hair trunk westward. After taking leave of the kind landlady, his first friend in the great city, he and the man with the cart started for Soho Square. At some turn of the street perhaps while he was glowering about him he missed the man, the pony-cart, and the hair trunk. Surely never was a poor fellow so unfortunate ! He scanned the passing crowd. He tried to see over the heads of the people ; but there was no pony, and no hair trunk in sight. Again he felt his utter loneliness. He sat down on a doorstep almost broken- hearted. No one spoke to him ; no one came near him. What was he to the bustling crowd that passed him by? only a shivering atom on a doorstep! In his despair, he thought that the man had robbed him, and carried off his all. He rested on the doorstep for about two hours. What an interminable torture it seemed to be ! He con- tinued to watch the passing crowd. A pony-cart came CHAP. IV.] ENTERS HIS SITUA TION. 57 up ; he looked, and lo ! it was the identical man, and the identical hair trunk ! The carrier had called on his way upon some other errand, and was amazed to miss his customer. When he came up, he not only laughed at the lad, but rated him soundly for his " greenness " in having lost sight of him, and trusted a stranger with all his things. George was full of delight, and in his exuberance of gratitude, he offered the man all the money he had in his pocket, which amounted to nine shillings. But the coster- monger was an honest man. " No, no ! " said he ; " it's very kind of you, but the five shillings that we agreed upon will be quite enough." He then handed him back the four shillings. George Moore never forgot the lesson of that costermonger's honesty. His eyes were still full of tears when he entered the warehouse. One who was employed there at the time remembers his first appearance. " On incident- ally looking over to the haberdashery counter I saw an uncouth, thickset country lad standing crying. In a minute or two a large deal chest such as the Scotch servant-lasses use for their clothes was brought in by a man, and set down on the floor. After the lad had dried up his tears, the box was carried up stairs to the bedroom where he was to sleep. After he had come down stairs he began working, and he continued to be the hardest worker in the house until he left. Such," says our informant, " was the veritable debut of George Moore in London. Had you seen him then, you would have said that he was the most unlikely lad in England to have made the great future that he did." Everything was strange to him at first the shop, the work, the people, the habits, the life. But he was willing and eager to learn. He had to begin at 58 HIS LOVE OF CUMBERLAND. [CHAP. iv. the lowest rung of the ladder. First he did the drudgery of the house ; then he was moved upwards. He was always ready to do anything. He became a favourite with his companions. Among the young men at Grafton House, with whom he became most intimate, were three Cumberland lads, two Scotch- men, and one Cockney. Those from the midland and southern counties thought the Cumbrians generally a rather rough race. They spoke of them as " the rude barbarians of the north." That was, however, half a century ago. One of George Moore's companions at Grafton House gives us the following recollections of his life at that time : " He slept in the same small apartment with myself and two others. The room could scarcely be considered up to the modern sanitary conditions of life and health ; yet we got on very well. He was very fond of going to the Serpentine to take an early bathe. Many a tussle we had. He called me a ' lazy old Scotchman ' for not getting up and going out with him in the mornings. But I was no swimmer, and did not like to be made the butt of my companion's ridi- cule. I was born at the Lowther Hills, in Lanark- shire, where there was scarcely a burn in which we could bathe. There was not a good swimmer in the parish. " Next to George's integrity and generosity of cha- racter was his love of country and patriotism. He was always ' deaving ' us about his native Cumberland. It was the finest country, with the noblest scenery, and the best, strongest, and most vigorous of men. Cumber- land men are very clannish. They stick to each other through weal or woe. How is it that the natives of a mountainous region are more patriotic than those of a champagne country ? Perhaps this may arise from CHAP. IV.] IMPROVES HIS EDUCATION. 59 their seeing fewer objects to divide their attention, as well as from those objects being of a much grander character, and more likely to take a permanent hold upon their mind. Be this as it may, I uniformly noticed, during my three years residence in London, that young men from Wales, Scotland, and Cumberland pined after their native hills and dales ; whereas young men from the midland and southern counties of Eng- land, fell in like a gin-horse to their daily work. They were as much at home in twenty-four hours as a veritable cockney himself. This may probably be a pretty correct solution of the common adage that an Englishman is made by Act of Parliament ; that is, that he has no local attachments ; and, provided he is protected by the law of the country, and gets enough to eat and drink, all places are alike to him." And now let us give George Moore's account of himself. " On arriving in London, I obtained a situa- tion in a house of business. I soon found that, coming green from the country, I laboured under many disad- vantages. Compared with the young men with whom I was associated, I found my education very deficient ; and my speech betrayed that I had not lived in London all my life. Indeed it smacked strongly of Cumber- land and Cumberland folks. The first thing I did to remedy my defects was to put myself to school at night, after the hours of employment were over ; and many an hour have I borrowed from sleep in order to employ it on the improvement of my mind. At the end of eighteen months I had acquired a considerable addition to my previous knowledge, and felt myself able to take my stand side by side with my com- petitors. Let no one rely in such cases on what is termed Luck. Depend upon it, that the only luck is merit, and that no young man will make his way 60 HIS MASTERS DAUGHTER. [CHAP. iv. unless he possesses knowledge, and exerts all his powers in the accomplishment of his objects." l When George Moore had been about six months at Grafton House, he one day observed a bright little girl come tripping into the warehouse, accompanied by her mother. " Who are they ? " he asked of one of those standing near. " Why, don't you know ? " said he ; " that's the guv'nor's wife and daughter ! " " Well," said George, " if ever I marry, that girl shall be my wife ! " It was a wild and ridiculous speech. " What ? marry your master's daughter ? You must be mad to talk of such a thing." The report went round. The other lads laughed at George as another Dick Whittington. Yet it was no wild nor improbable speech. It was the foreshadowing of his fate. The idea took possession of his mind. It was his motive power in after-life. It restrained and purified him. He became more industrious, diligent, and persevering. After many years of hard work the dream of his youth was fulfilled, and the girl did become his wife. Not, however, before he had passed through many trials and difficulties. One of these was of a most serious character, and threatened to cost him his liberty perhaps his life. He has told the story in his own words : " At that time it was the duty of the assistants to carry out goods on approbation to the best customers. It was my lot one day to do this, and I sold some articles to a lady of title at her house. I made out my own note of the articles, and then copied out the bill for her, which I receipted. But I had unfortu- nately made an error, and in copying out her bill made it /" i more than the amount I had received. The lady, 1 Speech at Wigton, September, 1854. CHAP, iv.] A SERIOUS MISTAKE. 61 on looking over it afterwards, found out the mistake in the addition, and, thinking that she had paid me the extra sovereign, hastened to Grafton House with the bill. On reference being made to my cheque-book, it was found that the amount entered was i less than the bill which I had receipted, on which the lady pronounced me to be a thief. " At this Mr. Ray was very indignant, and told the lady that he did not keep thieves in his house. He kindly told me to try and recollect the circumstances, and endeavour to clear up the matter. Unfortunately, the more I tried, the more I got bewildered. In despair, I suddenly asked the lady the amount of money which she had in her possession when she began to pay me. She said she was astonished at my impertinence. ' And yet/ she added, ' I can furnish you with the information which you require. Lord Conyngham gave me 20 this morning. I paid so much to the baker, so much to the grocer, so much to you, and I have so much left.' I noted down the figures, added them up, and found that they made 21, or a pound more than she had received from her husband. " I immediately called my employer, and got her to repeat the figures. He was satisfied with their correct- ness. Providentially, I all at once recollected that I had taken down a memorandum of the articles sold. I produced this, and found that I had received the money according to this memorandum, and not ac- cording to the receipted bill which I had left with the lady. Knowing my innocence, I boldly asserted the fact. My employer was satisfied. Nevertheless, the lady left the place in a rage, loudly declaring that ' the boy was a thief! ' " But when her temper had cooled down, and she 62 DETERMINES TO LEAVE. [CHAP. I v. had time to recollect all the circumstances of the case, she relented. In the course of the evening, Lady Conyngham sent a polite letter to Mr. Ray, stating that she was thoroughly convinced that the young man's statement was true, and that she hoped the unfortu- nate occurrence would not in any way militate against him. And thus," says Mr. Moore, " ended my escape from Newgate." The laws were then most severe. Forging, stealing, and shoplifting were punishable with death. Only a short time before, a young shop- man at Compton House, in the same square, had been hanged for an offence similar to that of which George Moore had been accused. When the lady had left, George at once ex- pressed his determination to leave the house. But Mr. Ray told him to go behind the counter, to show that he was innocent, and that not a breath of suspi- cion was raised against him. George took his master's advice. The moral courage which he had shown raised him in Mr. Ray's estimation. And when the lady's letter arrived, showing that she had been wrong in her suspicions, and that George Moore was innocent, his character was also raised in the estimation of his companions. At the same time he was determined to leave as soon as possible. He had got a thorough disgust for the retail trade. He was unwilling to incur the risk of being subjected to a similar charge. In answer to the remonstrance of some of his com- panions, he said that " he would rather break stones upon the road than remain behind a counter." A companion of Moore's, on being applied to about the circumstance above referred to, says that he has forgotten all about it ; but he adds that " arithmetical blunders were so common in a large retail establishment like Grafton House that it would be looked upon as a CHAP, iv.] INTERCEDES FOR THE CATTLE-STEALER. 63 very small event. George Moore would have been the very last man to have committed such an act. Indeed stern, truthful integrity was the brightest gem in his character. I often think of him, when I contrast the humble debut he made in London with the brilliant future which he afterwards attained, by reason of his own unaided, energetic, and persevering efforts." Although about to leave Flint, Ray, and Co.'s service, Mr. Ray kindly volunteered to go into the city and endeavour to procure a situation for his young friend in a wholesale house. He went to Mr. Fisher, a Cumberland man like himself, and after giving George Moore an excellent character, he induced him to engage the young man at a small salary. The firm of Fisher, Stroud, and Robinson, Watling Street, was then the first Lace house in the city. George entered it at the beginning of 1826, at the salary of 4