I 
 
 I 
 
 
V v 
 

 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 AND 
 
 EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES 
 
 OF " 
 
 SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, 
 
 KNIGHT OF MALTA. 
 
 ALIAS 
 
 JOHN NICHOLS TOM, 
 
 FORMERLY 
 
 SPIRIT MERCHANT AND MALTSTER, 
 
 
 
 .OF 
 
 TRURO IN CORNWALL, 
 
 BEING A CORRECT DETAIL OF ALL THE INCIDENTS OF HIS EXTRAORDINARY 
 LIFE, FROM HIS INFANCY TO THE DREADFUL 
 
 BATTLE AT BOSSENDEN WOOD, 
 
 EY NUMEROUS E-NGRA^INQS <QF .TH? PR^NCIP AL SCENES OF THAT 
 
 ; TRAGEDY. 
 
 WITH FAG-SIMILES OF THE AUTOGRAPHS OF THAT 
 ECCENTRIC CHARACTER, 
 
 CONCLUDING WITH AN ACCURATE ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 TRIAL OF THE RIOTERS 
 
 AT THE MAIDSTONE ASSIZES. 
 
 BY CANTERBURIENSIS. 
 
 CANTERBURY : 
 
 PUBLISHED BY JAMES HUNT, BURGATE STREET,* 
 
 AND SOLD IN LONDON, BY T. KELLY, PATERNOSTER ROW: AND ALL 
 BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, . 
 
 MDCCCXXXVIII. 
 

 HNRY MORSE STEPHEN* 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed by MICHAEL ABEL, 
 52, Broadwall. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 IT has been wisely said that the proper study of 
 mankind is man, and as in every relation of life, a 
 knowledge of character enables the individual to 
 direct his attention more or less to his own advantage, 
 accordingly as that knowledge extends of the dis- 
 positions and habits of the persons with whom he 
 is brought into collision, so therefore does it become 
 no unimportant matter to exhibit those various 
 shades and aberrations of character, by the influ- 
 ence of which, the general interests of society are 
 promoted or injured, and thereby establish a just 
 and infallible criterion of moral excellence, and 
 vicious depravity. In proportion as the individual 
 digresses from the regular and settled course of 
 human agency, or distinguishes himself by some 
 great and eccentric actions above the majority of 
 his compeers, so does he become a fit subject for the 
 contemplatist and the physiologist, who in his ex- 
 amination, traces the secret springs by which the 
 machinery of human actions is set in motion, from 
 motives he progresses to principles, and thence de- 
 duces a just estimate of the intrinsic character of 
 the individual. 
 
 It is, however, in human society as it is in the 
 works of nature ; in the latter, we discover the 
 phenomena of her comets, her meteors, her earth- 
 
 '12559 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 quakes, and her deluges ; and purblind man sees 
 nothing in their immediate effects, but the ruin and 
 devastation, which they commit, without directing 
 his attention to the future benefits, which may re- 
 sult from them. So is it similarly constituted in 
 human society. Centuries chase each other down, 
 like the wave rolling over the crest of another, 
 and the grovelling emmet man, continues to build 
 the towering edifices of his presumption and his 
 pride, with the hope of reaping fame and immortal- 
 ity as his reward. Education by degrees enlarges 
 the boundaries of his knowledge ; a more extended 
 sphere of action opens itself to his ever restless 
 desires, rich with inestimable advantages, and preg- 
 nant with the increase of his happiness; the mysteries 
 of science by degrees unfold to him the hidden 
 treasures of the material world, he feels himself a 
 more exalted being in the scale of creation, and 
 satisfies himself at last with his affinity to the Deity. 
 A blazing star shoots across the firmament of 
 Heaven, and the human mind runs wild with con- 
 jecture, of its origin, its destination, and its use, and 
 at times upon the great theatre of the world, some 
 strange and extraordinary character bursts forth, 
 which sets the common rules of human calculation 
 at defiance, and appears to the limited sagacity of 
 the uneducated crowd, to be commissioned on earth 
 for no other purpose, than to exhibit the astonishing 
 degree of eccentricity to which the human character 
 can extend. The chief acting principle upon man, is 
 man himself; he is born an imitative animal, and 
 he continues the child and slave of imitation, accor- 
 dingly as his intellect is kept in bondage, or a 
 greater latitude is afforded to it by the power of edu- 
 cation, and the diffusion of useful knowledge. We 
 are, however, too frequently prone, like the chame- 
 lion, which takes its hue from the colour of the leaf 
 
INTRODUCTION. Ill 
 
 ori which it rests, to take our opinions, our habits, 
 our prejudices, and our pursuits from those by 
 whom we are surrounded, and it is the greater or 
 the less departure from that servile habit, which 
 establishes the genius or the originality of the in- 
 dividual. It must, however, not be overlooked, that 
 the weal or woe of human society depends in a great 
 degree upon the instruments which an individual 
 of that stamp selects for the attainment of his pur- 
 pose, and there are some instruments of so danger- 
 ous and questionable a character, that unless the 
 most sound and mature judgment be resident in the 
 individual so making use of them, the machinery of 
 society becomes deranged ; legislation loses its salu- 
 tary influence ; knowledge is shorn of its power, and 
 that, which in any other hands would have been a 
 blessing, becomes by a wrong and a perverted 
 application, the scourge and curse of the human 
 race. 
 
 These preliminary observations will be found pecu- 
 liarly applicable to the extraordinary individual, 
 who forms the subject of the present work. It is 
 not, however, so much in reference to his own 
 immediate actions, stamped as they were by an 
 eccentricity, scarcely a remove from positive insanity, 
 as to the influence which those actions had upon 
 others, and the consequences which are likely to 
 result from them, that entitle him to the notice of 
 the biographer, or to the admission, that he in any 
 way merits the unenviable notoriety which he has 
 now acquired. Posterity will read in his life, 
 a picture of the times in which he lived, and in 
 some respects, it will not be found of a very flatter- 
 ing nor encouraging character. Still, it may be 
 productive of future great arid permanent good, on 
 the same principle, that the air of f leaven is puri- 
 fied by the sulphurous lightning, which is the par-> 
 
IV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tial destroyer of animal life. The revolutions of 
 states have been brought about, the reformation of 
 political abuses has been effected, the annihilation 
 of superstition and fanaticism has been accomp- 
 lished by circumstances of less trivial import, than 
 those by which the career of the eccentric charac- 
 ter, whose actions we are about to describe, has 
 been distinguished. His frantic proceedings have 
 clearly pointed out an evil in our political institutions, 
 to which it would become the rulers of this king- 
 dom to pay immediate attention, and which must 
 be remedied, if the happiness and welfare of the 
 people are to be placed upon a firm and permanent 
 basis. 
 
 We do not look upon the history of the riot of 
 Canterbury, as an event of common interest or im- 
 portance ; it carries with it, although artfully con- 
 cealed, the form and pressure of the times, and 
 from information, which is exclusively in our pos- 
 session, we shall be able to shew, that it was but 
 the ramification of a system which is spreading 
 rapidly through the country, and which must be 
 checked, if the integrity of the kingdom is to be 
 preserved. Courtenay was not the tool nor the in- 
 strument of any party, religious or political, he had 
 formed bis own opinions of things, and with ail his 
 madness, there was an apparent system and a de- 
 lusion in it, which were calculated to operate upon 
 an unenlightened mind with a baneful influence, 
 and to impress it with notions incompatible with 
 that condition of life, which the majority of his 
 adherents occupied. One of the greatest and most 
 extraordinary features in the history of the maniac 
 Courtenay, for we know not how to distinguish him 
 by any other epithet, will be found in the unprece- 
 dented influence, which he obtained, and perma- 
 nently exercised over a large number, not only of 
 
INTRODUCTION. V 
 
 the agricultural population, but of the voters of the 
 city of Canterbury, amongst whom were several 
 men of considerable property and respectability, and 
 the character in which he presented himself before 
 them, was in a peculiar degree calculated to win 
 the homage and admiration of the discontented, viz., 
 that of a religious and political reformer. In either 
 character he obtained a most extraordinary ascen- 
 dency, and whilst with one hand, he flourished about 
 the weapons of the wildest fanaticism, he with the 
 other brandished the torch of disaffection and 
 insubordination to some of the late enactments of 
 government, and set himself up as the chosen dele- 
 gate of a Superior Power, commissioned expressly for 
 the redress of every political and religious grievance. 
 In this character we shall be able to exhibit him in a 
 light in which no one in this country has yet appeared, 
 and from some parts of his correspondence, which has 
 fallen into our hands, the most extraordinary cir- 
 cumstances will be disclosed, and certain indivi- 
 duals implicated, some of exalted rank who to 
 carry their point, and clog the wheels of government, 
 hesitated not to make use of the ravings and eccen- 
 tricities of a liberated lunatic. Let not those in- 
 dividuals dread the severity of our lash vice has 
 only to be exposed to be hated and having fully 
 accomplished the first point, the second we know 
 will follow, sated with virulence and acrimony. We 
 enter not into a contest with the religious or the 
 political feelings of any men or set of men ; the cir- 
 cumstances of the dreadful tragedy, with all its ap- 
 palling atrocities, are before us, a searching inquiry 
 has been made into the whole affair, from its origin to 
 its fatal catastrophe, the characters and actions of 
 the principal actors in the eventful drama have been 
 thoroughly investigated, then where merit is their 
 due, it shall unhesitatingly be awarded to them ; but 
 
VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 no consideration shall withhold us, from visiting those 
 with our censure, who by the official situation, 
 which they filled, might have mitigated, if not wholly 
 prevented the snactment of a tragedy, which will 
 for ever remain a blot in the annals of this country. 
 With the ample sources of information, which 
 have been opened to us, and the ready access which 
 has been so handsomely afforded to us, in a high 
 official quarter to certain documents, elucidatory 
 of many parts of the history of Courtenay, which 
 are at present enveloped in mystery, we confidently 
 anticipate that at the close of our labours, the merit 
 will be awarded to us of having produced a work, 
 which in point of general interest and amusement, 
 is not to be exceeded by any publication of the pre- 
 sent day. As an important and faithful record of 
 a most memorable transaction, with all its national 
 consequences and individual injuries, it will go down 
 to posterity, and be considered as a valuable ad- 
 junct to the historical history of the country. 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 AND 
 
 EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES 
 
 OF 
 
 SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M 
 
 ALIAS 
 
 JOHN NICHOLS THOM. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 IN the town of St. Colomb in Cornwall, lived a worthy 
 and respectable couple of the name of Thorn, who were 
 domic ilated in a small comfortable house, known by 
 the natives of St. Colomb, and the neighbouring farmers, 
 as the Cornwall Arms, and under the roof of which by the 
 lucrative practice of retailing the genuine extract of malt 
 and hops to the debating politicians of the place, they had con- 
 trived to amass by the accumulation of pence into shillings, 
 and shillings into pounds, such a sum of sterling gold, as 
 enabled the said worthy couple to live comfortably, with- 
 out, indeed, exactly partaking of any of the superfluities or 
 refined luxuries of life, but they came within that range of 
 character, who according to the phraseology of the neigh- 
 
\::l 
 
 8 TBE.XJFE AND"' "ADVENTURES OF 
 
 hours by whom they were surrounded, " were well to do in the 
 world." Mr. Thorn also had a small farm in the vicinity of 
 St. Colomb, in which he grew a portion of the barley which 
 he afterwards converted into malt, the spirit of which was 
 afterwards transferred into his ale, and which like some other 
 ales, bore the character of being genuine and unadulterated, 
 and as Mr. Thorn was a man of veracity, the farmer's who 
 congregated in his house, to discuss the question of the 
 probable rise and fall of the markets, verily believed, that 
 the beverage of which they were then partaking, was the 
 genuine extract of malt and hops. Mr. and Mrs. Thorn 
 had been for several years bound together in the holy bonds of 
 matrimony, during which time regularly in about the interval 
 of eighteen months, the family of the Thorns became aug- 
 mented by a chubby infant, alternately of the masculine and 
 feminine gender, in fact so regularly were the sexes appor- 
 tioned, that they might be supposed to have been hatched in a 
 pigeon's nest, male and female, comfortably huddled together. 
 Mr.'and Mrs. Thorn were happy in their family, their business 
 throve, esteem and respectability were the results of their 
 industry, and the future held out to them the prospect of a 
 comfortable old age in the enjoyment of competency and 
 independence. 
 
 One day it was, and a memorable one it has turned out to 
 be in the history of this country, that the family of the Thorns 
 was augmented by the birth of a fine chubby boy, who at 
 the proper time was carried to the holy font, accompanied 
 by the usual posse of male and female functionaries, 
 amongst whom shone conspicuously one John Nichols, who 
 had kindly consented to take upon himself the trouble of 
 teaching the promising scion of the house of Thorns the 
 vulgar tongue, and further to take upon himself the whole 
 burden of the sins which the said scion might commit, until 
 the time had arrived when his sponsors were to surrender 
 him into the better and more holy keeping of the Christian 
 church. Previously to the mother of the infant being in- 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 9 
 
 vested with the name of Thorn, she was known and es- 
 teemed in the world as Miss Nichols, or in other words, the 
 aforesaid John Nichols was her brother, and having in the 
 honorable employment of a farmer, amassed a considerable 
 sum of money, with the determination that he would never 
 enter the married state, and therefore, as far as he was con- 
 cerned, the name of Nichols, like many others of the same 
 expressive import, might be obliterated from the catalogue 
 of human patronymics ; it became a natural conclusion on the 
 part of Mr. and Mrs. Thorn that as Mr. John Nichols had 
 no offspring of his own, and that if he adhered to his 
 present resolution, never would have any, at his decease 
 his fortune would devolve to their children, as the nearest of 
 kin, and therefore setting the compliment out of the question 
 altogether, it was by no means a bad stroke of policy in them 
 in obtaining John Nichols as one of the sponsors of their new 
 born childj and by interposing the name of Nichols be- 
 tween the John and the Thorn, invest him with something of 
 a natural claim to the property of the original John Nichols 
 at his decease. 
 
 The boy grew on apace, and there was in his general 
 demeanour, something so unique and original, and so 
 widely different from the dull and cloddish disposition, 
 manifested by the elder branches of the family, that he soon 
 became the favourite of his parents, and with all the excuse- 
 able, but blind partiality of the father, who often sees 
 virtues and excellent properties in his children, which no 
 one else can discover in them, little John soon became the 
 father's pet, and was introduced on every occasion, as a 
 specimen of a wonderful precocity of talent, which perhaps 
 in reality, diverged more into acts of real mischief, than in- 
 to any direct manifestation of positive genius. At an early 
 age, he was sent to a common day school, where the first 
 rudiments of the English tongue were instilled into him, 
 and where he shewed himself an apt and docile scholar, but 
 
 1. B 
 
10 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 at the same time, the spirit of the future man showed itself 
 frequently in his attaching himself to many objects of learn- 
 ing, which could not be supposed to come within the sphere 
 of the mere child. He is, -however, represented to have 
 been one of the most troublesome little urchins, who was 
 ever placed on a form, before the dreaded figure of a birch- 
 loving female domine ; his propensity to mischief was un- 
 bounded, and the tricks which he practised, not only on his 
 little schoolfellows, but also on the dead and living proper- 
 ties, belonging to his worthy preceptress were innumerable. 
 In vain was summary chastisement inflicted upon him, in vain 
 was the rod in more frequent requisition with him, than with 
 any other of the scholars, the love ofmischief appeared to be so 
 thoroughly interwoven in his nature, that he was actually 
 committing a violence upon himself, if he were not per- 
 mitted to exercise his mischievous propensities, to their full 
 extent. Impatient of authority, even that of his parents, 
 he seemed to yield to it, as if it were a direct usurpation on 
 the part of those, who had a natural right to exercise it to- 
 wards him, and on few occasions was he known to obey the 
 orders of his superiors, or his natural guardians, without a 
 murmur, or some token of positive dissent. 
 
 He remained at the day-school, but about nine months, 
 from which he was at last literally expelled, on account of 
 the favourite cat of the school-mistress presenting itself be- 
 fore her, shorn of its long and beautiful whiskers, which 
 young John, by means of his mother's scissars, had dis- 
 lodged from their natural holding place, and of which most 
 atrocious act, he was declared the culprit, on the testimony 
 of one of his schoolfellows, who witnessed the felonious deed, 
 and at once denounced the criminal at the bar of the 
 highly indignant owner of the mutilated animal. 
 
 From this school, he was placed under the tuition of a 
 very worthy man, who kept a boarding and day-school in 
 the town of St. Colomb, and who having had imparted to 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 1 I 
 
 him, some private information, relative to the character and 
 dispositions of his new pupil, adopted those vigorous 
 measures, which rather tamed the natural inclinations of 
 the boy, and brought him in some degree under a more 
 salutary control, whilst they saved him from many of those un- 
 pleasant scrapes and embarrassments, into which he would 
 otherwise have fallen, and perhaps eventually have thwarted 
 his parents, in the prosecution of those plans, which they had 
 chalked out for his future career in life. With that quickness and 
 penetration however, with which children are so particularly 
 endowed, he soon perceived the ascendency which he had 
 gained over his parents, and especially the degree of favour- 
 tism with which he was treated, in comparison with that ex- 
 hibited towards his brothers and sisters, and he failed not 
 on every occasion to take advantage of it. In the end he 
 became the little tyrant of the house, and in order to put a 
 stop to those feuds and quarrels which at his sole instiga- 
 tion were continually taking place in the house, to the 
 utter destruction of all domestic happiness, his parents re- 
 solved to place him as a boarder at the school, allowing 
 him the privilege of visiting home only on the sabbath. In one 
 respect, hpwever, the adoption ot this plan had an inju- 
 rious effect upon the moral principles of the youth, for he 
 no longer looked upon the sabbath as a day devoted to 
 prayer and an attendance upon divine worship, but as a 
 day of amusement and recreation, or in other words, he 
 looked upon it as his weekly holiday. His parents were 
 good and pious people, Tegular in their attendance at 
 church, and in no one respect infringing the sanctity and de- 
 votional spirit of the Lord's day. Whenever, however, the 
 family were to be mustered for church, little John was no 
 where to be found, but it was discovered that he was 
 prowling about the fields in search of bird's nests, or wan- 
 dering- on the sea-shore, hunting for any thing which the 
 tide might have left on the sands. Threats, expostulations 
 and entreaties were thrown away upon him ; he was con- 
 
12 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 fined during the whole of the week within the narrow pre- 
 cincts of the school domain, and he therefore considered 
 himself entitled to enjoyment on the only day, on which 
 he was emancipated from the thraldom of school dominion 
 His father fearing the consequences of this disposition in 
 his wayward and refractory son, adopted the only feasible 
 plan which at that time presented itself to him, namely of 
 curtailing him of the privilege of visiting his parents on the 
 Sabbath, and forcing him to attend at church with the other 
 scholars. How far this peremptory conduct on the part of 
 his parents, might have had an injurious influence on the 
 future character of the man, is a question which admits of 
 various interpretations. 
 
 The general temper of young John, was not one of that 
 nature, which can be managed by kindness., and consequent- 
 ly, it would require a particular degree of judgment and 
 caution, in the adoption of any system of severity, which 
 might tend to rouse the natural acerbity of his nature, 
 and perhaps nullify every plan, which might be laid down 
 for his future, advancement in life. In regard to his apti- 
 tude for learning, it was admitted by his preceptor, that he 
 far outstripped every one of the scholars; his memory was 
 of the most tenacious grasp, he, however, could not be 
 brought to confine himself to the common rules of scho- 
 lastic education, but he diverged into subjects which were 
 by no means compatible with the sphere of life which he 
 was destined to fill, and which by their abstruse and specu- 
 lative character were likely to instil into him a dislike, if 
 not a positive disgust to the more simple branches of aca - 
 demical learning. His whole mind seemed to be absorbed 
 in any thing that was mysterious, particularly if it had a 
 reference to any of the occult sciences, and in the history 
 of the heathen mythology, a book which he gained from the 
 library of his preceptor, unknown to him, he found a super- 
 abundance of food for the gratification of that romantic 
 propensity, which it would have been wise in his preceptor 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K M. 13 
 
 to check rather than encourage. There was one remark- 
 able trait in his early character which showed itself in a 
 conceited and pompous display of any learning which he 
 had acquired, and by which he hoped to eclipse all his 
 school-fellows, and throw them, as it were, into the shade. 
 An anecdote of rather a ludicrous nature has been pre- 
 served of that peculiar trait in his character, and which 
 was often repeated in his presence to his great annoyance 
 and discomfiture. He was one day taxing his school- 
 fellows with their great ignorance on all matters beyond 
 their mere scholastic exercises, and vaunting of his own 
 comparative proficiency in the superior branches of learn- 
 ing, when he suddenly exclaimed, " I know you all to be 
 such a set of fools, that not one of you can tell me who 
 Neptune is ?" 
 
 " I can," exclaimed one of the boys, " he is .my father's 
 Newfoundland dog." 
 
 John Thorn raised a triumphant shout at the supposed 
 victory which he had gained, and wishing to carry his 
 triumph still further, he cried, " Now tell me who Venus 
 is?" 
 
 " She is my mother's spaniel bitch," answered one of 
 the boys. 
 
 John Thorn turned up his nose, with a look of ineffable 
 contempt, ft why, ye numskulls," he cried, " Neptune is 
 a god, and Venus a goddess." 
 
 " That's a lie," said one of the boys. This insult offered 
 to himself and his deities was more than the irascible tem- 
 per of John Thorn could endure; a regular pugilistic en- 
 counter was the consequence, in which the advocate of the 
 inhabitants of Olympus came off with a severe drubbing, to 
 the great delight of the whole school, with whom John 
 Thorn was by no means a favourite. 
 
 As John Thorn advanced in years, the natural eccentricity 
 of his character began to show itself in various ways, which 
 his parents used their utmost endeavours to check, but 
 
14 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 which appeared to augment with the opposition that was 
 made to it, and some rumours began to he circulated that 
 on the mother's side there was an hereditary disease in the 
 family, on account of which, some of them had been con- 
 fined in a lunatic asylum, and that the symptoms of that disease 
 were then showing themselves in some of the younger 
 branches of the family, but particularly so in the subject of 
 these memoirs. That the conduct of John gave some coun- 
 tenance to these reports cannot be doubted ; his very dress 
 betokened, by its direct deviation from the prevailing mode, 
 a love of eccentricity, which the world are too apt to con- 
 strue into a proof of the existence of a superior intellectual 
 power, which scorns to be confined within the rules of or- 
 dinary life, and thereby becomes the parent of those extra- 
 ordinary actions, which excite the wonder of the world, and 
 sometimes lead to those lamentable catastrophes, which 
 stain the annals of the country, and are adduced as proofs 
 of the existing depravity of human nature. 
 
 The ascendency which John had acquired over his 
 parents soon began to display itself in a manner which 
 was calculated to excite in their breasts some feelings of 
 rather an unpleasant kind, and which were in a great 
 degree aggravated by the peculiarity of his temper, and 
 his iron and unbending humour. He would never conde- 
 scend to solicit any thing from his parents which he might 
 require for the prosecution of his eccentric propensities, 
 but it was exacted from them by means of direct compulsion 
 and more as a matter of right, than one of favour. He had 
 not the slightest idea of economy in the prosecution of any 
 plan which fostered his favourite propensities, and the fre- 
 quent drains which he made upon his father's purse for ob- 
 jects of the most ridiculous and useless nature, were the 
 cause of much serious reflection, and occasioned not a 
 few bickerings between his father and mother, the latter 
 being willing to yield to the vagrant fancy of her son in 
 every particular, whilst the former considered that he was 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 15 
 
 departing from the strict line of his duty, in supporting one 
 child in all his extravagant propensities, whilst his other 
 children were debarred from participating even in a com- 
 parative degree, in any of those superfluities in which the 
 other was so extravagantly indulged. 
 
 It would appear that it was at an early age that the 
 mind of John Thorn was inflamed by the perusal of the pro- 
 ceedings of particular fanatics, who have rendered them- 
 selves notorious in the annals of ;the country, and even in 
 his twelfth year, he was heard to say, that Richard Brothers 
 was one of the most celebrated characters of modern times. 
 Luther, Calvin, and Huss, were in his estimation, men 
 entitled to very little consideration in comparison with 
 Richard Brothers ; the three former being merely reformers 
 of the abuses of the church, which any other men 
 could have accomplished with the same, if not with a superior 
 degree of success; whereas the latter professed himself to be, 
 and was in reality a delegate sent expressly from Heaven, to ac- 
 complish the aims of the - Almighty on earth, and as such was 
 deserving of our profoundest reverence and adoration. But 
 of all men, whose names are recorded in history, as being a 
 direct ambassador of Heaven, there was no one to whom he 
 was more enthusiastically attached than to William Fitz- 
 osbert, or as he was called in his day William Longbeard, 
 who by most a curious coincidence disturbed Kent and 
 London in the reign of Richardlhe First, and so complete is 
 the picture of Longbeard with that of Courtenay in all its 
 points, that it might almost be supposed that fancy had 
 been called in to complete the picture of the remarkable 
 parallel which exists between the two characters. In fact 
 it might almost be supposed that the character of Long- 
 beard had made that indelible impression upon the imagi- 
 nation of John Thorn, as to induce him in after life to take 
 him for his model, and so extraordinary and exact is the 
 copy to the original, that we cannot refrain giving the cha- 
 racter ot Longbeard as it is recorded in history, premising 
 
16 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 that nothing is advanced without authority, and that imagi- 
 nation has not been strained in the slightest decree to 
 "make resemblance more like." 
 
 In the year 1195 there was considerable discontent 
 among the labouring population of London, Kent, and 
 Sussex, owing to the piessure of a tallage or poll-tax. 
 Willam Fitzosbert, a citizen's son, made himself peculiarly 
 conspicuous in his opposition to it, and acquired by that 
 means the most extraordinary influence over the minds 
 of the people. He was a hunchback, but his features 
 were remarkably fine and prepossessing, and he allowed 
 his black beard to grow to such a length, that it hung down 
 over his breast, and acquired for him the name of Long- 
 beard, by which he soon became generally known. His 
 hair was parted in the middle in imitation of the portrait 
 of our Saviour, and he was fond of being told that a like- 
 ness existed between him and the Redeemer. His elo- 
 quence is represented as having been of a kind well suited 
 to captivate and persuade the vulgar, who thronged about 
 him in great crowds whenever it was known that he would 
 address them. He was usually dressed in a long flowing 
 robe, sometimes 'of serge, and sometimes of velvet, and 
 was armed with an enormous battle-axe, whicli he wielded 
 with the strength of a giant. He sometimes addressed 
 his followers in the open space in front of St. Paul's church, 
 but more generally in Blackheath and its neighbourhood. 
 He styled himself the " Saviour and Apostle of the Poor," 
 and pretended to a divine mission of vengeance against 
 landlords, and oppressive rich men. He said he was sent 
 into the world to plead the cause of the poof against the 
 rich, to free the poor from all taxes and imposts whatever, 
 and to banish poverty and hunger from the face of the 
 earth. His favourite expression was " Come unto me, ye 
 poor and needy, and I will open for you a well of joy and 
 salvation. I am the saviour of the poor, and woe to the 
 Norman and rich man who tramples upon us !" Upon 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY. K.M. 17 
 
 one occasion when he was thus expatiating, the mob be- 
 came so excited that the magistrates of London became 
 seriously apprehensive that riots would take place. Long- 
 beard, as usual, was surrounded by a number of his most 
 zealous adherents, armed with pikes and staves, among 
 whom was one Jordan, a substantial tanner, who supported 
 him not only with his influence but with his money. This 
 man was exceedingly resolute, and knew that measures 
 were in contemplation to put a stop to Longbeard's pro- 
 ceedings ; and had in consequence drilled his adherents, to 
 resist to the death any attack that might be made upon 
 him. The authorities of the city acted with much forbear- 
 ance, until they saw that the passions of the multitude had 
 become so inflamed that it was perilous to forbear any 
 longer, and they ordered their officers to seize him. Long- 
 beard felled to the ground, with one stroke of his enormous 
 axe, the man who first put hands upon him, and a general 
 fight took place, in which fourteen or fifteen persons lost 
 their lives, and as many more were seriously wounded. 
 
 Here the parallel between the character and pretensions, 
 even the dress of this man, and that of the self-dubbed Sir 
 William Courtenay is complete. The subsequent career of 
 each does not offer the same points of resemblance. Long- 
 beard, after this affray at St. Paul's, acquired more power 
 than ever, and traversed the country for months, attended 
 by a train of two thousand men, well armed, and well re- 
 ceived by the rural population wherever they went. The 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, who acted as high judiciary of 
 the realm, summoned Longbeard to appear at Westminster, 
 to answer for his misconduct. The " Apostle of the Poor" 
 obeyed the summons but, came with a resolute mob of 
 more than twenty thousand people at his heels, and so 
 overawed the archbishop, that the latter was glad to dismiss 
 him with a slight rebuke, and a request that he would no 
 more trouble the peace of the country. This success made 
 1. D 
 
18 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 Longbeard so insolent that he determined to take up his 
 abode permanently in London, and give laws to the whole 
 Saxon population from his headquarters at PauPs-cross. 
 He was at last met by a " detachment of soldiers in Cheap- 
 side," when he had no more than nine followers with him, 
 and attacked so vigorously that he was obliged to take 
 refuge in Bow Church, which he barricaded and defended 
 against the combined efforts of the citizens for eleven days. 
 How he contrived to subsist during so long a period is not 
 very clearly stated. There must have been provisions of 
 some sort in the Church when he entered it, for he stood 
 the siege in style, and killed many of his assailants, by 
 hurling down large stones upon them from the belfry and 
 windows. As a last resource, the mayor, Fitzalwine, 
 ordered bundles of straw to be piled against the door, 
 covered with a quantity of pitch and tallow, and then set on 
 fire. The building was soon enveloped in flames, and 
 Longbeard and his companions fought their way out with 
 the courage of desperation, and kept their assailants at bay 
 fully half-an-hour. He was at length overpowered and 
 taken prisoner, and shortly afterwards hanged with his 
 companions at the Elms in Smithfield. 
 
 After his death the people came flocking from all parts 
 of Kent to gather particles of the ground on which he had 
 last trod, as holy relics. Numbers of women waited for 
 days at the gallows expecting that he would come to life 
 again, and blind and lame people came from far and near 
 to touch his corpse, in the hope that they would thereby 
 recover their sight and the use of their limbs. The fanati- 
 cism of the followers of Courtenay does not differ so much 
 from this as the lapse of six hundred years would lead us 
 to suppose. 
 
 In his youth, John Thorn appears to have been extremely 
 wavering in his religious tenets, being desirous rather to 
 be the founder of a sect than to be the follower of any par- 
 
Sill WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 19 
 
 ticular one then established. He was never a friend to the 
 Church of England even from his youth, nor had he ab- 
 stractedly speaking, a much more favourable opinion of the 
 ministers of the dissenting denominations. Speaking of the 
 former he says, " It is true the present established Church 
 have the fat livings drawn from the poor distressed farmer, 
 and the sweat of a poor man's labour, yet well we know, 
 that if the dissenting ministers or the Methodist preacher 
 could get a snack at them, and have the same advantage, 
 they would be equally as bad." With such sentiments pre- 
 ponderating on his mind, he frequently embroiled himself 
 in very unbecoming and inconsistent disputes with the 
 worthy ministers of the Christian religion in his native 
 place ; but every allowance was made for his youth and in- 
 experience, and for that natural flightiness and eccentricity 
 of conduct, by which he was so eminently distinguished. It 
 was his belief that every man was more or less inspired 
 with the knowledge of the true faith, accordingly as he was 
 to be made an instrument in the hands of the Supreme 
 Being for the accomplishment of some great and particular 
 purpose. Thus Longbeard and Brothers were in his esti- 
 mation two of the faiost inspired men which this country 
 has produced, awarding the third rank to Peter the 
 Hermit. 
 
 From this slight sketch of the early religious eccentrici- 
 ties of John Thorn, we return to the private affairs of him- 
 self and family. 
 
 The education of John Thorn being completed/it was 
 the desire of his father that he should turn his attention to 
 agricultural pursuits, for which purpose, he offered to re- 
 linquish to him the farm, and confine himself to his business 
 as a publican and maltster. To this considerate proposal, 
 on the part of his father, John appeared at first most will- 
 ing to accede, when a temporary obstacle presented itself 
 in the person of a young lady for whom John professed a 
 violent attachment, and who was in reality sincerely 
 
20 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 attached to him. The persuasive powers of a female under 
 such circumstances, are generally of great effect, and in the 
 present instance, the lady represented to her beloved, the 
 misery of a country life, in such black and disheartening 
 colors, that in a moment, all the advice and recommenda- 
 tion of his parents were overthrown, and John privately 
 looked around him for some businefis, which would meet 
 with the concurrence of his beloved, and prove to him such 
 a source of emolument, as would enable him to support a 
 wife with respectability and comfort. Here again, how- 
 ever, the eccentricity and unsteadiness of his disposition 
 were again manifested in an extraordinary degree. He 
 looked into the lives of the great and celebrated men, who 
 had been the ornament of preceding ages, in their vast and 
 glorious exertions, for the general benefit of mankind, he 
 looked into the lives of the fathers of the church, and all 
 those who had co-operated in the foundation of the Christian 
 religion, and he found them all to be celibats, and treating 
 marriage, as an institution, inconsistent with their holy 
 vocation. The visions of his future glory, and of his fame 
 throughout all the nations of the world, were beginning to 
 float on the surface of his imagination : in prospective, he 
 saw his banner floating on the walls of Jerusalem, and the 
 potentates of the world crouching at his feet, acknow- 
 ledging him as Heaven's vicegerent on earth, the giver 
 and fountain of all terrestrial honors. And was a man with 
 these splendid and glorious prospects before him, to en- 
 cumber himself with such a thing as a wife ? Was he to de- 
 part from the example of his great predecessors, and relin- 
 quish a life of celibacy, and become perhaps the father of 
 a family, whom when the time of his calling came, (and 
 come it certainly would, according to his own opinion), he 
 would be obliged to leave, to accomplish the great task 
 of the regeneration of the world, for which it was evident to 
 himself, that he was appointed by Heaven ? He attempted 
 to explain the mystery of all these things to the enamoured 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 21 
 
 lady, but she either did not, or would not comprehend him. 
 She could not |be made to conceive why, because Luther 
 and Calvin, and St. Augustine, and Peter the Hermit, and 
 Naylor and Fox, and Behmen and other such fools as she 
 called them, were pleased to choose a life of celibacy? why 
 Mr. John Nichols Thorn, of St. Colomb, should follow so 
 bad an example ? Considering it also in a personal light, 
 it was in her opinion a sacrifice on his part, which neither 
 circumstances, nor the general aspect of the times required. 
 Nature, reason, aflection, happiness, all spoke loudly against 
 it, and in the other scale as a counterpoise, there was 
 merely a drachm weight of caprice and foolishness. John 
 Thorn admitted in some respects the validity of these argu- 
 ments, but in his own mind he had formed the resolution of 
 living a life of celibacy, until the great aim, which he had 
 in view was accomplished, but what that great aim exactly 
 was, he could not at that time distinctly define. There was 
 something whirling in his brain, an arnalgation of the most 
 discordant subjects, some bearing as little affinity to each 
 other, as oil and water, and others, the practicability of 
 which could only have entered into the head of the wildest 
 visionary, or the most senseless enthusiast. The pandora's 
 box of all the political and religious evils, which ever had 
 happened, which were happening, or which to his vagrant 
 fancy, were to happen, was open before him, and he, accord- 
 ing to his conceit, was the selected, the appointed, the 
 commissioned agent, by whom all those evils were to be re- 
 dressed, and he was to appear on the pedestal of fame, as 
 one of the greatest benefactors of the human race. He had 
 read of men, who previously to the commission of some 
 great act, retired from the world to contemplate in secret, 
 the various methods, by which their aim could be accom- 
 plished, and therefore it appeared to him, that if he retired 
 to his father's farm, where he could cogitate upon his future 
 actions, he would be only following the example of the 
 great and eminent men, who had preceded him, and having 
 
22 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 there, well matured his plan?, he could sally forth upon his 
 important mission, and dazzle the whole world, by the efful- 
 gence of his supernatural genius. Despite, therefore, of all 
 the entreaties and arguments of his inamorata, he ex- 
 pressed his willingness to his father to take upon 
 himself the concerns of the farm, and. he was accord- 
 ingly put into the possession of it, his father expressing 
 his sincere hope, that he had thereby placed him in a situa- 
 tion by which he would be able to gain a respectable liveli- 
 hood, and lay up a competency for his old age. There 
 were, however, other things teeming in the head of John 
 Thorn, than the rearing of calves or the fattening of pigs, 
 for a bright idea was at that time floating on the surface of 
 his mind, that England was not exactly the country in 
 which to commence his mighty operations, but that if he 
 could succeed in reaching Jerusalem, and the obstacle 
 thereto he considered as very trifling, he could collect all 
 the Christians of Syria around him, and" having convinced 
 them of the divinity of his mission, which in his opinion 
 would be a very easy task, he might then- extend his sphere 
 of usefulness to the Jews, and convince them [also that he 
 was the appointed agent of Heaven to restore to them the 
 possession of the land of their fathers. He had heard of a 
 lady, whom we suppose to be Lady Hester Stanhope, who 
 had taken up her residence in Palestine for the purpose of 
 awaiting the second coming of the Messiah, and that the 
 horses were kept continually saddled in her stable, on which 
 he was to make his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. He 
 considered that it would be by no means a difficult task to 
 convince that lady that he was the identical person of whom 
 she lived in such anxious expectation, and on that convic- 
 tion being effected, supported by the unbounded influence 
 which she possessed over the minds of the natives of the 
 country, his carreer would be at once one of surpassing 
 glory and celestial brightness. 
 
 With such ideas of comprehensive magnitude whirl- 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 28 
 
 ing in his brain, no wonder need be excited that the pigs 
 went without their accustomed meals, that the wheat was 
 sown, when in the fields of the neighbouring farmers it was 
 almost shooting into ear; that the plough was set to work, 
 when on Other farms the operations of it had been 
 finished some weeks before, in short, John Thorn had not 
 been six months in the farm, before it resembled more a 
 wilderness then a cultivated garden, which it was, when he 
 took possession of it, and his father consequently determi- 
 ned to rid himself of so destructive and unprofitable a 
 tenant with all possible expedition; the worthy man, how- 
 ever, found, that he was in the situation of many hundreds 
 of his fellow-creatures, who with the conviction that they 
 have got a bad tenant on their premises, are ignorant of the 
 exact means by which they can get rid of him, or if they do 
 know those means, are either by cunning or by chicanery 
 baffled in the execution of them, John Thorn perfectly 
 coincided with his father that he was not exactly cut out 
 for the farming line, he being destined to far more dignified 
 and important objects, for the accomplishment of which it 
 was necessary, consistently with the example of the eminent 
 men, who had preceded him, that he should locate himself 
 in some retired place, where ample time would be afforded 
 him of reflecting on the great part which he would soon 
 have to perform on the great theatre of the world, and for 
 which every circumstance of his life tended to convince 
 him, that he was especially appointed. His father attempt- 
 ed in the first place to extract from him a minute rela- 
 tion of the important business which thus appeared to 
 engross all his attention, but John declared that he was not 
 permitted at that moment to disclose the plans which he 
 had in view, as they had been confided to him by the 
 direct influence of inspiration, and therefore, as being 
 merely the instrument of a superior power, it would sub- 
 ject him to the well merited displeasure of that power, 
 were he to diclose the secrets, with which he was entrusted 
 
24 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 before permission was granted fo him for the purpose. 
 Mr. Thorn ventured to hint to his son, that some other 
 place might be selected than his farm, in which he could 
 cogitate with equal chance of success, for he had no doubt 
 that his projects had some reference to an improved plan for 
 wetting barley in the operation of malting or the compa- 
 rative advantages of the broad-cast, and the drill husbandry. 
 John Thorn would not condescend to make any reply to this 
 degrading opinion which his father entertained of his stu- 
 pendous projects, and on the other hand, a very unpleasant 
 suspicion arose in the breast of Mr. Thorn, Senior, that some 
 crotchets had crept into the head' of his son, which would not 
 stand the scrutiny of reason and common sense, and in fact, 
 it must be stated, that it was during the short residence of 
 John Thorn at the farm, that his conduct became so fre- 
 quently marked by eccentricity, and a direct deviation from 
 the ordinary course of human action, that some serious 
 apprehension was engendered in the breast of his father, 
 that his son was not fit for the common occupations of hu- 
 man life, and that he must be taken into a wholly different 
 sphere than that, which he then occupied. The following 
 circumstance, tended in a great degree, to confirm Mr. 
 Thorn in his opinion. On visiting the farm one day, he 
 left instructions with his son, that every hand in the 
 farm should be employed on the following day, in clearing 
 a particular field of the couch, with which it abounded. 
 Mr. Thorn visited . his farm to see that his instructions 
 were punctually executed, but on arriving at the field, 
 where he expected to find all his men at work, not one was 
 to be seen he went into the stables, the horses were com- 
 fortably enjoying themselves over their provender, but as to 
 a human being, the plague might have visited the farm, for 
 not one could he meet with, who could account to him for 
 the spirit of absenteeism which appeared to have visited the 
 whole of his working community. He went into the 
 kitchen the cauldron which contained the dinner for the 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 25 
 
 farming men was boiling over, but neither cook nor scullion 
 was to be seen, and Mr. Tom stood for some time lost in 
 conjecture as to the nature of the extraordinary circum- 
 stance which must have taken place on his farm, as literally 
 to divest it of every symptom of a human being. Whilst 
 standing at the door, anxiously looking around for some 
 one, who could solve to him the mystery of these alarming 
 proceedings, a slight buzz attracted his notice, which ap- 
 peared to issue from a barn, at the further extremity of the 
 yard ; on his approach, he distinctly heard a human voice 
 declaiming in the most emphatic manner, and which by its 
 peculiar tone, he soon discovered to be that of his son. 
 Wishing to become acquainted with the precise subject of 
 his son's declamation, he listened at the door, when he 
 caught the following sentences. 
 
 " I tell you, and if you will not believe me, your minds 
 must be case-hardened with stupidity, that the Sabbath is 
 not an ordinance of Christ's foundation, whoever says it is, 
 knows nothing of Christ, nor of the doctrines which he 
 preached. It has, in fact, nothing at all to do with the faith 
 of a Christian. It is an institution and an enactment of 
 man, and, therefore, by human power alone can the obser- 
 vance of it be maintained. There are some dolterheads in 
 Parliament who would make a law, by which the Sabbath 
 is to be observed, but I tell them, they may as well enact a 
 law for the better regulation of the tides, as to compel a 
 man to keep the Sabbath in any other way than it seemeth 
 best in his eyes. Now, my good fellows, answer me one 
 question, and if you cannot answer it, I will answer it for 
 you. Was man made for the Sabbath, or the Sabbath for 
 man ? You do not answer me, well then, I will tell you. 
 Man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for 
 man, therefore, if I know what reason is, man has a right to 
 keep that Sabbath as he pleases, for no man has a right to 
 prescribe to another, in what manner he shall spend his 
 2. E 
 
26 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 days, whether it be the Sabbath or a common working day. 
 All compulsory worship is bad, and must fail of pro- 
 ducing any good effect, nor can a worship of that kind be 
 
 acceptable to the Deity " 
 
 Mr. Tom thought he had heard quite sufficient of his 
 son's declamation, to put an immediate stop to it, and, 
 therefore, he burst unexpectedly into the barn, in the 
 midst of which, he beheld his son standing in a wheel-barrow 
 surrounded by the whole community of the farm, male and 
 female, who were listening with greedy ears and gaping 
 mouths to the maxims of wisdom which flowed from the 
 lips of the youthful orator. The whole of the audience 
 hung their heads abashed, and totally discomfited at the 
 unexpected appearance of their master ; not so however, the 
 erudite expounder of the foundation of the Sabbath, for so 
 far from being in the least disconcerted by the sudden ap- 
 pearance of his father, he regretted that he had not come 
 sooner, as he would then have heard the commencement of 
 his harangue, but, at all events, he had fortunately arrived 
 to hear the close of it. Mr. Tom insisted in the most 
 peremptory manner, that his son should in future desist 
 from inflaming the minds of his labourers, with such irre- 
 ligious sentiments, and which must necessarily have a 
 tendency to instil into them a distaste for the observance of 
 one of the most sacred institutions of the Christian religion. 
 John proceeded to argue with his father, on the validity of 
 the arguments which he had used, in regard to the founda- 
 tion of the Sabbath, and challenged him to refute them, but 
 Mr, Tom wisely declined tne challenge, and the same day 
 he removed his son from the farm, though not without some 
 violent opposition, and rather an undutiful remonstrance at 
 the exercise of an authority, which although parental, had 
 its limits, but which in the present instance he maintained, 
 had been carried far beyond them. 
 
 Notwithstanding the eccentricity which generally dis- 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, KM. 27 
 
 tinguished the conduct of Mr. John Tom, he had acquired 
 for himself the esteem of many of the respectable inhabi- 
 tants of his native place, and by some of them, his society 
 was courted, on account of his conversational powers, and 
 the extent of the information which he possessed on the 
 general topics of the day, as well as the critical skill which he 
 evinced, in discussing the merits of some of the principal 
 literary works, with which the press at that time so heavily 
 groaned. He was a great admirer of the philosophy of 
 Godwin, and particularly of the principles expressed in his 
 celebrated work on Political Justice, but there were few or 
 none in his native town, who had ever heard of Godwin, or 
 of the principles which he espoused, and, consequently, if he 
 had in any of his social meetings mooted the question, which 
 at that particular period occupied the attention of the 
 learned, whether the inhabitants of the moon carried their 
 heads, like- the good people of this world between their 
 shoulders, or under their arm, he would have found just as 
 many able to argue the topic with him, as when he attempted to 
 edify the company by an exposition of the Godwinian theory 
 of causes generated in eternity. In this part of the 
 philosophy of Godwin, he was a firm and enthusiastic be- 
 liever, and it is not therefore to be wondered at, that Mrs. 
 Hamilton, who in her work, entitled Modern Philosophers, 
 attempted to ridicule the theory of Godwin, without the 
 ability to penetrate much further into it, than the superficies, 
 was visited by Mr. John Tom, with the full force of his in- 
 dignation, and the severe lashing of his critical powers. 
 
 It was evident to his father, that the materials were exis- 
 ting in his son, for the formation of a shining character, and 
 therefore he considered, that he might be laying the founda- 
 tion of his future fame, were he to recommend to him the 
 adoption of one of the so-called liberal professions, which 
 in the majority of them, however, is a direct misnomer, as 
 liberality forms a very small ingredientjn their constitution, 
 John possessed considerable declamatory powers, which 
 
28 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 supported by fertile, and rather a luxuriant imagination, 
 were well calculated to advance him in several of the pro- 
 fessions, but to some, unfortunately, in which those powers 
 could have been properly displayed, there existed a positive 
 objection on account of the religious and political principles 
 which he had adopted, and which could not fail to operate 
 as an insuperable drawback to his attaining that eminence, 
 which his superior talent might otherwise enable him to reach. 
 To the church there existed a decided objection, on account of 
 his apparently settled aversion from many parts of its 
 ritual, and his avowed hostility to some of its institutions, 
 and yet perhaps few men had a more reverent sense, or a 
 more holy feeling for the beauties of Christianity, in its 
 original and native simplicity. Of the stage, he knew little 
 or nothing ; he indeed had read of its existence in the periodi- 
 cals of the day, but of its practical moral benefits, or its 
 dangerous fascinations, he possessed not the slightest 
 personal experience. He had never wandered far enough 
 from his native home, to come within the range of its mimic 
 exhibitions, and although he was no stranger to many of 
 the beautiful soliloquies of our dramatic poets, which he 
 had gathered from his elementary books, during the course 
 of his education, yet except the repeating of them for the 
 amusement of the social circles into which he was thrown, 
 he exhibited no particular disposition to be more intimately 
 acquainted with the profession. 
 
 His father, however, thought he saw in the law, a field 
 open for the advancement of his son, although a more accurate 
 observer of human character would perhaps have discovered 
 that there was something in the volatile and unsettled 
 dispositions of the young man, which did not well accord 
 with the dull and disheartening study of the law. The 
 fortune of his father was not ample enough to give his son 
 that independence, which would enable him to prosecute 
 those studies, to fit him for appearing at the bar, with the 
 chance after all, of his adding to the number of those 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 29 
 
 " learned men/' to whom the sight of a brief is noted down 
 in their diary as one of the most extraordinary occurrences 
 of their life. 
 
 Whether it were a fortunate, or an unfortunate circum- 
 stance, or whether Mr. John Tom considered it, according 
 to the Godvvinian philosophy, to be one of the many 
 millions of causes generated in eternity, is a point which 
 we will not stop to discuss, but at this particular period, a 
 vacancy occurred in an attorney's office of some character and 
 respectability, which is a great deal more than can be said 
 of every attorney's office, and Mr. Tom, senior, consulted 
 with his son on the expediency of making an immediate 
 application for the vacant situation, and thereby, lay the 
 foundation of the knowledge of a profession, by which his 
 future advancement in life would be confirmed. The plan 
 was strongly recommended by his father, who so flattered 
 the egotism.ot his son, by some well timed eulogiums on the 
 abilities which he possessed for the profession ; and the 
 consequent wealth which would flow to him, were he at the 
 proper time to establish himself as a solicitor in his native 
 town, that any objection which his son might have enter- 
 tained to the confinement and drudgery of an attorney's 
 office, was gradually overcome, and in a few days he saw 
 himself seated at a desk, surrounded by fi, fas, ca, sas, pleas, 
 declarations, and issues, and bundles of paper with their 
 customary ligatures of pink tape, indicative of the extensive 
 practice of his principal, and some principals there are, having 
 no principles at all, who burden their tables with similar 
 bundles of paper, which, if examined, would be found to 
 refer to some legal proceedings of about twenty years ago, 
 carried on by some other attorney, but which are there 
 placed purposely to astonish any accidental client who might 
 step in, with the extraordinary extent of the legal practice, 
 and the number of clients who intrust their affairs in the 
 hands of so " respectable a man." 
 
 Perhaps, there were never two persons more unfit for 
 
30 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 the interior of an attorney's office, on account of the pecu- 
 liar bent and direction of their mental qualifications, than 
 the late William Cobbett, and the late John Tom, and a 
 very interesting parallel might be drawn between those two 
 now celebrated characters, at that particular period of their 
 lives, when they both occupied a stool in an attorney's 
 office. Actual genius is there as much out of its place, as 
 a beautiful Indian exotic on one of the heath-covered moun- 
 tains of Scotia, or a diamond of Golconda on the brow of 
 an Esquimaux squaw. That genius, although of a parti- 
 cular and different degree existed in those two above men- 
 tioned individuals, cannot admit of a doubt, and in subject- 
 ing that genius to the dull and monotonous routine of an 
 attorney's office, in forcing it to inhale the sickening atmos- 
 sphere of legal chicanery, and professional cunning, was 
 like putting the high -mettled racer into a dust cart, or a 
 bishop into a ball room. Still, however, there was in the 
 earlv period of John Tom's life, a business-like character 
 about him, which enabled him to give satisfaction to his 
 employers, although the actual business in which he was 
 employed, did not exactly harmonize with the particular 
 bent of his disposition. 
 
 There was, however, another trait in his character which 
 did not well accord with the situation in which he now 
 found himself, and that was, a decided aversion from every 
 thing that in any way approached to trickery and duplicity. 
 If any thing, he was too open and ingenuous, and therefore 
 he found himself not a little embarrassed when he was 
 called upon, in the exercise of his professional duties to 
 commit any action, which inflicted a wound upon that 
 amiable part of his character, and he was not long seated 
 at his desk, before he had frequently to endure the inflic- 
 tion of that wound, and which gradually sowed in him the 
 seeds of disgust for the profession. In the above statement, 
 we by no means implicate the character of the respectable 
 individual, in whose office John Tom was located ; the 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 31 
 
 conduct to which we allude forms a part and parcel of the 
 profession, it is completely identified with it, and is as in- 
 separable from it as light and heat from the sun. 
 
 During the time, however, that John Tom continued in the 
 attorney's office, he conducted himself to the satisfaction of 
 his employers, with the exception now and then of an occa- 
 sional ebullition of his natural eccentricity, which in itself 
 was harmless, but which did not well accord with the sober 
 and formal etiquette of the office, in which like the horse 
 in the mill, he was bound to one dull uniform circle, and 
 beyond which it was the extreme of impropriety to 
 digress. 
 
 There are several instances on record of the goodness of 
 his disposition in the exercise of his professional duties, 
 although the rigid professional might stigmatize his conduct 
 as a breach of confidence, and which on account of the 
 rarity of its occurrence is worthy of particular mention. In 
 many cases in which the spirit of litigation has carried the 
 iron-hearted creditor to the office of the attorney, insisting 
 upon legal proceedings being immediately instituted against 
 his impoverished debtor, has John Tom not only under- 
 taken the part of the advocate of the embarrassed man, 
 urging the policy of granting him indulgence, and the pros- 
 pect of the total loss of the debt, were legal proceedings to 
 be instituted, but he has been known secretly to convey 
 information of the intentions of the creditor to his debtor, 
 and urging a settlement of the debt before the amount was 
 augmented by a ruinous accumulation of costs. By this 
 rare mode of conduct, he gained the good-will of many, and 
 although it might be construed by some persons as an un- 
 justifiable injury done to the interests of his employer, yet 
 it was the amiable voice of humanity overpowering the 
 exercise of the worst of human passions, and converting the 
 power which was vested in his hands, into a mitigation of 
 individual wretchedness. 
 
 The school-boy could not anticipate with greater satis- 
 
32 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 faction the arrival of the hour which is to emancipate him 
 from the thraldom and despotism of the school-room, than 
 John Tom looked forward to the hour which was to liberate 
 him from the monotony of the office, and when he could 
 hasten to the prosecution of those pursuits, which were 
 more congenial to his dispositions. In the evening, he 
 generally repaired to his father's ale room, where the dawn- 
 ings of that genius began to show themselves, which 
 afterwards rendered him so celebrated a character in the 
 local history of his country. He always advocated the 
 cause of reform in all our religious and political abuses, 
 and the arguments which he used were well calculated to ex- 
 cite attention, and enlist under his banners a number of the 
 already disaffected, who saw in his chimerical plan for a 
 general division of property, the means of raising them- 
 selves to comparative affluence on the spoils and the wealth 
 of others. There is no doubt, much in the disposition of the 
 working classes of this country, to pre-dispose them to the 
 reception of such doctrines, as John Tom was accustomed to 
 express so dogmatically to the numerous visitors of his 
 father's house, and wherever they are ignorant as well as 
 poor, to induce them to imagine that an entire change in 
 the distribution of property throughout the kingdom, would 
 give them instant relief. 
 
 The wild crotchets of the Spenceans were at this time 
 beginning to agitate the public mind, and their principles 
 so nearly harmonized with those, which John Tom enter- 
 tained in regard to the existing unequal appropriation 
 of property, that he espoused the cause with an enthusiasm 
 natural to his character, and which he actually considered 
 as founded on the strictest principles ot truth and justice. 
 
 He, however, succeeded in convincing many of the ignorant 
 individuals, who listened to his incoherent harangues, that the 
 time was not far distant, when there would be such an equal dis- 
 tribution of property throughout the country, that such a com- 
 petency would be awarded to each, as would render labour 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K. M. 33 
 
 unnecessary, and that as the millennium was also near at 
 hand, universal happiness would reign throughout the 
 land. 
 
 This was, however, one of the delusions, which Tom en- 
 deavoured to perpetuate, and which too many of his partizans 
 were too ready and willing to adopt. In justice, however, 
 to that individual, it should be observed, that throughout the 
 whole of these proceedings of an unsettled and wandering 
 mind, there was not the least display of actual vice. He 
 was always excessively temperate in his habits, and if he, 
 at times might be said to infringe the limits of filial duty, 
 and spurn the authority of his parents, yet it could not be 
 attributed so much to a want of affection, as to the positive 
 conviction which was impressed upon his mind, that he was 
 rendering an essential service to mankind by the dissemi- 
 nation of his principles, and that as a true patriot, he was 
 called upon, in despite of all opposition, to support those 
 measures, on which according to his 'opinion, the welfare 
 and prosperity of the country depended. 
 
 However false and theoretical his ideas may have been 
 of the general state of human society, as far as their poli- 
 tical, and religious relations were concerned ; perverted as 
 his judgment may have been, as to the means by which the 
 general interests of society might be promoted ; visionary 
 and wild as may have been the schemes which his inflamed 
 imagination devised for the redress of all the grievances 
 which bear so heavily upon the lower classes, still not the 
 slightest scintillation of self-interest exhibited itself in any 
 oneof his proceedings ; he looked for no personal aggrand- 
 izement from his fellow-men ; his conduct was regulated 
 by the example of the eminent martyrs in the cause of 
 truth and reason, and he had no doubt that at some future 
 period, his name would be enrolled amongst them. \ 
 
 In the mean time his father could not refrain from en- 
 tertaining some secret migiviugs founded perhaps on truth 
 2. F 
 
34: THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 as to the embarrassments in which his son was likely to 
 involve himself by his pertinacity in the promulgation of 
 his sentiments, which in the remote corner of the country in 
 which he lived, were by no means generally acceptable, on 
 account of their levelling and anti-episcopal character, yet 
 so prone is the human mind to accept of any thing that is 
 new and original, that John Tom began already to be 
 looked upon by a particular class of individuals, as one of the 
 most promising young men of the age, and there were 
 not wanting many, who augured that they should live to see 
 him as the regenerator of their country, and actually guid- 
 ing the reins of government by the mere dint of his own 
 transcendent abilities. 
 
 The life of John Tom had hitherto been passed in a com- 
 parative state of serenity, undisturbed but by those casual 
 occurrences of accidents and disappointments, to which 
 every human life is more or less subject. From his infancy 
 he had been the humoured child of an affectionate and in- 
 dulgent mother, who often interposed with her maternal 
 fondness, between the more rigid and severe conduct of 
 his father ; who fostered all his eccentric propensities, and 
 who saw in the dawnings of his intellectual ability, the 
 solar brightness of his future life. The worst and most 
 afflicting of all human calamities was now to befal [that 
 mother, and although living, to render her as one of the 
 dead to her family. 
 
 Mr. Tom had for a series of years prosecuted his busi- 
 ness as an innkeeper and maltster with credit and respect- 
 ability, and he stood high in the estimation of his towns- 
 men, and of the neighbouring farmers, who were the regular 
 frequenters of his house. A fire, however, broke out acci- 
 dentally in his premises, which consumed nearly the whole 
 of them, and so great was the affright which this disastrous 
 occurrence occasioned to Mrs. Tom, that she sank into a 
 state of melancholy, which gradually diverged into insanity 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K,M, 35 
 
 and she became the inmate of a lunatic asylum. In strict 
 conformity, however, with that censorious disposition which 
 is too prevalent in the world, there were many, who in 
 the melancholy condition of Mrs. Tom, pretended they 
 could trace the existence of a disease that was hereditary, 
 and that it was no alarm nor affright which had alienated her 
 reason, but that it was no more than could be expected, 
 seeing that her grandmother had been insane, and perhaps 
 if the affair were thoroughly investigated, it would be found 
 that the whole family had been a race of lunatics, as far 
 back as their progenitors could be traced. Not contented 
 however, with the decision to which they had arrived re- 
 specting the lunacy of Mrs. Tom, their penetration was put 
 further to the test, and they saw in the eccentricities of her 
 son John the germes of the same malady, which were to 
 burst forth at some, perhaps, not very distant period of his 
 life, and which according to their opinion was a proof, equal 
 to a mathematical demonstration, that the eccentricities of 
 John Tom did not originate, as some people affirmed, in an 
 exuberance of intellectual talent, but were the, direct con- 
 sequence of the disease hereditary in his family, and to 
 which he would sooner or later be obliged to yield. 
 
 The loss of a mother is at all times of serious conse- 
 quence ; it may be looked upon in ftie generality of cases 
 as the breaking up of the various ties which bind the 
 family together, and a vacuum is occasioned in the domestic 
 happiness, which no other circumstances can replenish. To 
 the credit of her son John it must be mentioned, that he 
 appeared to feel the situation of his mother more acutely 
 than any other branch of the family . for the bereavement 
 of her by death would not have afflicted him with such 
 painful feelings, as the knowledge that she was suffering 
 amongst strangers, and her own immediate family debarred 
 from the melancholy satisfaction of administering to her 
 any of those comforts, which might tend to alleviate the 
 miseries of her condition. The sister of John Tom was of 
 
36 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 too cold and phlegmatic a temperament to sympathise with 
 him on the loss of his parent, and being rather of a haughty 
 and despotic character, she appeared to feel herself compa- 
 ratively at ease, now that the reins of the government of 
 the family were placed in her hands, and which she guided 
 sometimes not exactly to the satisfaction or approbation of 
 her brother, who not having been much accustomed to 
 female control, did not patiently yield to that, which his 
 sister was disposed to exercise over him. 
 
 The estrangement of Mrs. Tom from her family, and 
 the loss which her son John experienced in her society, for 
 her ear was ever open to receive the extravagant effusions 
 of his ever restless mind, appeared to effect a considerable 
 change in his disposition and conduct; his home was not so 
 comfortable to him as heretofore, for although his father was 
 by no means an unkind or a harsh parent, yet, there was no 
 affinity of soul between them, no congeniality of sentiment, 
 no reciprocity of action, but, in fact, the very reverse ; from 
 his father, he received not the slightest encouragement in 
 his Utopian schemes for the regeneration of mankind, it 
 being the opinion of Mr. Tom, that neither the world, nor 
 the people in it were quite so bad as some snarling dis- 
 contented cynics would lead us to believe they were, and that 
 in those quarters, where reformation, or as his son termed it, 
 regeneration was required, the evils would in time bring 
 about their own remedy, without the puny assistence which 
 his son considered himself competent to give. 
 
 It does not appear that Mr. Tom senior, resumed the 
 malting business after the destruction of his premises by 
 fire, and his son after leaving the attorney's office, was with 
 out any fixed employment, which by no means coincided 
 with the opinion which Mr. Tom entertained of the life 
 which a young man ought to lead. He was, therefore, 
 continually pressing his son to look out for some employ- 
 ment or situation in which he could exercise the talents 
 which Heaven had bestowed upon him to his own advau- 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY. K.M. 37 
 
 tage, and he was the more urgent in his desires on that 
 head, in consequence of the heavy loss which he had sus- 
 tained by the fire, and the consequent diminution of his 
 personal property. 
 
 In the choice of his new profession, it was the particular 
 aim of John Tom, that it should] be in some degree 
 connected with intellectual acquirements, for he had attained 
 to that degree of self-knowledge, that he was conscious to 
 himself of s being wholly unfit for any of those occupa- 
 tions to which corporeal labour was attached, or which 
 required the exercise of mechanical skill. The self-love of 
 an individual is generally flattered by every opportunity 
 which is afforded him of imparting that knowledge to others, 
 which he may himself have acquired, and the great charm 
 of social society consists, not so much in the instruction or 
 information, which we receive, as in that which we are 
 enabled to give. John Tom was conscious to himself that 
 by study and discernment, he had acquired that stock of 
 knowledge, which would properly capacitate him for the 
 responsible profession of a preceptor, although had he 
 perhaps instituted a close and minute examination, into 
 the qualifications which are necessary for that important 
 occupation, he would have found, that he was wanting in 
 many that are indispensable, but as that is in general the 
 case with the majority of those, who undertake the educa- 
 tion of youth, it would be reprehensible in us to attach any 
 blame to Mr. John Tom for the commission of an act, of 
 which he has such daily examples before his eyes, and 
 which it must be admitted, are by no means on the 
 decrease. 
 
 Mr. Tom, senior, was a man in possession of a consider- 
 able portion of good mother-wit, which in nine times out of 
 ten is of more use to a man, in the general affairs of human 
 life, than all the improved sense, which was ever collected 
 in the congregated pericraniums of all the sapient professors 
 of our colleges and universities ; and we are able to adduce 
 
33 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 one proof of the good common sense inherent in Mr. Tom, 
 which was, that in every undertaking of life, no matter 
 to what particular aim it might be directed, whether trivial or 
 grand, speculative or determined, a deliberate consideration of 
 the possession of the means and qualifications for that under- 
 taking becomes an act of positive and indispensable pru- 
 dence, and that were the majority of men to adopt that 
 salutary plan, we should not behold so much disappointment 
 and vexation in the world, nor that universal frustration of 
 hope, which brings despondency over the mind, and re- 
 duces the mistaken man, after a life of incessant toil and 
 struggle, to penury and distress. 
 
 John perfectly coincided in the opinion of his father, and 
 as he was convinced the necessary qualifications were existing 
 in him, for a preceptor and as upon the establishment of that 
 point, no further objection existed to his commencing his 
 career in life, as a director of the "young idea," the 
 whole business was finally arranged, and a suitable 
 apartment, in "a centrical situation," was immediately 
 to be sought for, on which in a short time, stood forth 
 prominently to the view of the passing stranger, in shaded 
 golden characters, the following important information 
 SEMINARY FOR YOUNG GENTLEMEN FROM THE AGE OF 
 6. TO 12., BY MR. JOHN NICHOLS TOM." 
 
 The education of youth is a decided drudgery, and 
 there are few dispositions possessing that cool and 
 phlegmatic temperament, which can persevere in driving a 
 nail into a block of marble, when with every effort, the 
 task becomes more difficult and disheartening. There was 
 in John Tom, too much of the quicksilver of eccentricity, 
 to enable him to keep steady for any length of time, to 
 one particular pursuit, although during the time that he did 
 prosecute it, he followed it with all the ardour and enthusi- 
 asm, which belong peculiarly to men of his volatile 
 character. 
 
 The natives of Higher St. Colomb possessed in general 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 39 
 
 by no means a disparaging idea of the talents of the indi- 
 vidual, who now appeared amongst them in the important 
 character of the preceptor of their youth, but there were on 
 the other hand, many cool, calculating heads, who ventured 
 to express their opinion, that the possession of knowledge 
 and the skill or tact of imparting it to others, are things in 
 themselves by no means homogeneous, independently of 
 which, it became a matter of investigation, whether the^stock 
 of knowledge which Mr. John Tom had amassed was ex- 
 actly of that kind which ought to be instilled into the 
 minds of youth, or which was at all calculated to promote 
 their advancement in life. It must be observed that the 
 opinion which the inhabitants of St. Colomb entertained 
 of Mr. John Tom, differed in some very essential points, 
 for although no one could impute to him a direliction of 
 moral principle, or an adherence to any degrading vice, 
 yet he had gained himself a number of enemies, by the 
 wild and new fangled doctrines of political' economy which 
 he had adopted, and by his adhesion to particular 
 sectarian tenets, which did not exactly harmonize with the 
 strict orthodox notions of the majority of his townsmen. 
 With these drawbacks operating against him, it could not 
 be considered as a matter of wonder, that his scholars came 
 to him like angel's visits, few and far between, and that the 
 forms of his academy, resembled in their untenanted state, 
 the benches of the House of Commons on a Wednesday 
 night. In elementary knowledge, the worthy domine was 
 by no means a proficient, he had himself bounded over the 
 rudiments of learning, to penetrate at once into the depths 
 of knowledge ; and thus that knowledge was in him a kind 
 of patch-work, a mixture of truth and error ; the premises 
 were in many instances false, from which he drew his con- 
 clusions, and not having exactly talent to discover in what 
 particular that falsity lay, his mind became at last the 
 focus of improperly digested ideas, with a great deal of 
 truth at the bottom, but an equal quantity of error floating 
 
40 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 
 
 on the superficies. To sum up the history of this part of 
 his life in a few words the school was a decided failure ; 
 the drudgery of education harmonized not with the natural 
 volatility of his character, and his own innate quickness of 
 perception could ( not bring himself down to a level with 
 the dull and slow-paced comprehension of the uneducated 
 mind. The scholastic establishment was broken up, and 
 Mr. John Tom was once more the assistant of the inn- 
 keeping department of his fathers' business. 
 
 There is not, perhaps, any circumstance in life more 
 perplexing or embarrassing to a parent, than when a son 
 has been tried in various occupations and in all has been 
 found wanting. There is in the majority of human beings, 
 a fixed and determined inclination to the prosecution of 
 some particular pursuit, and the wisdom of the parent is 
 often evinced in allowing the child to follow that pursuit, 
 although it may be at direct variance with the plans which 
 that parent may have laid down for the establishment of his 
 son in life, In the present instance, Mr. Tom was in re- 
 gard to his son John, completely at sea ; he had tried him 
 in one or two occupations, and in all he was found incom- 
 petent, not, however, from an actual absence of talent, but 
 from an inability to r .make that talent harmonize with the 
 end which he had in view. It was not, however, the desire 
 of Mr. Tom to force his son into any new occupation, 
 hoping that fortune might throw up something in his way, 
 which might suit his peculiar cast of character, and enable 
 him to sustain the station of life to which he was born. A 
 continual change of occupation is fraught with the greatest 
 injury to the advancement of a young man in life; and 
 Mr. Tom although not deeply read in the knowledge of 
 human nature, still knew so much, that an individual who is 
 for ever changing his pursuits, will in a very short time have 
 no pursuit at all to follow, and unless born to an indepen- 
 dence, will eventually sink to misery and ruin. 
 
 At the suggestion of some of the immediate friends of 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 41 
 
 Mr. Tom, an application was recommended to the Com- 
 missioners of the Excise with the view of obtaining a situa- 
 tion for his son in that department of the national revenue, 
 and then, perhaps, it might be said of him, what was said 
 of a much greater man, Robert Burns, 
 
 " They took him from the sickle and the plough, 
 To gauge ale firkins," 
 
 The application was made, and Mr. Tom confirmed the truth 
 of the scriptural maxim, " that hope deferred maketh the 
 heart sick" Information reached him at times that the 
 number of applicants were great, who had prior claims to 
 the appointment on the occasion of a vacancy than his son, 
 but still that his application should be attended to in its 
 regular course. The real truth must be told, which is, 
 that Mr. Tom was a decided novice in such matters, and 
 so were the friends who advised the application ; they ought 
 to have known that appointments of that kind are not be- 
 stowed upon individuals on their simple application, and 
 that unless they come backed by some powerful interest, the 
 applicant has as good a chance of success, as if he had 
 petitioned to supply the next vacancy to the throne of 
 China. Wearied out with repeated prayers and petitions, 
 the patience of Mr. Tom became at length exhausted ; he 
 found that he had wasted, without the slightest advantage 
 to himself, a deal of valuable time, and the idea of making 
 Mr. John Tom an exciseman was abandoned for ever. 
 
 In the mean-time, the most distressing accounts were re- 
 ceived from the persons who had the care of Mrs. Tom, 
 that her malady had considerably increased, and that little 
 or no hope existed of her return to sanity ; independently 
 of which, her general health was gradually declining, and 
 her death might be looked for at no very distant 
 period. 
 
 This intelligence was received by her son with the most 
 2. G 
 
42 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 poignant affliction, and he expressed a wish to his father to 
 visit his mother in the asylum, in order .that a correct 
 knowledge might be obtained of her actual state, and he 
 proposed that should she be found to be approaching her 
 death, she should be removed to her home, where her last mo- 
 ments might be rendered more comfortable to her, than[could 
 be expected in a public institution. For some reason, however, 
 which Mr. Tom did not think proper to explain, he ex- 
 pressed his decided objection to the plan of his son, and 
 in about three weeks afterwards, the intelligence of her 
 death was received, which gave a wholly new character to 
 the domestic relations of the Tom family. 
 
 Mrs. Tom was during his life, although a very indus- 
 trious and thrifty woman, always distinguished by a pecu- 
 liar eccentricity of conduct, which obtained for her the 
 soubriquet of " the cracked cherry,'' her Christian name being 
 Cherry, but there was an unfortunate trait in her character, 
 which displayed itself too often in her intercourse with her 
 acquaintance and neighbours, which was, that having 
 once imbibed a dislike to an individual, she seldom or 
 never overcame it, and hesitated not to show it, whenever 
 an opportunity presented itself, although in many instances 
 it might be excessively ill-timed, and at variance with her 
 immediate interests. In no case, however, was this unfor- 
 tunate propensity more apparent, than in the unfounded and 
 inveterate dislike which she imbibed to a young man of 
 some respectability in the town of St. Colomb, between 
 whom and her elder daughter there subsisted a very strong 
 attachment, but which met with such a decided disappro- 
 bation on the part of Mrs, Tom, that they relinquished 
 almost every hope of a matrimonial union. The death, how- 
 ever, of Mrs. Tom, removed that obstacle, and after allow- 
 ing that time to elapse, which decorum required, the 
 marriage took place, and thus the household of Mr. Tom 
 was destitute of a female manager, and in the particular 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 43 
 
 line of business which he followed, the want of such an 
 assistant was of serious consideration. 
 
 Amongst the marriageable ladies of St. Colomb, it may 
 be easily conjectured, that there were many, who entertained 
 no insuperable objection to occupy ihe place in the house- 
 hold of Mr. Tom, which his wife formerly occupied, with 
 all the rights, privileges and immunities, which the deceased 
 Mrs. Tom enjoyed, or in plainer english, there were many 
 who had no objection to drop for ever the odious name of 
 spinster, and to be henceforth incorporated in the ranks of 
 human society, in the more important and imposing character 
 of the wife of Mr. William Tom. It was, however, some 
 time before Mr. William Tom could select from amongst 
 the number of the said marriageable ladies, the particular 
 one, who was to be henceforth known in the world, as Mrs. 
 Torn, for some real or fabricated objection ever and anon 
 arose to the removal of this or that lady from the cold and 
 chilling state of spinsterhood, which objection, however, 
 arose in nine cases out of ten, on the part of Mr. John Tom, 
 who raised every impediment in his power to the second 
 marriage of his father, accompanied by a threat, that on 
 the arrival of his step-mother, he would leave his paternal 
 home, and perhaps St. Colomb for ever. There was, 
 however, a lady located nearly opposite the domicile of Mr. 
 William Tom, who had been long famed in and about St. 
 Colomb, for her skill in imparting to the female juveniles 
 of the town, the art and mystery of needlework, as well as 
 an expertness in filling up two parallel lines with O's 
 and pothooks, and enabling them by the use of certain 
 figures to arrive at the solution of the arithmetical 
 problem, of how many herrings can be obtained for one 
 shilling, if one and a half cost three halfponce ; in 
 other words, the above-mentioned lady had for a number of 
 years conducted a seminary for young ladies with credit to 
 herself, and considerable advantage to the pupils, who were 
 entrusted to her care. She had arrived at that age, which 
 
44 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 it might naturally be supposed, that " the hey-day of the 
 blood was tamed," and there was in her whole carriage and 
 demeanour, something so matronly, so divested of all fri- 
 volity and giddiness, and wherewithal, there was something 
 still about her, which as the inimitable Sterne says, " man 
 looks for in woman," that Mr. William Tom began to shoot 
 his amorous glances towards Ahe domicile of the worthy con- 
 ductress of the seminary ; and there were not wanting those 
 busy, meddling gossips in the neighbourhood, who whispered 
 about, that the said glances on the part of Mr. William 
 Tom, were returned by an equal number on the part of the 
 lady, on the same principle, that it would be a gross breach 
 of etiquette, if a ship saluted the flag of another nation with 
 thirteen guns, that the flag so saluted should not return the 
 salute with an equal number. How long this amorous parley 
 would have lasted between Mr. William Tom and the pre- 
 ceptress, is a question not to be easily solved, for perhaps its 
 duration would have been equal to the celebrated courtship 
 of my uncle Toby and the widow Wadman, had not matters 
 been suddenly brought to a crisis, by one of those unex- 
 pected circumstances, which possess such a decided influ- 
 ence on the destiny of a man, and which in the present in- 
 stance furnished Mr. John Tom with a favourable oppor- 
 tunity of testing the truth of the Godwinian philosophy. 
 
 It was on a Sunday morning, that Mr. William Tom, having 
 in due obedience to the laws of his country, closed the doors 
 of his hostelry, proceeded in companionship with his son, as 
 was their general habit to the parish church, there to be 
 instructed in the beautiful doctrines of the Christian faith. 
 The service being over, it happened that Mr. William Torn 
 and the matronly preceptress egressed from the porch of 
 the church at the very same moment, a circumstance, which 
 Mr. John Tom declared, was in conformity with* the philo- 
 sophy of Godwinian effect, which, if he could devote his time 
 to the subject, he could satisfactorily prove, except to those, 
 who beforehand had made up their minds not to believe 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 45 
 
 him, was the actual and immediate result of Alexander the 
 Great, bathing in the Cydnus. The task, we assume, would 
 have been rather difficult to Mr. John Tom to trace the chain 
 of causes and effects from the moment of the immersion of 
 Alexander the Great in the Cydnus, or the egress of Mr. 
 William Tom and the preceptress from the church of St. 
 Colomb ; but Mr. John Tom, is not the first amongst the 
 sons of men, who have been carried away on the hobby-horse 
 of science into a quagmire of absurdity, and have contri- 
 buted to disfigure the face of truth, where their aim 
 ought to have been to render it more clear and bright. 
 
 Whatever, however, may have been the remote or the imme- 
 diate cause which brought Mr. William Tom and the precep- 
 tress in to a state of j uxta posi tion, it is nevertheless certain, that 
 it was a circumstance which had a very momentous influ- 
 ence on the future destiny of the Tom family, and par- 
 ticularly on that of the individual, who is the subject of this 
 history. 
 
 On the progress of the family from the church to their 
 respective homes, during which the enamoured host of the 
 White Lion, conversed with the preceptress on such topics, 
 which he considered of the greatest interest to her, begin- 
 ning with the excellence of the sermon they had just heard, 
 and ending with some very appropriate and original remarks 
 on the particular state of the weather, it occurred to Mr. 
 William Tom, that as Sunday was a day in which very 
 little business was done in his house, the evening might be 
 very agreeably spent by inviting the conductress of the 
 seminary to partake of a cup of tea with him, during which 
 the mind of his son John might be enlightened on several 
 points relative to the newly invented mode of education, by 
 which the infant mind is made to travel with a rail- 
 road expedition to the fountain of knowledge and science. 
 The invitation was given, and to the great satisfaction of 
 Mr. William Tom, was politely and thankfully accepted. 
 
 It would be uncourteous, and perhaps tedious to expose 
 
46 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 the various topics of conversation, which engrossed the at- 
 tention of the party during the time that the preceptress 
 was a visitor under the roof of the worthy innkeeper, but 
 during the temporary absence of Mr. John Tom, it is one 
 of those facts of which there can be no dispute, that Mr. 
 William Tom declared, that if the preceptress entertained no 
 objection, to be hereafter known in the world as Mrs. Tom 
 he would make the necessary arrangements, that an event 
 of that importance should be consummated with as little 
 delay as possible. At this distance of time, it is impossible 
 to state the extent of the embarrassment into which the 
 preceptress was thrown by this unexpected, though per- 
 haps not unwelcome offer on the part of Mr. Tom, nor are 
 we enabled to state the length of time which it took the 
 preceptress to deliberate, before she gave her decisive 
 answer, but that it was favourable to the wishes of Mr. 
 Tom may be gathered from the circumstance, that on the 
 following morning, whilst seated at breakfast with his son 
 John, he imparted to him the information, that he had 
 provided a step-mother for him, in the person of the pre- 
 ceptress, who would in a few days be removed with the 
 customary furniture, from her present domicile, to that in 
 which she was to appear in future, as Mrs. Tom. 
 
 The intelligence was by no means welcome to Mr. John 
 Tom, who entertained so much respect for the memory of his 
 mother, that the idea was painful to him, of beholding another 
 in her place, and to whom he would be obliged to behave 
 with an obedience and submission, at no time congenial 
 with his natural disposition, but which under the circum - 
 stances in which they would be exacted from him, would be 
 highly revolting to his feelings. He made no hesitation 
 to declare to his father, that although he might gain a wife, 
 he would lose a son, for that it was his fixed determina- 
 tion, immediately after the marriage, to leave the house, 
 and either take up his abode with his sister, or seek his 
 fortune in a distant land. He did not mean to question 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 47 
 
 the right of his father to enter again into the married 
 state, if he considered that it would be the means of con- 
 tributing to his future happiness ; but that as he himself 
 was no longer a minor, he could not be compelled to sub- 
 ject himself to the control of an individual, to whom he 
 was not connected by any ties of parentage or consan- 
 guinity, and whom, in occupying the place of his beloved 
 mother, which in his eyes was a kind of unjustifiable usur- 
 pation, he could never bring himself to respect, much less 
 to love. 
 
 The expression of this determination on the part of his 
 son, effected not the least "change in the resolution which 
 Mr. Tom had taken, bu he expressed his readiness to give 
 his son every assistance in his power in the establishment 
 of any business or profession, into which he might wish to 
 enter, or were he inclined to marry, he would relinquish to 
 him the business which he then occupied, and confine him- 
 self to the scholastic line, for which his intended wife was 
 peculiarly fitted, and to which he considered that he was 
 himself by no means incompetent. John expressed to his 
 father, his sincere thanks, for this, his very' considerate and 
 handsome offer but he declined it, on the ground, that his 
 mind soared to higher things than the measurement of ale 
 and spirits, and consequently that it was his determination 
 on the marriage of his father taking place, to proceed to 
 the metropolis, where a new sphere of action would be open 
 for the exercise of his talents, and where he could associate 
 with those men, by whose genius the present institutions of 
 society were to be gradually abolished, and a wholly new 
 system adopted, exempt from all present existing political, 
 and religious abuses, and which was to be the first manifes- 
 tation of the arrival of the millenium. 
 
 That John Tom, was in those notions which had taken 
 possession of his mind, labouring under a gross delusion, 
 cannot admit of a doubt, but perhaps, under no circumstance 
 is man more prompt or determined in his actions, than when 
 
48 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 labouring under the influence of a delusion. In the common 
 routine of action he considers, he deliberates, he weighs the 
 probability of success with the probability of failure, and he 
 acts accordingly as either obtains the preponderancy, but 
 when a delusion has once taken possession of the mind, all 
 deliberation h rejected, and impelled, as it were, by some un- 
 known power, the man rushes on to action, and stops not fre- 
 quently until he finds himself in an abyss of ruin and dis- 
 comfiture. Every action committed under the influence of 
 delusion is accompanied by a certain degree of enthusiasm, 
 and it is to that power that we are indebted for some of the 
 most extraordinary actions which have been committed by the 
 human race. Without enthusiasm, no man can nor will 
 excel in any of the departments of human action, and we 
 shall find the truth of this remark confirmed throughout 
 almost every stage of the life of Sir William Courtenay. 
 
 It was not without some difficulty, that John Tom could 
 be prevailed upon to attend the marriage of his father ; nor 
 would it have been accomplished at all, but for the influ- 
 ence, which a near relative of his mother exercised over 
 him, and who represented to him in a very proper manner, 
 the unfavourable construction which would be put upon 
 his conduct, considering that the female whom his father 
 had chosen as his wife was a woman of irreproachable 
 character, and that as far as the conduct of his father was 
 concerned in the light of a parent, it had always been dis- 
 tinguished by parental affection, and the most studious 
 attention to the promotion of his interests. An argument 
 of this kind could not fail to have its due effect on the 
 liberal mind of John, and he attended the marriage of his 
 father, keeping his feelings under a proper control, and 
 joining in the merriment customary on such occasions, as 
 if the event had been consummated with his entire appro- 
 bation and concurrence. 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 49 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 IN one part of the preceding chapter, we made mention of 
 a female, who had bestowed her heart upon Mr. John Tom, 
 but to whom, on account of a pretended love of celibacy, 
 he refused to bestow his hand in marriage. An affectionate 
 intercourse had been continued between them, although 
 with little prospect on the part of the female, of being able 
 to effect a change in the sentiments of her beloved, in re- 
 gard to a matrimonial union ; on the contrary, independently 
 of the examples which he produced of the most eminent 
 reformers of ancient and modern times, adhering from prin- 
 ciple to a life of celibacy, he now brought forward a line of 
 argument founded on the principles of Mary Wolstonecroft, 
 that marriage was merely a human institution, and that it 
 was only a foolish prejudice, and an adherence to antiquated 
 customs, not based on reason or common sense, which 
 induced either a man or a woman to submit to the slavery 
 of marriage, when by a simple expression of their own 
 free-will, a mutual intercourse might be established, which 
 blended within itself all the joys and happiness of the 
 married state, without being subject to its shackles, or its 
 unnatural thraldom over the most aimable feelings of the 
 human heart. A declaration of such principles is generally 
 revolting to the female mind, which looks upon marriage 
 as the ultima thule of the female life, and to which every 
 act, every pursuit, every pulsation of the heart is directed. 
 During many of their interviews, the nature of the institu- 
 tion of marriage was the chief topic of their conversation, 
 and whilst John Tom maintained that marriage was the 
 3. H 
 
50 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 grave and not the cradle of love, his deluded companion 
 considered, that were she to consent to any other relation 
 between them, she would be at once forfeiting her cha- 
 racter, and losing that rank in society, which she had 
 hitherto maintained. John Tom attempted to convince 
 her, that sentiments of that kind were the mere children of 
 prejudice, that they would not stand the test of rational 
 discussion, and that they had no other basis than antiquated 
 custom, which was gradually dissolving away, under the 
 irresistible influence of truth, and the all-penetrating light 
 of mental illumination. 
 
 At this period, when John Tom was secretly and insidi- 
 ously undermining the moral principles of the affectionate 
 and confiding girl, Mary Wolstonecroft sent forth into the 
 world her extraordinary work, entitled " The Wrongs of 
 Woman," and a more efficient instrument for the comple- 
 tion of his plans could not have been selected by John 
 Tom, as marriage is therein represented as a mere volun- 
 tary contract between man and woman, and that it was no 
 longer binding upon the parties, when it was their mutual 
 wish to separate. This book was placed in the hands of 
 the too willing scholar in the school of Wolstonecroft, in 
 which a new light was poured upon her, relative to the 
 rights of her sex, whioh had hitherto been so unjustly with- 
 held from them, and she began gradually to consider, 
 whether the arguments which John Tom had used relative 
 to the institution of marriage were not in reality founded on 
 truth, and whether she would not be actually exhibiting a 
 laudable strength of mind, and an originality of character 
 in departing from an antiquated custom, which human 
 ingenuity had devised, but which truth and reason dis- 
 owned. 
 
 Having thus stated the means employed by John Tom, 
 for the subversion of those principles of female rectitude, 
 in which the affectionate girl, who had bestowed upon him 
 
SIR WILLIAM COUHTENAY, K.M. 51 
 
 her heart, had been educated, it merely remains to be 
 related, that he entered into immediate arrangements for 
 his departure from St. Colomb for the metropolis, it being 
 determined that his fair proselyte should be his companion, 
 and exhibit herself in the world, as a practical illustration 
 of the new philosophy, as it was at that time termed, and 
 which exposed the adherents of it, to the well merited 
 castigations of ridicule and satire. 
 
 The views of John Tom in visiting the metropolis were 
 vague and indefinite ; he possessed not the means of estab- 
 lishing himself in any commercial pursuit of importance or 
 respectability, but he considered himself, as belonging in a 
 great degree to the Utilitarian School, in which he was 
 destined to act a prominent part, and it was only in the 
 metropolis, that he could meet with proper encouragement, 
 or enjoy the society of those men, who were to be his 
 coadjutors in the grand scheme of the regeneration of the 
 world. 
 
 Every attempt was made by his father to dissuade him 
 from his quixotic plans., and he represented to him that 
 there were several channels open to him, in his native 
 town, by which he might earn for himself a comfortable 
 competency, without involving himself in those embarrass- 
 ments, which must inevitably result from a residence in the 
 metropolis, without any fixed or determined pursuit, at the 
 same time, that it was beyond his power to afford him that 
 allowance which would enable him to meet the current 
 expences of the day, without in some degree contributing 
 to his own support by the profit of some respectable 
 business. 
 
 John listened to these expostulations of his father with 
 an evident display of respectful attention ; he acknowledged 
 the truth of the greatest number of his.father's remarks, and 
 yet so wayward are frequently the dispositions of the 
 human heart, that although a conviction rests upon it of 
 the propriety or fitness of a particular course of action, yet 
 
 
52 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 there appears frequently to be a counteracting power, 
 forcing the individuals into a wholly opposite mode of 
 conduct, and leading him on gradually to ruin and dis- 
 grace. 
 
 John Tom was one of those men, who although dis- 
 couraged in the prosecution of any particular pursuit, are 
 by no means discouraged from attempting it again, posses- 
 ing as they do, a false and inflated opinion of the extent of 
 their abilities, and believing that their original failure did 
 not proceed from any want of prudence or skill on their 
 part, but from an untoward combination of circumstances, 
 which no human foresight could prevent, and to which man 
 is bound, according to his nature, to submit, as the subject 
 of a destiny, over which he possesses not the slightest con- 
 trol. John Tom had failed in the profession of a school- 
 master, but that failure did not proceed in his own opinion 
 from any incompetency on his part to undertake and complete 
 the education of youth, but that the comprehension of the 
 youths who had been entrusted to his care, was not of suffici- 
 ent power to grasp the system which he had introduced, and that 
 the abilities which he possessed, had been thrown away 
 upon a barren and fruitless soil, to which no manure nor 
 cultivation could impart the slighest degree of fertility. 
 
 It was one of the wild conceits of John Tom's imagi- 
 nation, that the human mind varies with the latitude in 
 which it is produced, and it was his belief that the minds 
 of youth were differently organized and constituted in and 
 about the metropolis, than in the more rude and uncivilized 
 districts of his native county. With this fancy working in 
 his brain, he formed the resolution immediately on his arrival 
 in London, to apply to an academical agent, with the view 
 of purchasing a scholastic establishment in the environs of 
 the metropolis, and where he was convinced that he should 
 find the minds of his pupils of a very different calibre, than 
 what he had experienced at St. Colomb. 
 
 It was arranged between John Tom and his deluded 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 53 
 
 female companion, that the latter should proceed in the 
 most private and secret manner to Falmouth, where she 
 was to be joined by the former, and thus the eye of sus- 
 picion was to be blindfolded, not only as to the intimate 
 relation which existed between them, but also to their ultimate 
 destination. In this instance, John Tom evinced his de- 
 cided ignorance of the world, by supposing that the mere 
 circumstance of them leaving St. Colomb separately, could 
 so hoodwink the ever restless curiosity of the gossiping 
 community of the town, as that two individuals of some 
 notoriety in it, should disappear about the same time, and 
 yet that not an individual should hazard the conjecture 
 that their departure was a concerted plan of their own de- 
 vising, especially, as it was well known, that an attachment 
 subsisted between them, and that it was generally believed 
 that sooner or later, a matrimonial union would take place 
 between them. 
 
 John Tom had not taken his departure above twelve 
 hours from St. Colomb, before the flight of the lady, and 
 her disreputable connexion with her unprincipled paramour, 
 as he was styled, was the theme of conversation at all 
 the tea-tables of the female gossips, as well as in the ale 
 rooms of the different inns, and as is generally the case in 
 such matters, amplification and exaggeration were called in, 
 to give a blacker colour to the character of the female than 
 it really merited, and to visit upon the head of her seducer, 
 all the odium and obloquy, which are attached to so unprinci- 
 pled an act. 
 
 The parties met as by appointment at Falmouth, and 
 sailed in the first vessel bound to London, where they 
 arrived after a most boisterous passage, attended frequently 
 with considerable danger, but as the vessel proceeded up 
 the Thames to her anchorage, a new world appeared to open 
 itself to the astonished gaze of John Tom, who, in the fleets 
 of merchantmen, the well-stored warehouses, the magnifi- 
 cent public buildings, and the bustle and activity which 
 
54 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 were everywhere apparent, beheld the source of England's 
 greatness, and of her superiority over all the nations of the 
 world. To his companion, it was a new and interesting 
 scene, and tended for a moment to divert her mind from 
 other objects, the principal of which was the home that 
 she had left, and those who had made ^that home so dear to 
 her; herself no longer the pure, untainted being, who in 
 the freshness of youth and beauty had been the pride and 
 joy of her parents, but now the brightness of that life was 
 past, and the future stood before her with all its dishearten- 
 ing gloom, beset with probabilities, that might be realised 
 all to soon, and of which she could not think without a 
 thrilling shudder, which appeared to penetrate to the very 
 core of hei heart, and there inflict a pang, agonising and 
 insupportable. 
 
 On the vessel arriving at her moorings in the river, John 
 Tom, who was a total stranger to the metropolis, was at a 
 loss to know to what quarter of the town to bend his steps, 
 for he had not a single acquaintance, who could instruct 
 him in the ways and intricacies of London, or who could or 
 would put him on his guard against the numerous impos- 
 tors, who so kindly offer their services to the ignorant 
 stranger, and for which he generally pays, with the loss of 
 the greater part of his property. 
 
 From the recommendation of the captain of the vessel, 
 in which they had sailed from Falmoutb, Mr. Tom and his 
 companion took up their temporary lodgings at the Gun 
 Tavern at Billingsgate, which was at that time one of the 
 most respectable houses in the neighbourhood, for] the 
 accommodation of travellers, and particularly for those, 
 whose business was in any way connected with the river. 
 
 First impressions are said to be lasting, whether they 
 refer to the outward appearance of an individual, or to the 
 character of a place into which we may be suddenly thrown, 
 and certainly, the two comparatively unsophisticated natives 
 of Cornwall, could not have selected a place better calcu- 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 55 
 
 lated to give them a bad impression of London, than the 
 place, in which they had now temporarily settled themselves. 
 Blackguardism in its most comprehensive and disgusting 
 character, was there continually before their eyes ; the* 
 depravity of the female sex exhibited itself in every quarter, 
 and their ears were continually assailed by the most coarse 
 and vulgar epithets of abuse and vilification. To John 
 Tom it appeared, as if human nature had collected all the 
 scum and refuse of her creation, and had poured them 
 forth in one disgusting mass, within the area of about an 
 acre. The filthy and sickening state of Thames Street, 
 with its streams of feculence and stinking offal, pouring 
 down the streets leading into it, formed a most singular 
 contrast with the clean and wholesome streets of St. Colomb, 
 and excited in his breast a feeling of regret, for the scenes 
 which he had left, and a strong sense of dislike, for those 
 by which he was surrounded. 
 
 He determined to make his stay at the Gun, as short as 
 possible, but whither to direct his steps in order to obtain a 
 permanent lodging ,was a matter of speculation, and in some 
 respects of indifference to him, with this exception, that he 
 wished to establish himself in a populous neighbourhood, 
 in which Dr. Malthus, and all the anti-propagators of the 
 human species would be horrified, at the number of little 
 urchins who were to be seen playing about in all directions, 
 but who were to be conducted by the pedagogic skill of 
 Mr. Tom, to the fountains of knowledge and science. 
 
 It may have been one of those effects, the cause of which 
 would puzzle Mr. Tom to trace, that induced an industrious 
 vendor of sprats and herrings to the piscatory epicures of 
 Somers Town, to enter the parlor of the Gun Tavern, for 
 the purpose of regaling himself with a basin of oxtail 
 soup, for which the said tavern was at that particular pe- 
 riod very justly celebrated, at the very moment when Mr. 
 Tom had seated himself in one of the boxes, for the pur- 
 pose of .ascertaining the exact state of the political parties 
 
56 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 in Europe, and perhaps obtaining some knowledge of the 
 progress which the Spenceans had made towards the ac- 
 complishment of their patriotic and meritorious plan. 
 
 It is remarkable on what a trifle sometimes depends the 
 establishment of an acquaintance between two indivi- 
 duals who, but a moment before were total strangers to each 
 other, and who being suddenly thrown into the society of 
 each other, cannot be brought to throw off that cold and 
 repulsive reserve, which is 'the characteristic of an English- 
 man, and which renders him such an unsociable and for- 
 bidding companion. The fishmonger, however, in this 
 respect belied, in a great degree that national trait of the 
 English character, for he was no sooner seated in the box 
 with Mr. Tom, in a vis a vis direction to him, with his basin 
 of ox-tail soup before him, than he evinced a very laudable 
 desire to enter into conversation with Mr. Tom on the state 
 of Billingsgate-market, and the scandalous system of fore- 
 stalling, for which it was then so particularly distinguished. 
 Now Mr. Tom was at that particular moment deeply plunged 
 in the perusal of Mr. Owen's system of mutual co-operation, 
 and therefore it could not be immediately expected of him, that 
 he should on a sudden withdraw his attention from so impor- 
 tant and edifying a subject to listen to the remarks of the 
 fishmonger, although they might have been in themselves 
 excessively just and appropriate, on the abuses of Billings- 
 gate Market, but which perhaps amongst all the abuses to 
 which the hand of reform was to be applied, was most pro- 
 bably the last, which had occupied the serious attention of 
 Mr. Tom. A man may try twenty strings before he touches 
 one that meets with a responding tone in the breast of 
 another, and the fishmonger would most probably have 
 risen from his refreshing meal, with the conviction that the 
 individual opposite to him was the most churlish, unsocial, 
 uncommunicative of all the human animals, with whom it 
 had ever been his misfortune to come into contact, when on 
 a sudden, such is the power of destiny, the fishmonger in- 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, KM. 57 
 
 formed Mr. Tom that the pilchard fishery on the coasts of 
 Cornwall had that season been very successful. At the sound 
 of Cornwall, Mr. Tom laid down the paper, and in return, 
 he informed the fishmonger, that having but two days ago, 
 arrived from the coast of Cornwall, he was fully able to 
 corroborate the statement, which the fishmonger had made 
 relative to the pilchard fishery. From that subject they 
 gradually digressed into others, until the pleasing discovery 
 was made, that the fishmonger had a portion of Cornish 
 blood circulating in his veins, though perhaps rather 
 spurious and contaminated by an intermixture of London 
 blood, his mother having been born at Bodmin, and conse- 
 quently it could not be disputed, that on his mother's side 
 he was virtually and intrinsically a Cornish Man. There is 
 a compatriot spirit in the breast of almost all men, and 
 whether it be on the shores of the Ganges, or amidst the 
 thunder of the Falls of Niagara, that we hear the sound of 
 our native tongue, we cling to the individual as if he were 
 our brother, and we become bound to each other by a charm of 
 intimacy and reciprocal kindness, which brings about perhaps 
 one of the most happy periods of our life, and constitutes 
 one of those never to be forgotten scenes, which accompany 
 us to the verge of the grave. 
 
 We will not pretend to affirm that such very refined feel- 
 ings were actually existing in the breast of either Mr. Tom 
 or his newly discovered countryman ; but so far may be as- 
 serted, that a sufficient degree of intimacy and cordiality 
 was established between them, as to induce Mr. Tom to (Con- 
 fide to the fishmonger the exact situation in which he found 
 himself in London, and his desire of meeting with some 
 comfortable lodgings, in which he could reside until those 
 plans, which he had in view could be brought to maturity. 
 England's immortal bard has said, " there is a tide in the 
 affairs of man, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune ;" 
 3. i 
 
58 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 now the tide of the Thames had hrought to the fishmonger, 
 many a profitable load of the former tenants of the ocean, and 
 now the tide of fortune was to bring him in the persons of 
 Mr. Tom, and his young and beautiful wife, for so she was 
 supposed to be, two respectable tenants of his first floor, 
 which at that time was fortunately vacant, and which he 
 represented to Mr. Tom as in every respect, well suited 
 for his temporary accommodation, it being cheap, clean, 
 and respectable, three qualifications, which every first 
 floor in or about the metropolis, cannot be said to be in 
 possession of. The bargain was struck, and by the regular 
 payment of twelve shillings per week, to be punctually 
 transferred from the possession of Mr. Tom, or some one 
 acting on his behalf, into the possession of him, the said fish- 
 monger, or some one acting on his behalf, duly between 
 the hours of ten and twelve every Monday morning, he, the 
 said Mr. John Nichols Tom, was to have, to hold and to 
 keep undisturbed possession of two rooms, with their appro- 
 priate furniture and bedding, with the right, liberty, and 
 privilege of making such use of the kitchen, for all those, 
 and sundry purposes for which kitchens are generally con- 
 structed, without any let, hinderance, or impediment on the 
 part of any member of the family, male or female, adult or 
 juvenile, and it was further stipulated, that the female 
 domestic, then residing in the house of the fishmonger, 
 should at all proper times and seasons render to the occu- 
 pants of the first floor, all the necessary assistance, and co-opera- 
 tion, with the requisite display of politeness and civility, without 
 any fee, gratuity, emolument or reward, on the part of the 
 said occupants, with the customary proviso of one weeks 
 notice on the side of one party, wishing to change their 
 lodgers, or the lodgers wishing to change their lodgings. 
 These preliminaries were finally arranged, and no further 
 impediment now existed to the immediate removal of Mr. 
 Tom and his companion, to their new residence in Somers 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 59 
 
 Town, and it was kindly proposed by the fishmonger, on 
 the ground of economy, that if Mr. and Mrs. Tom had no 
 objection to ride in the same vehicle with a few salmon and 
 soles, the matter could be arranged to the satisfaction of all 
 parties, the vehicle being of sufficient capacity not only to 
 afford accommodation for their persons, but also for their 
 luggage. The proposal was acceded to, and so ignorant 
 are we purblind mortals of the future, that Mr. John Tom 
 little suspected when he left his paternal habitation at St. 
 Colomb, that in a few days afterwards he would be display- 
 ing his person on the crowded streets of London, to the 
 gaze of the passing strangers, seated in a fishmonger's cart, 
 in close association with baskets of fish, bags of oysters and 
 muscles, and bundles of red herrings, and smoked haddocks. 
 Perhaps under any other circumstances, the pride of John Tom 
 would have been wounded to see himself in such a situa- 
 tion, but as he was then situated, he knew no one, nor did 
 any one know him* He was jolted from Billingsgate, to Somers 
 Town without a single friendly nod, without one kind acknow- 
 ledgement from the thousands, who were passing on either side 
 of him, and he could not refrain drawing thecontrast between 
 his present situation, and his late one in his native town; in 
 the former, he was a stranger amongst strangers ; in the 
 latter, he could not walk a dozen paces, without meeting 
 some friendly face to greet him, or some bright sparkling 
 glance shot from a female eye, telling perhaps a tale of 
 something that was passing within, and which the more it 
 is attempted to be concealed, the more it is made manifest. 
 Iti however, ^a few qualms of wounded pride came over 
 him, at the meanness of the situation in which he found 
 himself, his memory very kindly carried him back to the 
 scenes of ancient and modern history, in which more illus- 
 trious men than himself, humbled themselves to situations, 
 which instead of being a degradation to them, was an in- 
 contestable proof of the greatness and nobility of their cha- 
 racter ; was not Plato once driven to his academy in a 
 
60 
 
 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 dung-cart ? was not George the Fourth, for a trifling 
 wager, rolled down Constitution Hill in a wheelbarrow ? 
 did not John Knox enlighten the ignorant from an empty 
 hogshead ? was not St. Peter drawn by his fanatical follow- 
 ers in a washing tub ? not forgetting to mention the par- 
 ticular piece of furniture on which Pope Joan received the 
 deputation of the cardinals ? With these examples before 
 his eyes, it could not possibly be any disparagement to Mr. 
 John Tom, the future reformer and regenerator of the 
 world, to be seen in a fishmonger's cart ; although it was 
 by no means an unpleasant moment either to his compan- 
 ion or himself, when on account of the rude joltings which 
 their bodies ever and anon received from the uneven- 
 ness of the pavement, the vehicle stopped at last before a 
 respectable, second rate house, at the entrance of which 
 stood a matronly figure with a child in her arms, and on 
 whose countenance there appeared some traces of ill- 
 humour and displeasure. The frown of discontent how- 
 ever, soon gave way to the stare of astonishment on 
 seeing her husband accompanied by two strangers, with 
 sundry boxes and packages, indicative of their arrival from 
 the country, and whom the good wife conjectured that her 
 husband had conveyed to Somer's Town with the view of 
 earning an honest penny, a b custom, which he was wont 
 to follow, not unfrequently, in his trips to and from Billings- 
 gate, If, however, the astonishment of the fishmonger's 
 wife was great on beholding the contents, living and dead 
 of her husband's cart, it obtained a still greater altitude, 
 mingled with an expression of delight and approbation, 
 when the information was conveyed to her, that the living 
 objects of the vehicle were to be the tenants of her first 
 floor, and not a greater bustle could take place at an inn on 
 the arrival of some guest of consequence, than that which 
 now reigned in the fishmonger's house. The child was 
 deposited in the cradle, giving to Mr. John Tom by its in- 
 cessant crying, a specimen of the interruption which he 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 61 
 
 was likely to meet with in his professional pursuits. Betty, 
 the servant of all work, was called into active service, to 
 assist in conveying the baggage of the new lodgers into 
 their future sleeping apartment, and in about an hour Mr, 
 Tom and his Eliza (for from delicacy to the feelings of 
 her family, we will forbear mentioning her sirname) were 
 comfortably located in their residence, the former congratu- 
 lating himself, that the sphere of his usefulness, was about 
 to open upon him, and that his name and actions would 
 soon be the theme of general conversation, as well as the 
 admiration of all the zealous advocates of mental illumina- 
 tion. 
 
 It was the fixed determination of Mr. John Tom to enter 
 upon a scholastic life, with the supposition that he was in 
 every way qualified for it, and in order to promote those 
 views, he considered it more advisable to negociate for an 
 academy, that had been for some time established, and to 
 which a good connexion was already attached, than to 
 attempt the establishment of one by his own influence and 
 exertions, the success of which was highly improbable, see- 
 ing that he was a complete stranger, and without a single 
 connexion, which could promote his views. When he 
 looked around him in the immediate neighbourhood in 
 which he lived, he could not but look upon it as the very 
 focus of education. Whithersoever he directed his look, 
 his eyes were greeted with the announcement of a seminary 
 or an academy, classical, mathematical, commercial and 
 ornamental, and it was not be supposed, therefore, that he 
 could succeed in that quarter, where the demand for juve- 
 niles could not be equal to the supply, unless imported 
 from a distance, and where he would no doubt be looked 
 upon as an* interloper and an intruder by those, who had 
 been for some time established in the neighbourhood, and 
 who would certainly set on foot every petty art and intrigue 
 to injure him in the estimation of those, who might be dis- 
 posed to bestow upon him their patronage, and he knew well 
 
62 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 that it is the supreme of folly to contend against a confede- 
 racy of men, who have made up their minds to crush 
 an individual, who presents himself as their rival, and who 
 may, perhaps, possess greater talents and qualifications 
 for their profession than they themselves possess. 
 
 In this view of the case, Mr. John Tom showed that he 
 was not wholly ignorant of the low chicanery of the 
 world, and he wisely resolved not to expose himself to it, but 
 he determined rather to adopt the more prudential plan of 
 advertising for the purchase of a seminary in the environs of 
 the metropolis, and which he could enter upon, with a certain 
 number of scholars already attached to it, and the number 
 of which, he had no doubt would very soon be considerably 
 augmented by the talent, which he should be able to display 
 in the different branches of juvenile education. 
 
 The advertisement had not been one day in the news- 
 paper, when at every delivery of the post, the postman pre- 
 sented himself regularly at the private door of the fish- 
 monger, with sundry letters directed to A. B. which letters 
 contained the notification of a seminary to be disposed of 
 on the most advantageous terms, with the announcement of 
 a certain number of pupils, and the certainty of an aug- 
 mentation, if the individual were fully competent to the 
 task of education in the highest departments of learning. 
 The majority of them were to be disposed of on account 
 of ill health, which is the most plausible reason that 
 can be given, when ill-management is the real one. 
 
 Whilst this plan was in the progress of execution, John 
 Tom was by no means idle in prosecuting the grand and 
 glorious aim which he had in view, viz a full, permanent, 
 and efficient reform of all existing abuses, particularly those 
 of the church, which appeared to him to be of deeper mag- 
 nitude than in any other branch of the constitution. His 
 first inquiry was to ascertain the place of meeting of the 
 Spenceans, which he discovered to be in Bouverie Street, Fleet 
 Street, and to that place he despatched a letter addressed 
 
THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 63 
 
 to the Secretary, in which he informed him that he had 
 travelled from St. Colomb in Cornwall, enamoured of their 
 principles, and giving all due praise and honour to Mr. 
 George S pence, the founder of the society, for his glorious 
 exertions in the cause of the human race, and that he hoped 
 the time was not far distant, when the society would com- 
 mence their operation? of making an equal division of the 
 property in the kingdom, as he could assure the society 
 that he had advocated their principles in that part of the 
 country from which he had just arrived, and he could fur- 
 ther inform them, that there were a number of individuals 
 in his immediate neighbourhood, who were anxiously look- 
 ing out for the commencement of their operations, which 
 would be the first signal of the approaching arrival of the 
 millenium, which he made no doubt every Spencean would 
 hail with enthusiastic delight. From the deep considera- 
 tion which he had bestowed upon the momentous objects 
 of the society, he had some very valuable suggestions to 
 make to them for their future guidance, and to com- 
 municate, which would confer a high degree of plea- 
 sure upon him, and be the means of expediting the consum- 
 mation of their truly patriotic plans. It was further 
 his sincere desire to be enrolled as a member of the 
 society, to the interests and success of which, it would 
 be his pride and glory to devote in future, all his energies, 
 and he particularly solicited that the present state of the 
 society might be communicated to him, in order that he might 
 transmit the welcome intelligence to his expecting friends in 
 the West of England, who were particularly anxious for the 
 arrival of the hour, when the distribution of the national 
 property would commence, in order that they might be 
 relieved as early as possible from the degrading state of 
 labour which they were now obliged to endure. 
 
 It was with the greatest anxiety that Mr. Tom awaited 
 an answer to this epistle, and on the following day he was 
 highly gratified by the receipt of a letter, bearing the sub. 
 
64 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 scription of John Cope, as secretary to the Spencean 
 Society, expressing the grateful sense which] % every member 
 of the society experienced for the enthusiasm which Mr. 
 Tom manifested in its cause, and inviting him most cordially 
 to attend their meetings, which were held every Tuesdays 
 and Fridays at their room in Bouverie Street, where the 
 whole proceedings of the society would be laid before him, 
 for the information of their numerous friends in the west, 
 and it closed with a sincere congratulation on the part of 
 the society, in having enrolled amongst its members the 
 name of an individual by whose influence and talent, the 
 principles of the Spencean Society were to be more gene- 
 rally diffused, and a corresponding accession of mem- 
 bers obtained as zealous co-operators in their great and 
 glorious cause. 
 
 A communication of this kind, could not fail to make 
 the most powerful impression on the mind of Mr. Tom, 
 who beheld in it a prognostic of his future greatness, and 
 of his growing ascendency in a society, from whose endea- 
 vours were to emanate the greatest blessings which had ever 
 been conferred on the human race, and which were to im- 
 part a wholly new character to all the relations of social 
 life. So absorbed indeed, was he in the anticipated 
 fame which was to be awarded to him by the lower classes 
 of the community, for his unexampled exertions in placing 
 them in their proper station of society, that he forgot for a 
 time his scholastic speculation, arid although the postman 
 was frequent in his calls, conveying the announcement of 
 academies to be disposed of from Stratford Church to Brent- 
 ford, and from Finchley to Croydon, and all places situate be- 
 tween the intermediate points of the compass, yet for a time, 
 the letters were thrown into an obscure corner of the room> 
 there to repose in unmerited neglect, until the subject was 
 disposed of, which then engrossed the undivided attention of 
 the individual to whom they were addressed. 
 
 Never did the affianced girl look forward with greater 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. (55 
 
 anxiety to her bridal morn never did the youthful author 
 look forward with greater eagerness to the launching of his 
 first work on the perilous ocean of literature never did 
 the relations of a miser look forward with greater intensity 
 to the perusal of his will, than John Tom looked forward 
 to his inauguration into a society, from whose endeavours, 
 such glorious results were to flow to the human race, and 
 in which he was soon to shine conspicuously, as one of its 
 most efficient and influential members. 
 
 The night did come, and never did an individual tread 
 more proudly, or consequentially, along the imposing per- 
 spective of Tottenham Court Road, than was exhibited by 
 Mr. John Tom, as he hurried along from his temporary 
 domicile to the future arena of all his grand undertakings, 
 for the benefit of the human race. 
 
 As he diverged from Fleet Street into Bouverie Street, 
 the idea was uppermost in his mind, that in a few minutes 
 he was perhaps to stand in the presence of an individual, 
 whose fame was soon to resound over the world, as the en- 
 lightened and disinterested founder of a system, which 
 never entered into the brain of man before, and which 
 was in its principles so perfectly original, that the talents 
 of the individual who conceived it, must be almost super- 
 human, thereby rendering him one of the greatest benefac- 
 tors of the human race, whom Heaven in its pleasure, had 
 ever sent upon the face of the earth. 
 
 When we hear of the commission of any extraordinary 
 action, or the display of any superlative talents, our ima- 
 gination immediately employs itself in depicting the outward 
 form of the individual, who by the above means has ren- 
 dered himself so conspicuous, and with high mental attain* 
 ments we are apt to associate a grandeur and a nobleness of 
 exterior form, not thinking it possible that genius, that 
 direct oftspring of Heaven, can possibly exist in a mean or 
 deformed body. In full accordance with those principles, 
 3. K 
 
66 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 Mr. John Tom had formed to himself an ideal of the 
 outward form, figure, and countenance of Mr. Spence, 
 which, according to his opinion, must combine in itself 
 everything that was grand, noble, commanding, and intel- 
 lectual, that nature had ever selected for the formation of 
 a human being. It is true, he had heard that two of the 
 greatest geniuses that ever irradiated the universe of lite- 
 rature by the power of their intellect were hunchbacks, 
 namely, .ZEsop and Pope, and, on the other hand, he was 
 not ignorant that a very handsome man, is in nine cases out 
 of ten, a very great fool; but still with that knowledge rest- 
 ing upon his mind, he had determined the point, without 
 the chance of contradiction ; that he should behold in Mr. 
 Spence, a human being, with the radiance of genius flash- 
 ing in every glance of his eye the eloquence of a Demos- 
 thenes flowing from his lips, and that commanding air of 
 conscious superiority, which is the concomitant of a mighty 
 mind, which, with the knowledge of the high vocation to 
 which it is called, feels itself in its power invincible, and 
 looks abroad upon the world with the dignity and grandeur 
 of a creative spirit. 
 
 With these ideas whirling in the brain of Mr. John Tom, 
 he applied his hand to the knocker of the door, which was 
 to admit him into the society of the greatest men of that 
 age, who were perhaps at that very moment in close deli- 
 beration on the means, by which the political relations of 
 the country were to be entirely regenerated, future legis- 
 lation rendered unnecessary, and individual independence 
 established through every gradation of society. 
 
 Not a light beamed from any of the windows of the 
 house, nor was there that bustle or activity about it, which 
 might be supposed to be the general attendants on the ac- 
 tions of a set of men, on whom the future welfare of the 
 world depended. " True," said Mr. John Tom to himself, 
 "privacy is "indispensably requisite in matters of this kind, 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY. K.M. 67 
 
 and it is in secresy that the great changes in the destiny of 
 empires have been conceived and nurtured, until the ap- 
 pointed time was come, when they were to burst upon the 
 world in all their utility and grandeur. 
 
 To knock twice at a door on an occasion of this kind, 
 was rather a drawback to the high importance of the busi- 
 ness on which he was engaged, but nevertheless the opera- 
 tion was found to be requisite, which Mr. John Tom con- 
 strued into the probability of the meeting being held in 
 some large room at the rear of the house, and the noise 
 generally attending on public meetings, had prevented his de- 
 mand for admission being heard by the proper authority. 
 
 The door was at length opened, but with a degree of 
 caution, which struck Mr. John Tom with some surprise, 
 but he accounted for his surprise by acknowledging that he 
 was a novice in such matters, and, therefore, what might 
 appear strange to him. was in reality not hiug more than the 
 regular mode of action adopted on all such occasions, and 
 to which he would be able to conform himself better, after 
 having amassed a greater stock of experimental knowledge 
 of the system acted upon in meetings of such vast im- 
 portance. 
 
 The man who opened the door was the Siamese counter- 
 part of the apothecary, who provided Romeo with the 
 poison, and Mr. John Tom having deposited in the hands 
 of the human atomy, a card declaratory of his name and 
 address, the skeleton turned suddenly round and ascend- 
 ing slowly and majestically a flight of stairs, was in a few 
 moments lost to the sight of the candidate for admission as 
 a member of the noble Society of the Spenceans. 
 
 One, two, three, four, five minutes elapsed, during which 
 anxious interval of time, an opportunity was afforded to 
 Mr. John Tom to prepare himself for the part which he 
 had to perform, and in which he was conscious to himself 
 that he should shine with eclat and dignity. It is the pro- 
 vince of some men, of weak and little minds to feel them- 
 
68 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 selves abashed and confused when they are about to be 
 introduced into the society of those, whom they deem their 
 superiors, but such was fortunately not the case with Mr. 
 John Tom, for he had argued himself into the pleasing 
 belief, that on the business in which he was now engaged, 
 there were few or no men his superior, on the contrary, he 
 was convinced, that he would not be long in the presence 
 of the members of the society, before they would award to 
 him the pre-eminence of talent, which would induce them 
 to bestow upon him a very high rank in the society. 
 
 The skeleton was now seen descending the stairs with 
 the same stateliness, and majesty of deportment, which had 
 characterized his ascent, and having reached the spot on 
 which Mr. Tom was standing, he laconically addressed 
 him ; " Follow me Sir." After progressing through a pass- 
 age, a door presented itself at the further end, which the 
 conductor opened, and the important moment of John Tom's 
 life had arrived, when he was ushered into the presence of 
 Mr. George Spence. At the head of a table, strewed with 
 papers, printed and written, sat a stout, coarse, vulgar kind 
 of a man, exhibiting little or nothing of the gentleman in 
 his manners and demeanour, and in his outward habiliments 
 directly confirming the generally received opinion, that 
 slovenliness and genius are inseparable companions. It 
 must also be observed, that this first interview of Mr. John 
 Tom with Mr. Spence, took place after Pitt had laid his 
 heavy tax on soap, which may satisfactorily account for the 
 absence of the application of that substance, to those parts 
 of the body, which are generally exposed, as well as the 
 want of its application to certain parts of his dress, of which 
 its purifying powers would have divested of a dark and 
 dingy hue, which must have been for some time accumula- 
 ting, but which, it must be admitted, is a circumstance, of 
 too trivial and insignificant a nature, for an acknowledged 
 genius to attend to. From that part of the occiput, where 
 the phrenologists place the organ of imagitiveness, projected 
 
SIR WILLIAM COUIITENAY K. M. 69 
 
 a bush of hairs, which must have been for some time wholly 
 strangers to the harrowing intrusion of a comb, and which 
 would have served a Shee or an Etty, as a good subject for 
 a Medusa's head. i; The human countenance divine," was in 
 the present instance also, rather disfigured, for instead of 
 Mr. John Tom meeting with that fine, expressive look of 
 intellectual intelligence, which shot from the eye of a Cann- 
 ing or a Byron, he was welcomed by a look from a pair of 
 eyes, differing in their make and construction, and which 
 by some accident had been placed in such a position in 
 their sockets, that it was impossible for the spectator 
 exactly to tell to what particular quarter, or on what pre- 
 cise object, their visual power was directed. In short, the 
 two eyes of Mr. George Spence must have been thrown 
 aside in the magazine of nature, as some bungled specimen 
 of workmanship, but which by some unaccountable accident, 
 were afterwards used for the decoration of Mr. Spence's 
 head. 
 
 And is this the Mr. George Spence whom I now see 
 before me, said Mr. John Tom to himself, whose name has 
 penetrated to the summits of the mountains of Cornwall, 
 and to the very profoundly of her mines ? Is this the in- 
 dividual of whom I had formed to myself an idea of all that 
 was grand, noble, and commanding in human nature, to 
 be changed at once into the sad reality of a squat, dumpty, 
 coarse, unpolished figure ? but Mr. John Tom suddenly 
 roused himself from these disheartening ideas, by the reflec- 
 tions, that a diamond is covered by an ugly encrustation, 
 and that it did not become him to condemn a man for his 
 outward appearance, when Heaven had been pleased to 
 place within him a soul of such extraordinary power, which 
 by the vastness of its comprehension, was to accomplish 
 the regeneration of the world, and establish the future 
 happiness of the human race, on a firm and everlasting 
 basis. 
 
 We will not enter into a full detail of all the circumstan- 
 
70 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 ces which took place at this first meeting of Mr. John Tom 
 with the Spencean Society, hut it is certain, that had he 
 not been under the influence of a direct delusion, or that 
 he had not been carried away by an extravagant enthusiasm 
 for the principles of a system, which a very small portion 
 of reflection would have told him was too wild aud extrava- 
 gant ever to be carried into execution, he would at this 
 first interview with the projectors, have seen and heard 
 quite a sufficiency to deter him from any further co-opera- 
 tion with them, and left them to prosecute their visionary 
 plans, until they were driven from them by the ridicule 
 and contempt of the world. Such, however is the infatua- 
 tion which takes possession of some minds, in other respects 
 by no means devoid of penetration and discernment, that 
 having once imbibed certain notions and sentiments on any 
 theoretical subject, they pertinaciously adhere to them, in 
 despite of the light which is reflected from the mirror of 
 truth, and which in any other minds, would in a moment 
 dissipate the mist ot prejudice and error. 
 
 While John Tom was thus wasting his time in a foolish 
 and unprofitable pursuit, his companion was obliged to 
 pass her lonely hours in silent and painful reflection on the 
 situation to which she had reduced herself, and which in a 
 certain degree had alienated her from all human society, 
 and from the intercourse of a single being from whom she 
 could receive the slightest token of sympathy or kindness. 
 The character of John Tom was not calculated to instil 
 any consolation to a mind bleeding for the wounds of a 
 ruined reputation ; :and although his conduct was by no 
 means destitute of that general attention, which even the 
 cold and frigid heart will pay to one who has sacrificed for 
 another all that was dear to her on earth ; yet in the situation 
 in which Eliza found herself, there was wanting the consol- 
 ing and soothing tone of an unimpaired affection, and that 
 ardent show of sympathy, which, although it may not effect 
 a radical cure, will still alleviate the poignancy of the 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 71 
 
 wound, and in time reconcile the sufferer to her fate. She 
 would sit for hours during the absence of her seducer, ab- 
 sorbed in tears, indifferent as to what was passing around 
 her, and her memory carrying her back to the halcyon days 
 of her youth, when the sun shone upon her in her virgin 
 innocence, and no blush had yet stained her cheek at even 
 the contemplation of a crime. From morning to night, 
 she sat in her lonely state, and knew not where to look 
 for one sympathising breast, into which she could pour 
 her griefs, and by the communication of them alleviate the 
 anguish which threatened at times almost to unsettle her 
 reason, and send her wandering upon the world as a house- 
 less maniac. The roses which bloomed upon her cheeks, 
 when she left her native hills, were gradually fading away, 
 and there was in her look the patient expression of resig- 
 nation, which tells that the spirit is anxious to be gone, and 
 break at once every tie to a world which has disowned and 
 rejected her. Still no reproach, no complaint escaped her lips; 
 her kiss was still that of a pure and faithful love, and the 
 smile of welcome still irradiated her countenance, beaming 
 sometimes through the tear which was trembling in her 
 eye, 'but which she hastily wiped away, that he, who had 
 drawn it from its cell, might not see its fall. There were 
 moments, however, in which she would speak of strange 
 and mysterious presentiments, that her sojourn on earth, 
 was fast drawing to its close, and how fervent were then 
 her prayers, that she would be pardoned for her transgres- 
 sions, and that she would not be shut out from Heaven, for 
 the only fault which she had committed on earth. 
 & The declining state of her health was visible to her 
 seducer, but he attributed it to every cause, but the real 
 one, and he expressed his sincere hope that her removal 
 to a purer air, would restore her to her pristine health, and 
 enable her to resume her wonted cheerfulness. Eliza shook 
 her head, but in that motion there was an expression, which 
 would have forced its way to any other heart, but that of 
 
# 
 
 72 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 John Tom, and have told him that his hope was vain, that 
 the cheerfulness of her life was gone for ever, and the rest 
 of the grave was all that remained for her on earth. 
 
 In the mean time, John Tom was exposed to the severest 
 animadversions from his father, for the part which he had 
 acted towards the unfortunate girl, and urged him, if he 
 had any regard for his future character in life, to make 
 every amends to the victim of his unprincipled desires, by 
 making her his wife, and thereby restore her to that place 
 in society, from which he had so shamefully and dishono- 
 rably removed her. To these remonstrances, however, John 
 turned a deaf ear, and he assured his father, that his Eliza, 
 so far from testifying any inclination to the married state, 
 had become daily more and more convinced of the impro- 
 priety of the marriage ceremony, and that as the condition 
 in which she now lived, was one of her own adoption, and 
 founded on a sense of truth and principle, he considered 
 that every interference with her, was an act of direct pre- 
 sumption and impertinence, and that henceforth he should 
 pay no further attention to any complaints that might be 
 made upon the subject. 
 
 For the express purpose of removing Eliza to a change 
 of air, John Tom entered into a negociation for the pur- 
 chase of a scholastic establishment about six miles from 
 London, and according to some accounts there were certain 
 circumstances attending this transaction which did not re- 
 dound much to the character of John Tom for honour and 
 integrity. According to one account to which the greatest 
 credence is given, it appears that there was another appli- 
 cant for the school besides John Tom, and who being ex- 
 tremely anxious for the possession of it, offered John Tom 
 a sum of money to relinquish all further negociation 
 for it, to which he assented, and the money was accord- 
 ingly paid. This was, however, no sooner done, than John 
 Tom immediately renewed the negotiation with the pro- 
 prietor of the school, and being able by the money which 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 73 
 
 the other party had advanced, to offer a larger sum than 
 the other applicant was disposed to pay; the negotiation 
 was brought to an immediate conclusion, and John Tom 
 was put in possession of the school. The other applicant, on 
 being apprized of this dishonourable conduct on the parl 
 of John Tom, threatened him with proceeding against him 
 on the statute of frauds, if he did not immediately surrender 
 the school to him, for he would not to be satisfied with the 
 mere re-payment of the sum which had been advanced, for he 
 was determined to have both the money back and the 
 school also. John Tom had heard that possession is nine 
 poin s of the law, and for some time, he looked from his 
 strong-hold, and defied the attack of the hostile party, 
 in which he was in some degree supported by the former 
 proprietor, who was rather more inclined to John Tom as 
 the purchaser, on account of the higher price which he had 
 given, and, therefore, he determined to observe a strict line 
 of neutrality between them, offering himself, however, in 
 case they could not arrange the business in an amicable man- 
 ner, to act as an arbitrator, each binding himself to abide 
 by his decision. This offer was, however, rejected on the 
 part of the disappointed applicant ; as he had been grossly 
 defrauded of a sum of money, and he was determined to 
 have that redress which the law would afford him. The 
 stubborn, inflexible character of Tom here displayed itself 
 in an extraordinary degree; with the conviction on his 
 mind, that his conduct had not been regulated by the 
 strictest principles of integrity and honour, he was still de- 
 termined to persevere in that line of conduct, and to throw 
 every obstacle in the way of an amicable settlement. He 
 appeared to pay little attention to the circumstance that 
 the publicity of his conduct must necessarily be the pre- 
 cursor of the removal of the greater number, if not of all the 
 scholars from the establishment, as it was not to be suppo- 
 sed, that the parents would allow their children to be edu- 
 4. M 
 
74 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 cated by a man, who at his very outset had shown such a 
 gross direliction of all principles of honesty and fair deal- 
 ing. That immediate publicity was not given to it, must 
 be ascribed to the circumstance, that as the defrauded 
 applicant was convinced, that he should ultimately suc- 
 ceed in obtaining possession of the school, it would not 
 be policy in him to circulate any reports, which might be in- 
 jurious to the interests of it, but the fact must be stated, 
 that it required no publicity of the conduct of John Tom 
 to be given in Border to effect the ruin of the school, for in the 
 conversation which some of the parents had with Mr. Tom, 
 they discovered in his religious and political sentiments, 
 ample grounds for the removal of their sons from his 
 tuition, unless they wished their children's heads to be filled 
 with the wildest schemes of political and religious reform, 
 and their minds surcharged with a mass of theoretical 
 and speculative learning, by no means applicable to their 
 station in life, nor to the avocations for which they 
 were destined. It was one of the conceits of Mr. Tom, 
 that rudimental tuition ought never to form a part of 
 scholastic discipline, and that a deal of valuable time 
 is lost, in leading the mind step by step, to any 'given 
 point of knowledge, when it could be brought to it at 
 once, without any intermediate drudgery, and thereby 
 impart to it immediately a strength, which would enable it to 
 surmount every difficulty which the practice generally 
 adopted in schools, is too apt to throw in the way of 
 juvenile learning. It was also his opinion, that there were 
 some departments of knowledge, in which tuition was by 
 no means necessary, and to winch the mind would be 
 directed by nature, as it advanced to maturity, on the same 
 principle that the art of walking, or any other mechanical 
 motion of the body, is not the effect of education, but of 
 mere animal instinct. Speech, he would argue is a natural 
 instinct, and men and women will talk, although they had 
 
SIR WILLIAM COUKTENAY K.M. 75 
 
 never been placed under the tuition^of a preceptor. Who he 
 would say, would lose his time in teaching a child, that the 
 sun is the fountain of light and heat, when his own senses 
 will tell it him without any instruction at all ? Where is 
 the necessity, he would say, to tell a child that water is in- 
 finite in its divisibility, when he has only to take a drop in- 
 to his hand, and the truth of it is at once apparent to him ? 
 These, and other such senseless crotchets were the basis of 
 the system of education, adopted by Mr. John Tom, and 
 therefore no wonder need be excited, that not a week 
 elapsed without one or more scholars being withdrawn from 
 the school, and as this circumstance came to the knowledge 
 of the defrauded applicant, he considered that it would be 
 policy in him, rather to make any sacrifice, in order to 
 obtain possession of the school, than by a procrastinating 
 appeal to the law, uncertain at best in its results, remove 
 perhaps the object, which he had in view to a far distant 
 period, when it might be so diminished in value, as scarcely 
 to be worth possessing. He, therefore consulted with the 
 former proprietor, and it was settled that the whole sum of 
 money, which had been paid by Tom should be refunded to 
 him, including even the sum which he had received from 
 the other applicant, provided immediate possession of the 
 school was surrendered. Mr. Tom at first objected to 
 listen to any proposal, but on serious reflection, he began to 
 think, whether he might not make a virtue of a necessity, 
 for it was evident to him, that if he did not leave the school, 
 the school would soon leave him, and then he might be minus 
 the whole of the sum, which he had paid, independently of 
 his having a law-suit impending over his hed, for the 
 recovery of the sum, which he had received from the other 
 applicant. Still, however, the obstinacy of his disposition 
 would have urged him to refuse the handsome offer, which 
 had been made to him, had not Eliza employed all the 
 influence, which she possessed over him, to persuade him to 
 accede to the proposal, and thereby extricate himself an 
 
76 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 once from a dilemma, in which his incautious conduct, not 
 to designate it by a severer epithet, had involved him. By 
 degrees, a sense of his immediate interests overpowered the 
 inflexibility of his character, and he yielded at last to the 
 persuasions of Eliza; the offer was accepted, the possession 
 of the school was surrendered, and John Tom was once 
 more upon the world, without an employment, and his mind 
 teeming with schemes of future greatness and importance, 
 which by their speedy accomplishment were to place him in 
 the first rank of human society. 
 
 On leaving the school, John Tom returned to Somers' 
 Town, with the view of occupying his former lodgings at 
 that place, and where he expected to be received with 
 the most cordial and flattering welcome. Very different, 
 however, was the treatment, which he received, for the fish- 
 monger's wife informed him, that they had not any lodgings 
 for fellows of his character, and that she regretted having 
 ever received him under her roof, " but this comes," she 
 said. " of her fool of a husband picking up strangers in the 
 streets, and bringing them to a house like her's, as being re- 
 spectable and reputable people." John Tom was perfectly 
 dumb-founded at this reception, for he could not account 
 for it from any circumstance which had taken place during 
 his former residence in the house, and more especially, as 
 on his leaving the house, both the fishmonger and his wife 
 expressed their sincere regret in parting with such quiet, 
 respectable lodgers, and hoped, that if business ever called 
 them to that quarter of the town, they would not omit to 
 pay them a visit, and partake of the cheer, which their 
 humble mode of life would enable them to give. Jt was, 
 therefore, an inexplicable problem to Mr. John Tom, in 
 what manner to account for so sudden a change in the 
 conduct of the fishmonger's wife, and he began to expostu- 
 late with her on the impropriety of her conduct, and of the 
 injustice, which she had done to his character by the insinu- 
 ations which she had thrown out " Character !" exclaimed 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY. K.M. /7 
 
 the indignant woman, " what have you to do with charac- 
 ter ? take that poor girl back to her parents you villain, or 
 make her your wife, character ! forsooth !" 
 
 The colour fled from the cheeks of Eliza, and John Tom 
 stood before his enraged accuser so confounded, that he could 
 scarcely utter a word. If a thunderbolt from heaven had 
 stricken him, he could not have been deprived more of all 
 self-possession, or have deported himself with more direct 
 marks of trepidation and alarm, Gradually, however, he 
 collected himself, and with his customary consequence and 
 haughtiness of demeanour, he demanded to know the name 
 of the individual who had dared to interfere in his private 
 affairs, and to impute vice and criminality to him in an 
 action, which was in fact nothing more than a laudable and 
 an enlightened adherence to certain principles of truth and 
 reason, and his unjustifiable aversion from a custom to which 
 people adhered, because their fathers and mothers adhered 
 to it before them, and for which adherence, they could give 
 no other reason, than that it was a custom invented by 
 some individual, 'a number of centuries ago, when the human 
 mind was enveloped in darkness and superstition, but now 
 that the light of reason had dawned upon it. a servile 
 acquiescence in it, was rather a disgrace than a merit. 
 
 The fishmonger's wife told him she was not going to 
 listen to such nonsense, and being pressed by Mr. Tom to 
 inform him by what means she had come to the knowledge 
 of the particular relation, in which Eliza and himself stood 
 towards each other, she related to him, that he had not left 
 her lodgings two days, before an elderly gentleman, who 
 appeared to be broken-hearted, drove up to the door of her 
 house in a hackney coach, and inquired for a young lady 
 
 of the name of Eliza D n, who, he was informed lodged 
 
 in the house, as the reputed wife of an unprincipled fellow 
 of the name of Tom. The answer delivered was, that 
 a person of the name of Tom, having a lady with him, who 
 was supposed to be his wife, had certainly lodged there, but 
 
78 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 that he had left without leaving any information as to the 
 quarter to which he had removed, nor had she any means of 
 affording any further information on the subject In the 
 course of the conversation, it was ascertained that the 
 person making the inquiry was the father of the lady, and 
 that he had travelled to London for the purpose of obtain- 
 ing possession of his daughter, and taking her back with 
 him to her family. 
 
 John Tom had heard quite sufficient to induce him to 
 hurry his departure from a house, at which such unplea- 
 sant disclosures had been made to him, and where his cha- 
 racter had been assailed in a manner, that inflicted a severe 
 wound upon his pride, and showed his moral turpitude in a 
 light, that was by no means welcome to him. Still, how- 
 ever, he appeased the compunctions of his conscience with 
 the thought, that his actions had been the result of actual 
 principle, founded, as he erroneously flattered himself on 
 the indestructible basis of truth and reason, and as such, that 
 he was not amenable at the tribunal of public opinion, 
 over which presided the mere slaves of prejudice and habit, 
 and who in their general character deserved to be stigma- 
 tised as mere human machines, and not as beings endowed 
 with the power of intellect and reason. 
 
 If, however, John Tom could succeed in stifling the com- 
 punctions of his conscience by such flimsy and superficial 
 means, very differently was it situated with the victim of 
 his visionary principles. If, during her previous residence 
 at Somer's Town, her heart had been nearly broken with 
 anguish, at her forlorn and desolate state, and her compa- 
 rative abstraction from all human society, how much more 
 poignant now was her affliction, when she had been inform- 
 ed that her broken-hearted father had followed her from 
 his home, to bring back the wandering sheep to its native 
 fold, and though tainted and polluted, to restore it by fond- 
 ness and affection to its pristine purity. Then did every 
 chord and nerve of her heart quiver with an intensity of 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 79 
 
 feeling, which threatened at once to snap asunder the liga- 
 ments by which life was held, and hush her sorrows for ever 
 in the folds of death. 
 
 The character of John Tom was not calculated for the 
 tender treatment of a female under such circumstances like 
 these. He could not bend to the binding up of the bruised 
 flower, although he himself was the individual who had 
 defoliaged it, and rudely broken it from its parent stem. 
 There are chords in the female heart, which are only to be 
 responded to by those of affection and kindness, and he 
 who thinks to try them by severity and haughtiness, will 
 soon find that heart a wreck, which in the unguarded mo- 
 ment of unsuspecting confidence, gave to him all its fondness, 
 and looked for the bliss of life in the fondness that would 
 be given in return. 
 
 Daily, and hourly grew fainter the lustre of her eye ; 
 not a tinge of the hue of health sat upon her cheeks ; at 
 night she called upon her father in her dreams, and in the 
 day she seemed as one, who had nothing more to do with 
 the world, nor the world with her. At times she would 
 speak to her seducer of things that she wished to be done, 
 when she was no longer amongst the living, and^ above all, 
 that her body might be conveyed to her native spot, there 
 to rest amongst those, who had loved her in her innocence, 
 and who would not spurn her from their side, now that she 
 was a polluted one. 
 
 Acting', as John Tom supposed he had done from princi- 
 ple, it may be supposed that these solemn appeals from the 
 lips of one, who had given to him that, which a woman 
 values the most on earth, failed to make that impression, 
 which they, perhaps would have done upon a heart, which 
 had sinned from innate depravity, or from a cool deliberate 
 system of female seduction. The weakness of woman is 
 never displayed in a more conspicuous light, than in that 
 moment, when the sweetest feelings of her heart are called 
 into action, and, when under their almost irresistible influ- 
 
80 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 ence, she lends a too willing ear to the seductive voice of 
 the tempter, and hurried away by natures' powerful influ- 
 ence, springs recklessly over the boundary, which the laws 
 of Heaven and of man have placed between vice and 
 virtue, and which, if once surpassed, can never again be re- 
 turned to. 
 
 When John Tom took his sudden departure from Somer's 
 Town, he chose as his residence an hotel in Albemarle 
 Street, the style and expenditure of which were far beyond 
 his station of life, but to which he was induced to repair, 
 from the strange delusion that was then working in his 
 brain, that the hour was fast approaching when he would 
 be called to take upon himself that station in the world 
 to which he was pre-eminently born, and that, were he to 
 be found in a humble condition of life, he should not be 
 able to impress upon his followers those ideas of his conse- 
 quence and superiority, which would inevitably be the case, 
 were he to be known as living in a state of affluence and 
 luxury. The punctuality, with which he discharged his 
 pecuniary obligations, the command which he appeared to 
 have of money were sufficient recommendations to the 
 keeper of the hotel, to pay the most obsequious politeness 
 to his guest, although the worthy host was at the same 
 time thoroughly convinced that he had a very eccentric 
 character under his roof, but that not one of his pursuits 
 had a tendency to vice and immorality. 
 
 The setting of the sun of Eliza's terrestrial existence was 
 however, hourly approaching ; for a moment, the glorious 
 splendour of the declining orb appeared to beam around 
 her, in which she delighted to revel, as a foretaste of that 
 celestial brightness, to which she was fast hastening, and 
 where the angels of light would take her into their holy 
 keeping, although on earth she had been rejected and 
 despised. 
 
 One evening, Mr. Tom returned late from one of the 
 debating societies, which he was in the regular habit of 
 
SIR WILLIAM COUItTENAY, K.M. 81 
 
 attending, and which were at that time considered as the 
 nurseries of our future orators, although the political 
 principles which were therein advocated, were the crude 
 effervescences of a distempered imagination, rendered so by 
 the peculiar aspect of the times. They were, however, the 
 favourite resort of John Tom, in which he boldly promulgated 
 the principles of the Spencean system, the approaching 
 arrival of the millenium, the downfall of the church, on 
 account of the flagrancy of its abuses ; the increasing profli- 
 gacy of the higher classes, as inconsistent with manliness, 
 truth and honesty, and above all, the taking advantage of 
 popular commotion, accidental excesses, and foreign revo* 
 lutions, having a tendency, to extend prerogative and power, 
 and encroach on the liberties of the people these and other 
 such wild and visionary subjects, were generally the subject 
 of the evenings' debate, and by means of a bribe offered to 
 that very ingenious class of men, the reporters for the 
 public press, one of the speeches of Mr. Tom appeared in 
 one of the daily prints, which raised his vanity and egotism 
 to an almost insufferable height, and which he looked upon 
 as the fore-runner of his public appearance on the theatre 
 of the world, as one of its most influential and powerful 
 actors. 
 
 It was on the evening that he had delivered this speech, 
 and had received the promise of its insertion in one of the 
 daily papers, that he hastened to his apartments at the 
 hotel to carry to Eliza the gratifying intelligence of his 
 being about to be lauded in the newspapers, as one of the 
 most promising orators of the day, when on his arrival he 
 found Eliza reclining on the sofa, more the semblance of 
 one, whose spirit had winged its flight to other worlds, than 
 one that still was lingering in this nether sphere. 
 
 He entered the room with a triumphant air, his whole 
 heart and soul appearing to be absorbed in the thought of 
 the empty applause which he had obtained for his oratorical 
 4. M 
 
82 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 effusions, and the number of converts which he had made 
 to his wild and visionary principles. He saw before him 
 the broken-hearted victim to some of those principles, but 
 he deemed it not worth his while to make the inquiry of 
 how long it might probably be, before the last pulse of that 
 heart would beat, and lay the sufferer at rest for ever. 
 
 " To-morrow, Eliza," he exclaimed, " you will see the 
 speech that I delivered this night in the newspapers will 
 you not be delighted to read it ?" 
 
 Eliza held forth her hand " To-morrow, did you say, 
 John, it is a word of momentous import, for who can tell 
 what may happen before that morrow comes? I feel as if 
 there were no morrow more for me." 
 
 " Mere whim and fancy," said John, " the effect of your 
 nervous weakness, which gives to every scene of life a dark 
 and gloomy colour, which expels all mirth and happiness 
 from the heart, and places in their stead, despondency and 
 despair, " 
 
 " And death," said Eliza. 
 
 " Certainly," said John, " the picture would not be com- 
 plete without it." 
 
 " Nor the reality," said Eliza " these to me are solemn 
 moments, nor in them shall my lips utter a word which shall 
 inflict a pang upon your heart. Whilst in life I gave 
 you all that was dear to me, and my last kiss to you shall 
 be that of forgiveness." 
 
 The speech of Eliza appeared to falter as she pro- 
 nounced the latter word, and there came over her seducer 
 a thrilling feeling, which he would have fain shaken off, but 
 which, for some reason unaccountable to him, he could not 
 accomplish. He looked at her, and he thought he saw 
 something in her face, which he had never seen before; 
 there was a glazed look in her eye, which was directed up- 
 wards, as if in search of something that was either already 
 there, or which she saw was fast approaching her. 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. f>3 
 
 With a faint voice, she requested John to open her 
 writing desk, and bring to her a small sealed package which 
 he would find in one of the drawers, and having delivered 
 it to her, she returned it into his hands, with the injunction 
 that it should not be opened until after her burial. 
 
 " Why talk of your burial ?" said John, " it is only one 
 of those gloomy presages which are ever the attendants of 
 your peculiar malady I must seek for a dwelling for you 
 in the country, where a change of air and scenery will 
 soon restore you to health." 
 
 Eliza shook her head and said, " It is not to me a 
 gloomy presage, but the anticipation of a release from the 
 sufferings of a world, which on account of my sins, has re- 
 jected me but which I trust in the goodness and mercy of 
 God, will not exclude me from his Heaven." 
 
 " Sins !" ^exclaimed John, " why torment yourself with 
 such fanciful notions can that be sin, which God and 
 nature have ordained ?" 
 
 " My conscience," said Eliza, " tells me, that 1 have 
 sinned, deeply sinned, nor can you lull the compunctions 
 of that conscience, by the power of your pretended philosophy. 
 But that is a subject, which in this solemn moment I will not 
 dwell upon. I have sinned, but my God, who can see into my 
 heart can tell that I have sinned not from a love of sin, 
 and, therefore, will he pardon me - I'll now to rest, 
 John, there is some strange presentiment upon my mind 
 that I shall awaken in another world." 
 
 With a tottering step, John led Eliza to her apartment ; 
 but it was in the middle of the night that a cold shivering 
 came over her, for the hand of death had stricken her, al- 
 though it came upon her at first with that gentleness, with 
 which it is given to the new-born babe, and dealt more in 
 mercy than in wrath. Eliza expressed her conviction that 
 the hour of her dissolution was fast approaching, but that 
 she rather welcomed it, than dreaded it still, however, not- 
 standing Eliza betrayed every symptom that the tide of 
 
84 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 life was ebbing fast away, he could not bring his mind to 
 any other consideration, than that her fears were the effect 
 more of the nervous weakness of her constitution, than of 
 the reality of her approaching death. In order, however, 
 to obviate any after reflection upon his mind, for any re- 
 missness in the performance of his duty towards her, he 
 expressed his determination to call in medical advice, not 
 doubting that it would be found highly beneficial, and 
 perhaps arrest altogether the progress of a disease, which 
 perhaps, if suffered to gain a certain degree of ascen- 
 dency, would be attended with fatal consequences. To this 
 proposal, Eliza made the strongest objection, she was in 
 her own mind too well convinced, that she was beyond 
 the power of human skill to restore her again to the 
 world, and therefore all medical interference could not but 
 be the source of annoyance and vexation to her. John 
 Tom, whose heart was by nature kind and affectionate, 
 except when his feelings were overpowered by the force of 
 certain unfortunate delusions, by which his actions appeared 
 to have been governed, yielded to the wishes of Eliza in 
 every respect, and the night passed away in that solemn 
 and confidential intercourse, which generally distinguishes 
 the last hours of an individual, who sees death gradually 
 approaching, and who instead of feeling any alarm at its 
 arrival, looks upon it as a friend, who opens the gate of 
 a better world, and lays the throbbings of an aching heart 
 at rest for ever. 
 
 Like the bright flashes of the expiring flame, so shone 
 at times in Eliza's eye, the transient flickerings of depart- 
 ing life, anxious and struggling to maintain its hold, but 
 forced to yield to a superior power, with whom the victory 
 is never doubtful. It was these cheering, but doubtful 
 flashes, the sure forerunners of approaching death, that in- 
 stilled hope into the breast of Tom, who now watched 
 every motion of Eliza with an intensity of feeling, to which 
 he had hittierto been a stranger, and which appeared to 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 85 
 
 awaken in him certain emotions, the immediate effect of the 
 natural goodness of his heart, but which were in some 
 degree unwelcome to him, as there were mingled in them 
 some faint whispering's of an accusing spirit, which told 
 him, that but for him the being who then lay in the pale- 
 ness of death before him, might still have been blooming 
 in the world, in youth and beauty, a parent's joy, and 
 perhaps a husband's earthly happiness. 
 
 Tom had seated himself by the side of the bed, Eliza had 
 taken his hand, and had placed it on her heart ; faint and 
 irregular were its throbbings, and on her forehead sat the 
 cold sweat of death. A convulsive motion appeared to 
 thrill through her frame another and another and the 
 spirit of Eliza flew to its native Heaven. 
 
 John Tom stood for some minutes before the corpse of 
 Eliza, as if some sudden power bad fixed him to the ground : 
 all his thoughts appeared to be absorbed in one, and that 
 one was centred in the now lifeless form of the only being 
 whom be had loved on earth, but who had been brought 
 prematurely and broken-hearted to her grave, by the 
 thoughts of the condition to which he had reduced her, 
 although the faint consolation was awarded him, that that 
 condition was not brought about by any of those aggravated 
 circumstances, by which similar cases are generally dis- 
 tinguished, but that it was the result of a false notion, 
 which he had imbibed of some of the relations of human 
 society, which in their constitution were at variance with 
 truth and reason, and consequently that he was not bound 
 by any moral obligation to adhere to them. This was the 
 only panacea with which he could now still those workings 
 of his conscience, which notwithstanding all his endeavours 
 to control them, would at times intrude themselves, and 
 embitter the hours of his life, by the remembrance of the 
 fatal result of his culpable adherence to a system, the 
 principles of which he had not thoroughly, nor profoundly 
 
86 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 investigated, and by which he had been led away by their 
 plausible and factitious propriety. 
 
 The funeral of Eliza was'completed, and John Tom now 
 saw himself, literally an isolated creature in the world. He 
 looked around him, and amongst the thousands of human 
 beings by whom he was surrounded, he could not discover 
 one who had any interest in him, or to whom he was attached 
 by any other ties, than those which commonly bind one man 
 to another, and in whose breasts self-interest and personal 
 welfare are the predominant principles of action. There was 
 no immediate pursuit to which he could attach himself, by 
 which his prosperity in life could be promoted, nor was he 
 in possession of those pecuniary resources, which would 
 enable him to establish himself in any business, which 
 might be congenial with his dispositions, and by which he 
 could hope to amass, a sufficiency for his support in age. 
 For very obvious reasons, he did not wish to return to his 
 native place, as he knew that his reception there, would not 
 be very agreeable to him from certain quarters, but still 
 his look was directed to his native county, where he hoped 
 fortune would so befriend him, as to place him in a respect- 
 able situation, in which, although perhaps he might not be 
 able to amass a fortune, yet which would furnish him with 
 a competency for his immediate livelihood, until some 
 opportunity might offer itself for his permanent establish- 
 ment in life. 
 
 With the exception of the transaction about the school, 
 and even respecting that, there are various, and conflicting 
 accounts, the character of John Tom, had been unimpeach- 
 able for honour and integrity in all his dealings, and 
 although at a later period of his life, it was the fashion of 
 the world to asperse his character, and to attribute motives 
 and principles to him at variance with morality and virtue, 
 yet it- is certain, that in no situation in which he was ever 
 placed, did he ever conduct himself, but to the entire satis- 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 87 
 
 faction of his employers, and to the full enjoyment of their 
 confidence and respect. 
 
 In the situation in which he was now placed, there was 
 no one, to whom he could apply for advice with greater 
 propriety than to his worthy father, who, notwithstanding 
 his displeasure at some parts of his son's conduct, arising 
 from the false and extravagant notions, which he had im- 
 bibed relative to some of the institutions of human society, 
 yet on no occasion did he depart from the conduct of a 
 tender and affectionate parent, and who was willing to 
 make any sacrifice, by which the interests of his son could be 
 promoted. 
 
 It was Mr. Tom's advice to his son, that he should return 
 to Cornwall, and settle himself in some line of business, 
 at either Truro or Bodmin, at either of which places, 
 they could hold frequent and confidential intercourse 
 with each other, and where that assistance could be 
 granted by which the plans of his son could be brought to 
 maturity. 
 
 Notwithstanding that London possessed many induce- 
 ments to John Tom to prolong his residence in that city ? 
 in consequence of its numerous debating societies, and 
 philosophical institutions, at which the peculiar dispositions 
 of his mind might be fostered and encouraged ; yet it is by 
 no means an uncommon occurrence in the affairs of human 
 life, that a particular and unexpected event appears for a 
 time to metamorphose the natural character of an individ- 
 ual, and impart to it certain dispositions and propensities, 
 wholly at variance with those, by which he appears pre- 
 viously to have been governed. Thus, in several points, the 
 death of Eliza had effected a decided change in the opin- 
 ions, which John Tom had formed on certain subjects, and 
 on no one more so, than on that of marriage. His natural 
 good sense began to gain the ascendency over the fanciful 
 and speculative theories of the modern philosophy, and he 
 saw that so long as an individual belonged to the herd of 
 
88 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 human beings, he was bound to conform to certain laws 
 and institutions, without which confusion and anarchy 
 would be introduced into all the relations of life, and men 
 in general, emancipated from the wholesome restraint of 
 the law, founded on the basis of reason and justice, and 
 hurried on by the impetuosity of their unbridled passions, 
 would exhibit a spectacle of universal havoc, and a general 
 destruction of those institutions, on which the happiness and 
 welfare of society are founded. 
 
 With this salutary change in his dispositions, although 
 perhaps of a temporary nature, he determined to leave 
 London, and accordingly he embarked on board a vessel in 
 the Thames bound for Falmouth, but which was to stop 
 for a few days at Portsmouth to take in some stores for the 
 garrison at Falmouth, and which gave John Tom an oppor- 
 tunity of landing and visiting that great national nursery 
 of our maritime greatness. 
 
 It was whilst John Tom and the captain of the vessel 
 were seated at dinner in the coffee-room of the Blue Posts 
 at Portsmouth, that the latter was accosted by two men, 
 inquiring if he could provide them with a berth as far as 
 Falmouth, they having some business of importance to 
 transact in that place, and which they were anxious to 
 reach with all possible expedition. 
 
 It is certain that every man possesses more or less, those 
 peculiar characteristics, by which we are led to form at 
 first sight a good or bad opinion of him, and it is not less 
 certain, that when that opinion is once formed, we are not 
 very much disposed to alter it, even although some very pow- 
 erful circumstances may arise to convince us, that the opi- 
 nion, which we had previously formed is decidedly erroneous. 
 
 There was something in the look and bearing of these 
 men of so repellent a character, that Tom secretly wished 
 that the captain would refuse them a passage, little think- 
 ing at the time, that some years afterwards he was to be 
 again thrown into the society of one of these men, and 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M- 89 
 
 under such peculiar circumstances, as to have a decided in- 
 fluence on his future life. These men were two of the most 
 celebrated smugglers on the southern coasts, and the 
 captain had some good reason to suspect the nature of the 
 particular pursuit, in which his new passengers were enga- 
 ged, he, however, forbore to express his opinion, and al- 
 though Tom pressed him hard upon the point, he evaded 
 giving a correct answer, by declaring that it was not his busi- 
 ness to pry into the private affairs of any one, who might be a 
 passenger in his ship, all that he had to do, was to take care 
 that they did not defraud him of his fare, and that their 
 conduct on board did not interfere with the discipline 
 or order of the ship. For some reason, which Tom 
 could not exactly define, the captain appeared testy on 
 his making certain minute enquiries relative to the 
 character and occupation of his fellow-passengers, and 
 in an oblique manner appeared to insinuate, that if he 
 did not like to sail with them, the option was open to 
 him of leaving the vessel, and he might find his way to 
 Falmouth in whatever manner he liked best. This some- 
 what rude and peremptory conduct on the part of the 
 captain, determined Tom to hold no further conversation 
 with him on the subject, and as the two smugglers during 
 the remainder of the voyage showed no disposition to hold 
 any conversation with him, nor to give him the slightest 
 clue as to the real nature of their business, he wisely refrained 
 from troubling himself about them, and he was not a little 
 pleased when the vessel entered the harbour of Falmouth^ 
 and thereby released him from the society of two men, to whom 
 in his own mind he could have attributed the commission 
 of the worst of crimes. 
 
 John Tom now found himself once more on the soil of 
 his native country, and having no business of any mo- 
 ment to detain him at Falmouth, he stopped but one night 
 in that place, and on the following morning departed to 
 4. N 
 
90 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 walk to Truro, from which town it was his intention to ap- 
 prize his father of his arrival, and appoint an early inter- 
 view with him, in order that some measures might be im- 
 mediately adopted for his settlement in life, he being well 
 competent to undertake the superintendence of any com- 
 mercial establishment, and particularly if in any degree 
 connected with the business which his father originally fol- 
 lowed, he being acquainted with all the minutiae attending 
 upon it. 
 
 At this period, one of the most extensive establishments 
 in the spirit line in the West of England, was carried on 
 by Messrs. Turner and Co. of Truro, with whom Mr. 
 Tom, senior, corresponded during the time that he kept 
 the Joiner's Arms at St. Colomb.* A situation was found 
 for John Tom in their establishment, and without anticipa- 
 ting the regular course of events, we will give the character 
 of John Tom during his stay in the establishment of Mr. 
 Turner, in that gentleman's own words, as it was stated by 
 him in his place in the House of Commons, on the motion 
 of Sir iLdward Knatchbull for a committee to institute an 
 inquiry into the late riots in the City of Canterbury. Mr. 
 Turner prefaced his own statement of the character of John 
 Tom, by relating that which had been given of him by the 
 respectable attorney, of whom we have already spoken, 
 which in substance was, that he had known John Tom as a 
 boy a few years older than himself, and that he did not 
 recollect any instance in which Tom had evinced a cruel 
 disposition. He was generous, open-hearted, and humane, 
 and if in his right mind, would have been one of the last 
 men in the world to do a cruel action. Mr. Turner then goes 
 on to state, " that after that period, he himself became ac- 
 quainted with Tom, and having been concerned in large 
 mercantile transactions, perhaps the largest in the county 
 
 * Owing to a typographical error in a preceding part of this work, the 
 house kept by Mr. Tom at St. Colomb, was called the Cornish Arm** 
 whereas it was the Joiner's Arms, now changed to the King's Arms. 
 
THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 91 
 
 of Cornwall, he had selected Tom to superintend his esta- 
 blishment. Tom had served him faithfully, honestly, zeal- 
 ously, and justly for several years, and when he (Mr. 
 Turner) retired from business, he made Torn his successor. 
 He entrusted Tom with a large capital, and it was only in 
 truth to state, that Tom had fulfilled honourably all his 
 engagements towards him." 
 
 It is pleasing to adduce so high and' indisputable a testi- 
 mony of the goodness of the character of Tom, which leaves 
 no doubt, that had it not pleased Heaven to visit him 
 with one of the greatest calamities incidental to our nature, 
 he might have remained an ornament to human society in 
 the sphere of life in which he moved, and _have earned the 
 esteem and good will of all, v/ho by any means were brought 
 into contact with him. 
 
 The opinions which we hold in our youth, are seldom 
 those which accompany us in our riper years ; for circum- 
 stances arise which alter our relations in life, and with that 
 change, we view the things of the world through a different 
 medium, and many which we held to be founded on truth, led 
 away by the enthusiasm and short sightedness of youth, we 
 subsequently discover to be based on error and misconception. 
 In his youth, the mind of John Tom was a fertile soil, in 
 which every seed could germinate and come to maturity, 
 but he was in a great degree bereft of that discrimination 
 arising from his own individual powers, or the assistance or 
 co-operation of others, which could enable him to judge 
 with accuracy as to what seed ought to be received into his 
 mind, or which for his own future benefit and welfare 
 ought to be rejected. At the particular period, when the 
 mind of John Tom was beginning to expand, there were 
 floating on the surface of public opinion, a number of crude 
 and undigested theories, which to the philanthropist, were 
 highly inviting and encouraging, as having for their aim, 
 the extension of human happiness, and the eradication of 
 many of those crying abuses, by which its more general 
 
9*2 THE LIFE AND ADVKNTURES OP 
 
 diffusion had been prevented. On some points, the change 
 in the mind of John Tom had been brought about by cir- 
 cumstances of rather a melancholy nature, and in no one 
 more so, than in the change of his opinion of the married 
 state, produced by the death of Eliza. He had, moreover, 
 arrived at the conviction, that it is the extreme of folly 
 to run counter to those established institutions of society, 
 which are indispensably necessary for the proper preserva- 
 tion of order and morality. 
 
 At the time when John Tom took up his residence in 
 Truro, he was in the opinion of the female sex a most 
 handsome man, and many there were, who courted his 
 society, not only on account of the extent of his conver- 
 sational powers, but with the view of enchaining his affec- 
 tions, and leading him by the silken bonds of love to the 
 altar of matrimony. Amongst the ^spinsters who at that 
 time shone in the galaxy of female beauty, were two 
 daughters of Mr. Philpot, a native of Truro, by name 
 Julia and Cattern, the former of whom was engaged to a 
 Mr. Hugo, whilst the latter had a heart still to bestow, and 
 was willing to bestow it, where she could gain another in 
 return. John Tom was to the unmarried ladies of Truro, 
 what a comet is in the heavens, all were staring at him, 
 and following him now and then in his eccentric habits, 
 wishing to share in his collateral brightness, although 
 they might not succeed in exalting themselves to his 
 sphere. 
 
 The heart of John Tom appeared for a time to be a 
 citadel not to be conquered by all the fires which were 
 ever shot from a female eye ; in fact, he seemed to revel in 
 his invincibility, and to treat all those who laid siege to 
 him, as if he himself were superior to all their stratagems, 
 and that like Achilles, there was scarcely a vulnerable part 
 about him. Miss Cattern Philpot was, however, deter- 
 mined to carry off the prize; and it has been said, and 
 perhaps truly, that a woman never yet set her mind upon an 
 
SIR WILLIAM COUIITENAY, K.M. 93 
 
 object, but sbe eventually succeeded in obtaining it. 
 Without stopping to enumerate the number of instances, 
 in which that circumstance could be negatived, it will be 
 merely sufficient, in the present instance, to show that Miss 
 Cattern Philpot did eventually succeed in bringing the 
 haughty mortal as a supplicant to her feet, and forcing him 
 to confess, that resolute and determined as a man may 
 show himself in some particular circumstances of his life, 
 he still becomes a mere puny child, when he has to contend 
 with the beauty and fascination of woman. 
 
 One of the proudest periods of a woman's life is, when 
 she has determined upon a conquest, and has accomplished 
 it, and, as such, it was a proud period in the life of Miss 
 Cattern Philpot, when she was conducted from her father's 
 house by Mr. John Tom, to the matrimonial altar, there 
 to be united to a man, who was the envy of his sex, 
 and the admiration of her own. At this period of his life, 
 he was in the service of Mr. Turner, respected and es- 
 teemed, and from the confidence that was reposed in him, 
 in enjoyment of the prospect of a comfortable competency, 
 with perhaps a permanent situation for the remainder of 
 his life. 
 
 As the simple biographer of the life of John Tom, we 
 should not deem ourselves authorised to enter into a detail 
 of the private affairs of other families, especially when it 
 must be considered that such a detail possesses no immediate 
 reference to any event of the life of the individual, whose 
 adventures we are recording, nor has any remote or im- 
 mediate tendency to the elucidation of any particular parts 
 of his history, over which the veil of secrecy is suspended. 
 There is, however, one circumstance connected with the 
 union of John Tom with the Philpot family, to which we 
 cannot refrain from alluding, as it was greatly enlarged 
 upon at the time, and with no little portion of that severity 
 and acrimony, with which the opinions of the world are too 
 frequently accustomed to be delivered. John Tom was 
 
94 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 himself descended from a stock, in which the most horrible 
 of all diseases was on the maternal side hereditary, and by 
 his union with Miss Philpot, he had intermarried with a 
 family, in which that disease had exhibited itself in the 
 most fearful shape, for the mother of his wife died in a 
 state of the most abject melancholy, and Mrs. Philpot and 
 her sister, being grandmother and aunt to the present wife 
 of Mr. John Tom, hung themselves on the same tree in 
 a garden belonging to Mr. Philpot's house. It is a blessing 
 upon mankind in general, that no offspring emanated from 
 the marriage of Mr. John Tom, for had such taken place, it 
 might have been considered, as nothing less than perpetuating 
 a race of hereditary lunatics, and inflicting the direst of all 
 human calamities upon their hapless offspring. We are by no 
 means disposed to add to the already tremendous bulk of 
 our statute laws, but the legislature of the country would 
 be conferring a real boon upon society, if all marriages were 
 interdicted between parties, in whose predecessors insanity 
 has been known to exist, although at the same time \v<* are 
 fully aware of the almost insuperable difficulties, with 
 which the question is environed, and that from the peculiar 
 delicacy with which the point of lunacy would have to be 
 established, the execution of the law would amount almost 
 to an impossibility. 
 
 Mr. Tom had not long been the husband of Miss Cattern 
 Philpot before he commenced the execution of those plans 
 which he had had long in contemplation, and from which 
 every prospect was held forth to him of amassing a fortune, 
 and rendering himself one of the most respectable men in 
 the town of Truro. A.t the time of his marriage, the house 
 in which his father-in-law lived was an old, fragile building, 
 excessively mean in its general appearance, and which by 
 no means harmonized with the notions then prevailing in 
 his mind of the station which he held in society, and which 
 was likely to be further exalted, could he succeed in bring- 
 ing his present plans into execution. He therefore set 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K. M. 95 
 
 heartily to work, and pulled down the old, crazy habitation 
 of his father-in-law, and erected on its site a commodious 
 dwelling-house ; in its rear he built some spacious 
 premises for the purpose of carrying on the business of a 
 maltster, in which he was patronised and supported by 
 the liberal members of the house in which he was 
 officiating as their superintendant. If any discrepancy in 
 this part of the life of John Tom should be discovered, it 
 must be solely attributed to the conflicting accounts which 
 have been received from various quarters, and respecting 
 which it becomes almost a matter of impossibility to deter- 
 mine to which of the accounts the credence ought to be 
 given. In one account that has been transmitted to us, it 
 is stated that he did not commence the malting business 
 until Messrs. Turner and Co. had declined business, and 
 had appointed him as their successor; and this account 
 has the most plausibility attached to it, for it cannot be 
 supposed that he could carry on the malting business on his 
 own account, and at the same time be the confidential 
 servant of Messrs. Turner, for as his attention must be 
 necessarily divided, it follows of course that one of the 
 branches of his business must be neglected ; nor can it be 
 supposed that Messrs. Turner would keep an individual in 
 their service, whose time must be necessarily occupied in 
 attending to his own concerns to the evident injury of 
 their own. We, however, cursorily allude to those circum- 
 stances in order that the reader may draw his own infer- 
 ences as to the exact position in which Mr. John Tom 
 stood at this particular period of his life, which in every 
 respect may designated as carrying with it a greater degree 
 of respectability than at any previous or after-period of his 
 life, for we cannot exactly include that as a respectable 
 portion of his life in which he assumed a character and an 
 importance which did not belong to him, and which was 
 evidently the effect of a deranged and wandering intellect. 
 
96 SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 
 
 John Tom had been seven years in the service of Messrs. 
 Turner and Co., when that respectable firm declined busi- 
 ness, and so great was the confidence which the principals of 
 that house reposed in the integrity and honour of their 
 servant, that they assigned over to him the whole of their 
 stock, giving him at the same time the command of such a 
 capital, as would enable him to carry on the business with 
 credit and respectability. Consistently, however, with the 
 usage of the world, in proportion as he rose in the scale of 
 respectability in the town, there was not wanting those who 
 used their utmost endeavours to prevent his further ascent, 
 and who by every petty act which malice or envy could 
 devise, sought to tarnish his good name, by an exaggeration 
 of the conduct which he had pursued towards Eliza, for 
 they must know little of the world who could for a moment 
 suppose, that some busy, officious tale-bearers, those syste- 
 matic destroyers of human happiness, had not carried the 
 recital of the tragical history from St. Colomb toTruro, where 
 it was received with all the additions, amplifications, and 
 exaggerations which the most malicious ingenuity could 
 devise, and where it was secretly and industriously conveyed 
 to the ears of Mrs. Tom, in order that those passions might be 
 excited in her breast, which circumstances of that kind 
 are generally too apt to engender in the female heart, and 
 thereby lay the foundation of the destruction of all domestic 
 happiness. There were also some people, who remembered 
 the levelling and democratic principles, which he had 
 formerly espoused, when he exhibited himself as the un- 
 compromising enemy of all church establishments as con- 
 nected with the state, and also showed himself as a dangerous 
 incendiary towards the government of the country, the 
 major part of which accusation, was a direct falsification, 
 for it was neither against the church establishment, nor the 
 established government of the country, that he so boldly 
 and undisguisedly avowed his opinions, but against the 
 
r SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY. K.M. 97 
 
 abuses which had crept in to such an alarming extent in 
 the administration of the spiritual and political affairs of 
 the country, and the only error which can be ascribed to 
 Tom was, that the means which he recommended for the 
 eradication of those abuses, were perhaps not the most 
 proper, nor feasible which might have been adopted, or 
 which were consistent with the spirit of the times. 
 
 Still whatever might have been the opinion of certain 
 envious and malicious individuals in the town of Truro 
 relative to the character of Tom, and particularly to his 
 political principles, there were on the other hand not a few, 
 who looked up to him as a kind of Sir Oracle, from whose 
 opinion it was almost an act of presumption to dissent, and 
 who was always referred to as an authority on many of the 
 disputed points, which then agitated the political world. 
 It was at that time the belief of many men, who plumed 
 themselves on the profundity of their knowledge, that we 
 had arrived at a positive degree of perfection in politics, 
 whereas John Tom held a decidedly opposite opinion, that 
 we were but at the vestibule of political science, and that 
 the systems which the wisest and most enlightened of 
 our legislators had adopted, were founded on mere abstract 
 principles, and actually subversive of the great aim, for the 
 attainment of which, those systems are to be carried into 
 execution. 
 
 There was also at this time an attempt to shackle the 
 human mind, and to prevent its further progress on the 
 splendid path of illumination, against which John Tom 
 raised his indignant voice, standing forth as the champion 
 for the diffusion of knowledge, by which the happiness 
 and the general interests of human society could be 
 so essentially promoted. Rewards are offered for the 
 discovery of any great scientific object, and men are 
 not only allowed, but encouraged to prosecute their in- 
 quiries into all other arts and sciences, but the grand art, 
 5. o 
 
98 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 the art of government, which in other words, is the art of se- 
 curing the civil happiness of millions is to be considered as 
 sacred and inscrutable. Those very millions, however, 
 whom it more immediately interests, dare not, if the despots 
 could prevail, to lift up the awful veil. Racks, gibbets, bow- 
 strings, chains and prisons are prepared in most of the 
 kingdoms of the world to awe the curious, and check the 
 spirit of political improvement. Optimism has long been 
 established in the courts of despotic princes. Whatever is, 
 is right) say they, for knowing that they stand on a rotten 
 foundation, they fear that the very fixing of the scaffold for 
 repair, would precipitate the downfall of the whole fabric. 
 
 The political principles of a man are by no means the 
 test of his moral character, and yet there were not wanting 
 those in the Town of Truro, who erected the political 
 principles of John Tom as the standard of his general cha- 
 racter, and affixed a stigma to it, accordingly as those prin- 
 ciples differed from those, which they themselves had 
 adopted, or which were supposed to be in opposition to the 
 government of the day. 
 
 It does not fall within the intent and character of this work 
 to enter into the arena of politics, nor to enter in to a discussion 
 of the many vague and undigested theories which were then 
 recommended by the pseudo philosophers of those times 
 for the better government of the human race ; considering 
 ourselves bound only to expose the political system, from 
 which John Tom supposed that the happiness of mankind 
 was to emanate, and which was in direct accordance with 
 the constitution of the country, as handed down to us by 
 our fore-fathers, ^the fabric of which, however, has been 
 wofully altered and dis6gured by the innovations and muti- 
 lations of the vandals of the dark ages of superstition 
 fanaticism, and despotism. 
 
 We enter not upon either a justification or a disapproval 
 of the political principles which John Tom espoused during 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 99 
 
 his residence in Truro, and by which he gained himself a 
 number of friends, and on the other hand a corresponding 
 number of enemies, the latter, however, rather prepondera- 
 ting, on account of the majority of the people of Truro 
 holding opinions, by no means in unison with his own. It 
 is, however, from the speeches which he then occasionally 
 made in the societies and clubs, which he was in the habit 
 of frequenting, that the peculiar bias of his mind may be 
 gathered, and from which may be traced the adoption of 
 those priciples, which he advocated at a future period of 
 his life with so much enthusiasm, and the spirit of which is 
 to be discerned in a publication, whieh he afterwards issued 
 at Canterbury, under the name of the Lion. 
 
 The constituents of the rotten boroughs of Cornwall 
 were perhaps the last men in the country, amongst whom 
 we should have looked for any enlarged or liberal notions 
 relative to the existing form of government, or the abolition 
 of the abuses in the state, and, particularly, in the repre- 
 sentation of the people, of which, they in general pre- 
 sented so deplorable a spectacle. A few minds, however, 
 like that of John Tom thrown in amongst them, would soon 
 have turned the current of public opinion, and taught them 
 to direct their attention to the attainment of those rights, 
 to which as Englishmen they were born, and which were 
 unjustly withheld from them by a corrupt and aristocratical 
 government. In striking, however, at the root of the po- 
 litical evils, which at that time bore so heavily upon the 
 country, it may be naturally supposed, that John Tom in 
 his attempt to arrest the progress of those evils, would 
 subject himself to the infuriate hostility of those men, 
 whose fortunes and conditions in life depended on the per- 
 petuation of those evils, and who batten on the hard earn- 
 ings of the poor, wrung from them in the shape of taxes 
 and tithes. John Tom was not. however, the character in 
 which these men attempted to represent him ; he was by 
 no means a leveller of all distinctions of society, but he 
 
100 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 wished them to be confined within their just and natural 
 limits, and not to be allowed to entrench upon the rights 
 and privileges of the lower classes. He was in every 
 respect a loyal man in its real and significant sense, but 
 not in the perverted one, which is attached to it by a par- 
 ticular set of men, who render it rather a matter of duty than 
 of will. On being once accused in a public room at Truro, 
 of holding disloyal principles, he read his opponents a 
 lecture on the subject which was for a long time remem- 
 bered, and which made a deep impression on the minds of 
 the people of Truro, in regard to ihe intellectual qualifica- 
 tions of John Tom. 
 
 Without meaning to advocate the truth of many of the 
 positions, as laid down by John Tom, in his frequent 
 disputes with his neighbours, we shall here merely insert 
 an extract from a speech, which he delivered at a public 
 meeting in Truro, on the occasion of a report being widely 
 circulated, that he -was unfavourable to monarchy, and 
 that his pretended loyalty was of a base and surreptitious 
 kind, 
 
 " Loyalty," said John Tom " in its true sense, means a firm 
 and faithful adherence to the Jaw and constitution of the 
 community of which we are members. If monarchy be a 
 part of that constitution, it certainly means a firm and 
 faithful attachment to the person of the monarch, as well as 
 to the monarchical form, and all the other branches of the 
 system. Loyalty seems in its common acceptation, to in- 
 clude in it also a sentiment of affection. It is the obedience 
 of love, and anticipates compulsion. It is a sentiment, 
 which all good men will feel, when they live under a good 
 government, honestly administered. 
 
 . " As great respect is due to the office of the supreme 
 magistrate, so also is great affection due to his person, while 
 he conducts himself with propriety, and consults the happi- 
 ness of the people. The most decorous language should 
 be used to him ; the most respectful behaviour preserved 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 101 
 
 towards him, every mode adopted of shewing him proofs of 
 love and honour, on this side idolatry. Arduous is his task, 
 though honourable. It should be sweetened by every 
 mode, which true and sincere loyalty can devise. I would 
 rather exceed, than fall short of the deference, due to the 
 office and the man ; but I will not pay a limited monarch, 
 at the head of a free people, so ill a compliment, as to 
 treat him, as if he were a despot ruling over a land of slaves. 
 I cannot adopt the spirit of despotism in a land of liberty, 
 and I must reprobate that false, selfish and adulatory 
 loyalty, which seeking nothing but its own base ends of 
 avarice or ambition, and feeling no real attachment, either 
 to the person or the office of the king, contributes never- 
 theless to diffuse by its example, a servile, abject temper, 
 highly promotive of the despotic spirit. 
 
 " True loyalty has no connexion with meanness and sel- 
 fishness. True loyalty is manly while it is obedient, and re- 
 spects itself, while it pays a voluntary and cheerful deference 
 to authority, and the persons invested with it. It throws 
 sordid considerations aside, and having nothing in view, but 
 the general good, bears an affection, and shews that affection 
 to the whole of a system established for the preservation of 
 order and liberty. It is not misguided by pompous names, 
 nor blinded by the glitter of external parade, but values 
 offices and officers in the state, for the good they actually 
 promote, for the important functions they perform, for the 
 efficient place they fill in the finely constituted machine of 
 a well regulated community. 
 
 " Such loyalty, I believe does abound in England, not- 
 withstanding the calumnies of interested men, who would 
 misrepresent and cry down all real patriotism, that their 
 own may obtain currency* Men who possess such loyalty, 
 will be found the best friends to kings, if ever those times 
 should return, which are said to afford the truest test of 
 friendship, the times of adversity. 
 
 " May those times, however, never come ! But yet let 
 
1,02 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 us cherish true loyalty, and explode the false, because the 
 true is the best security to a limited monarchy, and consti- 
 tutional liberty, while the false, by diffusing a spirit of 
 despotism, equally inimical to the constitution, and to 
 human happiness, is destroying the legal limitations, under- 
 mining the established systems, and introducing manners 
 and principles at once, degrading to human nature, and 
 pregnant with misery to nations. 
 
 Notwithstanding these liberal and constitutional senti- 
 ments, so openly, and so avowedly expressed by John Tom, 
 in which the impartial observer would discover neither dis- 
 affection nor sedition, still by a particular party in the 
 town, he was held up as [the dissemminator of principles, 
 inimical to 'the monarchy, and subversive of the spiritual 
 establishments of the country. It must, however, be con- 
 ceded, that in many of the sentiments expressed in the fore- 
 going extract, will be found the germes of those principles, 
 on which his political life was in future founded, and which 
 exposed him to the bitter animadversions, and the unrelent- 
 ing persecution of the opposite party. 
 
 There is, however, one source of consolation, which will 
 enable a man,;whose character is assailed, to look down with 
 contempt on the scoffs and the sneers of the world, and 
 that is, the consciousness of moral rectitude, accompanied 
 by the conviction, that without presuming to be better than 
 his fellow-men, he fulfils the duties of the different relations 
 of life with punctuality and integrity. Considered from 
 that point of view, there were many in the town of Truro, 
 who set themselves up as the censors of his character, and 
 who fancied that they saw in it a number of flaws and 
 blemishes, from which in their conceit, their own was ex- 
 empt, and some there were, who magnified those blemishes 
 into direct and dangerous vices, although at the same time, 
 they could not adduce a single instance, in which any of 
 those vices had displayed themselves in their execution. 
 
 There was, however, one part of the character of John 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 103 
 
 Tom, which gave ample food for the penetrating powers of 
 the inhabitants of Truro, and that was, the exact know- 
 ledge of his religious tenets. Not a single sect could, in 
 reality, claim him as one of its members ; there was no par- 
 ticular place of worship to which he attached himself, for 
 he was to be seen in all, without being heard at any time 
 to express his adhesion to any peculiar doctrine, although at 
 all times, he was heard to declare himself, almost enthusiasti- 
 cally, as one of the most ardent admirers of the pure and 
 genuine principles of Christianity. It was this open de- 
 parture from the general routine of human action, especially 
 as it is distinguished in a provincial town, where a closer 
 observance of the actions of our fellow-men is more easily 
 obtained than in large and populous cities, in which 
 a more positive independence of character, and a greater 
 indifference^ to the opinion of others are more strikingly 
 displayed, that rendered John Tom a kind of target, at 
 which all the sectarians directed their arrows, but which 
 to their great vexation and mortification, appeared to fall 
 hurtless at his feet. The proselyte maker sought him out 
 with the view of establishing certain convictions on his 
 mind, but, as it happened, that those convictions had often 
 little relationship with truth and reason, John Tom ex- 
 pressed his decided determination to have nothing to do 
 with them, and, in consequence, he soon obtained the cha- 
 racter of an incorrigible free-thinker. It was on these 
 occasions that his polemical talent was called into action, 
 and there were not many in Truro who showed a disposi- 
 tion to enter the lists with him, without in some measure 
 having previously made up their minds to be laid prostrate 
 in the dust ; and yet the weapons employed by John Tom 
 were in reality more imposing and showy, than solid and 
 substantial ; his knowledge was in many respects extremely 
 superficial but he contrived by a singular display of so- 
 phistry and deep, subtile reasoning, though frequently 
 bordering on the brink of direct nonsense, so to mystify 
 
104 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 the subjects under discussion, that he actually confounded 
 and puzzled his opponents, at the same time that he was 
 himself entangled in a labyrinth of paradoxes and contra- 
 dictions. 
 
 Whilst he was thus the object of the petty cavils of the 
 illiberal mind, John Tom was pursuing his commercial 
 affairs with credit and respectability. Still, however, there 
 was at times an eccentricity about him, which did not 
 exactly harmonize with the regular principles of human 
 action, and which, consequently led him into many em- 
 barrassments, from which the dull, plodding character is 
 always exempt. There were, however, some of the preten- 
 ded wise men of Truro, who in the plenitude of their 
 imagined discrimination, saw in that eccentricity the germe 
 of that malady, which was known to be hereditary in his 
 mother's family, and from which they augured that ere 
 long, the same fate would befal him, as had befallen her. 
 The peculiarity of his dress at this time warranted in some 
 degree the opinion, which certain people had formed of him, 
 for it would have been a difficult task to determine to what 
 particular country his costume belonged, or under what 
 particular age or century it could be classed. It was a 
 mixture of the simple and the grotesque, of neatness and 
 gaudiness, and in its tout ensemble so much at variance with 
 the established fashion of the day, or with the commonest 
 rules of taste, that he appeared more calculated for a mas- 
 querade, than for the interior of a counting-house. On a 
 sudden, however, he would assume a different dress in the 
 most outre style of fashion, and that style of dress was fre- 
 quently assumed on particular occasions, when it was out 
 of all character with the business in which he was employed 
 and which consequently made him the laughing-stock, not 
 only of his immediate dependents, but also of those, who 
 in other respects held him in high esteem. He was a 
 regular attendant at the corn market in Truro, and the 
 principal neighbouring towns, and he would often be seen 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 105 
 
 equipped in the most 'gorgeous style of fashion in the 
 midst of a group of farmers in their home-spun dresses, but 
 he appeared not to be conscious of the contrast, nor did ho 
 put any other construction upon the titter that sat upon 
 the countenances of the frequenters of the market, than 
 that it was the sign of pleasure and happiness in beholding 
 him amongst them. He was not content, however, with 
 adopting this eccentric mode of equipping himself, as far as 
 himself was concerned, but he attempted to induce his wife to 
 show an originality of character, as he termed it, by deviat- 
 ing altogether from the prevailing fashions of the day, 
 and following a certain costume, which he would point 
 out to her, and which he was confident would add con- 
 siderably to the graces of her person, and to a display 
 of those peculiar charms, with which nature had invested 
 her. No stronger proof, however, could John Tom have 
 given of his ignorance of the character of woman, than when 
 he supposed he could succeed in his extravagant attempt of 
 instilling into his wife a total disregard to the prevailing 
 fashions, and exhibiting herself to the gaze of the good 
 people of Truro in a costume, certainly new and original, 
 and which might have been worn by the descendants of 
 Noah, but which certainly never emanated from the 
 Boutiques des Marchandes des Modes of either Paris or 
 London. 
 
 It was "one of his favourite crotchets that every departure 
 from an established custom betokened originality of charac- 
 ter, and, consequently, intellectual superiority ; an attainment, 
 in which of all others, he would not be thought deficient. 
 It is the province, the undisputed manifestation, the actual 
 proof and sign of the existence of genius in a man, if he 
 strikes into a different path than that, which is pursued by 
 the common herd, and thereby divests himself of the cha- 
 racter of a slave to antiquatated habits, which is the in- 
 variable characteristic of the low and grovelling soul. 
 5. r 
 
106 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 Abstractedly speaking, John Tom might not have been 
 far removed from the truth, but in the general applica- 
 tion of the affairs of life, he would find, that he, who 
 attempts to render himself particularly conspicuous by the 
 adoption of any extravagant fashion, or an eccentric mode 
 of action, is in nine cases out of ten, a most consummate 
 fool, if not something worse. 
 
 Every action of life takes place with a view to some 
 determined result, and our expectancy is wrapped up in 
 that result. It is, therefore, in proportion to the reason- 
 ableness, or otherwise, of the chances upon which that ex- 
 pectation is founded, that the judgment of one man is said 
 to be superior to that of his neighbour. It is the duly 
 considering all the causes, with which we ought to be ac- 
 quainted before we speculate, that denotes intellectual 
 superiority, seeing, that to expect that, which is morally [and 
 physically impossible, would on all hands be allowed to 
 savour strongly of insanity, therefore, it should be in pro- 
 portion as the expectancy approximates or recedes from 
 such impossibility, that we should estimate the soundness of 
 the judgment exercised. It may consequently be very 
 fairly said, that expectancy is the touch-stone of wisdom, 
 seeing that it is the measure of discrimination. 
 
 The foregoing remarksVill be found peculiarly applica- 
 ble to a plan, which John Tom at this time devised, and 
 which , if he could carry into execution, the happiness of 
 his countrymen would be placed on a permanent and in- 
 destructible basis. It must, however, be admitted, that 
 the formation of a plan, and the execution of it, are two 
 very distinct and opposite things, and that in the feasibility 
 or impracticability of any given plan, lies its comparative 
 excellence or unworthiness. A Utopian form of govern- 
 ment may exist in the brains^of the visionary enthusiast, but 
 the carrying of it into execution can only be expected by 
 one, who knows little or nothing of the relations of human 
 
Sill WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 107 
 
 society, nor of the nature of the bonds by which that society is 
 held together. The plan, which now emanated from the 
 prolific imagination of John Tom, was the establishment of 
 a society, for which he issued a few thousand prospectuses, 
 the intent of which was, a total and efficient reform of all 
 existing abuses, political and religious, not to be achieved 
 by the slow and vacillating process of legislation, but by 
 the direct power and authority of the people. The parent 
 society was to be held in Truro, and thence it was to branch 
 away through all the inland counties, until it reached 
 Berwick upon Tweed, establishing in its progress in all the 
 principal towns a corresponding branch, for as the light 
 had suddenly dawn'd upon him, that the principle of all 
 sovereignty essentially resides in the people, and that the 
 law is nothing more than the expression of the general will, 
 it merely required the expression on the part of the 
 people of this country, that such and such abuses should be 
 no longer tolerated, to render the expression a positive law, 
 without the formal assent of the three estates of the king- 
 dom. Notwithstanding the extravagance of this plan, and its 
 utter impracticability, consistent with the constitution of the 
 country, it found in Truro many adherents, and some there was 
 who espoused it with an enthusiasm, worthy of a better and 
 more rationa) cause. It was determined at the first meet- 
 ing of the society, that the hierarchy of the church was the 
 first thing to be abolished, and not a doubt existed in the 
 mind of the founder of the society, that the collected people 
 of England would be of the same opinion, and grant their 
 most cordial co-operation towards the accomplishment of so 
 great a disideratum in the administration of the internal 
 affairs of the country. A letter was written by John Tom 
 and approved of by the society, directed to all the bishops, 
 informing them of the meditated change in the government, 
 of the affairs of the church, and that as the people of 
 England had unanimously determined upon it, it would be 
 immediately carried into effect, without the customary 
 
108 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 appeal to the three estates of the kingdom, and advising 
 them to take the necessary steps for immediately vacating 
 their dioceses, as it was the expressed will of the people that 
 they should no longer hold them. To the great astonish- 
 ment of John Tom, and all the members of the society, the 
 bishops paid not the least attention to the summons, nor to 
 the expressed will of the people ; on the contrary, the king 
 at that very time filled up a vacancy in the episcopal bench 
 by the mere act of his own will, without deigning in the 
 least to consult that of the people, and although John Tom 
 succeeded in convincing his followers, that it was a bare- 
 faced act of presumption on the part of the king to act in 
 such direct opposition to the expressed will of the 
 people, yet all they could do under the existing circum- 
 stances was, to address a sharp remonstrance to the king, 
 to which just as much attention was paid as the bishops 
 paid to their summons. 
 
 The formation of this society may be characteriz'd as one 
 of the strongest paroxysms of John Tom's eccentricity, 
 which displayed itself at this period of his life, and at the 
 same time, it does not speak very loudly in praise of the 
 head or the mind of the individuals, who could enrol them- 
 selves aa members of such a society, which was founded 
 perhaps on one of the wildest schemes, that ever was en- 
 gendered in a human brain. Yet, if we turn over the pages 
 of history, how many instances do we find of an individual 
 so working upon the credulity and ignorance of a set of 
 men, as to obtain their concurrence and support, carried 
 frequently to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, to opinions 
 and measures, which could only be devised within the precincts 
 of St. Luke's or Bedlam. Superstition founded upon igno- 
 rance is said to be the parent of all those insane projects, 
 but superstition is not always attached to ignorance, for it 
 is, at least, as much the produce of education, or of what 
 is called education, as of brute nature. But if the rich and 
 the poor, the learned and the ignorant, Jbe mixed up in 
 
Sill WILi.IAM COURTENAY, K.M. 109 
 
 common, in some superstitions, there are other cases in 
 which the rich have a superstition, as exclusively their own, 
 as any which is attributed to the poor. Poverty and wealth, 
 ignorance and learning, seem to shake hands on this point. 
 If John Tom could succeed in deluding a number of igno- 
 rant men into the belief, that the government of the 
 country could he carried on solely by the expressed will of 
 the people, so have we now amongst the learned, as great a 
 number of votaries, not to the facts and experiments of 
 animal magnetism, but to its gross impositions and im- 
 possibilities. In fact, there is nothing too monstrous and 
 absurd, in which a certain number of men cannot be brought 
 to believe, particularly, if under the delusive influences of 
 religion. A man may be sane on every other point, and be 
 in matters of religion, decidedly insane.. Pascal was a man 
 of the most acknowledged talents, and yet in religious 
 matters, he was mad. Barclay the quaker, was a man of 
 the highest talents, and yet he went through Aberdeen, in 
 sack-cloth and ashes, calling out, " Woe, woe," &c Bishop 
 Jebb was one of the most learned men of his day, and yet, 
 whenever he preached before Queen Elizabeth, he used 
 always to warn her of the witches, and would always end 
 his sermon, with the prayer, " God grant they may not 
 bewitch your majesty.'* Irving was a man of extraordinary 
 talents, and yet on the subject of his unknown tongues, he 
 was decidedly a lunatic. Johanna Southcote, could not 
 have accomplished what she did, had she not been a woman, 
 of a most extraordinary mind, and yet in regard to Shiloh, 
 she and all her followers, .were a congregation of lunatics. 
 Who can behold an assembly of jumpers, at their devotions, 
 all eager to catch the spirit, and not fancy himself in one of 
 the halls of Bedlam, that is to say, if any such lunatic 
 pranks were ever carried on between its walls ? John Tom 
 therefore, forms only one amongst the crowd of talented 
 men, who by some most extraordinary influences, have so 
 operated on the minds of a number of individuals, as to 
 
110 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 make them believe the most wonderful things, and under 
 the powers of that infatuation, to lead them on to the wildest 
 acts of fanaticism, and even to a contempt of death itself; 
 and it was perhaps the success, which attended Tom, in 
 the formation of his society in Cornwall, that impressed his 
 mind with the conviction, that there is no scheme, so wild 
 and preposterous, no doctrine so irrational and absurd, to 
 which a certain portion of the people of England, notwith- 
 standing their boasted mental illumination, and their en- 
 larged education, cannot be brought to adopt. 
 
 From this expose of what may be called the intellectual 
 portion of John Tom's life, \\e turn to his private affairs, 
 which for some time went on in a prosperous manner, sub. 
 ject to only those casual losses, which are ever the attend- 
 ants on commercial dealings. On a sudden, however, a 
 calamity befel him, which destroyed all his prospects in life, 
 and put an end for a time to all his commercial under- 
 takings. A fire broke out on his premises, which notwith- 
 standing every exertion, were completely consumed, and the 
 whole reduced to a heap of ashes. Consistently with that 
 malevolent spirit by which the world is often unfortunately 
 governed, there were too many in the town of Truro, who 
 pretending to know more than any other persons of the 
 matter, began to circulate their insinuations, and to drop 
 their malicious hints, that the fire was not accidental, but 
 that as it was well known Mr Torn had lately met with 
 some heavy losses, it was more than probable that he had 
 designedly set fire to his premises, his insurance being to a 
 considerable amount, in fact, much larger than the whole 
 value of his premises and the stock. 
 
 From the probability of his having been guilty of parson, 
 it soon grew into the certainty, and, perhaps, no man's 
 character was more blackened by the fiends of defamation 
 than that of John Tom on the present occasion. Every act 
 of his former life was probed into, in which the slightest 
 criminality could be attached to it, and some people in tjfte 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 111 
 
 fulness of their vindictive and malicious disposition, now 
 believed that they saw in John Tom the incendiary, by 
 whom the burning of Mr. Tom's premises at St. Colomb 
 had been committed, for to their jaundiced opinion, it ap- 
 peared to them a most mysterious coincidence, that the 
 premises of the father and the son should both be consumed 
 by fire, and mere accident alleged as the cause of it, and 
 especially, as in both cases, the premises were insured to 
 their full amount, and consequently excepting the tempo- 
 rary suspension of their commercial affairs, no loss was 
 sustained by either of the party. 
 
 It was not to be supposed that reports so injurious to 
 the character of Mr. John Tom, and which were so well 
 calculated to affix an indelible stigma upon him for the 
 remainder of his life, should not have been eagerly caught 
 up by the Fire Office in which he was insured to the amount 
 of 3,0007., and thereby place in their hands the means of 
 evading the payment of the money altogether. Under no 
 circumstances are the Fire Offices indisposed to pay the 
 amount of the sum insured, provided it can be satisfactorily 
 proved that the premises or property were consumed by the 
 usual course of accident ; but on the other hand, where the 
 slightest suspicion is raised of there having been any pre- 
 meditated design in bringing about the fire, no public 
 institutions evince a more determined spirit to sift the 
 affair to the bottom ; not so much perhaps with a view to 
 the punishment of the offender, as to absolve themselves 
 from the payment of the money. In the present instance, 
 the agent of the office in which Mr. Tom was insured, was 
 a man of respectability, and by no means disposed to lend 
 a willing ear to the defamatory reports which were so in- 
 dustriously circulated relative to the fire, and more espe- 
 cially as he entertained a high opinion of the integrity of 
 Mr. Tom's character, and held him incapable of committing 
 an act, by which his life might not only be forfeited, but 
 which would for ever deprive him of the confidence and 
 
112 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 esteem, not only of his immediate friends, but of all the in- 
 habitants of Traro. With that firmness, however, which 
 was one of the most distinguished traits of the character of 
 Mr. Tom, he challenged the strictest scrutiny into every 
 circumstance connected with the fire ; and with that un- 
 daunted front, which is ever the companion of innocence, 
 he called upon his calumniators to come forward and sub- 
 stantiate the charges which they had so scandalously 
 brought against him, or to lie under the odium of being 
 the authors and the circulators of a gross and malicious 
 falsehood. In conformity with the general character of the 
 defamer, they shrunk back from the challenge which was 
 thrown down to them, and they gradually veered round 
 to the opposite point; they deplored the falsity of the informa- 
 tion, which had been transmitted to them; spoke largely of their 
 detestation of the character of the systematic slanderer ; 
 commiserated Mr. Tom, for the loss which he had sustained, 
 and ended with a high eulogium on the general integrity 
 and uprightness of his character. 
 
 At the express desire of Mr. Tom, the most searching 
 investigation took place of every circumstance connected 
 with the fire ; every workman on the premises, was separately 
 and rigorously examined, and the result was, that the cause 
 of the fire was ascertained in the most unquestionable 
 manner to have .been accidental, and the whole premium 
 of 3,000/. was paid to him without any further hesitation. 
 
 It is, notwithstanding, curious but interesting to the 
 student of human nature, to trace the coincidences 
 which take place in families, and which appear, like one 
 connected chain, to have an irresistible influence over them, 
 and despite of all exertions and endeavours, to rule over 
 their destiny with an iron power, bringing the firmest reso- 
 lution under its grasp, and rendering all opposition un- 
 availing. 
 
 The human mind is often brought by association to the 
 utmost state of excitement, and an event, although trivial 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 113 
 
 and unimportant in itself, will frequently by the power of 
 association produce those effects, which were neither antici- 
 pated, nor which could have been supposed to emanate from 
 so trivial a cause. 
 
 The first indications of insanity in the mother of Mr. 
 Tom were brought about by the destruction of the premises 
 of her husband at St. Colomb, at least, such was the alleged 
 cause at that time, although there were many, who asserted, 
 that she had evinced some strong symptoms of aberration 
 of intellect long before the fire took place. Without stop- 
 ping to discuss the question as to which of the statements, 
 the truth should be awarded, we have only to notice the 
 extraordinary coincidence, that whatever might have been 
 the singularity and eccentricity of the conduct of Mr. John 
 Tom, previously to the fire, in perfect character with that 
 of his mother, he became also like her more unsettled and 
 wandering in his habits ; his mind being chiefly occupied 
 with subjects of a speculative and abstract nature, and re- 
 turning to many of those opinions and sentiments, which 
 he had imbibed in his early youth, but of the fallacy of 
 which he had many and frequent opportunities of convin- 
 cing himself. 
 
 It is certain that the destruction of his premises, and the 
 consequent ruin of his business operated very powerfully on 
 his mind, at all times highly exciteable and easily inflamed, 
 for although not of a sordid nor avaricious disposition, yet he 
 saw his prospects in life for ever blighted, and he was heard fre- 
 quently to declare that the association resting on his mind, that 
 the alienation of his mother's reason was occasioned by the 
 fire at St. Colomb, tended in a great degree to produce in 
 him a melancholy depression of spirits, from some secret 
 forebodings that were preying upon him, that a similar fate 
 would befal him. At no times of a very uxorious disposition, 
 and in the absence of that congeniality of sentiment and 
 temper between him and his wife, which may be considered 
 5. Q 
 
114 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 as the basis of domestic happiness, he sought for relaxa- 
 tion and abstraction of thought in pursuits, of the most 
 contrary nature, and which were in several respects but 
 very ill adapted to compose and tranquillize a mind labour- 
 ing under a strong temporary excitement like his, and 
 which with the slightest opposition or contradiction was 
 apt to burst forth in the most violent ebullitions of rage. 
 
 It was one of the failings of Mr. Tom that he seldom 
 listened to the advice of others, and not even, when it was 
 given by those, whose superior knowledge and experience 
 enabled them to give it, and when it must have been evi- 
 dent to him, that the advice was tendered to him from the 
 most disinterested motives, and founded on sound judgment 
 and good sense. Thus, as soon as the fire-office had paid 
 the money to him, his father strenuously advised him to 
 rebuild the premises with all possible expedition, and 
 thereby not lose the valuable connection which was at- 
 tached to the business, but which must indisputably be the 
 case, were the rebuilding of the premises to be deferred to 
 an indefinite period ; which were that once the case had 
 better be relinquished altogether. John listened to this 
 wholesome advice with some attention, like some others of 
 his fellow-men, having in his own mind pre-determined 
 how to act, which happened to be at direct variance with 
 the advice that was given to him. That, however, which the 
 advice of his father could not effect, was accomplished by a 
 stratagem which was played upon him, the information 
 being secretly and confidentially conveyed to him of the 
 intention of certain parties in Truro, to erect without loss 
 of time some premises for the purpose of carrying on the 
 same line of business in which he had been engaged, and 
 who, not having any competitor in the trade, would soon 
 obtain the whole of the connection which was attached to 
 his own business, and to gain which any new establishment 
 would find it their interest to pay a handsome prem ium- 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 115 
 
 Opposition in any way was hateful to John Tbi, for 
 he was one of those contrary, ungovernable tempers, 
 that persuasion or advice have very little effect upon ; 
 oppose him, however, in the execution of any plan, 
 and it was the surest method of inducing him to accom- 
 plish it. Thus, he no sooner beheld, that certain parties 
 had determined to oppose him in his business, than he in- 
 formed his father, that he had maturely considered the 
 advice, which had been given to him, and that he had come 
 to the resolution, of following it without further loss of 
 time. 
 
 John Tom was not one of those, dilly-dallying, ^pro- 
 crastinating characters, who having formed a resolution, 
 ponder so long upon the execution of it, that the actual 
 benefit, expected to be derived from it is lost, or at least 
 so depreciated in value, that it is not worth executing at all. 
 With him, execution followed upon resolution, with the 
 quickness of thunder after the lightning, and in a very 
 short time, John Tom again saw himself in his business, 
 with still more commodious premises, than his former 
 and with every prospect of ultimate success. 
 
 The character of the man, appeared however, to have 
 undergone a singular metamorphosis, for in the place of his 
 previous steadiness, and attention to business, there were 
 now a flightness, and a wandering from the established 
 routine of the concern, to objects which had little or no 
 connexion with the affair that was immediately in hand, 
 and by which conduct, a confusion arose, in the general 
 administration of the business, which must inevitably termi- 
 nate iu its entire dissolution. 
 
 There was also another peculiarity, which distinguished 
 his conduct at this time, and which formed a very strong 
 contrast, with that which he had been accustomed, pre- 
 viously to exhibit in his general intercourse with his 
 associates, and that was his entire secession from those 
 meetings and societies, which had hitherto been his resort 
 
116 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 after the labour of the day was over, and where he was 
 accustomed to shine, as a star of the first magnitude, in the 
 constellation of congenial spirits, by whom he was at 
 that time surrounded. A letter has fallen into our 
 possession written by him at this period to a native 
 of Truro, then residing in London, and who during 
 his residence at Truro, was one of the staunchest of Tom's 
 advocates, and the unflinching supporter of all the mea- 
 sures which were then whirling in confusion in his brain, 
 for the general amelioration of human society. We will 
 purposely omit mentioning the name of this correspondent, 
 as he is now living in respectability at Truro, with the wonder, 
 we believe, impressed upon his mind, how he could have 
 allowed himself to be made the dupe of one of the wildest 
 enthusiasts, who ever undertook the regeneration, or re- 
 formation of the human species. 
 
 The letter is dated, 
 
 Truro, Feb. 21?t, 1831. 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 Events of such importance have lately crowded upon me, 
 that I feel myself almost inadequate to the task of describ- 
 ing to you my present situation, and more especially so, as 
 I am convinced that the events which have occurred in my 
 own family are but the forerunners of others of a more im- 
 portant nature, which will eventually have an influence on 
 the entire condition of human affairs, which I need not 
 tell you, is in a most ruinous and delapidated state. You 
 remember Fox, when he seceded from the House of Com- 
 mons, from the conviction that so besotted and stultified 
 was the Government at the time, that no advice or remon- 
 strance from him was of any avail ; and on the same prin- 
 ciple I have seceded from my regular attendance, as you 
 know it used to be at our debating society, from the direct 
 conviction on my mind, that the time is not yet arrived 
 for the accomplishment of those great projects which we 
 
SIR WILLIAM COUHTENAY, K.M. 117 
 
 have in view, and for the consummation of which I am 
 certain we are held in reserve by the great Disposer of all 
 events* 
 
 " My premises are rebuilt, and my malting business 
 goes on as usual ; but as 1 am convinced that some mighty 
 events are germinating in the womb of time, preparatory to 
 the arrival of the millenium, which you know is very fast 
 approaching, and in which I am to take a very prominent 
 part. I feel myself very ill-disposed to the drudgery of 
 business, or to the restriction which trade places upon me, 
 when a more extensive sphere of action is open before me, 
 in which the whole human race are concerned, and which 
 must eventually close with the gradual perfection of their 
 nature. You would not place the noble game cock on a 
 dunghill, nor would you place the eagle on a mole-hill ; 
 therefore, when I am seated at my desk calculating the 
 value of so many bushels of malt, or so many gallons of 
 spirits, I feel that I am as much out of my proper sphere 
 as a Greenland whale between the tropics. 
 
 " In order to bring our present plans to maturity, we 
 want a head, one great commanding mind, and that you 
 will find in me. An army without a general, a government 
 without a ruler, a ship without a pilot, a family without a 
 head, would be objects as paradoxical in the world as that 
 the plans which we have in contemplation for the reforma- 
 tion of all the existing abuses in society, could be carried 
 into operation without some directing energy, some great 
 comprehensive genius, which sees at once all the obstacles 
 which can be opposed to the accomplishment of the great 
 design, and knows at the same time the means of over- 
 coming them. 
 
 K You would be surprised were 1 to tell you all the plans 
 which are now teeming in my mind for the general refor- 
 mation of the human race. Although our plans against the 
 bishops failed, we have still laid the foundation of their 
 overthrow, or at least of reducing them to that character 
 
118 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 which is peculiarly their own, according to the dictation of 
 their Holy Master. By-the-bye, the question about the 
 tithes still keeps this part of the country in a ferment. 
 Let me know if anytbing is likely to he done in Parliament 
 on the subject, although I have no great hope from such a 
 set of corrupt, pensioned, hireling crew. I make no doubt 
 that I shall one day have a seat in Parliament, when the 
 entire face of things will be changed, and the rights of the 
 people, by my own patriotic exertions, confirmed to them 
 on an inalienable basis. 
 
 " The root of all evil is the Church. I must accomplish 
 the purification of that augean stable before I put my hand 
 to the reformation of any other of the abuses existing in the 
 state. I know that I shall have arrayed against me all 
 those who live upon the earnings of the poor, and who ex- 
 tract from the labours of the husbandman the tenth of his 
 produce ; but I have no intention to pull down the Church 
 of Christ, but to pull down the Church of Mammon ; and 
 pulled down it must be, before the country can be said to 
 be in a wholesome state, 
 
 " The people of Truro, as you well know, are not an en- 
 lightened race Pelf ! Pelf ! Pelf ! is their cry from morn- 
 ing to night ; they are looking forward with great anxiety 
 to the glorious era, when the Spencean Society will com- 
 mence their operations, and all the interest which I possess 
 shall be exercised to place the people of Truro first in the 
 list of those, amongst whom the division of the national 
 property is to be made. 
 
 " You will oblige me by making some enquires at the 
 office of the society in Bouverie Street, Fleet Street, re- 
 lative to the progress, which they are making towards the 
 attainment of their truly patriotic aims, and you may inform 
 them, that although not present, my heart and soul are 
 with them, and that they shall soon enjoy the benefit of my 
 more active co-operation. I will thankfully receive any 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 119 
 
 intelligence relative to the great objects, which you know, 
 are now occupying my attention. 
 " And believe me, 
 
 "Yours, most truly, 
 
 "JoHN NICHOLS TOM." 
 
 " To Mr. Samuel D n , 
 
 " Rainbow Hotel, 
 Covent Garden." 
 
 From the rambling incoherent style of the foregoing 
 letter, a correct estimate may be formed of the state of 
 Tom's mind, and an insight is given us into the subjects 
 which were then engrossing his attention, and which he 
 afterwards prosecuted with an enthusiasm worthy of a 
 better and more rational cause. 
 
 The father of John Tom had been for some time settled 
 at Plymouth, where he established a school, for which, 
 perhaps, his intellectual acquirements did not exactly capa- 
 citate him, but as the system of education at the present 
 day is in a great degree mechanical, and formed on certain 
 plans, which it requires little or no ability to follow, pro- 
 vided the preceptor be gifted with the requisite stock of 
 patience, Mr. William Tom had reason to congratulate 
 himself with the share of patronage which he received, and 
 making allowance for the acknowledged fact, that the most 
 consummate dunces of Plymouth, appeared to have con- 
 gregated in his school-room, he could not be taxed with 
 the crime of instilling into their minds a greater stock of 
 knowledge, than they were able to receive, nor could it be 
 said that his pupils, when according to the usual term, they 
 had finished their education, that they left his seminary, 
 greater dunces, than weie ejected, by any other rival estab- 
 lishment in the town. 
 
 It was, however, the opinion of Mr. John Tom, that the 
 
120 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 whole system of education, was defective, but that it was 
 reserved for him to remedy the defects, and thereby not 
 only render the acquisition of knowledge more easy and 
 comprehensive, but also remove many of the difficulties, 
 which now exist towards the attainment of several branches 
 of learning, which are at present, taught only in the higher 
 schools, and from which, the greater portion of the juvenile 
 community are consequently excluded. With the view of 
 obtaining that desirable end, he applied himself to the 
 foundation of a system of education, for the use of which, 
 his father was to possess a kind of patent right, and which 
 no one but himself, had the power of transferring to another, 
 which transfer, was to be accompanied by a stated premium, 
 which was to be regulated according to the number of pupils 
 in the school, and only for a limited time when another premium 
 was to be paid, and a renewed licence given for the use of 
 the system. In order to induce his father to co-operate with 
 him in this plan, in his opinion so feasible and easy of 
 execution, he set off one morning for Plymouth, with the 
 programme of his system in his pocket, and by the prescrip- 
 tive use of which, his father's seminary was to become one 
 of the most celebrated in the country. The world was at 
 this time teeming with systems of education, by which the 
 juvenile mind was to be carried along with a kind of rail- 
 road expedition to all the fountains of knowledge ; we had 
 the pestalozzian system the hamiltonian system, the 
 inductive system, and the interrogative system, the latter 
 of which met from John Torn with the severest ridicule, as 
 it was his opinion, that to call upon a pupil to answer a 
 long series of questions, pre-supposes the actual existence 
 of a knowledge of the respective subjects, and consequently 
 it cannot be called education, seeing that the pupil is 
 already educated. 
 
 There are many, no doubt, who will coincide with John 
 Tom in that opinion, and who will award to him the merit 
 of exposing the folly of a system, which for a time inflated 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K. M. 121 
 
 the heads of some speculative professors of education, and 
 which eventually added to the number of the scientific abor- 
 tions of the age. 
 
 John Tom arrived at Plymouth, full of his project, and 
 to the great astonishment of his father, he burst unceremo- 
 niously into the school-room, just at the moment when one 
 of the classes was ranged before him, with the monitor, 
 puffed up with the pride of superior knowledge at their 
 head. Without much circumlocution he began to expound 
 to his father, that the system which he was then adopting, 
 was founded on a wrong conception of the powers of the 
 juvenile mind, and that it was no longer any wonder to 
 him, that the race of the dunces was rather encreasing 
 than decreasing in the world. 
 
 Mr. William Tom considered it prudent to humour his 
 son in this .new conceit which had filled his brain, well 
 knowing that an open opposition would only irritate him, 
 and render him more determined to prosecute the visionary 
 scheme, which had then taken possession of his mind. His 
 father, therefore, appeared to listen to him with the great- 
 est attention, extolled the excellence of his plan, promised 
 that an experiment of it should be immediately made in his 
 school, and if successful, that a public advertisement should 
 be immediately issued, announcing it as the invention 
 of his son, and no doubt then whatever could exist, that 
 so great would be the influx of scholars, that the dimen- 
 sions of his school-room would have to be enlarged. 
 
 The reception which John Tom met with from his father 
 was highly flattering to his vanity, but on the other hand, 
 it was not without considerable pain that Mr. Tom per- 
 ceived in his son an unsettled state of mind, which if not 
 immediately remedied, might in a short time incapacitate 
 him for the proper execution of any of the regular pursuits 
 of life. The manner, however, in which that remedy was 
 to be applied, was a matter of the most serious considera- 
 6. R 
 
122 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 tion ; all restraint or opposition he well knew would only 
 aggravate the evil, and the next question was, whether by 
 humouring him in all his visionary schemes, and extrava- 
 gant speculations, he was not actually feeding a fire which 
 would eventually consume him altogether. Mr. Tom was 
 fully sensible of the delicate situation in which he stood in 
 regard to his son, and with the view of having him under 
 his own immediate eye, he suggested to him the benefit, 
 which he would derive by removing his establishment from 
 Truro to Plymouth, more especially as there was little 
 doubt, of meeting with some parties at Truro, who would 
 be willing to give him a handsome premium for his busi- 
 ness at that town, which, with the sale of his premises, 
 would realize a capital sufficiently large to enable him to 
 establish a business on a larger scale at Plymouth, where 
 the demand for the articles of his trade was much larger 
 than at Truro, independently of the advantage, which he 
 would derive from the export trade. This very plausible 
 proposal on the part of Mr. Tom met, however, with the 
 most decided objection from his son, who argued the 
 matter very properly with his father, that his former em- 
 ployers, to whom he was so greatly indebted, might accuse 
 him of unhandsome conduct in removing the business, 
 which they had established in Truro to another place, 
 without first apprizing them of his intentions, at the same 
 time that he had not the slightest expectation of meeting 
 with their sanction or concurrence in the intended change. 
 This was a line of argument which Mr. Tom did. not 
 expect from his son, but it was of that nature that he could 
 not undertake to dispute the justness of it, and he 
 therefore forbore so press the subject any further upon 
 him. 
 
 It was not the intention of John Tom to make any long 
 stay in Plymouth, having so far succeeded in the object of 
 his journey as to obtain the consent of his father to the 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 1*23 
 
 experiment of his new system of education ; he, therefore, 
 determined to depart on the following day, when an event 
 occurred which obliged him to defer his journey for a few 
 days, and which was attended with some circumstances not 
 of the most pleasant nature to him. 
 
 During the morning school-hours he had strolled into 
 the town, and he was standing on the quay when, to his 
 great surprise, he was accosted by one of the men, who had 
 sailed with him from Portsmouth to Faimouth, and who 
 greeted him with all the familiarity of an old acquaintance. 
 John Tom could not all at once shake off the evil impres- 
 sion, which this man and his associate had made upon him 
 during the passage from Portsmouth, and therefore he did 
 not exactly return the greetings of his former fellow-pas- 
 senger with that cordiality, which the latter thought, per- 
 haps, he had a right to expect. There was, however, an 
 intrusive disposition manifested on the part of the smuggler, 
 which rather tended to increase the repugnance, which John 
 Tom entertained towards him, than to exalt him in his 
 opinion ; there was also an evident inclination to enter into 
 a confidential conversation, which, as they were by no 
 means related to each other in matters of business, John 
 Tom evinced no corresponding disposition to encourage. 
 The smuggler, however, was not one of those men to be 
 repulsed by any coldness or indifference which he might 
 encounter in his intercourse with his fellow-men ; himself a 
 roving outlaw, he knew little, and cared still less for any of 
 the courtesies of human society, and not looking for, nor 
 expecting any show of kindness from those with whom he 
 came into collision, he considered that he was not called 
 upon to show any in return. John Tom was, however, 
 rather startled at the following question which the smuggler 
 put to him : " Are you not in the spirit line ?" The 
 affirmative was given, coupled with an inquiry of the 
 manner by which the smuggler had obtained the knowledge 
 of his exact line of business. "It is of no consequence, 1 ' 
 
1*24 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 said the smuggler, "by what means I arrived at that 
 knowledge; but if you will act honourably .towards me, I 
 will put you in the way of getting thousands, where you 
 now gain only hundreds." This was a tempting bait to the 
 cupidity of John Tom, who, if the assertion of the smuggler 
 could be verified, would soon see himself in the possession 
 of a fortune, which might render him one of the most inde- 
 pendent men of the county of Cornwall. The open streets 
 were, however, not a place in which the smuggler could de- 
 velop his plan for this sudden accumulation of a fortune, 
 and he, therefore, invited Mr. Tom to accompany him to a 
 public house, which he was in the habit of frequenting, 
 where they could in private talk over the business, without 
 the fear of being overheard. Although John Tom had 
 heard much of the tricky and frauds of the smugglers, who 
 infest the Cornish coast, yet, blinded by the love of wealth, 
 he agreed to accompany him, and in about ten minutes 
 John Tom found himself at the door of a mean public 
 house, of the very lowest class, into which, however, he was 
 invited by the smuggler, although a secret misgiving preyed 
 upon him, that he was acting in defiance of eyery rule of 
 prudence and discretion. The appearance of the landlord 
 at the bar was alone sufficient to intimidate a stouter heart 
 than John Tom possessed, and to instil into him a wish 
 that he had never entered the house. His stature was of 
 the most masculine nature, and there was in his general 
 bearing that bold and hardy character which told that he 
 had spent his life in " braving the battle and the breeze," 
 and, like the element on which he had lived, that he was 
 free from all subjection and control. 
 
 " All right," said the smuggler to the landlord. 
 
 tf All right," was the answer. 
 
 " Follow me," said the smuggler to John Tom, and they 
 ascended together a narrow flight of stairs ; at the top of 
 which the former applied a key to a door, which being opened, 
 admitted them into a small room, in one corner of which was 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 125 
 
 a truckle bed, two chairs and a table constituting the 
 remainder of the furniture, but the walls of the room were 
 hung with the insignia of the profession of the tenant ; 
 pistols, sabres, and those heavy cloaks and great coats 
 which the hardy smuggler throws around him in his perilous 
 trade on the ocean. 
 
 The smuggler was not long in entering upon the business, 
 on account of which he had invited John Tom to accompany 
 him ; the purport of which was, that he had then a vessel 
 in a small bay on the Cornish coast, which had just landed a 
 cargo of contraband spirits, which, on taking the whole, he 
 would sell at a very moderate price, and which, at Truro, 
 would yield a profit of between three and four hundred per 
 cent, profit, by reducing the spirit to its regular marketable 
 strength. John Tom, although fully aware of the danger of 
 entering into this contraband trade, and the ruin that 
 impended over him on a discovery being made, yet he could 
 not withstand the tempting offer which was made him, and 
 he agreed to purchase the whole, on condition that the 
 smuggler would undertake to convey the spirits half way to 
 Truro, he undertaking to convey them the remainder. 
 This was agreed to on the part of the smuggler, and it was 
 arranged that they should meet at the village of Cornelly 
 on a particular night, when the spirits were to be delivered 
 into the possession of John Tom, on the payment of the 
 stipulated sum. Every thing appeared for a time to be 
 honourable on the part of the smuggler, and John Tom saw 
 himself already in perspective surrounded by the affluence 
 which this new source of emolument was to bestow upon 
 him. 
 
 A. man who possesses a great deal of self-conceit, who 
 considers that all his plans and schemes are conceived with 
 judgment and prudence, whose self-sufficiency is so great 
 as to disdain to listen to, or to follow the advice of others, 
 will always meet with severer losses and disappointments 
 than the more diffident and unpretending man, who sus- 
 
126 .. THE LIFE AND ADVEN1UHES OF 
 
 pects the accuracy or soundness of his own judgment, and 
 hesitates upon the threshold of every action, as if fearful 
 of entering upon it ; not that a man who is continually 
 running after the advice and opinion of others, will ever 
 perform anything great, but the self-sufficient man, in the 
 fulness of his conceit, and a false confidence in his own 
 powers, will be often rebelled by obstacles which his pride 
 would not allow him to see, but over which, with the 
 advice and assistance of others, the less confident man marches 
 slowly, but surely, to the aim which he has in view. 
 
 John Tom was one of those men who posses the fullest 
 confidence in their own powers; and as the vice of obsti- 
 nacy is generally allied with that peculiar trait of character, 
 no wonder then need be excited that he forbore, in the first 
 place, to apprize his father of the illicit trade in which he 
 had engaged, and in the second place, that having once 
 engaged in it, he followed it up with a spirit of determina- 
 tion, which is generally necessary in order to command 
 success even in actions of the most trivial nature, and from 
 a default of which, the frustration of so many plans is to be 
 attributed. 
 
 In conformity v/ith the arrangement entered into with the 
 smuggler, John Tom was ready at the appointed place to 
 receive the spirits, and the smuggler was also punctual to 
 the appointment, delivering the spirits, into the possession 
 of John Tom, and receiving from him the whole of the 
 stipulated sum. He had taken the precaution to place 
 some sacks of corn over the spirits for the purpose of 
 eluding the vigilance of the excisemen, and an arrangement 
 having been made between the smuggler and Tom, that 
 the latter should have the first offer of the next cargo, 
 which the latter might bring over, they parted, each ex- 
 cessively pleased with the transaction, Tom seeing before 
 him the 3, or 400 per cent profit, and the smuggler 
 secretly triumphing at the disposal of his contraband 
 goods, and the facility with which he had succeeded in 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 1*27 
 
 adding another to the already numerous list of victims, 
 to his villanous and dishonorable practices. 
 
 Day had scarcely broken, when John Tom left Cornelly, 
 with his contraband property, and he had not proceeded many 
 miles on the road, when he was overtaken by two men on 
 horseback, who very politely wished him good morning ; and 
 imparted to him the usual information of one Englishman 
 to another, that the weather was very fine, in the truth of 
 which information John Tom perfectly coincided. One of 
 them expressed his conjecture that Mr. Tom was on his 
 way to Truro market with a cargo of wheat, and Mr. 
 Tom declared that the conjecture was founded in truth, 
 the other hoped he would obtain a good price for his com- 
 modity, and Mr. Tom in return hoped, that the hopes so 
 kindly expressed by his new acquaintance would be realized. 
 John Tom, however, could not refrain from remarking, that 
 the two men, instead of riding together, as he supposed 
 they ought to do, had now taken their station at each ?ide 
 of the wagon, and appeared to be examining the contents of it 
 with a keenness, not exactly in character with that in- 
 difference which it might be supposed a casual traveller 
 would pay to it. In his turn, John Tom scrutinized the 
 look and appearance of his new acquaintance with an equal 
 degree of keenness, and there was something about them 
 which did not exactly please him, but at the same time, it 
 would have been a difficult task for him to define from what 
 cause that displeasure exactly originated. With this im- 
 pression on his mind, he could not exactly divest himself 
 of all alarm ior the safety of his valuable cargo, as well as 
 for the consequences which might ensue, v\ere the nature 
 of it to be discovered, and an action brought against him 
 for the recovery of the penalties to which he would be 
 liable, on such a considerable quantity of contraband goods 
 being found in his possession. It was therefore with feel- 
 ings of the greatest satisfaction, that after the two men had 
 conferred together for a few minutes, they politely took 
 
128 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 their leave, expressing their sincere hope, that he might 
 dispose of his cargo to advantage. 
 
 John Tom now began to breathe more freely, when he 
 saw his new acquaintance at some distance from him, and 
 he proceeded on his journey without any event of impor- 
 tance occurring to attract his particular notice, his mind 
 gradually returning to the calculation of the profit 
 which must accrue to him from his present hazardous 
 speculation. 
 
 The spire of Tresilian, now appeared before him, where 
 it was his determination to breakfast, and not wishing to 
 subject, either himself or his cargo, to the observation of 
 the inhabitants of the town, he stopped at a small inn, at 
 the outskirts. He had, however, scarcely seated himself at 
 the breakfast table, when to his great alarm, his two former 
 travelling companions entered the room, in the most abrupt, 
 and unceremonious manner, and informed him ironically that 
 they had taken possession of his cargo of wheat, in the 
 King's name, and advised him to buy no more such wheat 
 of strangers, before he knew a little more of their character. 
 John Tom was completely dumb-founded, and so great was 
 the perturbation of his mind, that he could not for some time 
 so far collect himself, so as to give any reply, or make any 
 observation to the questions which the two excisemen put 
 to him, who now, with the characteristic insolence of their 
 calling, began to taunt him with the failure of his illegal 
 practices, and the ultimate ruin which would befal him. 
 They, however, expressed their determination, after having 
 properly secured the spirits, to return and have some fur- 
 ther conversation with him. It struck John Tom, however, 
 that although he could not possibly prevent the former, he 
 should be a great simpleton, if he allowed the latter to take 
 place, especially as he had every reason to suppose, that he 
 was a perfect stranger to the excisemen, and that were he 
 to make a precipitate departure from the house, his only 
 loss would be the sum, which he had paid for the spirits, 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 129 
 
 which, although of a serious amount, it were better to 
 endure, than to suffer a still greater loss by the fine which 
 would be inflicted upon him, independently of his being 
 taken before a magistrate, and committed to prison, in de- 
 fault of the immediate payment of the fine, which would be 
 awarded against him. Without stopping to reflect further 
 upon the subject, John Tom opened the window of his 
 apartment, which looked upon a back-garden, and not see- 
 ing any one about at that early hour, he made his escape, 
 and in a short time was on the road to Truro. 
 
 Considering himself now in safety, he began to reflect on 
 the strange events, which had lately befallen him, and he 
 taxed his ingenuity to the utmost to discover, by what 
 means the officers of the excise had arrived at the know- 
 ledge of his contraband proceedings, and he supposed that 
 the information had been given to them, by some of those 
 unprincipled fellows, who earn a dishonourable livelihood, 
 by lodging informations for any infraction of the excise 
 laws, which opinion distinctly showed, that John Tom was 
 a decided novice in such matters, and that he was wholly 
 ignorant of a villainous trick, which smugglers generally 
 practise upon strangers, who purchase their contraband 
 goods to any amount, although they dare not practise it 
 upon those,, whom they look upon as their regular dealers, 
 as they know that the law of retaliation would be put in 
 force against them, and that, ultimately, they would be the 
 greater sufferers of the two. The trick which they practise 
 is as follows. Having disposed of a quantity of spirits, or 
 other contraband goods to a stranger, and having received 
 the money, they have always one of their confederates at 
 hand, prepared to lodge an information of the place, where 
 a quantity of contraband goods is to be found, knowing well 
 that half of the sum for which the goods are sold will 
 be paid to them, and then the smuggler not only receives 
 with one hand, the stipulated price of the articles, but 
 6. s 
 
130 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 with the other, he receives also, half the value of them, 
 from the proceeds of their sale. 
 
 The loss, however, sustained by John Torn in this trans- 
 action was of a very serious nature, and involved him for 
 some time in very unpleasant embarrassments, which con- 
 tributed in no small degree to increase that irritation of the 
 nervous system, and that extreme excitability of feeling, 
 which rendered him at times wholly unfit for the avocations 
 of life, and subjected him to many of those impositions, 
 which the unprincipled are always ready to practise upon 
 those, whose peculiar weakness or disposition renders them 
 an easy victim. Subject to the common human infirmity of 
 attaching ourselves to those, who flatter our weaknesses, 
 and who administer to the little vanities, which are more or 
 less the attendant of every character John Tom associated 
 at this time with a set of men, who had nothing to lose in 
 the world, and everything to gain, and who to obtain their 
 private ends, hesitate not to stoop to the most degrading 
 acts, in order to ingratiate themselves with an individual, 
 whose pecuniary means might enable him to pamper their de- 
 praved appetites, but who was too much blinded by the 
 dust of flattery which they threw into his eyes, to see the 
 real drift of their intentions towards him, and though he 
 himself was never addicted to the odious vice of intoxica- 
 tion, yet he was now to be seen amongst those, who bru- 
 talized themselves by their intemperate habits, and threw a 
 shade upon his own character, which in other respects had 
 hitherto been immaculate. 
 
 An intercourse with disreputable company, and a neglect 
 of business generally go hand in hand, and although it 
 could not be said that the immediate associates of John 
 Tom were exactly his inferiors in the ranks of society, as 
 some of them belonged to the most respectable families of 
 Truro, but who had deviated from the paths of morality 
 and virtue, to yield themselves up to the intoxicating 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY. K.M. 131 
 
 habits of vice, yet there were many of the more reflect ing 
 inhabitants of the place, who &aw with great regret the 
 sudden change in the habits and dispositions of John Tom, 
 and which in connection with the general eccentricity of 
 his conduct authorized them in some degree to draw the 
 conclusion, that his present mode of life proceeded more 
 from a temporary derangement of intellect, than from 
 any real attachment to a life of dissipation and de- 
 bauchery. 
 
 It is by no means unfrequent that a sudden change of 
 circumstance or an unexpected loss, will cause almost a 
 complete metamorphosis of the character of an individual, 
 and change him from a votary of virtue and sobriety, to 
 the slave of intemperance and dissipation, and it is from 
 the experience which we have acquired of the truth of the 
 above remarks, that we cast an indulgent eye upon the 
 temporary wanderings of John Tom from the path of 
 morality in which he had hitherto moved with so much 
 credit to himself, and in charity attribute it, not a natu- 
 ral disposition to vice, but to one of those sudden transform - 
 ations of character, which are the consequence of a 
 change of circumstances, or which may occasionally arise 
 from an aberration of intellect, either hereditary, or pro- 
 duced by some powerful external influence, operating on a 
 highly sensitive and excitable disposition. 
 
 In some extenuation, however, ot the mode of life, 
 which John Tom now pursued, it mu?t be stated, that his 
 home, in regard to domestic happiness, was not the most 
 enviable. Not the slightest congeniality of opinion existed 
 between John Tom and his wife, nor was there that har- 
 mony of pursuit apparent which can smoothen the vexatious 
 hours of life, or operate as a relaxation to the man of busi- 
 ness after the arduous occupations of the day. In his 
 domestic circle, there was little of intellectual life, nor 
 with the exception of the books which composed his 
 library, which in some respects resembled that of Don 
 
132 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 Quixote, on account of the want of judgment displayed in 
 the selection of it, he had few or no opportunities of en- 
 creasing his stock of knowledge by a reciprocal communi- 
 cation of ideas, for beyond the last new fashion from the 
 metropolis, or some extraordinary event which had hap- 
 pened in the town, there was scarcely a topic which ap- 
 peared to possess the slightest interest for the female part 
 of his family, and, consequently, he absented himself from 
 their society, to seek for that recreation, which he could 
 not find at home. In the opinion of the rigid moralist, the 
 state of his domestic relations ought perhaps not to be 
 urged as a palliative for those extravagances by, which his 
 conduct was at this time distinguished on the broad and 
 admitted principle, that the commission of a fault, under 
 whatever circumstances it may take place, is a direct in- 
 fraction of moral law, and subjects the offender to all the 
 penalties of such infraction, even though he should be able 
 to adduce the strongest proofs of extenuation, and bring 
 forward the most irrefragable evidences, that the vice was 
 not natural to him, but brought upon him by circumstances 
 over which he had no control. 
 
 It is not only singular, but interesting, to examine on what 
 a trifle sometimes hangs the destiny of an individual, and 
 even of a whole people. The fluttering of the wings of a 
 fly once caused the demolition of a whole village with all 
 its inhabitants, and the want of a comma once saved the 
 life of one of the Kings of England. It was a casual visit 
 which John Tom once made to the tabernacle at Truro, when 
 the Rev. Mr. Pearce was preaching one of his edifying 
 sermons, that appeared to effect an entire change in his 
 disposition, and as it were to produce a complete regenera- 
 tion of his character, as far as his dissolute habits were 
 concerned. On entering the place of worship, the worthy 
 divine was preaching from the 3 Thessalonians, iii. 6., in 
 the following words : 
 j " Nothing is able to deter a man more from the corn- 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 133 
 
 mission of any act of vice, than the reflection, of the influ- 
 ence which it has upon his happiness, and how great is the 
 injury which it may occasion him. Picture to yourselves 
 in the most lively colours the melancholy consequences of 
 idleness, and of a neglect of your worldly occupations. 
 With truth does the well known proverb exclaim to us, 
 that idleness is the mother of all evil. Idleness teaches a 
 man every thing that is evil, it drives him into bad com- 
 pany, where the purity of his morals soon becomes con- 
 taminated, carrying with it the most melancholy conse- 
 quences to his body and soul, for his temporal, as well as 
 his eternal welfare. The idler is a dead, unworthy member 
 of society ; he becomes a burden to others, and is depised, 
 as he justly deserves, by all industrious and upright men. 
 For who would willingly have anything to do with him ? 
 Who will confide to him any affair of consequence or trust ? 
 But the idler commits the greatest ruin upon himself. His 
 soul becomes degenerated and depraved, for how can he, 
 who does not extend the sphere of his knowledge, who does 
 not use and exercise his skill and talents, how can he in- 
 crease in experience ? In his imagination, he generally 
 falls on absurd and extravagant things ; he devises useless 
 and impracticable plans, at variance with reason and com- 
 mon sense ; and his conscience continually reproaches him 
 with having hidden his talent under a bushel, and abused 
 the power which God has given him. And how can it be 
 otherwise constituted ? On the same principle that the 
 water that is stagnant becomes putrid and unwholesome, 
 or the iron that is not used, becomes rusty ; so is it also 
 situated with the powers of our soul. They become dull 
 and obtuse, if they be not cultivated by continual practice. 
 The idler, therefore, becomes always more unfit for, and 
 incapable of all application to business. However indus- 
 trious he might formerly have been, he loses by degrees all 
 relish for labour; whatever was good in his soul is stifled, 
 and that which was evil is augmented ; he loses all plea. 
 
134 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 sure or satisfaction in his former meritorious pursuits, and 
 he flies to riotous and dissipated assemblies, to low and 
 demoralizing conversation, to fill up the tedium of his life. 
 Thus his household affairs, his business, fall to ruin ; 
 his good name becomes blasted, and his terrestrial hap- 
 piness is destroyed for ever. Labour keeps the man cheer- 
 ful, happy, and healthful. How sweet to him is his rest 
 after labour ; how refreshing to him are the hours of his 
 repose. But the indolent, the dissipated man sows in him- 
 self the seeds of every malady. Poverty overtakes him. He 
 sees himself obliged eventually to borrow money, and how 
 difficult and almost impossible will it be for him to liquidate 
 the loan, seeing that he prefers the company of idle and 
 dissolute companions, who live perhaps upon the flattery of 
 his weaknesses, to the laudable and reputable life of the 
 virtuous man. He runs at last into the danger of obtain- 
 ing that by fraud, artifice, and theft, which he will not ob- 
 tain for himself by the ordinary paths of 'diligence ; and 
 how can such an idler stand before God in eternity, when 
 he demands from him an account of his household ? What 
 will he answer, when he is asked, In what manner hast 
 thou employed the powers of thy body and thy soul? How 
 hast thou performed thy duties ? How hast thou employed 
 the opportunites to do good ?' Will he not be struck dumb 
 and covered with shame? O, therefore, let us employ the 
 time that is still granted to us on earth, which stands in 
 such an intimate connection with our eternal condition and 
 destiny ; let the thought be ever present to us, that it de- 
 pends upon our present conduct, what we shall be in eter- 
 nity, and that every one will there reap, accordingly as he 
 has sown here." 
 
 John Tom went home and pondered on the import of the 
 words which he had heard, and he saw at once the abyss 
 on the brink of which he was standing. The truths, which 
 had fallen from the lips of the reverend minister of Christ, 
 proved their power over a heart, which was not habituated 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 135 
 
 to vice, but which, unable to withstand the temptations by 
 which it was assailed, had temporarily yielded to its seduc- 
 tive voice, and had sought in its fleeting and unsubstantial 
 enjoyments for that happiness, which is only to be found in 
 the exercise of the duties of virtue and religion. 
 
 It is a peculiar feature in the human character, that on 
 any change taking place in its habits and dispositions, it 
 generally runs into the very opposite extreme to that, by 
 which it was previously distinguished. Thus, a spendthrift 
 generally becomes a miser, a reformed libertine becomes a 
 man of the most extraordinary virtue; the infidel becomes 
 a saint, the drunkard, a pattern of the strictest sobrietyfand 
 temperance, and similarly was it constituted with John 
 Tom. From a dissolute and dissipated mode of life, he 
 now adopted^ a wholly different course. He shunned all 
 his late associates, as if contamination issued from their 
 association ; he inveighed with his customary power of 
 language, against every excess, and particularly, that of in- 
 toxication, and a most extraordinary idea took possession 
 of his mind, which was, whether he were not actually com- 
 mitting a heinous sin, in manufacturing an article, which 
 had such a pernicious effect upon the morals of the people, 
 and was the cause of the ruin of so many families. Am I not, 
 he frequently asked himself, the actual instrument by being 
 the manufacturer of a poisonous liquid, of destroying the 
 health and the welfare of my fellow-men ? May not in fact 
 the very destruction of their souls be attributed to me, who 
 supplies them with the means, by the prodigal, and vicious 
 use of which, they commit all those crimes and riotous 
 excesses, which place their very souls in jeopardy ? The 
 man who places a murderous weapon in the hands of 
 another, with which to kill himself, is equally as guilty, as 
 if he committed the murder himself; and, continued John 
 Tom, when I look at the riches which I have amassed, and 
 consider by what means they have been acquired, by the 
 ruin, perhaps, of a thousand families, can 1 then stand 
 
106 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 acquitted at the bar of my conscience, for the prosecution 
 of a calling, which is the cause of so much misery to my 
 fellow-creatures on earth, and perhaps of their rejection 
 from Heaven ? When I send forth the produce of my dis- 
 tillery into the world, do I reflect on the injury which I am 
 committing, on the morals of my fellow-men ? When I read 
 of the crimes which have been perpetrated in the moment 
 of intoxication, do I ever consider, that those very 
 crimes may have been committed under the brutify- 
 ing influence of the poison, which I have circulated, merely 
 with a view to personal gain ? When I behold the father 
 or the mother of a starving family, reeling in a state 
 of beastly drunkenness from the public-house, that den of 
 infamy and vice, does the thought ever come across me, 
 that my coffers have been filled by the drunken habits of 
 those people ? ^o, I shall never henceforth behold an in- 
 toxicated man, but I shall look upon myself as the cause of 
 his crime, and consequently amenable to God for the con- 
 sequences of it. 
 
 From this examination of himself, John Tom proceeded 
 to that of the government of a country, which for the 
 purpose of enhancing its revenue, can offer every encourage- 
 ment to vice and drunkenness. The aim of a wise and pro- 
 vident goverment ought to be the improvement of the morals of 
 the people, as on that improvement depends in a great degree 
 the prosperity and welfare of the country. What opinion, 
 however, can be formed of that government, which extracts 
 a considerable part of the revenue necessary for the admin- 
 istration of its affairs, from a source, from which flows the 
 destruction of those morals, which fills our prisons with 
 criminals, our workhouses with paupers, and our streets 
 with the most disgusting and injurious examples of human 
 vice in its lowest and most degrading state. Is that 
 government worthy of being called civilized and enlight- 
 ened, which in its very enactments contributes to the vices 
 of the people, and the revenues of which are augmented in 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 137 
 
 proportion as those vices are carried to greater excess ? 
 Can the man of temperance, who is hastening to the bank 
 to receive his dividend, behold the squalid, wretched crea- 
 tures, who are issuing every moment from our gin-palaces, 
 and not have some unpleasant feelings come across him, 
 when he reflects that his debtor, the government of the 
 country, would not be able to pay him the interest of his 
 money, were it not to encourage by every means in its 
 power the consumption of an article, which, whether in 
 its manufactured state, or in materials with which it is 
 made, brings its hundreds of thousands to the revenue, and 
 spreads misery, ruin, crime, and wretchedness through the 
 country ? if then the welfare and prosperity of a country 
 depend on the morals of the people, and the government 
 of the country sanctions and adopts those measures, by 
 which those morals are destroyed, it then becomes a syllo- 
 gistic truth, that that government must be founded on the 
 very worst of principles, and being at direct variance with 
 the dearest interests of the people, is unworthy of their 
 support or countenance. 
 
 It was from a similar train of ideas revolving in the mind 
 of John Tom, that he formed the singular resolution of re- 
 tiring from the business, in which he had hitherto been 
 engaged, and having at that time a considerable stock of 
 malt on hand, for which no immediate sale could be ex- 
 pected at Truro, he resolved to convey it to the Liverpool 
 market, and, accordingly, he freighted a vessel for that pur- 
 pose. Previously, however, to his departure for Liverpool, 
 his conduct had excited the attention, not only of his own 
 family, but of his own immediate connections, and the 
 general belief was, that he was not perfectly sane ; the 
 slightest intimation of their suspicions, however, raised his 
 choler to the utmost pitch, and in proportion as they 
 showed a disposition to oppose him in any of his projects, 
 the more determined he appeared to be to carry them into 
 6. T 
 
138 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 execution. It was considered by his friends, as by no 
 means advisable or even safe, that he should proceed to 
 Liverpool without some one to superintend the sale of the 
 property, and to protect him from any of those undue ad- 
 vantages being taken of him, which some people might be 
 disposed to take, on account of the incoherency and eccentri- 
 city of his conduct, added to that natural weakness 
 of his character, which enabled any unprincipled or 
 designing person, by the aid of flattery, to accomplish with 
 him, whatever purpose he might have in view. The very 
 suspicion, however, of his incompetency to manage his 
 business, or that he was not in possession of such a stock 
 of discrimination, as not to detect any intention to over- 
 reach him, was sure to be met with by him, with the most 
 marked indignation. In vain were many experiments tried 
 upon him, for the purpose of practically convincing him, 
 that it was a very easy task to impose upon him, yet as it 
 was his invariable custom, to boast of his knowledge of 
 human nature, he could not endure that any positive proofs 
 should be adduced, that his stock of that knowledge was 
 not quite so great as he imagined it to be ; yet in some 
 respects, it must be admitted, that he had studied human 
 nature more profoundly, than those, by whom he was im- 
 mediately surrounded were inclined to give him credit fo r , 
 but on the other hand it must be acknowledged, that it was 
 only, in what may be called his lucid intervals, that he 
 could turn that knowledge to any account, but even then, 
 his method of accomplishing it, was so decidedly original, 
 and so opposite to the line of conduct, which any other 
 person would have adopted, that the casual observer would 
 have been inclined to consider him as acting rather under 
 the influence of some delusion, than from the convictions of 
 a sound and reflecting mind. Originality of action was in- 
 deed always with him, one of those traits of character, by 
 which he wished principally to distinguish himself, no 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. L')9 
 
 matter how much it deviated from that line of conduct, 
 which a more sound and mature judgment would have 
 adopted. His action was generally more the result of the 
 immediate influence of the moment, than the effect of con- 
 sideration and reflection, and for that very reason, he 
 met with so many failures and disappointments, which a 
 man of far less talent and ability than himself, would never 
 have experienced. He never turned his attention to the 
 immediate removal of any of those obstacles, which the 
 more plodding character would have attempted to remove, 
 before he could entertain the slightest hope of success ; on 
 the contrary, he looked upon the existence of an obstacle, 
 and the removal of it as almost synonymous, for he was wont 
 to say, it is the province of the common mind to meet a diffi- 
 culty, it is the province of the great one to bound over it. 
 
 For the purpose of dissuading his son from his intended 
 projects, Mr. Tom came from Plymouth, but all paternal 
 influence appeared to be lost upon him ; he talked to him 
 of the heavy responsibility which was attached to him in 
 the manufacture of an article, by which the morality of the 
 people was destroyed, and the salvation of their souls 
 placed in the greatest jeopardy. On what ground he said could 
 he look forward to the perfectibility of the human race, when 
 he was actually co-operating in the prevention of it ? how 
 could he enlarge upon the blessings, which would flow from 
 the millenium, when on its arrival, the human race would be 
 found wallowing in vice and profligacy, and totally incompetent 
 to appreciate the inestimable advantages, which that ap- 
 proaching era was destined to pour upon them ? How could 
 he appear upon the stage of the world as the appointed 
 champion of reform, as the annihilator of all existing abuses, 
 when the advocates and abettors of those abuses might turn 
 round upon him, and with truth accuse him of assisting in 
 the perpetuation of them, by contributing largely to the 
 revenue of the country in the manufacture and con- 
 sumption of an article, which tends to the degradation of 
 
140 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 human nature, and consequently to the entire frustration of 
 those plans which he had in view, and for the consumma- 
 tion of which, he considered himself as specially appointed 
 by Heaven. 
 
 His father attempted to show him that he had taken a 
 very erroneous view of the subject, for that it was not in 
 the use of the article, but in the abuse of it, that the in- 
 jury of which he complained could be said to exist ; and 
 analogically reasoning, the manufacturer of a sword might 
 hold himself as guilty of the murders, which are committed 
 by it, as the individual who actually perpetrates the murder. 
 The revenue of the country is considerably augmented by 
 the importation of sugar, but are the dealers in that article 
 to be held responsible for the terrible acts which are com- 
 mitted on the coast of Africa, in order to obtain the neces- 
 sary labour for the cultivation of it, or are they guilty 
 of a crime in the vending of it, because the ground on 
 which it grew has been moistened, perhaps, with the blood 
 of the slave ? " It is," said Mr. Torn, straining the chords 
 of the conscience too tightly, to burden it with the crimes 
 which may spring from the vicious abuse of an article, 
 which if used with moderation, may be considered as con- 
 ducive to health." 
 
 John Tom listened to the arguments of his father, as he 
 was in general accustomed to do with the most respectful 
 attention, but before he had even heard one of them, he 
 had determined to follow the plan, which he had chalked 
 out for himself, and which he considered as the result of 
 the most mature consideration, combined with a sound and 
 correct judgment of the affairs of life, and the most ap- 
 proved method of confirming the happiness of the human race. 
 
 Mr. Tom found it was totally in vain to contend against 
 the obstinacy of his son, which, although a part of his 
 natural temperament, was now considerably increased by 
 an excited imagination, acted upon by many delusive in- 
 fluences, not exactly in accordance with a sound and pure 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENA?, K.AI. 141 
 
 judgment, but springing from a perverted view of things, 
 seen through media which perfect sanity would have re- 
 jected, but which an inflamed fancy embraces with an en- 
 thusiasm at once uncontrollable and irresistible. 
 
 There was, however, one circumstance which in some degree 
 reconciled Mr. Tom to the plan which his son had in view, of 
 disposing of his business, and that was, the deranged state of 
 his accounts which had latterly crept into great confusion, 
 and to the rectifying of which no immediate clue presented it- 
 self. It might be easily accounted for from the loss, which was 
 sustained in the purchase of the smuggled spirits, but John 
 Tom had purposely kept that item back in his accounts, 
 from the general principle, that we do not like to expose 
 those actions of our life, which have been distinguished by 
 the most convincing evidences of the weakness or falsity of 
 our judgment* 
 
 Despairing of effecting any change in the plans of his son, 
 either by expostulation or argument, and being convinced 
 from various acts that he committed, that his mind was not 
 exactly in a sane condition, he began to consider, whether 
 he were not acting contrary to the duty of a parent, in hesita- 
 tingto take those immediate ^steps 'on a system of actual coer- 
 cion, by which, whatever property that was remaining might be 
 saved from that juin, which awaited it under the present ma- 
 nagement of his son, and which might be reserved as a fund 
 for his future support during his life. He consulted a very 
 able medical practitioner on the subject, but he gave it as 
 his decided opinion, that although his son might have given 
 many proofs of a disorganized mind, yet it had not yet gone 
 to that extent, as to warrant any coercive measures, and 
 which, if put in force, might most probably rather aggra- 
 vate the evil, than contribute to its removal. 
 
 With the view, however, of ascertaining the state of 
 his mind, and at the same time, that no suspicion whatever 
 should rest upon his mind, of the real object which his 
 father had in view, a small party was invited to sup at the 
 
142 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 house of Mr. Tom, at which the medical gentleman was to 
 be present, as John Tom supposed by special invitation as 
 a common acquaintance of the family, and with no reference 
 whatever to any point belonging to his immediate profes- 
 sion. 
 
 Fortunately for John Tom he conducted himself on this 
 evecing in the most decorous and exemplary manner; 
 his conversational powers were displayed in the most 
 extraordinary light, his knowledge of the various subjects, 
 which were brought under discussion, was various and 
 original, and not the slightest suspicion could have rested 
 on the mind of any one present, that the intellect of the in- 
 dividual, then before them, was in any degree disordered, until 
 unfortunately, the question was mooted of the unequal distri- 
 bution of property in this country ; when on a sudden, the 
 natural enthusiasm of the man burst forth, and he astonished 
 those around him, by a specification of the plans of the 
 Spencean Society, in which he was a zealous co-operator, 
 and which he said, would in a short time place the country on 
 a pinnacle of grandeur and unexampled prosperity. He then 
 burst forth into a violent invective against tithes, of which 
 he was always the most uncompromising enemy, and the 
 following rhapsody which he delivered on this occasion, 
 might have furnished his medical observer, with a clue to 
 the actual state of the mind of the individual, who delivered 
 it, and which might be reduced to the conclusion, that in the 
 general intercourse of life, his mind was rather of a high and 
 superior order, but that on certain subjects, it was evidently 
 in a state of derangement. It may not, however, be un- 
 worthy of remark, that in the following expression of his 
 sentiments, a peculiar trait of his character presents itself, 
 which followed him in all his actions, and from which he 
 never could be brought to deviate, although his own imme- 
 diate interests might be connected with it. We will give 
 the speech as he delivered it, and then point out the pas- 
 sages, which are but the transcript of his own character. 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 143 
 
 " You will all allow," said John Tom, " that this country 
 is an agricultural one, for what would England be without 
 her cornfields, the envy of all European nations, and which 
 under a wise government, would be the source of inexhaus- 
 tible riches to her. But I will now put a simple question 
 to you, for what purpose does the farmer pay his tithes? 
 It cannot be for the purpose of hearing the sermons, that 
 are now delivered from the pulpit ? No, for our farmers 
 are so wise as to know, that really no man deserves to hear 
 a good gospel sermon, who is to pay for it. The very idea 
 to pay money for the unsearchable riches of Christ, is incom- 
 patible with reason itself." 
 
 " How] then, Mr. John Tom," asked the medical man, 
 "would you have the ministers of the Church of Christ re- 
 paid for their meritorious services ?" 
 
 " Not by any forced exaction," answered Tom, " from the 
 people in the shape of tithes. The word of Jesus is very ex- 
 plicit on this head, <come,' says he to me, 'buy oil and water 
 of a living principle, without money and without price/ If 
 then Christ be God, he does not want his ministry to be paid 
 for it, for really it is too barefaced in the present preachers, 
 to assert that truth or the Almighty God, wants to be 
 paid in money for his word and worship. Who paid the apost- 
 les for their services ? and yet they were more useful men 
 in preaching the word of Christ, than any of the preachers 
 of the present day. Under the foundation of Christ's 
 erection by faith, upon him, we are free from all payments 
 whatever. Christ's Church is a free gift to man, to keep 
 him from Satan's power, but the present church and 
 ministers make the souls and bodies of their hearers, mere 
 tools to work upon, caring but little, for the true shepherd 
 or the sheep. All a minister wants, is your money, all he 
 cares about is the income ; when that is attained, his object 
 is attained, and all the clergymen think about, is the fattest 
 living. Christ, being God, can provide, and will provide 
 shepherds for his own flock ; they will not take filthy lucre 
 
144 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 for preaching his gospel; it is contrary to the spirit of 
 Christianity, to take gold as a remuneration for the truth. 
 Whoever he may be, who takes one shilling for preaching 
 the gospel, that man was never called by the spirit of 
 Christ, to be his minister, and no man dares to presume on 
 Christ's ministry, unless the spiritjof truth and wisdom, is given 
 him so to be. These are truths, which no man can alter, being 
 the word of God himself, and agreeable to the principles of 
 Christian foundation and when a minister is appointed by 
 God himself, by his Spirit, then a congregation will be provi- 
 ded, and everything be made agreeable to the will of heaven. 
 This doctrine is the very truth of the gospel, as it gives all the 
 honour, praise, and glory, to the one undivided God, Jesus 
 Christ the righteous, being of the Godhead bodily. What- 
 ever opinion the world may form as to tithes, our know- 
 ledge of Christ's gospel, and his intent in it, we will firmly 
 maintain, is in direct opposition to tithes, for what is truth ? 
 It can support itself without any assistance from the mam- 
 monites or followers after works. By thy works thou 
 shalt be judged, but in the sight of God no flesh living 
 shall be justified, therefore what avail are works for justifi- 
 cation ; away with it then, and stand by faith alone, for it 
 is the heir of righteousness. We have no need to bring for- 
 ward more passages of holy-writ, spoken by Christ to sup- 
 port his church ; therefore that man, whether he be a 
 farmer, tradesman, or labourer, who pays tithes in any 
 shape or form, that man is an enemy to Christ and his 
 church. 
 
 " The present clergy bring disgrace upon the word of 
 God, by taking tithes as a payment for that word, and the 
 lay proprietor of tithes, by the original agreement made with 
 the nation, is bound to pay all poor rates. You will, how- 
 ever, keep in your recollection, that tithes were at first in- 
 stituted to pay the poor, and defray the parson, and upon 
 this principle alone. No man dare to say that tithes are a 
 private property, or vested right ; if they were intended to 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 145 
 
 discharge the poor rates, to that they must be applied. All 
 the arguments in the world would not convince a clergyman 
 or lay-proprietor, that the tithes are a public nuisance, but 
 I tell them, and that under the direction of our Saviour's 
 gospel, that they are the very means by which immorality is 
 brought into the land, for while a parson is well paid for 
 his doctrines, the truth of Christ's word and works are left 
 to wolves in sheep's clothing ; thus I clearly prove that 
 from the scriptures all payments of whatever kind, or 
 quality, or description, either in offerings, seats, or facul- 
 ties, is not Christ's foundation nor intent. 
 
 " Truth must be held forth in any society or company, 
 whether in a church, chapel, or pot-house, without fee or 
 reward, for no sooner is a parson paid for supporting truth, 
 than it is no more truth. If we admit for a moment that a 
 man is to be. paid for speaking the truth, or supporting it, 
 that man from this mode of remuneration, becomes in- 
 terested from selfish motives, and wherever a man is in- 
 terested, he must be partial, and wherever there is no par- 
 tiality, there is no truth nor justice in them, and I fearlessly 
 tell old England in truth, that tithes are the greatest curse 
 to all of us. It produces as the first roots of the following 
 lamentable results ; Firstly, perversionof the truth in Christ. 
 Secondly, immorality and all the calendar of crime that now 
 presents itself at our assizes. This is the effect of not preach- 
 ing the truth by faith upon Christ, as the only remedy, 
 Thirdly, tithes keep our barren lands out of cultivation, 
 and throw those estates which are inferior in quality back- 
 ward in cultivation, the farmer having no encouragement 
 to put on agriculture or lay out his capital, for the parson 
 and the landlord claim all. Fourthly, it operates the most 
 upon the poor man, and the hardest too, for he must pay 
 for all and get the least to do it with, being the consumer. 
 While I have presumed thus to explain one or two of those 
 heads, to show where the tithes fall the heaviest, I would 
 7. u 
 
146 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 to God that the lay proprietor or clergyman would give 
 them up in time to that poor man, whose property they 
 are, before the vengeance of an all-powerful Creator over- 
 takes them in his fury, arid hurl them into darkness, where 
 there is weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth." 
 
 It was in this rhapsodical strain that John Tom was wont, as 
 he termed it, to edify the company into which he might be 
 accidentally thrown, but which to a particular party, was any 
 thing but edification, for it was direct wormwood, rfnd that too 
 of the bitterest kind, nor could it be for a moment supposed 
 that the open promulgation of certain opinions, tending to 
 shock the antiquated prejudices of a great number of people, 
 did not procure for him a number of enemies, who in their 
 turn, used every endeavour to defame his character, by 
 every means which their ingenuity could devise. These 
 people had neither the good sense npr the judgment to let 
 the temporary effect, which these incoherent harangues oc- 
 casioned, die away of itself, but they became themselves 
 the active disseminators of the poison contained in many of 
 his opinions by the very means, which they adopted to crush 
 them. They never thought of separating the truth from 
 the falsehood, which prevailed in his harangues, but they 
 indiscriminately condemned the whole of them, whereas 
 even to the most superficial observer, it must have been 
 apparent, that some truth lay open in them although 
 falsity and error might in general predominate. 
 
 There is, however, one part of the foregoing rhapsody, 
 which was perfectly in unison with the character which he 
 in general displayed, and that is, his uniform abstinence 
 from all actions which appeared to be regulated by in- 
 terested motives, and yet the general knowledge which he 
 had acquired of human nature must have taught him, that 
 there "are very few actions committed in this world, which 
 have not self-interest as their basis. It was a well known 
 principle of his action, that as soon as he discovered that 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 147 
 
 an individual was particularly actuated by the promotion of 
 his own interests in any action which he had in contempla- 
 tion, he made up his mind to thwart him by every possible 
 means in his power. " Man was born," he said, " for a 
 mutual participation of benefits, and he who strove to ad- 
 vance his own interests, beyond that of his fellow-men, was 
 guilty of a gross deviation from one of the most universal 
 principles of social brotherhood, and consequently was 
 guilty of a moral crime." It was this extravagant idea, that 
 led him to the admiration and the espousing of the princi- 
 ples of the Spencean Society, in which everything was to 
 be shared in common, and every feeling of selfishness and 
 personal interest abolished. 
 
 If however the medical man entered the house, with the pre - 
 conceived idea, that he was to be thrown into the society 
 of a deranged person, he left it with the conviction upon 
 his mind, that although the sanity of Mr. John Tom, on 
 certain subjects, might be unquestionable, yet in others, 
 that his insanity was equally so, but he strenuously advised 
 his father to desist at present, from all coercive measures, 
 and rather by indulgence and humouring him in his whims 
 and conceits, to avoid that additional irritation of the nervous 
 system, which a direct opposition would infallibly pro- 
 duce. 
 
 In the mean time, the plan of the Liverpool speculation, 
 appeared to be uppermost in his mind, for which purpose, 
 he obtained the address of one of the principal houses of 
 that great commercial town in the corn trade, requesting 
 their opinion, as to the state of trade, in the article of malt, 
 and whether a cargo of that article, was likely to sell to 
 advantage. An answer was received to this application, 
 stating that the market was at present overstocked with the 
 article, that the price was declining daily, and that 
 as the approaching harvest promised to be superabund- 
 ant, a speculation in it could not but be attended with 
 loss. 
 
148 ' THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 In this case, however, John Tom followed the example 
 of his fellow-men, in general ; he had determined in his 
 own mind, upon the commission of a certain act, but before 
 venturing upon it, he sought the advice of those, who were 
 well able to give it him, relative to the prospect of ultimate 
 success, and those persons had decided, that success was 
 highly problematical, ii not altogether out of the question. 
 Thus it might have been supposed, that a prudent man 
 would have desisted from any further prosecution of the 
 speculation, not so, however, John Tom; he thought he 
 read in the answer from Liverpool, a desire to dissuade 
 him from the speculation, in order to promote the private 
 views of his correspondent, who perhaps might have a large 
 stock of the article in hand, and therefore wished to keep 
 a further supply out of the market; in fine, he had received 
 the advice not to persevere in the speculation, and for 
 that very reason, he was determined to do it. Without 
 therefore consulting his father, or one of his family, any 
 further on the subject, he set off for Falmouth, for the 
 purpose of freighting a vessel, he having determined to 
 ship himself on board, as the super-cargo, and on the 
 arrival of the vessel at its destination, to superintend the 
 disposal of the malt, wholly independent of any assistance, 
 which the leading houses in that line might be able to 
 afford him. 
 
 Ne sutor, ultra crepidam, was one of the wise sayings, of 
 our forefathers, and he, who does not adhere to its principle, 
 in the pursuits of life, will be sure to meet with loss and 
 disappointment. With all the experience, which John Tom 
 had acquired in matters of business, he was still by no 
 means an adept, in many of those arts, and low chicanery, 
 with which the spirit of trade is accompanied, and although 
 it was his belief, that few or none could overreach him, yet 
 in many instances, on no one were grosser impositions prac- 
 tised, than on himself. 
 
 Thus, in negotiating for the price of the freight, of a 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M- 149 
 
 vessel to Fal mouth, John Tom had not the slightest 
 suspicion, that he was the dupe of a stratagem, for the 
 purpose of obtaining a high price of freightage from him, 
 at the same time that he flattered himself, that he had 
 completely got the better of an attempt to impose upon 
 him, and which tended in no small degree, to exalt the 
 opinion which he entertained of the extent of his discrimi- 
 nating powers. 
 
 The circumstance of the freightage of a vessel for Liver- 
 pool being wanted, was soon known amongst the com- 
 mercial circles of Falmouth, and accordingly an offer was 
 made to John Tom, by the owner of a brig of about 100. 
 tons, at a price, which far exceeded the calculations, which 
 he had made, but whilst he was considering on the 
 acceptance of the term?, another offer was made him, at a 
 reduction of lOs.a ton, from the original one, to which he 
 hesitated not a moment to accede, considering that 
 the former was decidedly an attempt to impose upon him, 
 whereas, the whole was nothing else than a trick played 
 upon his inexperience, and his entire ignorance of the nature 
 of the business, in which he was then engaged. 
 
 The party who made the first offer, entertained not the 
 slightest expectation that it would be accepted, on account 
 of the excessively high price that was asked, in order, how- 
 ever, to secure the job, the same party made another offer 
 through a different channel, which appeared to John Tom 
 to be very reasonable, especially as it was 10s. a ton cheaper 
 than the first, and he hesitated not a moment to close with 
 the offer, and signed an agreement accordingly, when he 
 discovered, that the price which he had agreed to pay, was 
 a most exorbitant one, and that notwithstanding all his 
 caution and penetration, he had been most grossly imposed 
 upon. He however, had gone too far to recede ; he had 
 affixed his name to the agreement, by which he bound him- 
 self that the cargo should be on board by a particular day, 
 after which he was to pay a stipulated sum per day for 
 
150 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 demurrage. He, however, succeeded in getting the cargo 
 on board by the time agreed upon, and the day following 
 he sailed for Liverpool. The result of this transaction may 
 be gathered from the following letter, which he wrote to 
 his wife, dated, 
 
 Liverpool, May 3, 1832. 
 My Dear Wife. 
 
 " I merely write to inform you that I have just dis- 
 charged the vessel of the malt, which has given every satis- 
 faction to the purchaser, the measurement has exceeded 
 my expectation by twenty-four Winchesters. There are 
 the malt sacks in the vessel, and also about half a bushel of 
 the bottom scrapings, this you will get screened imme- 
 diately. I am well and in good spirits, (thank God for it,) 
 As I shall write to you again in a day or two, my letter 
 will be short. The letter you will receive by post shall con- 
 tain all I have to say, and as it will be Subsequent to this, 
 I need not prolong. I have paid the captain of the vessel 
 all the freight. 
 
 " With my kindest regards to all, 
 
 " I remain, yours affectionately 
 
 "JoHN NICHOLS TOM." 
 P.S. In haste, with bad materials. 
 
 The writing of the foregoing letter may be considered as 
 the last act which John Tom committed, with which 
 the public have as yet been made acquainted, previously 
 to his appearance at Canterbury in the character of Sir 
 William Courtenay, in that state of mental derangement, 
 which although it cannot be designated exactly as lunacy, 
 yet it is so nearly allied to it, that it is difficult to draw the 
 line of demarcation, as to where sanity ends, and insanity 
 begins. That John Tom was in some degree under the 
 influence of the latter during his stay at Liverpool cannot 
 admit of a doubt, in fact, his entire conduct is declaratory 
 of it. Having converted his property into money, it wouid 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K. M. 151 
 
 have been supposed that he would expedite his return to 
 his family with the proceeds of the sale, but he adopted a 
 very different line of conduct. He appeared to discard 
 from his recollection that he had a wife, or any other tie to 
 which any duties were attached, or which required from 
 him the demonstration of any act of affection, and at this 
 period of his life, so completely did he withdraw himself 
 from all association with his former connections, that the 
 indentity of John Nichols Tom with Sir William Courte- 
 nay became actually a matter of question, there being, as 
 far as has yet come to the knowledge of the public, no 
 records existing of those years of his life, intervening be- 
 tween his temporary residence at Liverpool, and his memo- 
 rable career at Canterbury. We, however, have it in our 
 power to fill up that hiatus in his life, and thereby place 
 the identity of the individual beyond the possibility of a 
 doubt. 
 
152 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 DIVERSIFIED as may be the character of man, and dis- 
 tinguished as it may be by a greater or less degree of 
 eccentricity, according to the irritability of the tempera- 
 ment, or the vivacity of the imagination, yet there is a par- 
 ticular aspect in which may be considered, which possesses 
 a peculiar degree of interest, and which opens a new leaf in 
 the great book of human nature. It is not from the dull, plod- 
 ding, common-place individual that the student of mankind 
 increases his knowledge of the diversified shades and nice- 
 ties of the human character, for an individual of that stamp 
 presents himself at every step, which is taken in the world ; 
 but it is from a close observation of the actions of an in- 
 dividual like John Tom, who diverging from the common 
 track of human agency, strikes into an orbit of his own, 
 that a deeper insight is obtained into the difficult mysteries 
 of human character, and a more correct knowledge acquired 
 of those hidden springs by which the machinery of the 
 human mind is governed. It may, indeed, be urged that 
 all actions proceeding from a deranged or disordered intel- 
 lect belong not exactly to the study of the physiologist, as 
 they must be tried by a wholly different standard than that, 
 by which the actions of a sane intellect are accustomed to 
 be tried, and although coinciding in the truth of that pro- 
 position, still, an accurate observation of the motions of an 
 individual, arising from intellectual aberration, carries with 
 it a peculiar degree of interest, as independently of the 
 novelty and originality with which those actions are in 
 
SIFl WILLIAM COUKTENAY, K.M. 153 
 
 general attended, we are introduced to a view of the most 
 extraordinary effects produced on the general relations of 
 human society by the opinions and sentiments of an eccen- 
 tric mind, operating on the uneducated and the ignorant, 
 who under the influence of fanaticism and superstition, 
 break asunder the bonds of social order, trample on the laws 
 of the country, desecrate the altars of their God, and over- 
 throw those wise and glorious institutions, which Chris- 
 tianity has founded for the benefit of the human race. 
 
 We have been led into the foregoing reflections, by the 
 contemplation of the peculiar character, in which the sub- 
 ject of this .history will henceforth appear in the world, and 
 whose name is now identified with the history of the coun- 
 try, as constituting one of the principal actors in one of the 
 most tragic scenes, which have lately been incorporated 
 in its annals. 
 
 We have in former parts of this work alluded to the 
 unhappy conceit which had taken a deep root in the mind 
 of John Tom, that he was destined to achieve some great 
 purpose in the world, from which the entire regeneration of 
 the human species was to emanate, in fact, that he was the 
 precursor of. the millenium, if not the actual being himself, 
 by whose advent the arrival of that epoch was to be known. 
 Consistently, however, with tradition, it was evident to him 
 that the assumption of that character could not be accom- 
 plished in the commercial town of Liverpool, nor indeed in 
 Europe, but that the sphere of his action was in the Holy 
 Land itself, where thousands he knew were living in 
 anxious expectation of the second coming of the Messiah, 
 and where he entertained no doubt that he would be recei- 
 ved as St. John wasj as the herald or messenger of the forth- 
 coming advent of Christ, and thereby fulfil the great purpose 
 for which he was destined. 
 
 With this singular conceit operating in his mind, and 
 having by the disposal of his cargo, obtained possession of 
 7. x 
 
154 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 the necessary funds for the accomplishment of his enterprize, 
 ' he began to think seriously of carrying it into execution, 
 and he therefore applied himself indefatigably to the study 
 of all the works, which had any reference to the great 
 project which he had in view, and which would give him 
 an insight into the character, manners, and particularly the 
 religious prejudices of the people, over whom it was neces- 
 sary for him to obtain a certain degree of influence, in order to 
 impress upon their minds a high sense of the dignity of his 
 destination, before he could rationally expect to succeed in 
 the accomplishment of the important mission for which he 
 was delegated by Heaven. He even considered that his 
 temporary sojourn in Liverpool, at a distance from any of 
 those tender associations which bind a man to his family 
 and country, was a direct intervention of a superior power, 
 to strengthen him in his purpose, and place him beyond 
 the power of those influences, which might have a tendency 
 to divert him from his purpose, and abstract his mind from 
 the contemplation of those subjects, which appeared to 
 have obtained such an extraordinary ascendency over him. 
 Amongst those subjects was one which appeared to in- 
 flame his imagination to the highest pitch, and that was the 
 singular fanaticism of the celebrated Lady Esther Stanhope, 
 who had settled herself in the Holy Land for the purpose 
 of awaiting the second coming of the Messiah, whose fame 
 had gone forth throughout all Palestine, at the same time 
 that she was the object of the most profound astonishment 
 throughout Europe. It may well be supposed that a cha- 
 racter like that of Lady Stanhope was well calculated to 
 work in an extraordinary manner upon a mind constituted 
 like that of John Tom, and a singular idea shot across his 
 distempered imagination, whether he was not in reality 
 the person appointed by heaven to announce to the anxious 
 expectants of the coming of Christ in the Holy Land, that 
 the long-wished for period was near at hand, and conse- 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 135 
 
 quently that he would be the harbinger of good tidings to 
 all the people of Palestine. He had read the prophecies 
 which were on record relative to the second coming of 
 Christ, and particularly that one, in which it was foretold 
 that the mare on which the Messiah was to ride into Jeru- 
 salem was to be foaled already saddled * and finding 
 
 * In Huish's translations of Lamartine's Travels in the Holy Land, we 
 find the following interesting account of this celebrated animal, but which 
 is a direct and melancholy proof of the power which[fanaticism and supersti- 
 tion possess over the human mind, " Since destiny," said Lady Esther to Mr. 
 Lamartine, " has sent you hither, and that such an astonishing sympathy 
 between our stars, permit me to confide to yon what I have hitherto con- 
 cealed from so many of the profane, come, and you shall see with your 
 own eyes a prodigy of nature, the destination of which is only known to 
 myself and my immediate votaries. The Prophets of the East have an- 
 nounced it centuries ago, and yourself shall be the judge if a part of those 
 prophecies have not been accomplished." She opened a gate of the garden 
 which led into a smaller inner court, where I perceived two magnificent 
 Arab mares of the finest blood, and of the most beautiful symmetrical 
 form. " Approach," said she to me, " and examine that bay mare, see 
 if nature has not accomplished in her everything which is written about 
 the mare which is to carry the Messiah She was foaled ready 
 saddled. 
 
 " I saw in fact in this beautiful animal a freak of nature sufficient to 
 contribute to the illusion of a vulgar credulity amongst a semi-barbarous 
 people ; the mare had in the place of the shoulders, a cavity so broad and 
 deep, and imitating so well the form of a Turkish saddle, that it might be 
 said with truth, that she was foaled ready saddled, and but for the want of 
 stirrups, .she might indeed have been mounted without experiencing the 
 want of an artificial saddle. This animal more magnificent than the rest, 
 appeared to be accustomed to the admiration and respect which Lady 
 Stanhope and her slaves paid to her, and to have some presentiment of the 
 dignity ot her future office. No one, has ever, mounted her, and two 
 Arabian grooms are appointed to take care and watch over her, without 
 ever allowing her to be out of their sight. Another mare, and in my opinion 
 infinitely more beautiful, partakes with the mare of the Messiah, the 
 respect and attention of Lady Stanhope, this mare had also never yet been 
 mounted. Lady Esther did not inform me, but she gave me to under- 
 stand, that although the destiny of the latter mare was less holy, she 
 nevertheless had one assigned to her, a destination of a very important and 
 mysterious nature, and I was led to believe that Lady Stanhope kept the 
 latter mare in reserve for herself, to mount on the day on which she should 
 make her entry by the side of th<i Messiah into re-conquered Jerusalem. 
 
I5f) THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 that Lady Esther Stanhope had in her possession the very 
 mare which was really foaled with a saddle on, every doubt 
 vanished with him that the coming of the Messiah was 
 very near at hand, and that his own presence in the Holy 
 Land was imperative upon him, in order to prepare the 
 Jews for the reception of the Messiah. 
 
 Having ascertained, that certain externals were requisite 
 in order to enable him, to sustain the character, in which 
 he was shortly to appear, he dispensed with the operation 
 of shaving, and he began to equip himself, in the style of 
 the orientals, with his neck and breast bare, and there was 
 in reality, something in his countenance, which bespoke 
 the dignity and grandeur of the natives of the East. 
 
 The Holy Land was now the object, which appeared to 
 absorb all the energies of the mind of Tom, but as it was 
 his opinion, that an act of 'such wondrous import, as that 
 in which he was about to be engaged, ought to be kept a 
 profound secret from the profane multitude, he disclosed 
 not his plan to any living being, but the most superficial 
 observer might have detected by his manners and counte- 
 nance, that some powerful influence was operating on his 
 soul, and there was also a decisive impression of character, 
 about him, which distinguished him most eminently, above 
 the common herd of human beings. 
 
 We are not able to adduce his reasons for determining 
 to visit France, previously to his departure for the Holy 
 Land, but his actions appeared at this time to be guided 
 by some mysterious influence, hurrying him on into a course 
 of eccentricity, which had little or no relation with any of 
 the principles of reason, or common sense. Had he been 
 conversant with the French language, his visit to that 
 country might have been attributed to a desire, to make 
 himself thoroughly acquainted with the localities of the 
 Holy Land, from the numerous works that have been pub- 
 lished in that country, upon that subject, nor was he 
 exactly aware that his entire ignorance of any other 
 
Sill WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M, 157 
 
 language than his own, was likely to prove one of the 
 greatest drawbacks to the attainment of any success, in the 
 plans which he had in view, in the Holy Land, and where 
 the spuriousness of the character, which he intended to 
 assume, would be immediately detected, by the discovery, 
 that he could only converse in one language, and that one, 
 the most unlikely of all others, to be natural to the mess- 
 enger of Jesus Christ. 
 
 It must also be taken into the account, that at this period of his 
 life, the mind of John Tom, was in that extraordinary state of 
 excitement, as to render him no longer subject to the imme- 
 diate influence of reflection or reason, but resolution and 
 action followed in him with the rapidity of the thnnder 
 after the lightning, and it was, perhaps, in one of those 
 moments that he formed the resolution of embarking for 
 France, without being able to adduce any real substantial 
 reason for the act, but that once having formed the resolu- 
 tion, he put it into execution, scarcely conscious to himself 
 whether he was promoting or impeding the great object 
 which was uppermost in his mind. 
 
 There is, however, one proof existing that his determi- 
 nation to embark for France, was formed on a sudden, which 
 is, that he had given instructions to a tailor in Liverpool to 
 make him a tunic and vest according to the costume of the 
 Arabs, which was to be ready on a particular day, but be- 
 fore that day arrived, he had sailed for Havre, on board 
 the Nelly, Capt. Smith, leaving the tunic and vest in the 
 hands of the tailor to be disposed of to the next adventurer 
 in the Holy Land. 
 
 From some circumstances, however, which transpired 
 during his residence in France, we are induced to draw the 
 conclusion, that he had it in contemplation to embrace the 
 Catholic religion, which he knew could be accomplished 
 more easily in France than in England, and where that 
 publicity would not be given to his- apostacy, which would 
 inevitably be the case in his own country. It was at once evi- 
 
158 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 dent to him that his reception in the different monasteries 
 which are scattered over the Holy Land, and which are 
 generally the domicile of the Christians travelling in that 
 country, would not be so cordial nor welcome, if he claimed 
 their hospitality as a Protestant, w as if he came amongst 
 them professing their own faith, and above all, if he de- 
 clared himself a proselyte to their creed, which is certain to 
 insure an individual the most flattering reception. He 
 knew that with the Mussulmans and the Arabs, a difference 
 of faith would prove no obstacle to the success of his plans, 
 for amongst them exists an extreme spirit of toleration, an 
 example which it would well become the enlightened Christian 
 to follow. An individual entering the monasteries of Pales- 
 tine in the character of a heretic, such as John Tom 
 would have been obliged to appear in, would receive very 
 little information as to the state of the country; nor would 
 those instructions be imparted to him by which his progress 
 through it might be rendered less difficult. It must, how- 
 ever, have been apparent to John Tom, that the learning of 
 a new religion, with all its forms and ceremonies, its obli- 
 gations and its doctrines, is not the work of a day, and that 
 before he could be received into the fold of the holy mother 
 Church, he would have to undergo a kind of scholarship 
 for a considerable time, and be subject to an ordeal which, 
 in his impatient and irritated state of mind, he never could 
 be brought to undergo. On the other hand, however, so 
 great was the infatuation which at the time rested upon the 
 imind of John Tom, so strong was his belief that he had a 
 commission from a superior power to accomplish the great 
 purpose which then absorbed all his thoughts, that little 
 doubt rested on his mind, that he would be received with 
 open arms both by Jew and Catholic, and be hailed as the 
 precursor of that great Being who was to reconquer Jeru- 
 salem, and rescue the Holy Land from the power of the 
 infidel. 
 
 It is certain, that during the stay of John Tom at Havre, 
 
Sill WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 159 
 
 he regularly frequented the Roman Catholic Chapels ; but 
 whether with a view to make himself acquainted with the 
 particular forms and ceremonies of that imposing religion, 
 for the purpose of conforming to them in the Holy Land, 
 and thereby impressing upon the minds of the bishops and 
 monks, with whom he might be thrown into association, the 
 belief that he in reality belonged to their flock ; or whether 
 it was his ulterior view to enrol himself as a member ot that 
 Church, is a matter to which a considerable doubt is 
 attached. It must, however, be generally stated, that no 
 man ever set forth upon an expedition with a more lamen- 
 table ignorance of the character and habits of the people 
 amongst whom he was going to reside, of the qualifications 
 which were necessary to command their respect, or of the 
 direct line of conduct which he would have to assume, by 
 which they could be brought to promote his views, than 
 John Tom displayed in his projected expedition to the 
 Holy Land. He unfortunately imbibed the opinion, that 
 he should follow the example of his great Master, and com- 
 mence his career in lowliness and poverty. He was to 
 conquer by the power of the halo of holiness, which was to 
 be thrown around him; not by the show of riches, nor the 
 splendour of a numerous retinue, nor the gaudy adjuncts of 
 nobility and royalty ; but he was to appear in the holy 
 garb of the saint: locusts and wild honey were to be his 
 food, and the persecution of his enemies the strongest proof 
 of the divinity of his mission. 
 
 On the arrival of John Tom at Havre, there was a 
 vessel fitting out for the Dardanelles, from which place he 
 was told, it would be easy to procure a passage to Beirout, 
 on the Coast of Syria, and thence by the caravans to 
 Lebanon and Jerusalem. He, therefore engaged a berth, 
 on board the vessel, although the commander hesitated at 
 first to receive him, from the general eccentricity of his 
 conduct, and his wild and uncouth appearance, which 
 altogether bespoke the existence of a disordered mind, and 
 
160 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 which was likely to render him a very unpleasant, if not a dange- 
 rous companion in a vessel, which was likely to be crowded 
 with passengers, and who might perhaps, object to hold any 
 association with him. It was, however, at a dinner, to 
 which John Tom invited the commander, who was a kind 
 of a mongrel, between an Englishman and a Frenchman, 
 that the latter was inclined to alter his opinion of the state 
 of the intellect, of his future compagnan du voyage, for fortu- 
 nately for John Tom, the conversation never diverged into 
 any of those subjects, on which his mind was apt to run 
 riot, but it was confined to those, on which he was not only 
 able to converse with considerable talent, but in which he 
 was capable of distinguishing himself in a manner, far 
 superior to the generality of his fellow-men. The com- 
 mander of a vessel, is generally made acquainted with the 
 business or profession of his passengers, but there was 
 in John Tom a studied reserve, and a direct unwilling- 
 ness, to be in the least communicative relative to the 
 object of his voyage, and although the commander 
 did succeed in obtaining from him some information as 
 to what he was not, he could not extract from hinAhe slightest 
 clue as to what he really was. This secresy on the part 
 of John Tom was a part of the system of conduct 
 which he had laid down for himself, as particularly apper- 
 taining to the dignity of the character which he was shortly 
 to assume ; he was, however, not a little confounded, when 
 one even as he was partaking of a glass of wine with the 
 commander, at one of the cabarets at the mouth of the har- 
 bour, the latter said to him in the course of conversation : 
 " You will find your business a bad speculation in the Le- 
 vant." Tom looked aghast at the discovery which he sup- 
 posed that the commander had made of the motive of his 
 voyage to the East, and then to call his business a specula- 
 tion, when it was connected with the second coming of the 
 Messiah, was in his eyes a direct and popitive profanation. 
 "My business, a bad speculation !" exclaimed John Torn, 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 101 
 
 with the utmost spirit of indignation, " my business is only 
 known to myself, and although the result of my voyage will 
 soon be known all over Europe, and the whole world, yet 
 at present I think it necessary to confine it within my own 
 breast." "Are you not in the spirit line" asked the 
 commander, " a bad article to traffic with amongst the 
 Turks. ?" If the surprise of John Tom" was great before, '^it 
 was now boundless, for it was evident to him that he had 
 been recognized by some one, who had known his former 
 vocation ; he, therefore, hesitated not to confess that he 
 was originally in that line, but being destined for higher 
 purposes in the world, he had relinquished it ; he, however, 
 importuned the commander to inform him from whom he 
 had obtained his information, as some fears rested upon his 
 mind, that he had been traced from Liverpool by some of 
 his family, and he was not without some alarm, that forci- 
 ble means might be resorted to, in order to compel him to 
 return to his family. To all his importunities, however, 
 the commander maintained an obstinate silence, and he 
 directly told him that he would not inform him from whom 
 he had his intelligence. This problem, however, which 
 Tom attempted in vain to solve, was on the following day 
 most unexpectedly solved to him by his being suddenly ac- 
 costed by the very smuggler, by the purchase of whose 
 goods he was to realize three or four hundred per cent 
 profit, and who very kindly wished him a safe voyage to 
 Constantinople. John Tom was stricken with wonder, for 
 he really thought he had fallen into a world, where every 
 one was acquainted with his motions, which, perhaps, under 
 any other circumstances, would have exalted him in his 
 own opinion, but on questioning the smuggler as to his 
 authority for his information, that he was on the eve of a 
 voyage to Constantinople, he acknowledged that he was 
 personally acquainted with the commander of the vessel in 
 which he was going to sail, and that being once accidentally 
 7. Y 
 
162 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 together, and seeing John Tom at a distance, the captain 
 had informed him that he was one of his passengers, and 
 in return, the smuggler informed him that he had once 
 transacted some business with his passenger, which was 
 conducted with the greatest honour on their side, but 
 which tnrned out unfortunately, on account of the rascality 
 of an informer. Thus was the enigma solved, and all 
 alarm subsided on the part of John Tom, of his motions 
 being watched by his family, or that any coercion would be 
 used to force him to return to them. 
 
 It was with the proudest feelings of satisfaction, that 
 John Tom saw the sails of the vessel unfurled, which was 
 to convey him to the theatre of his future exploits, and 
 from the shores of which, his name was to be rebounded 
 to every part of the civilized world. At the commence- 
 ment, the voyage was very prosperous, and they entered the 
 Mediterranean with the prospect of arriving at their des- 
 tination without a single accident, or of any of those reverses 
 to which a voyage by sea are so liable. On arriving, however, 
 off the coast of Greece, the weather became excessively foul, 
 and they found it necessary to take shelter in the Piroeus, 
 the port of Athens. Although John Tom was now on the 
 first classic ground of the world, strewed with the monu- 
 ments of the mighty dead, and of those great heroes of 
 antiquity, to whom history has awarded immortality ; yet 
 John Tom strode over the ruins of tombs and edifices, of 
 columns and capitals, as if nature had huddled them to- 
 gether in one of her frantic moods, and not as momentoes, 
 of the genius of the human race, bearing the names, the 
 enterprises and the misfortunes of those, who in times, long, 
 past, and gone, have illuminated the world by the dazzling 
 splendour of their achievements. In company with some of 
 his fellow passengers, he visited the temple of Minerva, and 
 in its glorious facades, he saw'nothing but a range of moulder- 
 ing columns ; he saw that one of the vacant spaces, from 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY. K.M. 163 
 
 which a statue had been taken, was filled up by a pillar of 
 masonry, but on the statue next to it, was inscribed, OPUS 
 PHIDLE, and on the pillar of masonry, was inscribed, OPUS 
 ELGIN. Neither the one, nor the other, however, possessed 
 any interest for him ; he had a far greater aim in view, 
 than contemplating the crumbling monuments of the dead, 
 and therefore, he was by no means grieved, when the vessel 
 sailed from the Pirceus, to the place of its destina- 
 tion. 
 
 During the voyage, several of the passengers, attempted 
 to inflame the imagination of John Tom, with a glowing 
 picture, of the glory and splendour of Constantinople, but 
 for some reason unaccountable to them, his mind appeared 
 to be impervious to their animated descriptions, for it 
 seemed to be absor bed in one great commanding subject 
 which he would not communicate, and on account of which 
 the most extraordinary and conflicting opinions were formed 
 in regard to his character, not one of which, however, had 
 in reality, the slightest relation with the actual truth. On 
 arriving within sight of the seven towers of Constantinople, 
 he exclaimed, " and are these the seas, the shores, is this 
 the wondrous city, for which the masters of the world aban- 
 doned Rome, and the glorious coasts of Naples ? Is this the 
 metropolis of the universe situate on Europe and on Asia, for 
 which all the conquering nations of the world have in their turn 
 disputed, as the sign of the royalty of the world ? Is this 
 the city, which the painters and the poets fancy to be the 
 queen of all cities, hovering over her hills and over her 
 double ocean, encompassed with her bays, her towers, and 
 her mountains, and containing in itself all the treasures of 
 nature and the luxury of the East? Is this the place, 
 that is compared with the Bay of Naples, with her vast 
 amphitheatre and resplendent cliffs ? Vesuvius at its side, 
 losing its gilded tops amidst clouds of purple smoke; the 
 forests of Castellemare dipping their dark foliage in an 
 azure sea, and the Islands of Proceda and Ichia, with their 
 
164 THE LIFE AND ADVENTLKKS OF 
 
 volcanic peaks, their declivities yellow with vines, and 
 whitened with villas, shining in the immense bay, like 
 gigantic moles thrown out by the Deity himself at the 
 mouth of that glorious harbour ? 
 
 If such were his exclamations on the first view which he 
 obtained of the Queen of the East, he was still more struck 
 with the view of the interior of it, its elegant structures, its 
 magic fountains, its dirty and narrow streets, its hideous 
 hovels, and gorgeous trees. As he passed, the Turks el- 
 bowed him, the Jews made him an obsequious bow, and had 
 they known his real character,"he supposed they would have 
 kissed the hem^of his garment ; the Greeks smiled on him ; 
 the Armenians tried to cheat him ; the dogs followed him in 
 crowds, the pigeons alighted confidently on his shoulder, 
 and he was afraid of touching a single individual for fear of 
 dying of the plague. He caught a glimpse of the most 
 celebrated mosques with their courts, and their marble 
 porticoes, supported by a forest of columns, and refreshed 
 by jets of water. The figures, the costumes, the customs 
 presented throughout to him the most picturesque and 
 most varied spectacle. It was Tyre, it was Bagdad, it was 
 the great market of the East. 
 
 He saw Sultan Mahmoud on his way to his prayers, 
 followed by an immense retinue, mounted on a white 
 horse, with trapping of a tissue of gold and pearls, and the 
 harness richly ornamented with diamonds, but he thought 
 of the horse in the stables of Lady Esther Stanhope, and of 
 the great Being who was to ride upon it, and the Sultan 
 and his horse with all its splendid trappings dwindled into 
 insignificance. 
 
 Constantinople, however, was not the place of the desti- 
 nation of John Tom, nor where he could commence the 
 important, labours which then exclusively engaged his at- 
 tention. He, nevertheless did not neglect to purchase 
 many things, which he was informed would be necessary 
 for him on his journey into Palestine, from which he was 
 
SIR, WILLIAM COUR.TENAY, K.M. 165 
 
 dissuaded by many, who knew the country well, and who 
 were competent to lay before him the danger to which he 
 would be hourly subject, considering that he had not the 
 means to provide himself with that retinue which was ne- 
 cessary for his protection, and would consequently be obliged 
 to accept of that which the caravans afforded, but which 
 was of itself a system of travelling by no means favourable 
 to the object which he had in view, as it furnished him 
 with few or no opportunities of making the object of 
 his mission known, nor of bringing him into immediate 
 contact with those people, to whom his labours were princi- 
 pally directed. Influenced, however, by an invincible spirit 
 of enthusiasm, in the cause in which he was engaged, he 
 looked upon the dangers, which awaited him, as a kind of 
 indispensable concomitant, and which were rather to be 
 courted, than shunned. 
 
 To travellers in general, Constantinople is a city of the most 
 extraordinary interest, but it failed of its general effect on 
 the mind of John Tom, who had his eyes directed to another 
 quarter, where visions of future fame and glory hovered 
 round him, and where he was to be the founder of a new 
 era in the world, from which the regeneration of the human 
 race was to commence, and those mighty prophecies ful- 
 filled, which have been handed down from the patriarchs of 
 old, as the immediate inspiration of a superior power. It was 
 therefore with great delight that he heard of a vessel being 
 about to sail for Beirout, in which he engaged a berth, and he 
 felt himself comparatively t happy, when he saw the towers of 
 Constantinople behind him, and a favourable wind impelling 
 him to his destined port. It was, however, now that he 
 first began to feel the want of the knowledge of those lan- 
 guages which are principally spoken in the East, and had 
 it not been for the dragoman belonging to the^ French con- 
 sulate at Beirout, who had been sent on some business of 
 importance to the French ambassador at Constantinople, 
 and who was then on his return to Beirout John Tom 
 
166 THfi LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 would have found himself totally bereft of all society, and 
 unable to make his wants known to a single individual on 
 board. The crew were^ composed half of Greeks and half 
 ot Armenians, a rude, uncivilized horde, who carried with 
 them the appearance of a gang of banditti, and the fe- 
 rocity of whose countenances bespoke that there was no 
 crime, which they would not commit to effect some private 
 end. 
 
 On the eighth day of their departure from Constantinople 
 they came in view of the mountains of Asia, that sacred 
 land, the scene of such wonderous events, and which was 
 now on the point of beholding that great consummation, 
 for which the great Christian family had looked so long, 
 which was to restore the holy city to its pristine glory, and 
 lay the foundation of the everlasting happiness of the human 
 race. The Dragoman and Tom were standing on the poop 
 together, when the former suddenly exclaimed, / There's 
 Lebanon." The fire of the enthusiast blazed in the look of 
 Tom, it was his first look of the Holy Land, the land from 
 which he had come from so great a distance to view its 
 glorious and its sacred scenes, to tread upon the soil of the 
 patriarchs of the human race, and to bend his knee on the 
 spot, where the Son of God first drew the breath of this 
 terrestrial life. It was indeed Lebanon, with its white and 
 golden crest, and which appeared bright and serene in the 
 dark blue depth of the firmament, whilst its base and its 
 sides were envelopped in the mists of the sea. Tom could 
 not avert his look from the glorious scene, for they now 
 began to distinguish the deep and black valleys of the 
 mountain which opened on the shore ; the ravines became 
 more distinct; the summits of the rocks became more 
 clear and conspicuous to the eye, and in fancy he could 
 descry the villages scattered on the declivities of the hills, 
 and the extensive monastaries, which crown like gothic 
 castles, the summits of the intermediate mountains. 
 
 At nine o'clock on the following morning, the vessel 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 167 
 
 cask anchor in the roadstead, before Beirout, and a new 
 and interesting scene now presented itself to the wandering 
 gaze of the enthusiast. The quay was crowded with a 
 multitude of arab's, in all the splendour of their'gHttering 
 costume and their accoutrements. The same activity, and 
 appearance of business were here visible, as on the quays 
 of the great maritime cities of England ; several European 
 vessels were at anchor in the roads, and sloops laden with 
 the merchandize of Damascus, and of Bagdad, were incess- 
 antly, passing to and fro from the shore to the vessels. The 
 houses of the town, appeared in confused groups, the roofs of 
 some, serving as terraces to the others. These house?, 
 with their flat roofs, and some with embattled balustrades ; 
 the windows with their multiplied ogives ; the wooden 
 painted grates which close them hermetically, like a veil of 
 oriental jealousy; the heads of the palm trees, which appear 
 to germinate in the stone, and which rise above the roofs, 
 as if to gladden the eyes of the female captives, in the 
 harem, with the sight of a little verdure all those things 
 made a strong impression upon the imagination of Tom, 
 for they announced to him that he was in the East. He 
 heard the shrill cry of the Arabs of the desert, quarrelling 
 on the quays, and the rough and mournful groanings of the 
 camels, uttering their cries of pain, when they were made 
 to receive their burdens. There was, however, in the midst 
 of this novel scene, one object which he hailed with peculiar 
 pleasure, and that was the flag of England, which floated 
 over the house of the English consulate, and where he was 
 certain of receiving that advice and assistance', which were 
 necessary for him, for the accomplishment of the purpose, 
 which he had in view. 
 
 It is said, that first impressions are of a lasting nature, 
 and as such, the impression which was made upon John 
 Tom by the extreme civility which was paid to him by the 
 Arabs on the beach, must have been highly in favour of the 
 country, and operated upon him as a presentiment of what 
 
168 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 he had to expect in future. Some of the Arabs, with their 
 naked legs, carried him in their arms as far as the entrance 
 of a steep and gloomy street, which led to the English con- 
 sulate. It is much to be deplored, that the pride of office 
 distinguishes itself in every quarter of the globe, whether it 
 be on the banks of the Thames, or the arid shores of Asia ; 
 and great was the disappointment of Tom, when instead of 
 being received with that courtesy and urbanity, which ought 
 to distinguish the conduct of an individual, appointed ex- 
 pressly by the government of his country, for the protection 
 and assistance of all the subjects of his king, whom busi- 
 ness or pleasure might draw to the shores of a foreign land, 
 he was met by a cold and repellent demeanour, and a total 
 absence of even that common civility, which a functionary, 
 who is paid for his services, is bound to show to the meanest 
 applicant for his assistance It must be admitted, that the 
 first appearance of John Tom before the English consul, was 
 not very well calculated to impress upon his mind, the most 
 favourable opinion of the character or respectibility of his 
 newly arrived countryman. For he came without one of those 
 credentials, which the majority of travellers consider as in- 
 dispensable to the confirmation of their respectability and 
 condition in life, and without which, no one can expect to be 
 received in a foreign country with any token of respect or 
 consideration. He had not brought with him a single 
 letter of introduction to any persons residing in any of the 
 principal cities, which it might be his intention to visit, and 
 therefore, he would be everywhere looked upon with jeal- 
 ousy and distrust. When, however, John Tom proceeded 
 to acquaint the consul with the object of his journey, and 
 that letters of introduction would be wholly superfluous to 
 him, who would be every where received with open arms, 
 the consul began to regard him with an eye of commissera- 
 tion, and hesitated not to tell him, that he would most un- 
 questionably forfeit his life in the attempt ; and that if he 
 had no other object in view, his more prudent plan would 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 169 
 
 be to return without further delay to his native country, and 
 leave the second coming of the Messiah to take place with- 
 out his further interference. There was also something in 
 the general costume of Tom, which could not fail to give rise 
 to some suspicions in the breast of the consul, that he was 
 more fit to be a tenant of a large house in St. George's 
 Fields, than to be a traveller in the Holy Land, as the 
 herald of the second coming of Christ. It was not to be 
 measured by any of the established standards of national 
 costume, for it was a gross intermixture of European, Turk- 
 ish, and Arabic, with all the gorgeous trappings and orna- 
 ments, which are usually the adoption of a depraved taste, 
 and which are generally assumed by the ignoble, to estab- 
 lish an idea of consequence and dignity on the minds of the 
 ignorant and the weak. 
 
 Tom informed the consul, that it was his intention to pro- 
 ceed direct for Jerusalem, in order to assemble the Jews in 
 that quarter; and on his way thither, it was his determina- 
 tion to pay a visit to Lady Esther Stanhope, to whom he 
 had matters of high import to reveal, and for which he was 
 particularly commissioned by the direct inspiration of a 
 superior power. The consul inquired of Sir William Courte- 
 nay, (for we must henceforth call him by that name, as it 
 was on this occasion, that he dropped his patronymic of 
 Tom, and assumed the more sounding one of Sir William 
 Courtenay,) whether he had any letters of introduction to 
 her, for otherwise so great was her aversion from the ad- 
 mittance of strangers into her presence, that many had at- 
 tempted it, but few had ever succeeded, and that unless 
 he had some particular credentials, or that he was the agent 
 of some of her immediate connections, not the slightest 
 chance existed of his obtaining an introduction. Sir Wil- 
 liam turned these observations of the consul into direct 
 ridicule, for he was certain, that her ladyship, so far from 
 objecting to see him, would, as soon as she was apprized of 
 a z 
 
170 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 his arrival in the country, send an escort to conduct him to 
 her residence, herself travelling with a numerous retinue to 
 meet him on the road, and to welcome him with the most 
 enthusiastic delight to the Holy Land. And further, that 
 he entertained not the slightest doubt, that her ladyship 
 possessed a fore-knowledge of the great events with which 
 the womb of time was pregnant, and that his coming was 
 anticipated by her with all the zeal and enthusiasm, which 
 the magnitude of the occasion deserved. 
 
 If the consul had previously imbibed some suspicions, 
 that his native country had sent into the Holy Land one of its 
 most confirmed fanatics, not to designate him by another cha- 
 racter of stronger import, this conversation respecting Lady 
 Stanhope, converted those -suspicions into positive belief. He 
 therefore, forebore from dilating any further on that sub- 
 ject, and simply inquired, under what name he intended to 
 travel. This was rather a startling question to the future 
 regenerator of the world, for the idea having very properly 
 struck him, that the name of John Tom was not exactly of 
 that high and imposing character, as to instil any respect 
 into the minds of the individuals, on whom he had to im- 
 press the dignity of his mission, and having in consequence 
 of that act of sound judgment, assumed the'more pompous 
 one of Sir William Courtenay, he considered that he had 
 done all, which prudence or caution could demand, and 
 judging by analogy, that as he well knew there were a great 
 many fools in his own country, who attached great impor- 
 tance to a title, he made no doubt, that he should meet 
 with an equal number in the Holy Land, who would pay 
 all due homage to the dignified name, in which he should 
 appear amongst them; The consul assured him that not 
 the slightest respect whatever would be paid to his title, 
 and that unless he assumed an Arabic, or a Turkish name, 
 and conformed as much as possible to the manners and 
 customs of the people with whom he was about to asso- 
 
SIR WILLIAM COUllTENAY, K.M. 171 
 
 ciate, his life was worth scarcely an hour's purchase. Sir 
 William assented to the policy of travelling under a fic- 
 titious name, and he therefore assumed that of Hassan 
 Abdallah, under which he was subsequently known during 
 his residence in the Holy Land. 
 
 The consul next inquired of him what escort he inten- 
 ded to take with him, as it was not to be supposed that he 
 would venture into the interior, without a sufficient guard 
 to protect him from the plundering habits of the Arabs; 
 but to this Sir William expressed a decided objection ; for 
 it did not become his high dignity and office, to present 
 himself before the expectant multitudes, who were anx- 
 iously looking out for him, surrounded by armed men, and 
 thereby imply a want of confidence in that power, whose 
 great cause he was sent on earth to advocate. Independently 
 of which, it was his intention to travel to Jerusalem by the 
 next caravan, that departed, which would be much more in 
 conformity with his character, than travelling in the style 
 of some potent prince under the protection of his guards. 
 It was consistent with the great purport of his mission, that 
 like his divine predecessor, he should appear amongst his ex- 
 pectant followers in humility, lowliness, and poverty; for 
 all pomp and ostentation could only tend rather to weaken, 
 than to augment the respect and veneration, with which he 
 would be everywhere received. 
 
 ; The consul, in answer to these objections, informed Sir 
 William Courtenay, that it would be full three months 
 before another caravan departed for Jerusalem, indepen- 
 dently of which, the residence of Lady Stanhope did not lie 
 within the route of the caravan, and iherefore, he must 
 either relinquish his visit to her, or adopt some other 
 method of travelling than by that of the caravan, if it were 
 his fixed determination to visit that lady, and in which, if he 
 should succeed and obtain an introduction, he would find it 
 of essential benefit to him in his future progress in the Holy 
 Land, as from the extreme veneration with which she was 
 
172 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 regarded by almost all the Arab tribes, a passport signed 
 by her would be a more efficient protection than an army 
 of horsemen. Sir William informed the consul, that his 
 visit to Lady Stanhope was one of the most absolute neces- 
 sity, and that in fact the great purpose for which he had 
 left his native country, could not be fulfilled without her 
 immediate co-operations. The consul continued, in the 
 execution of his duty as the protector of all British subjects 
 to urge the necessity of Sir William taking an escort with 
 him, and Sir William finally consented to the arrangement, 
 the consul kindly offering him one of his Carvas to attend 
 upon him as far as the residence of Lady Stanhope, after 
 which, her passport would be sufficient to protect him 
 through the whole of Palestine. These Carvas are Turks 
 who supply the place of the Janissaries, whom the Sublime 
 Porte formerly granted to ambassadors or travellers, to 
 whom the government was willing to grant its protection ; 
 they are at the same time soldiers and police officers, nearly 
 corresponding with the Gendarmeie of the European 
 States. Every consul has one or two of these men as at- 
 taches of the consulate, travelling with him on horseback, 
 and announcing his name and rank in the different cities 
 through which they pass, at the same time intimating the 
 arrival to the sheik, the pacha, or [the governor. They 
 clear and prepare for the temporary abode of their em- 
 ployer, whatever house they may please to fix upon in the 
 towns and villages, and they protect by' their presence and 
 authority every caravan to which they may have been ap- 
 pointed as guards ; they are habited in a costume more or 
 less splendid, according to the profusion or importance of 
 the person who employs them. The ambassadors and the 
 European Consuls are the only strangers who possess the 
 right of employing them, and it is undoubtedly no mean 
 recommendation to a person journeying through the country 
 to have one of them in his retinue. 
 
 Everthing being prepared, Hassan Abdallah with a small 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 173 
 
 escort of six Arabs, a Dragoman and a Carva, began his 
 route into the interior of Syria, his enthusiastic spirit ena- 
 bling him to surmount many difficulties, and to endure 
 many privations, at which the common mind would have 
 quailed and have disheartened the individual from any fur- 
 ther prosecution of the business, in which he might be 
 engaged. 
 
 It is impossible to form any conception of the rapidity 
 with which intelligence circulates from rfiouth to mouth in 
 Arabia. It was soon known at Damascus, at Aleppo, at 
 Latakia, at Saida, and at Jerusalem, that a stranger of 
 some importance had arrived in Syria, and that he was 
 about to commence his travels through the country. In a 
 land, where the routine of life is almost a monotony, and the 
 mind is seldom excited by new events, the most trivial cir- 
 cumstance becomes immediately the subject of general con- 
 versation, and circulates with the rapidity of sound from 
 one tribe to another. The sensitive and inflamed imagi- 
 nation of the Arabs magnifies and colours everything, 
 and the fame of an individual is established in a fortnight 
 at the distance of one hundred miles. 
 
 That this peculiarity of the country, was well calculated 
 to exalt Sir William in his own opinion, may be easily 
 conceived, for on the carva or the dragoman frequently in- 
 forming him that his arrival had been for some time ex- 
 pected, he did not think of attributing it to a characteristic 
 trait of the country, but to a kind of foreknowledge, which 
 had been imparted to the natives of his appearance 
 amongst them, and this very circumstance contributed 
 not a little to strengthen him in his belief, that he in reality 
 was the person that he had given himself out to be. 
 
 Hassan Abdallah left Beirout about four o'clock in the 
 morning, and passed through the magnificent forest of fir 
 trees, planted by the Emir Fakardin, after which, he 
 entered upon a kind of desert of red sand, accumulated in 
 enormous moving waves, like those of the ocean. Not a 
 
171 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 single trace of a human being or of an animal, was to be 
 seen in this undulating arena. They soon after struck in- 
 to a kind of road or path, strewed with enormous blocks of 
 angular stones. This road which runs by the side of the 
 sea, led them to a ruined dwelling, being the remains of an 
 old fortified tower, in which they passed the gloomy hours 
 of the night, stretched on a mat, made of rushes, and 
 wrapped up in their cloaks. 
 
 With the rising of the moon, they proceeded on their 
 course. It was one of those nights, when the sky sparkles 
 with stars, and the most complete serenity appears to 
 reign in those ethereal depths, which we contemplate from 
 below, but where nature, which then surrounded the travel- 
 lers, appeared to groan, and writhe in the most hideous 
 convulsions. 
 
 In the evening, they reached Saida, the ancient Sidon, 
 where by the influence and authority of the Carva, a house 
 was soon made ready for iheiii reception. The figure, and 
 manly countenance of Courtenay were well calculated, to 
 command respect and homage, and the splendour of his 
 dress, contributed not a little to impress a belief upon the 
 minds of the natives, that he was an Emir Frangi, a Prince 
 of the Franks. His apparent generosity, obtained for him 
 also, the good will of the people, for he distributed his alms 
 amongst the squalid wretches, who lay huddled in heaps, 
 before the entrances of their hovels, and it was here, that 
 he circulated the report, that he was able to cure the sick 
 by the pronunciation over them of some calabistic words, 
 which information was no sooner spread abroad, than a n umber 
 flocked to him to be cured, and he pronounced over them 
 the mysterious words, but whether their efficacy was proved 
 to be genuine, and the cure in consequence effected, never 
 came to the knowledge of the miraculous physician, for he 
 departed from the town by daybreak, on the following morn- 
 ing, and if any of them were actually cured, they are not 
 the only ones who have fancied themselves to be cured by 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 175 
 
 the miraculous power of some quack, who, if nature had 
 not kindly stepped in to thwart him, would have handed 
 over a few more victims to the power of death. 
 
 After leaving Saida, which projects into the sea like the 
 glorious remembrance of a dominion that has passed, the tra- 
 vellers began the ascent of chalky, bare, and rugged hills, 
 which rose insensibly from stage to stage, and led them to 
 that altitude, which they endeavoured in vain to discover 
 with their eyes. Every hill which they surmounted, dis- 
 covered to them one more elevated, which they were obliged 
 either to ascend, or to make a circuitous rout to evade it. 
 Mountains were piled on mountains, like the rings of a 
 chain placed upon each other, leaving only between them 
 ravines without water, whitened and strewed with masses of 
 a greyish rock. These mountains are entirely divested of 
 all vegetation and even of mould. They are the mere 
 skeletons of hills, which the winds and the waters have 
 preyed upon during the lapse of ages. It was not in such 
 a desolate spot, that they expected to find the habitation of 
 a female, who had visited the greater part of the world, and 
 who had had all the world before her, where to choose hsr 
 place of rest. At last from the summit of one of these 
 rocks, their eyes fell upon a deeper and broader valley, and 
 bordered on each side by still more majestic, but less sterile 
 mountains. In the middle of the valley, and resembling the 
 base of a large tower, the mountain Dgioun takes its rise, 
 rounding itself in shelves of circular rocks, which contract- 
 ing on approaching their summits, form at last an esplanade 
 some hundered yards in breadth, and covered with a beau- 
 tiful and luxuriant vegetation. A white wall, flanked by a 
 kiosque at one of its angles, surrounded this spot of ver- 
 dure, and here was the place, where Lady Esther Stanhope 
 had fixed her residence, in full expectation of the second 
 coming of the Messiah. 
 
 They arrived there at noon. The house in which her 
 ladyship resides, is not what we should call a house in 
 
176 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OK 
 
 Europe, nor does it resemble any of the houses of the east, 
 for it is a grotesque assemblage of ten or twelve small cot- 
 tages, each containing only one or two rooms on the ground 
 flour, without any windows, and separated from each other 
 by small courts and gardens ; an assemblage in every re- 
 spect similar to those poor convents, that are to be met 
 with on the high mountains of Italy and Spain, and which 
 belong to the order of mendicants. 
 
 On arriving at the principal entrance, Sir William sent 
 forward his dragoman, to announce to the slave, who was 
 standing at the door, that a person of consequence on a 
 mission of high import, requested an interview with Lady 
 Esther Stanhope. Sir William and the dragoman were 
 accordingly conducted into a narrow cell, deprived almost 
 of all light, and wholly destitute of furniture ; here they 
 were ordered to wait, until the pleasure of her ladyship 
 should be known. After waiting full three hours in the 
 most suffocating heat, the slave returned with rather a pe- 
 remptory message, demanding on the part of her ladyship, 
 to know who and what the stranger was, who had solicited 
 an interview with her. Sir William wrote with his pencil, 
 that he had travelled from the county of Cornwall, to an- 
 nounce to the expectant faithful in the East, the approach- 
 ing advent of the Messiah, and that as her ladyship had 
 established herself in the Holy Land, for the direct purpose 
 of awaiting that glorious event, which was so near at hand, 
 he considered that he was acting only in conformity to the 
 high destiny, which was awarded to him, to communicate to 
 her ladyship in person, the near arrival of the millenium, 
 that she might co-operate with him in spreading the glad 
 tidings throughout the Holy Land, and acknowledge him 
 as the harbinger of the great event, which was, to restore 
 Jerusalem to its primitive power, and see the Son of God 
 on the throne of David. 
 
 Fully satisfied, that Lady Esther Stanhope would in a 
 short time, rush into his arms, and hail him as the 
 
SIR W1LMAM COtJKTENAY, K.M. 177 
 
 accredited messenger of Heaven, Sir William felt not the 
 torrid heat to which he was exposed, but stood in dignified 
 complacency with himself, proudly awaiting the result of 
 his message. In a very short time, the slave returned, 
 followed by several others, and it would rather be a difficult 
 task to describe the astonishment and indignation of Sir 
 William, when he was informed, that it was the decided 
 opinion of her ladyship, that he was a great imposter, for 
 that not one of the prophecies had been yet fulfilled, which 
 were co precede the coming of the Messiah, nor in any one 
 of those prophecies was the slightest mention made of a 
 messenger being appointed to announce his coming, and 
 therefore it was her belief, that the person, who could attempt 
 to impose upon her with the assurance, that he was a 
 messenger of Heaven, was nothing more than some impu- 
 dent fanatic, who, the sooner he returned to his native 
 country, the better it would be for him ! 
 
 Sir William stood as if dumb-founded, and if he was in a 
 perspiration before, he was now doubly so ; for thus to be 
 mistaken in his character ; to be branded with the name of 
 an imposter, of an impudent fanatic ; to be literally turned 
 out of the house, the very head-quarters of the glorious 
 cause, which he was come to preach, was an imputation 
 upon him, which, no after-circumstances could possibly re- 
 move. Sir William, however, was one of those men, who 
 possess the happy disposition of accommodating themselves 
 to the events as they rise, and who can put a favourable 
 construction upon the actions of others, when in reality, 
 a very opposite one ought to be put upon them. Was not 
 a greater Being than himself looked upon as an imposter, 
 by a stiff-necked generation ? was he not reviled, scoffed at, 
 contemned and despised ? but, did he sink under his humilia- 
 tion ? did he not, conscious of the goodness and divinity 
 of his cause, proceed undauntedly on his course ? why then 
 should one of the humblest of his followers be dispirited or 
 8. 2 A 
 
178 THE LIKE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 abashed, at any ignominious treatment which he might 
 receive? What right had he to expect that he should be 
 able to go through his arduous mission without meeting 
 with any of those taunts and rebuffs, which invariaby at- 
 tend the great and the virtuous in their progress towards 
 the accomplishment of any mighty purpose ? Independently 
 of which, he ought not to feel discomfitted at the repulse 
 which he had received from Lady Stanhope, for be could 
 only look upon such conduct as the result of an unsocial 
 and eccentric disposition, still not the slightest doubt rested 
 upon his mind, that when she heard of the thousands, who 
 would soon flock around him, eager to touch the hem of his 
 garment, she would express her contrition in the humblest 
 terms, and acknowledge him to be the real personage, whom 
 he had declared himself to be. 
 
 These, or sentiments very nearly resembling them, must 
 have arised in the mind of Sir William, as he egressed from 
 the residence of Lady Stanhope, with a train of slaves at 
 his heels, whose language it was, perhaps, fortunate for him 
 that he did not understand, or he might have heard some 
 things, which would have disturbed his equanimity, and 
 have taught him, that whatever opinion he might entertain 
 of himself, there were some who held a contrary one, and 
 who did not hesitate to express it, whenever an opportunity 
 presented itself. 
 
 The Carva, whom the Consul of Beirout had appointed 
 to conduct Sir William to the residence of Lady Stanhope, 
 now informed him that he had fulfilled the instructions 
 which had been given to him by his master, and therefore 
 he would hasten back to Beirout, requesting from Sir 
 William a certificate of his good behaviour, which was wil- 
 lingly granted, accompanied by a handsome present, for it 
 must be generally admitted, that Sir William gained the good 
 will of many, by his extreme generosity, amounting some- 
 times to actual profusion. 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 179 
 
 On leaving the residence of Lady Stanhope, Sir William 
 descended the steep declivity, which leads into the deep 
 valley, through which flows the river Belus; after which 
 they began to ascend the lofty mountains of Lebanon, 
 which separate Dgioun from Deir-el-Kammar, or the con- 
 vent of the Moon, a palace of Emir Beschir, the sovereign 
 Prince of the Druses, and all the mountains of Lebanon. 
 About noon they arrived at the highest mountains, which 
 they had to cross, and commenced their descent by paths 
 of extraordinary steepness, on which the feet of their horses 
 trembled on the rolling stories, which alone separated them 
 from the precipices After descending for about half an 
 hour, they perceived on turning suddenly round a hill, the 
 fantastic palace of Dptedin, in the vicinity of Deir-el- 
 Kammar. 
 
 The Dragoman who accompanied Sir William, furnished 
 him with some information relative to the character of the 
 Emir Beschir, and impressed upon him the necessity of 
 apprizing that prince of his arrival .in his dominions, and 
 throwing himself upon his protection on his passage through 
 them. This advice was followed by Sir William, and the 
 Dragoman himself was sent forward to announce to the 
 Emir the arrival of a Prince of the Franks in his territory 
 on his way to Jerusalem, whither ha was going on a mission 
 of the highest importance, in which he was the representa- 
 tive of all the Kings of Europe. Hospitality is one of the 
 cardinal virtues of the Arab, and the Dragoman soon re- 
 turned with an invitation to the Prince of the Franks, to 
 take up his abode in the castle of Dptedin, where every- 
 thing should be provided for his accommodation. This was 
 very gratifying to Sir William, who not being an expert 
 horseman, nor very little accustomed to ride on horseback, 
 especially over such roads, as were to be found on the 
 mountains of Lebanon, was very nearly exhausted with 
 fatigue, and his retinue parched with thirst, and suffering 
 with the cravings of hunger. 
 
180 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 On their arrival, Sir William and his Dragoman were 
 conducted to an apartment, provided for them by the hos- 
 pitality of the Emir, and some slaves conducted the horses 
 to another quarter of the palace, the interior of which by 
 no means corresponded with its external grandeur. The 
 apartment to which they were conducted would have ap- 
 peared in a condition too mean and poor for the habitation 
 of the most humble of the peasants of our cottages. The 
 windows had no glass, a luxury unknown in the East, not- 
 withstanding the rigour of the winter in these mountains; 
 there were neither beds, furniture, nor chairs, nothing but 
 the naked walls, with large holes made by the rats and the 
 lizards. The floor was nothing else but common earth, well 
 beaten, rough and mixed with chopped straw. In a short 
 time, the slaves brought them some rushen mats, which 
 were spread upon the floor, and a damascus carpet, which 
 was spread over the matting. A small Bethlehem table 
 made of wood, was also brought, about half a foot in diame- 
 ter, and the same in height, affording room only for a small 
 tray, upon which the Mussulmans place the five or six 
 dishes, of which in general their meals consist. 
 
 In a short time, dinner was served upon this table, con- 
 sisting of a pilaw of stewed rice, a dish of sour milk mixed 
 with oil, and some slices of hashed mutton, pounded with 
 boiled rice, with which they stuflf a number of gourds, some- 
 what resembling our cucumbers. It is one of the choicest 
 and most savoury dishes of which the culinary department 
 of the East can boast. Their beverage was simple water, 
 which is drunk out of long necked earthen jugs, passed 
 from hand to hand, and poured into the mouth without 
 touching the lips. They had neither forks, nor knifes, nor 
 spoons, consequently they were obliged to eat with their 
 fingers, but the repeated ablutions, which the Mussulmans 
 practise, render this habit less repulsive. 
 
 Dinner was scarely over, when the Emir sent one of 
 his slaves to announce to them that he was in readiness to 
 
SIR WILLIAM COU11TENAY, K.M. l8l 
 
 receive them. They were accordingly conducted across a 
 very spacious court, ornamented with fountains, and intro- 
 duced into a very handsome saloon, the pavement of which 
 was of marble, and the ceiling and walls painted with lively 
 colours and elegant arabesques by the artists of Constanti- 
 nople. Here they found the Emir sitting cross-legged on 
 a divan, who appeared to be a fine old man, with a quick 
 and penetrating eye, a fresh and animated complexion, and 
 a grey and flowing beard. Sir William saluted him accord- 
 ing to the custom of the country, by placing his hands first 
 on his forehead, and afterwards on his heart. He returned 
 the salutation with grace, and invited Sir William to seat 
 himself near him* on the divan. An interpreter was on 
 his knees between them, and the Emir put a number of 
 questions as to the purport of the visit of the Prince of the 
 Franks to. the Holy Land, and he was informed, that he 
 was sent on a mission of the highest import to the Christ- 
 ians of Jerusalem, to announce to them the approaching 
 arrival of a great event, on which their future happiness 
 depended, and that he had been selected by a superior power 
 as the most proper person to communicate to them the 
 good tidings, which would spread the utmost joy through- 
 out the Holy Land. The Emir in return for such valuable 
 information, congratulated himself on having so great a 
 personage in his castle, and commanded his slaves, that the 
 noble Frank should be allowed to inspect the whole of his 
 establishment, and that an additional escort should be 
 granted to him as a protection against the Arab Chief 
 Abougosh, and his predatory horde. 
 
 On the following day, Sir William departed from Deir- 
 al-Kammar, highly pleased with the reception which he had 
 met with from the Emir Beschir, nor were the ideas of his 
 own consequence in the least diminished, when he saw in 
 his rear, the splendid retinue which that Prince had 
 appointed as his guard, at the same time, he reflected 
 within himself, that it was not in that manner that a 
 
18'2 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 greater personage than himself made his entry into 
 Jerusalem, being content to ride on an ass, whereas he was 
 mounted on a noble Arabian stallion, and surrounded by a 
 splendid retinue, adapted more for a potentate, than for the 
 humble herald of the arrival of the millenium. 
 
 In the evening, they arrived at a lonely Khan, or Arab 
 Inn, which was nothing more than a mean hut, the walls of 
 which were erected with ill-connected, uncemented stones, 
 and completely pervious to the wind and rain. These walls 
 were nearly seven or eight feet high, and covered over with 
 some pieces of rough wood, the whole of which was shaded 
 with dry fagots, and serve the purpose of a roof. The in- 
 terior was not paved, and according to the season, it is 
 either a bed of dust, or of mud. In one corner, was a small 
 fire-place, in which a charcoal fire is continually binning, 
 and one or two coffee pots, are always full of thick, fari- 
 naceous coffee, the customary refreshment, and apparently 
 the only necessity of the Turks and Arabs. One or two 
 Arabs are authorised, in return for a tax they pay to the 
 pacha, to do the honours of the inn, and to sell coffee and 
 barley-flour cakes to the travellers and caravans. When a 
 traveller arrives at the door of one of these Khans, he dis- 
 mounts from his horse or camel, which is immediately un- 
 loaded of the straw mats, or the Damascus carpets, which 
 are to serve him for a bed. These are spread out in the 
 corner of the well-smoked house ; he then seats himself, 
 calls for coffee, lights his pipe, and waits whilst the slaves 
 have collected some dry wood, wherewith to prepare his 
 repast, which generally consists of two or three cakes, half 
 baked on a heated stone, and of a few slices of hashed 
 mutton, which is boiled with rice in a copper saucepan. It 
 frequently happens, however, that there is neither mutton 
 nor rice to be purchased in the Khan, and the traveller 
 'must then content himself with the cakes, and some ex- 
 cellent fresh water, of which there is never a deficiency, in 
 the vicinity of these Khans. 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 18-3 
 
 Sir William had scarcely laid himself to rest on his 
 rushen mat, a leaden silence reigning throughout the Khan, 
 when he saw an object creeping out of a hole close to him, 
 which was by no means a welcome visitor to him, for it was a 
 huge snake the species of which abound in that quarter, and 
 which though not of a very venomous nature, are still much 
 dreaded by the natives, and certainly not a little so by Sir 
 William. 
 
 The reptile was soon despatched by one of the moukres 
 or slaves, but in vain did Sir William attempt to sleep ; the 
 thought that another such reptile might be invited to crawl 
 over him, banished all sleep from him, and day was scarcely 
 breaking, when he gladly took his departure from this 
 Arab inn, not very well 'pleased with the reception which 
 he had met with from some of its inmates. 
 
 As he passed along, he was frequently saluted by the 
 friendly Arab, placing his hand upon his heart, and ex- 
 claiming, Sola el Kaer, " Blessed be this day to you, travel- 
 lers ;" and as he drew nearer to the place which was to be 
 the great scene of his mission, the enthusiasm of his cha- 
 racter grew stronger; every difficulty which he met with 
 appeared to him as a trifle, every privation that he under- 
 went acted upon him rather as a stimulus than a repellent, 
 and his manly and noble appearance commanded every- 
 where a high degree of respect and homage. 
 
 On the third day after cleaving the Khan, Sir William 
 and his party arrived at the Wells of Solomon, which are 
 said to have been constructed by that celebrated king, as a 
 reward to Tyre and its King Hiram, for the services which 
 the Syrian marine and its artists rendered him in the build- 
 ing of his temple. Hiram brought the marble and the 
 cedars from Lebanon. 
 
 They took their departure from the Wells at daybreak, 
 and behind them the shadow of what once was Tyre showed 
 itself at the extremity of a promontory, which at a distance 
 might have been taken for a lighthouse, but it was the 
 
184 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 pharos of its solitude and its desolation, not acting as a 
 beacon to the mariner, but simply sparkling in their eyes, 
 and exciting only a look of pity upon its ruins. 
 
 The route on the precipice, with all the varied, solemn 
 and sublime circumstances of the night, of the moon, the 
 sea and its abysses, made the deepest impression on the 
 enthusiastic disposition of Sir William, who looked upon it 
 as the sublime gate, through which on the following day, he 
 was to enter upon the land of miracles, that land of testi- 
 mony, on which are still imprinted the traces of the old 
 and new covenant made between God and man. 
 
 On the following day, they pursued their journey, and 
 having crossed a hill planted with olive trees and a few 
 green oaks, dispersed in groups, or growing in thickets, 
 exposed to the browsing teeth of the goats and camels, the 
 Holy Land, the land of Canaan, showed itself before them 
 in its full extent. The impression was grand, delightful, 
 and profound. They did not there behold that land 
 naked, rocky, and barren, nor that crowd of low and sterile 
 mountains which, on the faith of a few prejudiced travellers, 
 smitten with the love of writing, had been represented to 
 Courtenay as the Holy Land. Men who never saw the im- 
 mense and diversified domains of the Twelve Tribes, but 
 only the rocky path which leads between the rising and 
 the setting of the sun from Jaffa to Jerusalem. Deceived by 
 these writers, Sir William expected to find nothing more 
 than what they had described ; that is, a country circum- 
 scribed in its limits, without any horizon, without plains or 
 trees, and without water; a land dotted with great and 
 white hillocks, behind which the Arab bandit conceals 
 himself in the shade of the ravines, for the purpose of sur- 
 prising the helpless traveller. Such may be the road 
 which runs from Jaffa to Jerusalem ; but such is not the 
 picture of Judea, as Courtenay saw it on the first day from 
 the summit of the hills which border the plain of Ptolemais ; 
 nor such as he found it on the other side of the hills of 
 
S!T? WILLIAM COURTNAY, K.M. IS") 
 
 Zebulon and those of Nazareth, at the foot of Mount 
 Herman or Mount Carmel ; nor such as is seen in all its 
 breadth and all its variety, from the heights which com- 
 mand Tyre and Sidon, to the Lake of Tiberias, and from 
 Mount Tabor to the mountains of Samaria and Naplousia, 
 and from thence to the walls of Zion. 
 
 The land of Jehovah and of Christ was now spread before 
 the enraptured gaze of the enthusiast He felt within him 
 as if something that was cold and dead had just sprung into 
 life again. He might have prayed to God in silence, and 
 in the solitude of his thoughts have rendered thanks to him 
 for having permitted him to live so long as to behold the 
 sanctuary of the Holy Land, and from the summit 'of the 
 mountains of Galilee to view at its source that all-compre- 
 hensive and fruitful religion, which for nearly two thousand 
 years has established, and is establishing itself in the uni- 
 verse, and which has refreshed so many generations by its 
 pure and vivifying waters. There was the source in the 
 hollow of the rock, which he was soon to tread under his 
 feet, and the hill, of which he was soon to ascend the last 
 heights, which has borne on its sides the salvation, the 
 Life of the light, the Hope of the world. It was here, a few 
 paces from him, that he, the model of man, was born 
 amongst men, to withdraw them by his word aqd his 
 example from the abyss of error and corruption, in which 
 the human race had been for some time immersed. 
 
 If he reflected on these important subjects in the cha- 
 racter of a philosopher, it was the period at which the 
 greatest event took place, which ever affected the moral or 
 the political world; an event, the repercussion of which 
 still impresses at the present time a principle of life and 
 motion upon the whole of the intellectual world. It was 
 here that the greatest, the most just, the most wise, the 
 most virtuous of all men emerged from obscurity, from 
 ignorance, and misery ; here was his cradle, here was the 
 8 2 B 
 
f8(> TIIK LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 theatre of his actions and of his affecting and eloquent dis- 
 courses ; thence he ^departed, whilst still in his youth, with 
 a few obscure and illiterate men, whom he had inspired with 
 confidence in his genius, and with courage for the accom- 
 plishment of their mission, which was, with their knowledge, 
 to contend against an order of men and things not strong 
 enough to resist him, but still strong enough to cause his 
 death. Thence, however, he went forth to conquer death, and 
 the universal empire of posterity ; thence has flowed the 
 mighty stream of Christianity ; its source humble and ob- 
 scure ; like a drop of water unperceived in the hollow of 
 the rock of Nazareth, from which a sparrow could scarcely 
 allay its thirst, which a single beam of the sun could have 
 absorbed, and which at the present day, like the vast and 
 unfathomable ocean of mind, has filled every abyss of human 
 wisdom, and bathed with its pure and inexhaustible waves, 
 the past, the present, and the future ; were it possible to 
 entertain a doubt of the divinity of that event, still must 
 the soul be strongly affected in approaching the first thea- 
 tre on which the glorious deed was enacted, and the 
 traveller on beholding it should uncover his head, and bend 
 his forehead in reverence at that occult and governing 
 will, which has made such mighty and important things to 
 flow from so weak and so imperceptible a commencement. 
 
 But on considering the mysteries of Christianity as a 
 Christian, it was under this small portion of the blue fir- 
 mament, at the bottom of this sombre and narrow valley, 
 under the shadow of this little hill, the old rocks of which 
 appear even at the present day to be all split with the 
 trembling of joy, which they experienced in giving birth to 
 and in bearing the infant WORD, or with the shivering of 
 grief, vvhich they felt in entombing the WORD crucified ; 
 here was the fatal and holy spot of the world, which God 
 selected from all eternity, in which his truth, his justice, 
 and his incarnate love in an infant God, was to descend 
 
SIR WILLIAM COUKTENAY, R.M. 18? 
 
 / 
 
 upon the earth, it was here that the divine hreath descen- 
 ded in its proper time upon a poor cottage, the abode of 
 humble labour, of simplicity of mind and misfortune; it 
 was here that within the bosom of a pure and innocent 
 virgin, she gave life to something like herself, sweet, 
 tender, and compassionate ; as a man, it was full of suffer- 
 ing, patience, and lamentation ; as a God, it was all power- 
 ful, supernatural, wise and strong. It was here that 
 the god-man submitted himself to our ignorance, our weak- 
 ness, our labour, and our misery, during the obscure 
 years of his retired life, and in some measure entered into 
 the exercises of it, and practised the ways of the world, be- 
 fore he edified it by his word, healed it by his prodigies, 
 and regenerated it by his death; it was here that the Heavens 
 opened, from which burst forth on the world his incarnate 
 spirit, his. fulminating word, which was to consume till the 
 end of time all error and iniquity, in order to try as in the 
 fire of the crucible our virtues and our vices, and to kindle 
 before the only holy God that incense, which was never after- 
 wards to be extinguished, the incense of the renovated altar, 
 the perfume of universal charity and truth. 
 
 From this, we hope, pardonable digression, we return to 
 the travels of Sir William. It was late in the evening that 
 they arrived at the monastery of the Latin Fathers of Nazareth, 
 at the moment when the last beams of evening still faintly 
 gilded the high yellow wall of the monastery. A large iron 
 gate was opened before them, and ^their horses entered, 
 sliding over the polished and sounding slabs of the] fore- 
 court of the monastery, making them echo beneath the iron 
 of their hoote. The gate was closed behind them, and they 
 dismounted before the very gate of the church where formerly 
 stood the humble dwelling of that mother, who tendered 
 her bosom to the immortal Host, which gave its milk to a 
 God. 
 
 The superior and the father guardian were both absent. 
 Some Neapolitan and Spanish brethren were occupied in 
 
188 THE LIFE AM) ADVKNTU ISES Of 
 
 winnowing the corn of the monastery at the gate ; who re- 
 ceived the travellers very coldly, and conducted them to a 
 vast corridor, into which opened the cells of the brethren, 
 and the chambers appropriated for the accommodation of 
 strangers, They waited a long time for the arrival of the 
 minister of Nazareth, who at first received Sir William with 
 the greatest politeness and courtesy, but on a sudden 
 his conduct appeared to undergo a direct change, approach- 
 ing nearly to absolute rudeness. Sir William was con- 
 vinced, that he had not exposed himself to this conduct, by 
 any want of good manners on his part, and therefore he was 
 wholly at a loss to account for it ; had he, however, for a 
 moment reflected that there are certain ceremonies which 
 the rigid catholic always performs, even on some most 
 trivial' occasions, and that the non-observance of those cere- 
 monies is at once confirmative of the individual being a 
 heretic, he would have arrived at once, at the solution of 
 the cause of the sudden change in the conduct that was 
 pursued towards him, for toleration in matters of faith forms 
 no part of the character of the Spanish, or Neapolitan monk, 
 to whi:-h class all the fathers of Nazareth belonged. In- 
 dependently of which, he had attempted, through the 
 channel of his dragoman, to make known to them the pur- 
 port of his visit to Jerusalem, the whole of which was so 
 shocking and revolting to their belief, that they considered 
 the walls of their monastery in some degree actually polluted 
 by the presence of such a determined, heretical fanatic. It 
 appeared rather singular to Sir William, that on the ex- 
 planation being given by his dragoman, of the design of his 
 visit to Jerusalem, that is, as well as the explanation could 
 be given to individuals, having a very slight knowledge of 
 the language in which the explanation was given, that they 
 did not immediately commence to sing Te Deum, and pour 
 upon him the] richest of their blessings. It was however, 
 the decided opinion of Sir William, that this failure in his 
 expectations, did not proceed from any repugnance, which 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY. K.M. 189 
 
 the monks might have felt, to the acknowledgement of the 
 truth and importance of his mission, but that in reality, his 
 dragoman or interpreter, was not able to make them under- 
 stand the high dignity of his mission, and that perhaps, in 
 reality, he had told them what was not true. That man is 
 to be envied for his disposition, who with every failure or 
 disappointment that may occur to him, can throw over it 
 the varnish of satisfaction, and cheat himself with the belief 
 that of all persons, he is the last to be blamed for the want 
 of success that has taken place. 
 
 Sir William was now at the habitation of the Holy Virgin 
 and of Joseph, and as such he was conscious that he was 
 treading on sacred ground. It was not, however, until 
 many urgent entreaties, that the fathers of the monastery 
 would allow one of their fraternity to show the heretic the 
 sacred localities of their edifice. A decrepit old man was 
 at length chosen for the office, who conducted the party to 
 the church, and the subterraneous sanctuary, which was 
 formerly the house of the Holy Virgin and of Joseph. The 
 church consists of a broad and lofty nave of three stories, 
 the upper one of which is occupied by the choir of the 
 Fathers of the Holy Land, and which communicates with 
 the convent by a back-door ; the lower story is occupied by 
 the faithful, communicating with the choir and the great 
 altar by a handsome double flight of stairs and gided balus- 
 trades. From this part of the church and under the great 
 altar, a staircase composed of a few steps, leads to a small 
 chapel, and to an altar of marble lighted with silver lamps 
 placed on the very spot, where tradition reports the Annun- 
 ciation to have taken place. This altar is raised under the 
 vault of a rock, half natural, half artificial, against which 
 the holy dwelling was undoubtedly built ; at the back of 
 this first vault two subterraneous vaults still more obscure, 
 served according to tradition as the kitchen and the cellar 
 of the Holy Family. These traditions are more or less accu- 
 rate, or more or less altered by the pious necessity of 
 
190 THE LIFE AND AOVliNTUKKS OF 
 
 popular credulity, or by the desire natural in all these 
 monks, being the possessors of so precious a relic, to aug- 
 ment the interest of it, and to multiply its details, by adding 
 perhaps some benevolent fictions to the powerful remi- 
 niscences of the place, but it is by no means a matter of doubt 
 that the monastery, and especially the church, were origi- 
 nally erected in the very place where stood the dwelling of 
 the divine Heir of earth and Heaven. At the time when his 
 name was spread, abroad like the light of a new aurora, 
 a short time after his death, whilst his mother and his 
 disciples still lived, it is certain that they continued to 
 transmit to one another the worship of love and suffering, 
 which the absence of the divine master had left them, and 
 often went themselves to conduct the new Christians to the 
 places where they had seen him whom they then adored 
 live speak act and die. There is no human piety which 
 could preserve so faithfully the tradition of a place so dear 
 to its memory, as was accomplished by the faithful and the 
 martyrs. We may therefore place the greatest reliance 
 on the exactness of the principal sites of the redemption in 
 the fervour of a primitive worship, and the vigilance of an 
 immortal one. 
 
 It would appear that the Latin Fathers of Nazareth are 
 not beyond the influence of a bribe, and that even their 
 hatred and abomination of heresy, can for a time be molli- 
 fied, by the view of a purse of piastres. An objection had 
 been raised by the guardian to admit Sir William, to what 
 may be called the sanctuary of the monastery, in which the 
 identical clothes are preserved which the Holy Virgin wore 
 on the night that she gave birth to the Saviour of the world, 
 but how they came there, was a question which Sir William 
 was too wise to put to the fortunate possessors of them. As, 
 however, Sir William was leaving the church, he put a 
 purse into the hands of the old monk, who had shown him 
 all the sacred places, expatiating largely at the same time 
 on the blessings which were in consequence poured out 
 
Sill WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 191 
 
 upon their favoured dwelling, with a request, that he would 
 hand it over to the superior of the monastery, that it might 
 be applied to the wants of the Holy Fathers. The crime 
 of heresy lost on a sudden a great part of its enormity, and 
 the superior himself, with a most affable condescension ? 
 undertook upon himself the task of conducting Sir William, 
 over the whole of the monastery, impressing upon him, never- 
 theless, the injunction that he would abstain from touching 
 any of the holy relics, which he would see strewed about 
 him. 
 
 The monastery is an edifice vast and commodious, re- 
 sembling in its general appearance, the monasteries of 
 France and Italy, and where the Latin Fathers exercise 
 as freely, and with as much security and publicity the 
 ceremonies of their worship, as they could do in a street of 
 Rome, the capital of Catholic Christianity. In this respect 
 the Mussulmans have been much calumniated. Religious 
 toleration, and we will go further and say, religious awe is 
 deeply impressed in their manners. They are themselves 
 so religious, and look with such a jealous eye upon the 
 freedom of their religious exercise, that the religion of other 
 men is the last thing which they would allow themselves to 
 make an attempt upon. They frequently entertain a kind 
 of horror for a religion, the symbol of which is offensive to 
 their own, but they feel contempt and hatred only for that 
 man, who in some language or another does not offer up 
 prayers to God ; it is such men that they cannot compre- 
 hend, because the pure thought of God is always present 
 to their mind, and constantly prepossesses their soul. 
 
 At daybreak on the following morning, Sir William took 
 his departure from the hospitable Fathers of Nazareth, 
 which hospitality, he was, however, pretty well assured 
 that he as a heretic, would never have enjoyed, but for 
 his purse of piastres, and he also g " brought away with him 
 a number of their blessings, which, whatever the cynic may- 
 say, are not be scoffed at, if they be pronounced by the lips 
 
19*2 THE LIFE AM) ADVENTUKKS OF 
 
 of a good man, no matter whether he be a Mussulman, a 
 Catholic, or a Pagan. 
 
 Sir William directed his course for Mount Tabor, the 
 the spot assigned to the Transfiguration, which, however, 
 carries with it, a great degree of improbability, for at the 
 time when that event is described as having taken place, 
 the summit of Mount Tabor was a Roman citadel, The 
 isolated position, and the elevation of this charming moun- 
 tain, which rises like a tuft of verdure from the plain of 
 Esdraelon, caused it to be chosen in the time of St. Jerome 
 as the site of the sacred scene. A chapel is erected on the 
 summit, whither the pilgrims go to hear mass. 
 
 At midday, Sir William set out for Jordan and the sea 
 of Galilee, and after travelling about six hours over a yel- 
 low, rocky, but fertile plain, the land w*as perceived to slope 
 before them, and on a sudden, the immense valley of Jordan 
 burst upon them, with the first azure glimmerings of the 
 beautiful lake of Genesareth,or the sea of Galilee, as it was 
 styled by the ancients, and in the gospel. 
 
 Sir William was now on the confines of the tribes of 
 Ephraim and Benjamin, and also at the entrance of a nar- 
 row, sterile valley, celebrated for the depredations of the 
 Arabs. The celebrated Abougosh, the chief of the Arab 
 tribes of the mountains is in possession of the key of these 
 defiles, which lead to Jerusalem. He opens or closes them 
 according to his will } or to the ransom which the travellers 
 are disposed to pay. His head quarters were at this time 
 at the village of Jeremy. They expected every instant to 
 see his cavalry advancing upon them, but they met with no 
 one, except a young Aga, a relation of the governor of 
 Jerusalem. He saluted Sir William with great politeness, 
 and drew up with his suite, to allow the retinue of Sir 
 William to pass, without touching their horses or clothes. 
 
 Towards evening, they descended the steep declivities of 
 the valley of Terebinthus, where David with his sling slew 
 the Philistine giant, and ascended by steps cut in the rock 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 193 
 
 to the Arab village of St. John the Baptist. They bent 
 their course to the monastery of St. John in the desert, but 
 the monks refused to open the gates, on account of the 
 prevalence of the plague, and Sir William was obliged to 
 continue his route to Jerusalem. 
 
 It was early on the morning of the following day, that 
 Sir William obtained the first glimpse of the sacred city, 
 the place where the great object of his mission was to be 
 accomplished, and from which his name was to be sent 
 forth to all the nations of the world. He saw the Mount 
 of Olives, with the identical olive trees, the ancient wit- 
 nesses of so many days, described on earth and Heaven, 
 and watered by the tears of a God, flowing for the human 
 race. 
 
 In a short time, Sir William passed before the gate of 
 Damascus, and he had now nothing within sight but the 
 deep and rugged ravine of Cedron, and the tops of a few 
 other olive trees, which in this place cover the whole 
 breadth of the valley of Jehosophat. Not a sound arose 
 from the dry bed of the brook ; Sir William might have 
 closed his eyes for a moment, and in imagination have been 
 carried back to that nbht, the eve of the redemption of the 
 human race, when the Divine Ambassador drank to the 
 dregs, the cup of agony, previously to receiving his death 
 from the hand of man, as the reward of his celestial mis- 
 sion. He might have imagined to himself the depth of 
 agony, which must have lacerated the heart of the Son of 
 man, when with one look he contemplated all the misery, 
 all the darkness, all the bitterness, all the vanity, all the 
 iniquity of the lot of man, when alone he was willing to 
 take upon himself the burden of crimes and misfortunes, 
 under which the collected human race, bent down and 
 groaning, pass through this vale of tears; when he un- 
 derstood, neither truth nor consolation could be con- 
 veyed to man, but at the sacrifice of his life, when shrink- 
 9. 2c 
 
194 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 ing back with affright before the shadow of death, which he 
 already felt upon Jiim, he cried to his father, " Let this cup 
 pass from me" 
 
 The city of Jerusalem, when viewed from the Mount of 
 Olives, is, perhaps, the most splendid view which the eye 
 can possibly have of a city, which may be said to be no 
 more, but which was now as it, were, to 1 be resuscitated by 
 the second appearance within its walls of the same glorious- 
 Being, who had there confirmed the salvation of the human 
 race, by his blood, and reconciled an offended father to his 
 erring children. The city, indeed, appears to be still in 
 existence, and to shine as if full of youth and life, and yet 
 if it be regarded with closer attention, it is nothing more in 
 effect than a beautiful vision of the city of David and 
 Solomon. No sound arises from her streets and squares, 
 there are no longer any roads which lead to her gates from 
 the east and the west, from the north and the south ; there 
 are only a few paths winding amongst the rocks, on which 
 are to be seen only a few half naked Arabs mounted on 
 their asses, or a few camel drivers from Damascus, or some 
 women from Bethlehem or Jericho, carrying on their heads 
 some baskets of grapes of Engeddi, or a basket of doves to 
 sell in the morning under the turpentine trees on the out- 
 side of the gates of the city. Not a living being entered 
 or came out of the city ; not a beggar was even seated on 
 the boundary stones ; no sentinel showed himself at the 
 entrance ; nothing was seen ; nothing was heard, there was 
 the same void ; the same silence, at the entrance of a city 
 of thirty thousand inhabitants, as if the travellers had been 
 passing the deserted gates of Pompeii or Herculaneum. 
 
 Acting in conformity to the high dignity of his character, 
 Sir William preferred to receive the multitudes, which were 
 soon to flock around him, as soon as his arrival was known, 
 on one of the most memorable sites of the scenes of the 
 Redeemers, life than to be surrounded by them in the narrow 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 195 
 
 streets of Jerusalem, especially as the plague had just then 
 broken out, and every one dreaded to come in contact with 
 his neighbour. In the wild and enthusiastic imagination 
 of Sir William, the city appeared, as if in solemn waiting 
 of the momentous scenes, which were soon to be enacted 
 within its walls, not a sound arose from its enclosure, which 
 was as dumb and mournful as the couch of a man in 
 agony ; its large gates were open, and at interval^ the 
 Arab soldier was to be seen with his white turban and his 
 red cloak, the useless guardian of those deserted gates. A 
 death-like silence reigned over the whole scene ; the morn- 
 ing breeze alone raised the undulating dust of the roads ? 
 and formed for the moment the illusion of a caravan, but 
 when the gust of wind had passed or had died away, whist- 
 ling through the embattlements of the Tower of the Pisans, 
 or through the three palm trees of the House of Caiphas, 
 the dust fell, the desert appeared again, and no foot of a 
 camel or a mule sounded on the stones of the road, 
 
 It was the Sabbath of the Christians. About two hun- 
 dred paces from here, behind the thick and lofty walls of 
 Jerusalem, Sir William heard, borne on the gusts of the 
 wind as they flitted by him, the weak and distant echoes 
 of the vesper service, issuing from the black cupola of the 
 Greek Convent. Thus, after the lapse of nearly three 
 thousand years, the hymns and psalms of- David rose to 
 Heaven, proilounced^ by stranger voices and in another 
 language, on the very hill which had first inspired them, 
 and Sir William beheld on the terraces of the convent?, 
 some figures of old monks, passing to and fro with the 
 breviary in their hand, and muttering those prayers 
 which have already been pronounced through so many 
 ages, and in so many different languages and rhythems. 
 
 The rnind of Sir William was at this time a chaos ; he 
 beheld himself at the gaol of all his most sanguine desires ; 
 the great theatre of his glorious actions was before him, 
 and yet such a strange confusion prevailed amongst his 
 
196 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 ideas, that he could not fix upon any determined mode of 
 action, nor could he lay down for himself any direct plan, 
 by which the great object was to be made public, for which 
 he had visited the Holy Land, and which was to render 
 him the object of such extreme veneration. With a total 
 ignorance of the state of human society in Jerusalem, he 
 knew not to what particular portion of it to communicate 
 first the object of his mission, for he found himself in this 
 extraordinary dilemma, that he would have to preach two 
 very opposite doctrines, namely, with the Christians he 
 must tell them of the second coming of Christ, but with 
 the Jews, he would have to convince them first, that the 
 Messiah had yet appeared at all upon the world, before he 
 could talk to them of his appearing a second time, and he 
 therefore felt, that it required no little ingenuity on his 
 part, to extricate himself from the embarrassment in which 
 he saw that he was involved. It was also obvious to him, 
 that, that embarrassment was not a little augmented by 
 the circumstance, which had come to his knowledge, that 
 the number of resident protestants in Jerusalem, was very 
 small indeed, and that the chief part of the Christian com- 
 munity consisted of Catholics, and all of them deeply im- 
 mersed in fanaticism and bigotry. The Latin Fathers of 
 Nazareth had afforded him some insight into the manner 
 in which the doctrine of the second coming of the Messiah 
 was received amongst them, and he, therefore could not 
 rationally expect, that he would meet with a more favour- 
 able reception amongst the Catholics of Jerusalem, than he 
 had experienced amongst those of Nazareth. 
 
 On weighing these matters deliberately in his mind, he 
 determined to make a kind of reconnaissance, before he 
 publicly declared himself. He therefore set forward with his 
 Dragoman, and entered Jerusalem by the gate of Bethle- 
 hem. Three corpses, victims to the plague, and which had 
 died during the night were carried out at the same mo- 
 ment, the bearers of which disputed with them the passage 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M- 197 
 
 for an instant under the gloomy arch of the entrance of the 
 city. Immediately after passing through this arch, they 
 found themselves in a broad place where several streets 
 met, the houses of which were most miserable and small, 
 with some uncultivated gardens, the walled enclosures of 
 which had fallen to ruins. For a short time, they fol- 
 lowed the broadest street of this crossway, which led to 
 one or two little streets, equally dark, barren, and gloomy 
 In these streets they saw no other objects then a few miser- 
 able vendors of bread and fruits, covered with rags, seated 
 on the threshold of their little stalls with their baskets on 
 their knees, and crying their articles for sale in the same 
 manner as in the markets of our cities. 
 
 They had wandered for some time amongst these gloomy 
 streets, all resembling each other in filth and dirt, when 
 they fortunately met with the interpreter of the Latin 
 monastery, who conducted them to the small house belong- 
 ing to it, which was then alone open to strangers, the mona- 
 stery itself being closed during the prevalence of the 
 plague. The house contained but two chambers, into 
 which, however, they were not allowed to enter, being al- 
 ready occupied, and they were therefore conducted into a 
 small square court, surrounded on all sides by high arcades ? 
 with terraces on the top. The Fathers came upon these 
 terraces and conversed a few moments in Spanish and 
 Italian, and in return, Sir William informed them through 
 the medium of his interpreter, of the import of his mission 
 to the Holy Land, on which the holy fathers crossed them- 
 selves, muttered a paternoster, and hurried away with all 
 possible expedition into the monastery. This was a bad 
 omen of the reception, he was likely to meet with from the 
 Catholic monks, and in a few minutes, his hope of success 
 in his mission was further frustrated, by a peremptory mes- 
 sage being sent to the resident father, who had the care of 
 the house, to turn the blaspheming heretic into the streets, and 
 not to allow him for a moment to pollute their sacred edific 
 
198 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 by his presence. The order was without hesitation carried 
 into execution, and Sir William was very uncourteously 
 shown into the streets, and the doors of the monastery 
 closed against him. 
 
 But was Sir William to be discomfited by such ignomi- 
 nious behaviour? On the contrary, was he not treading 
 the very soil, where a greater than he suffered every species 
 of indignation, where his back was exposed to the scourges 
 of his ignorant and bigotted enemies, and where a crown of 
 thorns was put upon his head, in mockery of his sove- 
 reignty ? Did not the priests and the rabble of Jerusalem 
 mistake his character, why then should he be abashed 
 and cast down, if the same circumstance should befal 
 him? 
 
 Proudly, therefore, he proceeded on his way,'determining 
 to visit the Archimandrite of the Greek church, where he 
 entertained little doubt, that he should meet with a more 
 flattering and gracious reception, and be venerated by all 
 the Caloyers of the church in a manner commensurate to 
 his dignity and character. On his way thither, he found 
 himself in a little square, open to the north to the Mount 
 of Olives, and on his left, a descent of a few steps conducted 
 him to an open place, on which the facade of the church of 
 the Holy Sepulchre exhibited itself, and he entered the gloomy 
 and vaulted vestibule of the nave, in which the Turks have es- 
 tablished their divans. They are the guardians of the Holy Se- 
 pulchre, possessing in themselves the sole right to open or to 
 shut it. On Sir William passing it, five or six venerable figures 
 of Turks, with their long white beards, were seated on the 
 divan, covered with the richest carpets of Aleppo, on which 
 were placed round them some pipes and cups of coffee. 
 They saluted Sir William with dignity and grace, and 
 issued their orders to one of their attendants, to show him 
 every part of the church. There was not any thing in 
 their countenance, their discourse or their gestures of that 
 irreverence of which they are accused. They do not enter 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K. M. 199 
 
 the church, but remain at the door outside, and address 
 themselves to the Christians with that gravity and respect 
 which become the place and the object of the visit. Although 
 in possession by the chance of war, of the holy monument 
 of the Christians, they do not deface nor destroy it; they 
 do not throw its ashes to the wind, on the contrary, they 
 preserve it ; they maintain in it an order, a police, a strict 
 reverence, which the Christian communities, who contend 
 for its possession, are themselves far from maintaining. 
 They keep a continual watch, in order that the relic 
 common to all, who bear the name of Christian should 
 be preserved for all, and that every community may enjoy 
 in their turn, the worship which they would pay to the 
 holy tomb. Without these Turks, the tomb, which is con- 
 tended for by the Greeks and the Catholics, and the in- 
 numerable ramifications of the Christian faith, would already 
 have been a hundred times the object of a fierce contest 
 between those two rival communities, full of hatred for 
 each other ; it would have passed by turns exclusively, from 
 one to the other, and the worship of it would doubtless 
 have been interdicted to the enemies of the triumphant 
 community. There is not anything in all this, wherewith 
 to accuse or to blame the Turks. The pretended brutal 
 insolence, of which they are accused by the ignorant, was 
 only manifested x by the toleration and respect, which they 
 show for that which other men venerate and adore. Where 
 ever a Mussulman discovers the image of God, in the 
 mind of his brethren, he bows down and respects it, 
 for he thinks that the idea sanctifies the form. They are 
 in fact the only tolerant people. Let the Christians ex- 
 amine and ask themselves in good faith, how they would 
 have acted, if the vicissitudes of war had given them the 
 possession of Mecca and the Kaaba? Could the Turks 
 have come from all parts of Europe and Asia to worship 
 there in peace the preserved monuments of Islamism ? 
 At the end of the vestribule, Sir William found himself 
 
200 THK LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 under the large cupola of the church. The middle of this 
 church, which local traditions affirm to be the centre of 
 the earth is occupied by a small monument enclosed within 
 a greater, like a precious stone imbedded in another. The 
 exterior monument is of an oblong shape, ornamented with 
 several pilasters, a cornice, and a marble cupola, the whole 
 executed with bad taste, and a laboured and grotesque 
 design. Between the pillars, some large and deep chapels 
 are discerned, each of which is assigned to one of the mys- 
 teries of the passion of Christ ; they all contain some real 
 or supposed testimonies of the scene of the redemption. A 
 flight of steps cut in the rock conducted Sir William to 
 the summit of Mount Calvary, where the three crosses 
 were erected. Thus Calvary, the tomb, and several other 
 sites of the great scene of the redemption, are there found 
 collected under the roof of a single edifice of moderate 
 extent. This, however, does not harmonize with the 
 histories of the Evangelists, and it is not to be expected 
 that the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, should be found cut 
 in the rock outside of the walls of Zion, about fifty paces 
 from Calvary, the place of execution, contained with the en- 
 closure of the modern walls, but such are the traditions, and 
 as such they have prevailed. 
 
 Sir William now re-descended to the body of the church, 
 and there penetrated into the interior monument, which 
 serves as a kind of stone curtain or covering to the tomb 
 itself ; it is divided into two small sanctuaries, in the first 
 of which the stone is shown on which the angels sat, 
 when they answered the holy women, He is not here, he 
 is risen. The second and last sanctuary encloses the sepul- 
 chre, still covered with a kind of sarcophagus of white 
 marble, which surrounds and entirely conceals from the eye 
 the substance of the primitive rock in which the sepulchre 
 was hewn. Some lamps of silver and gold, the light of 
 which is never allowed to be extingushed, illumine this 
 chapel, in which some incense is burnt night and day. 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 201 
 
 Whatever may be the form, which the internal medita- 
 tions, the perusal of history, time, or the vicissitudes of 
 the heart and mind of man may have given to the religious 
 sentiment in his soul ; whether he has preserved the letter 
 of Christianity, the dogmas of his parents, or whether he 
 professes only a philosophical and intellectual Christianity ; 
 whether Christ be to him a crucified God, or that he only sees 
 in him the most holy of men, rendered divine by his vir- 
 tues, inspired by the supreme truth, and dying to render 
 witness to his Father, whether Jesus was in his eyes the 
 Son of God, or the Son of man ; divinity made man, or 
 humanity rendered divine ; which ever of these be the case, 
 it always happens that Christianity is the religion of his 
 reminiscences ; of his heart and his imagination ; that his 
 head is not so much filled with the frothy conceits of the 
 age and of life, as that the soul, which it is poured into 
 should not preserve the first influence, and that the view of 
 the places, and the visible monuments of his early worship 
 should not revivify in him those impressions, and effect him 
 with a solemn trembling. Whether for the Christian or 
 the philosopher, for the moralist, or the historian, the tomb 
 is the boundary, which separates two worlds, the ancient and 
 the modern ; it is the point of the departure of an idea, which 
 has renewed the universe; of a civilization, which has 
 transformed everything, of a word which has resounded 
 over the whole of the world. This tomb is the sepulchre 
 of the old world, and the cradle of the new. No stone of 
 this world was ever the foundation of so vast an edifice ; 
 never was there a tomb so prolific ; no doctrine entombed 
 for three days or three ages, have ever broken so grandly 
 and victoriously the rock, on which man had put his seal, 
 nor proved the impotency of death by so splendid and in- 
 controvertible a resurrection. 
 
 Sir William Courtenay was in every and the most legi- 
 timate sense of the word, a devotee, a fanatic, and an 
 9. 2 D 
 
THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 enthusiast. At the view of all these sacred places, his heart 
 was profoundly affected by the most intense impressions 
 which remain a mystery between man and his soul, be- 
 tween the thinking insect and the Creator. All the holy 
 impressions, which have affected our soul at every period of 
 our life, all the prayers which have emanated from our 
 heart and our lips at the name of Him, who taught us to 
 pray to his Father and to ours; all the joys, all the sorrows 
 of the mind, of which those prayers were the intrepreters, 
 were awakened at the bottom of his soul, and produced by 
 their echoes, by their confusion, that dazzling of the under- 
 standing, that softening of the heart, which cannot be 
 expressed by words, but which resolve themselves in a 
 moistened eye ; in an oppressed bosom, in a head, which 
 in reverence bows itself, and in a mouth, which glues itself 
 in silence to the stone of a Sepulchre. Sir William might 
 have prayed for truth and courage, before the tomb of Him, 
 who diffused the greatest of all truths over the earth, and 
 who died with the greatest devotedness to that truth, of 
 which God had made him the word. Deeply on his memory 
 were perhaps engraven the words, which he uttered at that 
 hour of the crisis of his moral life. Perhaps his prayer was 
 heard; a mighty beam of reason and conviction might 
 have flashed through his mind, and divided more distinctly 
 the day of darkness and of error, from that of truth. There 
 are moments in life, when the thoughts of a man, for a long 
 time, doubtful and indefinite, and floating like the waves of 
 a bottomless sea, finish at last by touching a shore on 
 which they break and return upon themselves, under new 
 forms, and with a current contrary to that which first 
 impelled them. This moment was perhaps for him one of 
 those moments. It was a mystery in his life, which sooner 
 or later will reveal itself. 
 
 Accompanied by his interpreter, Sir William directed 
 his course to the residence of the Archimandrite of the 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 203 
 
 Greek church, for the purpose of disclosing to him the 
 purport of his visit to the Holy Land, and from whom he 
 made no doubt, that he would meet with a more favourable 
 reception, than he had received from the monks of the 
 Holy Sepulchre. In this, however, he found himself most 
 egregiously mistaken. The Superiors of the Greek church 
 were never celebrated for their spirit of toleration, and 
 although perhaps not exactly guilty of that persecuting 
 zeal, which at one time distinguished the Roman Catholic 
 church ; yet, in regard to those, who adhere to a different 
 mode of faith than themselves, a more intolerant sect 
 cannot be found within the pale of Christianity. The 
 Archimandrite of the Greek church, then residing at Jeru- 
 salem, was one of the most furious bigots of his sect, and 
 with his inveterate hatred of all schismatics, it is not to be 
 wondered at, that he heard the statement of Sir William 
 not only in regard to the object of his mission, but to the 
 sacred dignity of his character, with every token of the most 
 violent indignation, and declared, that if he again heard of him 
 attempting to promulgate amongst his people, the scanda- 
 lous heresy of the approaching advent of another Christ, 
 he would have him delivered over to the Turkish autho- 
 rities, to be dealt with as a common disturber of the public 
 peace, and put into a sack and thrown into the .Jordan. 
 This threat was by no means agreeable to Sii William, 
 and he retired from the presence of the Archimandrite, 
 wondering at the blindness of the individuals, who would 
 not, or could not see into the truth of the cause which he 
 came to establish amongst them, and who wilfully closed 
 their ears to the sound of the blessed tidings, which he came 
 to circulate amongst them. 
 
 Thus repelled, insulted, and threatened both by the 
 Catholics, and the heads of the Greek Church, his hopes 
 were now fixed upon the Jews, who he was certain would 
 hail the announcement of the coming of the Messiah with 
 the most rapturous enthusiasm, and amply recompense him 
 
204 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 for the contempt and vilification which had been heaped 
 upon him by the stiff-necked, bigotted members of the 
 Christian Church. Never, however, was a man in a greater 
 error in his calculation, for he had no sooner began to talk 
 to them of the object of his mission to Jerusalem, and of 
 the glorious tidings, which he had to communicate to them, 
 than not merely satisfied with reviling and abusing him, 
 but they proceeded to treat him with the greatest personal 
 indignity, tearing his splendid dress from his back, and fol- 
 lowing him along the streets, spitting at him and heaping 
 upon him the most opprobrious epithets, until he escaped 
 through one of the gates, and joined his retinue on the 
 Mount of Olives. But even then, the Jews, irritated be- 
 yond all measure, at the idea of a Christian coming to im- 
 pose upon them with the bare-faced falsehood, that he was 
 sent to announce to them the approaching advent of the 
 Messiah, ^surrounded his tent, and had it not been for the 
 boldness and fidelity of his Arabs, they would have forced 
 their way into the tent, and perhaps sacrificed his life to 
 their vengeance. 
 
 In the mean time, the population of Jerusalem appeared 
 to be pouring out at the gates, directing their rapid course 
 to the Mount of Olives, and the guards of Sir William, 
 tearing that they should not be able to withstand the as- 
 sault of such an infuriated populace, advised him to save 
 himself and his property by flight; an advice which he 
 wisely did not reject, and throwing himself upon his horse, 
 he dashed through the crowd, followed by his faithful 
 guards, nor did he restrain his course, until he saw that he 
 was safe from all further danger, and from the summit of a 
 hill, he beheld his enemies returning in crowds to Jerusa- 
 lem. 
 
 Amidst this frustration of all his plans, he consoled him- 
 self with the idea, that he was not the first man, recorded 
 in history, who had failed in a great and meritorious under- 
 taking, independently of which, that he had it in his power 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY. K.M. 205 
 
 on his arrival in his native country, to follow the example 
 set before him by other travellers, and to tell the world not 
 only all that he had seen, but also a great deal that he had 
 not seen, and to promulgate amongst the milleniarians, the 
 welcome tidings, that the Christians of the Holy Land had 
 canonized him, and that his name was now mentioned in 
 the East as one of the greatest prophets of the age. 
 
 We could point our finger at many travellers of the pre- 
 sent day, whom Sir William could select as his example, for 
 the line of conduct which he intended to pursue on his landing 
 in England, and as he travelled over the desert mountains of 
 Syria on his return to the coast, he flattered himself that 
 the extraordinary extent of his achievements would place 
 him in the highest rank of the benefactors of the human 
 race. 
 
 After a- perilous and tedious journey, he arrived at 
 Beirout, where a ship was about to sail for Malta, on which 
 he embarked, and after a residence of about three weeks 
 on that island, he sailed for England, and arrived in safety 
 in London. 
 
206 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 IT might have been supposed, that the first thing which Sir 
 William would do on his arrival in London, would be to apprize 
 his family of his return, but he desisted from taking that 
 step altogether, perhaps, from a supposition, that were he 
 to disclose his return, he would not be able to carry those 
 plans into execution, with which his mind appeared now to 
 be occupied, and which were decidedly the concoctions of 
 a disordered brain. 
 
 On his arrival in London, he stopped for a few days at a 
 public-house in the vicinity of the London Docks, where 
 notwithstanding the proprietors of the public-houses in that 
 part of the town, are accustomed to behold in the English 
 sailor, the utmost eccentricity of human character; yet, so 
 thoroughly convinced was the proprietor of the house, in 
 which Sir William had taken up his temporary residence 
 that his guest was not simply an eccentric, but a madman, 
 that he was determined to get rid of him, and Sir William 
 was therefore given to understand, that the room which 
 he occupied was wanted for another guest, and Sir William 
 taking the hint, took his leave, and directed his course 
 to the very opposite part of the town, where he fixed 
 his abode in a respectable lodging-house in Pentonville 
 assuming the name of the Hon. Sydney Percy. There he 
 described himself as having recently returned from one of 
 the colonies, where he had filled an important and highly 
 responsible situation under government, and in order to 
 account for a member of the high and haughty family of th e 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 207 
 
 Percy's, occupying such humble lodgings, he attributed 
 it to a desire on his part, to avoid the interruption of his 
 noble and titled friends, who, would from the respect in 
 which he was universally held by them, flock around him, 
 should they discover his abode, and consequently abstract 
 his mind from a proper attention to the important business, 
 for which he had visited the metropolis. He frequently 
 declared to Mr. Smith, the proprietor of the house, that his 
 living incognito was a direct piece of policy in him, for^he 
 was then watching in secret the proceedings of the House 
 of Lords, on a question relative to a dormant peerage, to 
 which he asserted, that he possessed an indisputable title. 
 There happened however, to be another claimant to the 
 title, whom the Hon. Sydney Percy, declared to be one of 
 the greatest impostors, who ever sought to be placed on 
 the dignified roll of the nobility of this country. The said im- 
 postor, however, little thought, that the real heir to the 
 title was then in London, watching his proceedings, for 
 he was supposed to be in the West Indies, and consequently, 
 that he would step into the possession of the title without 
 any opposition ; but the Hon. Sydney Percy intended to let 
 him proceed to a particular stage of the business, when he 
 would suddenly pounce upon him, and expose at once the fal- 
 sity of his claim. He always spoke of the Duke of Northumber- 
 land, as his worthy father, and frequently expressed a desire to 
 go down to Alnwick Castle, to see the stud of horses, that 
 lie had left at that place, and in order to carry on the de- 
 ception, he once requested one of Mr. Smith's sons to leave 
 a package for him at Northumberland House, to be for- 
 warded with all possible despatch to Alnwick Castle, as the 
 package contained papers of the greatest import. By 
 these and similar means he succeeded in impressing a belief 
 on the minds of the worthy people with whom he lodged, 
 that he was in reality the person he gave himself out to be, 
 and consequently, he was treated with that respect and at- 
 tention to which his rank in society entitled him. In other 
 
208 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 respects however his habits were of the most eccentric kind, nor 
 did his actions appear to be guided by any of the common 
 rules of sound reason. Sometimes he would remain in 
 bed for several days together, although he acknowledged 
 to be at the same time in perfect health, but he declared 
 that he was then cogitating upon some great plan for 
 the general improvement of the condition of the human 
 race, and therefore he did not wish to be interrupted 
 in his cogitations by the usual distractions of the 
 day, nor mingle with any society, the intercourse w^ith 
 which might break the chain of his ideas and there- 
 by bring about a serious loss to the whole human race. 
 On a sudden, however, he would change his mode of life 
 to the very opposite extreme, and take no rest at all. For 
 several nights, he has been known never to undress himself, 
 but to perambulate the room, or at the hour when the 
 family were just retiring to rest, he would leave the house, 
 and not return until four or five o'clock in the morning. It 
 was the general belief of the family with whom he resided, 
 that he was in the habit of attending the gaming houses at 
 those unseasonable hours, but from a general view of his 
 character, we should not be authorized in accusing him of 
 being addicted to that ruinous vice, and, therefore, in 
 charity we will attribute his temporary nocturnal perambu- 
 lations more to a disorganized intellect, than to the grati- 
 fication of any vicious passion. 
 
 In his sedate and rational moments, Mr. Smith, and all 
 the branches of his family found him an agreeable and en- 
 tertaining companion. He informed them that he had travelled 
 through every part of the Holy Land, where he had been re- 
 ceived with every respect due to his rank, that he had received 
 the present of a sword, from one of the pachas in Egypt, the 
 hilt of which was studded with diamonds, the value of which 
 was above five thousand pounds, and which he regretted he 
 had not brought with him, that he might wear it on the 
 day, that he was to be presented at Court, on coming to his 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 209 
 
 title. The government of this country had also conferred 
 upon him a pension for the diplomatic skill which he had 
 evinced in an important affair, which he was sent to nego- 
 tiate between the Grand Seignor and Ibrahim Pacha, in 
 which he had acted as a mediator between the contending 
 parties, and that so great was his influence with both of 
 them, that he brought them to sign the preliminaries of 
 peace, but, unfortunately, government required his services 
 in another quarter, and he had no sooner withdrawn him- 
 self from Syria., than hostilities again burst forth, and he 
 doubted not that as soon as government was apprized of 
 his being in England, that he would be sent out again, to 
 bring the disputants to terms of peace, and thereby save 
 the Ottoman Empire from the ruin which impended over 
 it As he happened to be in possession of those vouchers 
 which proved that he had been in the Holy JLand, a 
 great degree of faith was attached to the accounts which 
 he gave of himself, and by the junior branches of the family 
 he was regarded as one of the greatest men, that had ever 
 come under their observation. 
 
 The Hon. Sydney Percy remained at his lodgings at 
 Pentonvifle for about five months, during which period, how- 
 ever, it must be remarked that he held no communication 
 whatever with his immediate family, and so far from its 
 being in the least degree suspected that he was a married man, 
 severaFof the spinsters in the neighbourhood were loud 
 in their praises of the manly beauty of Mr. Smith's lodger, 
 and some there were, who attempted to attract his notice of 
 them, whilst others could not presume to exalt themselves 
 so high as to aspire to the hand of the Hon. Sydney Percy, 
 allied to one of the most ancient and opulent families of the 
 kingdom, the heir to a title, and the holder of a high 
 official situation in one of the colonies, and the diplo- 
 matic mediator between the Grand Seignor, and Ibrahim 
 Pacha. 
 
 9. 2 E 
 
THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 It is the general opinion of the uninitiated in the prac- 
 tices and stratagems of the world, that where there is 
 mystery, there is usually connected with it a certain degree 
 of importance, and, consequently, the great mystery, with 
 which all the actions of the Hon. Sydney Percy were ac- 
 companied, was a strong corroboration in the minds of the 
 inmates of the house in which he lodged, as well as in those 
 of the immediate neighbours, that Rodney Street then con- 
 tained an individual of considerable rank and importance 
 in the world, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the latter in par- 
 ticular, looked upon it as a very fortunate day in their 
 lives, when the door of their house was opened to admit 
 within its walls, so respectable a lodger as the Hon. Sydney 
 Percy. 
 
 During the whole of the time that he was at Pentonville, 
 not a single individual paid him a visit, although several 
 letters came to him addressed under his assumed name, 
 which letters, there is every reason to believe were written 
 by himself, and the address inscribed by some one, with 
 whom he might accidentally meet, at some of his places of 
 resort, although, he was never known to enter a public- 
 house during the whole of his stay at Pentonville. 
 
 It amounts almost to a truism, that there are no bounds 
 to female curiosity, and that when once excited, it does not 
 stop to hesitate long upon the propriety of the means, by 
 which that insatiable passion can be gratified. It may also 
 be affirmed, without the fear of contradiction, that a woman 
 possesses far more acuteness and discrimination, in pene- 
 trating into the character of those around her, than a man 
 generally evinces; and in confirmation of that proposition, 
 it may be stated, that although Mrs. Smith might be con- 
 vinced, that the Hon. Sydney Percy was in reality the 
 individual he pretended to be, yet, from some circumstances, 
 that had come under her immediate knowledge, some 
 suspicions would now and then intrude themselves, that he 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 211 
 
 was something more, or in other words, that he was some 
 thing less than what he gave himself out to he. Now it 
 happened one evening, that Mrs. Smith was alone, when 
 the postman delivered a letter, addressed to the Hon. 
 Sydney Percy, on the envelope of which was written in 
 large letters, in one of the corners. " PRIVATE.' Mrs. 
 Smith turned the letter over and over in her hands, and 
 was proceeding to take it up to the apartments of the son 
 of the Duke of Northumberland, when the same individual 
 who had formerly tempted the mother of all mankind^ re- 
 solved to tempt the mother of Mr. Smith's children, by in- 
 stilling into her mind the idea, that if she could obtain an 
 insight into the contents of the letter, much that was now 
 mysterious to her, might be unravelled ; many of her suspi- 
 cions might be either allayed or verified, and she should 
 enjoy the satisfaction, which is no little satisfaction to every 
 woman, of knowing more, than any other woman knows. 
 The temptation was too strong to resist ; by the applica- 
 tion of the steam from the spout of the kettle, the wafer 
 was made to yield, and the curiosity of Mrs. Smith was on 
 the point of being gratified. There is a particular look, which 
 every one puts on, when they find more in a letter, than they 
 expected to find, and on the other hand, there is a look of a 
 very different kind,which is put on, when they find less than 
 was expected, and the latter was exactly the look, which 
 Mrs, Smith put on, when she found within the envelope, 
 nothing more than a sheet of paper on which there appeared 
 not the slightest trace of a pen, nor the formation of a 
 letter, and the only conclusion which Mrs. Smith could 
 draw from this discovery was, that the Hon. Sydney Percy 
 was an imposter, but like many other persons, who arrive 
 at the knowledge of a truth by unfair means, she was 
 obliged to keep the discovery of it, a secret within her own 
 breast, until some circumstance should transpire, which 
 would warrant her in openly expressing her opinions, and 
 
THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 giving the Hon. Sydney Percy an opportunity of proving 
 that he was not the imposter, which she took him to be. 
 
 For the first four months, he continued to discharge all 
 his bills with much punctuality, and a virtue of that kind is 
 very seldom overlooked in a lodger. There appeared not 
 to be any deficiency of pecuniary means, although his style 
 of life was anything but expensive or extravagant. On a 
 sudden, however, the Jlon. Sydney Percy disappeared from 
 his lodgings, nor could either the landlord or landlady solve 
 the enigma of by what means he had contrived to remove 
 his clothes and other property, for on examining his apart- 
 ments, nothing was found but a few books, and copies of 
 certain documents relative to the noble family with whom 
 he claimed kindred, which documents it was conjectured 
 were his own fabrication, and which he purposely left on 
 the table of his sitting room when he went out, to impose 
 upon those who might take the trouble to inspect them. 
 The arrears of debt for lodgings were then five pounds, and 
 the following singular document was found in one of the 
 drawers in his bed room : 
 
 "TO WIT, 
 
 " I promise to pay Henry Smith, Esq., of Rodney Street, 
 Pentonville, in the County of Middlesex, the sum of Five 
 Pounds, whenever 1 succeed to the Title of Lord Courte- 
 nay of the County of Devon, or Six Months after I come 
 into possession of the Hales and Powdersham Estates, or 
 any other Estates which may fall to me by virtue of my 
 claim to the Peerage of Courtenay. Witness my hand this 
 fifteenth day of October, 1831, or the 10th Moon, accord- 
 ing to the Hegira, 
 
 "SYDNEY PERCY." 
 
 Mr. Smith did not attach any great value to the security 
 which his lodger had left behind him for the arrears of rent, 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K-M. 213 
 
 and in regard to the books, which according to a written 
 document were to be presented to Mrs. Smith as a token 
 of the remembrance of the Hon. Sydney Percy, the extent 
 of their value consisted in how many pounds they would 
 weigh in the cheesemonger's scales, for it was a strange 
 collection of odd volumes, commencing with Smith's 
 Wealth of Nations, and progressing through the adventures 
 of Don Quixote, and Volney on the Ruin of Empires, to a 
 bundle of reports of the proceedings of the Spencean So- 
 ciety, with marginal notes written by himself. 
 
 There is very little doubt existing that at this period, he 
 first entertained the design of enrolling himself in the in- 
 tellectual order of authors, for although the identity cannot 
 be positively proved, yet there is very little doubt that he 
 was the identical person, who under the name of Percy 
 made several fruitless attempts to induce some of the 
 metropolitan publishers, to undertake the printing and 
 publishing of a small pamphlet, to which he had affixed the 
 title of, " A Plan for the Division of Landed Property in 
 Great Britain, without injury to the existing holders" No 
 one, however, would risk the publication of the tract, pro- 
 bably from the wild and visionary character of the specula- 
 tions which it contained. He then tried to get it printed 
 on his own account, and a small portion of it was actually 
 set up in type, when on a sudden the author was not to be 
 found, and all the remuneration the printer ever received 
 for his labour, was the mass of farrago contained in the 
 M.S. of the Hon. Sydney Percy, the value of which was in 
 reality not worth a farthing. 
 
 From several circumstances which occurred at this time, 
 it may be supposed that the finances of the Hon. Sydney 
 Percy, were at a very low ebb, for various were the means 
 and shifts which he adopted, to recruit his exhausted purse, 
 and some of those means did not speak very loudly for his 
 honor or integrity. On one occasion he fell upon the fol- 
 lowing expedient. He inserted an advertisement in the 
 
214 THE LIFE AND ADVENTUIIES OF 
 
 daily papers, offering for sale an academy of the highest 
 respectability. The advertisement was speedily answered 
 by a schoolmaster residing in Leicestershire, who appeared 
 extremely anxious to become the proprietor of an establish- 
 ment of such first rate note, as was described in the adver- 
 tisement; a negotiation was entered into, and the terms 
 agreed upon, one of which was, that a considerable sum 
 should be paid down as a guarantee for the fulfilment of the 
 agreement. The condition was fulfilled on the part of the 
 intended purchaser, and a day appointed when he was 
 to be put into possession of the academy. The day did 
 come, but the vendor was no where to be found, and the 
 schoolmaster discovered too late, that he had been com- 
 pletely duped. A reward was offered for the apprehension 
 of the Hon. Sydney Percy; but that gentleman had sud- 
 denly left town on a speculation of a very different kind, 
 which was no other than to offer himself as a candidate for 
 the representation of the town of Wolverhampton in parlia- 
 ment, to which he was induced by the perusal of a paragraph 
 in one of the papers, stating that a candidate on the liberal 
 interest was much wanted at Wolveihampton, where the 
 Conservatives were likely to walk over the course, without 
 any opposition. He, therefore, lost no time in hastening 
 down to Wolverhampton ; but the people of that town were 
 too cuning to be made the dupe of such an imposter, and 
 he returned to London, and took up his residence at the 
 Clarendon Hotel, under the significant cognomen of Squire 
 Thompson. His temporary stay at that truly respectable 
 house enabled him to obtain a rough sketch of the upper 
 circles, of certain members of parliament, who generally 
 locate themselves in hotels, from a want of a residence of 
 their own ; and of many dishonorable right honorables, who 
 like Squire Thompson himself, were living entirely upon 
 their wits ; nevertheless, Squire Thompson appeared to be 
 possessed of plenty of money, and the landlord was very 
 well pleased with his guest, and the guest was very well 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 215 
 
 pleased with his landlord, who in retun for the good con- 
 duct and gentlemanly deportment of his guest, presented 
 him with letters of introduction to several influential gentle- 
 men in Kent, who were in the habit of frequenting the Cla- 
 rendon ; hut it is rather singular, that Squire Thompson never 
 made use of one of those letters, perhaps for the obvious 
 reason, that he was in the letters described as William Thomp- 
 son, esquire, whereas it was his intention toappear in Kent in 
 a much higher character, than a simple esquire. He, there- 
 fore, committed the letters of introduction to the flames, re- 
 lying upon the stock of effrontery and impudence, which 
 he possessed, to inveigle the good people of Kent into the 
 belief of his noble origin and the validity of his claim to a 
 peerage, and the vast estates connected with it. 
 
 One of the most extraordinary schemes for recruiting his 
 almost exhausted finances, now emanated from his prolific 
 brain, which was to introduce himself amongst the Jews of 
 the east end of the town, as the accredited agent of the dis- 
 tressed Israelites in the Holy Land, for which occupation, 
 it must be admitted that he was well calculated. His 
 manly and commanding person, his sunburnt visage, which 
 had assumed almost the hue of the native Arab, his thick 
 and bushy beard ; his knowledge of the localities of Jeru- 
 salem, and the particular quarter of the City in which the 
 Jews resided ; and his personal acquaintance with the 
 High Priest, all were well calculated to impress upon the 
 minds of the Jews of London, that their distressed brethren 
 of Palestine, had in reality deputed him to lay their deplo- 
 rable situation before the Jews of London, and the highly 
 respectable name which he assumed, which was nothing 
 less than Count Rothschild, tended not a little to favour 
 the imposition, and to extract a few pounds even from the 
 purse of a JeV. It might have been the fashion of those 
 days as it is at present, to pass a high eulogium on the 
 charity, the benevolence, and the philanthropy of the Sons 
 of Israel, and it would indeed be strange, if amongst such 
 
216 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 a numerous people, a few philanthropists could not be 
 found ; as far, however, as our experience extends, we will 
 give the Jews all due credit, for the charity which they bes- 
 tow upon their distressed and needy brethren, but we will 
 go no further, and if Count Rothschild had gone amongst 
 them, calling upon them to grant their assistance to the 
 distressed Christians of the Holy Land, he might have 
 travelled from one end of Duke's Place to the other, and 
 treaded all the alleys and avenues in the vicinity of Hounds- 
 ditch, and Count Rothschild might have deemed himself 
 fortunate, if he did not meet with the same treatment which 
 he experienced from the Jews in Jerusalem. Nevertheless 
 it was well known to the Jews, that their people were suf- 
 fering much in the Holy Land, persecuted by alike Arab, Turk, 
 and Christian, and therefore in what other light could they 
 look upon Count Rothschild, but as their generous and dis- 
 interested benefactor, and as it was his determination to 
 return with the least possible delajr to the Holy Land, to 
 contribute their mite for the purpose of alleviating the 
 distresses of their brethren, and entrust the funds to 
 so respectable an individual as Count Rothschild, who 
 no doubt would distribute them with the greatest judgment 
 and circumspection, according to the respective necessities 
 of the individual. The only merit which is due to Count 
 Rothschild in this transaction, that is, if it can be called a 
 merit, is that of having been able by his address and cun- 
 ning to extract a few pounds from the pockets of a Jew, 
 which being once deposited there, are seldom known to 
 emerge from it again, except a usurious interest be at- 
 tached to it. 
 
 It might, for aught we know to the contrary, have been 
 the intention of Count Rothschild, to return to the Holy 
 Land, for the purpose of appropriating the funds in his 
 possession, to the purpose for which they were collected, 
 but that he did not do it, is one of the most indisputable 
 facts of his life. On the contrary, we find him paying a 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 217 
 
 visit to Ramsgate, Margate, Herne Bay, and other places, 
 for the purpose of making himself thoroughly acquainted 
 with the operation of steam engines, as he had then re- 
 solved to take the agricultural interests under his immediate 
 protection, for which purpose it was his intention to esta- 
 blish a society, under his particular auspices, from which 
 no doubt, as great an advantage would flow, as flowed to 
 the distressed Jews of the Holy Land, from his disin- 
 terested, and philanthropic interference. 
 
 Having, as he supposed, made himself master of the 
 application of steam to agricultural purposes, he returned 
 to London, taking up his abode, at 43, Albany Street, 
 Regent's Park, and No. 9, Half Moon Street, Piccadilly, 
 and afterwards, took his departure for Canterbury, where 
 he arrived in the month of August, 1832. 
 
 From the recommendation of Mr. Chaplin, of the Claren- 
 don Hotel in London, Count Moses Rothschild presented 
 himself at the Fountain Hotel in Canterbury, but the 
 worthy host of that inn, not perhaps, exactly fancying the 
 appearance of his newly-arrived guest, expressed his sincere 
 regret at his inability to accommodate him, his beds being 
 all engaged, on which the Count turned his back upon the 
 Fountain, although every thing that flowed from it was 
 " Wright," and hastened to honor the Rose with his presence. 
 He had not been long a resident in that inn, before the 
 respectable proprietor of it, Mr. Clements, and the whole 
 of his establishment were thoroughly convinced, notwith- 
 standing the decided eccentricity of his character, of his 
 perfect docility and mildness of conduct, insomuch so in- 
 deed, that he would scarcely leave his sitting room, unless 
 to keep the Lord's day at the Union Chapel, or elsewhere, 
 as his duty called him, making himself happy in his own studies. 
 It must be admitted, that the Rose Inn was most properly 
 situated for the future career of Sir William Courtenay in 
 the town of Canterbury ; its central situation being near the 
 10. 2r 
 
218 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 market, and a good posting house, commanded a ready 
 approach to all sources of local and foreign information, and 
 it may with truth be affirmed, that not a little did he learn 
 there practically of men and manners, of high life and low 
 life, of rogues and honest men. 
 
 About the period of his first attracting notice, a large 
 political dinner was given to the poorer class of reformers 
 in a field near the Dane John, and here he first betrayed 
 symptoms of a most violent and outrageous disposition. 
 As the general election approached in December of the same 
 year, 1832 ,he became highly attractive to the lower orders, 
 by assuming costumes of a most extravagant character ; by 
 theatrical displays of himself from the balcony in front of 
 the Rose Inn; and by riding through the streets on horse~ 
 back and in carriages, generally attended by two young 
 men of the names of Robinson and Denne ; and from the 
 latter gentleman, whose friends are very respectable and 
 reside in the neighbourhood, he succeeded in obtaining 
 considerable sums of money. He continued to harangue 
 the populace daily with novel and ludicrous addresses, en- 
 cased in a superb dress of crimson velvet, richly ornamented 
 with gold lacings, tassels, and rich gold epaulettes, armed with 
 a valuable sword and dagger, and with which he occasionally 
 used to menace any person who interrupted him in his ad 
 dresses. His dress was stated to have cost upwards of two 
 hundred pounds, and to have been made for him while he 
 was at the Clarendon Hotel, in London^ a short time before 
 he made his appearance at Canterbury. At the election 
 for the eastern division of the knights of the shire, he 
 offered himself as a candidate, under the appellation of Sir 
 William Honeywood Courtenay, Knight of Malta, &c., and 
 was proposed by Mr. Denne and seconded by Mr. Chap- 
 man, a baker of Canterbury. At the nomination on Bar- 
 ham Downs he acted in the most extravagant manner, and, 
 upon this occasion, he polled two or three votes. He then 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K,M. 219 
 
 immediately offered himself a candidate for the city of 
 Canterbury, on which he issued the following address to 
 the electors : 
 
 TO THE FREEMEN AND INDEPENDENT ELECTORS OF THE 
 ANCIENT AND HONOURABLE CITY OF CANTERBURY. 
 
 
 
 Patriots and Brother Countrymen, The time is now 
 arrived, when the true feelings of English blood must pro- 
 claim through the votes of your Members of Parliament, 
 whether Englishmen will be free, or Englishmen will be in 
 bondage. The present awful and alarming state of the 
 British Constitution of King, Lords, and Commons, loudly 
 calls forth every energy of. her strength in protecting her 
 Agriculture and Commerce, and bad is the blood of that 
 Englishman who does not in her defence, boldly and man- 
 fully assert his birthright to Purity of Election. 
 
 Men and Brethren of Canterbury, That Almighty 
 God, who knows and sees all hearts, and whose omnipres- 
 ence detects the hypocrite, has given to every man the 
 right of his own mind and body ; therefore, in the discharge 
 of your duty to him, as your judge, and to the interests of 
 your own City as its Representatives, come to the hustings 
 as Freemen of Kent, renowned at the battles of Cressy and 
 Poictiers for their patriotism and love of liberty. 
 
 The Reformation which England (once the pride and 
 glory of the world) most wants, is in the internal state of 
 her society ; for if there be not unity at home, h6w is it 
 possible that the voice of the British Lion can send forth 
 his thunderbolts as the Lord of the Isles ? Let the pages 
 of English history tell the tale to her childrens' children, 
 that Canterbury was the first city that united her energies 
 in the noble cause of defence, by sending such members to 
 Parliament, as are competent by natural abilities and tried 
 virtue to advance, with wisdom the public good, and to 
 protect your interests. 
 
 Men and Freemen of Canterbury, What is man, if his 
 
220 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 mind is shackled to any party, whether it be in church or 
 State ? Let every free-born subject support the truth for 
 this principle changes not. And if a man in his family, or 
 a nation in her councils, dare to say that " truth is libel," 
 what in the name of Christ " is the God of Israel ?" Thus, 
 then, it behoves every man to boldly assert the truth, and 
 fearlessly support that doctrine which emanates from truth 
 " Jesus Christ the righteous." That man who alters his 
 faith is a " renegade." And any man who calls himself a 
 Christian, and denies the divinity of Christ, is such a cha- 
 racter. " True Liberty" is upon a descending principle of 
 government. No true wisdom, riches, or honors, are at- 
 tainable by human means. All these gifts are the free 
 election of God in Christ ; for in him was the Godhead 
 bodily. 
 
 It was in this City that Christianity was first established. 
 It was from this City the bond of faith, being the spirit of 
 Christ, united our forefathers in one common head for our 
 country's defence, and rose this barren Isle to her present 
 eminence amongst the nations of Europe. Sound faith 
 should be the object of all men, whether in Church or 
 State. Therefore, if Christ is made the object of our faith, 
 sound politics as a statesman is the effect. How can two 
 walk together unless they are agreed. It is impossible for 
 a Republican and a Christian to agree. It is for ever 
 sealed in the book of fate, that England and France can 
 never join issue ; for the present government of this country 
 might as easily attempt to bring Mount Lebanon into Kent, 
 as to persuade Englishmen to fight French battles against 
 the King of Holland. The tithes of England are the pro- 
 perty of the poor, while there are any poor in the land. 
 And the greatest abomination in the sight of God and man 
 is, that the poor of the land should be robbed of their right, 
 and the farmer's real profit, after his hard day's work is 
 done, should go into the "Lazy Bishops'" pockets to 
 fructify* 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 221 
 
 It is an axiom with all sound philosophers, that truth, 
 covered in wisdom, wants no support. And so well per- 
 suaded am I, from the example of the Apostle Paul and 
 his reasoning, that God, who is a Spirit of Truth, can 
 provide himself a Church, not wanting the filthy cormor- 
 ants, who now follow after " lucre" even to the shedding of 
 blood. 
 
 Men of Canterbury, The names of Nelson, Pitt, and 
 Collingwood, will remain for ever in the breasts of En- 
 glishmen as the Saviours of your country. If Pitt had not 
 by nature such firm principles and transcendent talents, 
 England would now have been under the tyrant, Buonaparte. 
 If the party spirits who came into office upon the death of 
 William Pitt, and under the cloak of his name, like the 
 Bishops under the mantle of Christ, abused the public 
 trust committed to their charge, for the sake of justice 
 between man and man, condemn not the system, " by 
 faith," of Pitt : for if " Eldon" has amassed his millions, 
 " Pitt" died a beggar. 
 
 Freemen of Canterbury, Any man who belongs to a 
 party, whether Tory or Whig, cannot serve the public. It 
 is useless for promises to be substituted for action, " A tree 
 is known by its fruit. Therefore, if any candidate pre- 
 sumes, upon the suffrages of a body politic, he ought to be 
 prepared with such pledges, founded upon the real and 
 actual wants of the people, and for the character, honor, 
 and glory of his native land. It is no place in the House 
 of Commons to become a schoolmaster to perfection, It is 
 no place in the House of Commons to learn what the 
 tradesmen of Canterbury need. Let your members go into 
 your shops, purchase your goods, and talk over with you 
 what is the state of trade. Let them know that the shop- 
 keepers of England have borne the burden of taxation long 
 enough, and the time is now arrived, when those who have 
 robbed the middle and lower orders of society must stand 
 the public debt. Shew forth men of Kent, by your votes 
 
'222 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 that you will elect those only that will boldly and determ- 
 inedly pledge themselves to annihilate for ever, the tithers, 
 taxation upon all the shopkeepers and productive classes, 
 also upon knowledge, the primogeniture law, chartered 
 and corporate bodies, slavery, sinecures and placemen, 
 beginning from the very throne, to the meanest situation 
 under government. To have the water pure, begin at the 
 head. Not turn a few poor shipwrights from Chatham 
 Dock Yard, when the three-cornered clerical hat of the 
 man who calls himself Lord Nelson, remains untouched. 
 
 Men and citizens, by the permission of Almighty God, 
 and under his protection as my only friend, I will meet you 
 at the hustings on Monday next, and there face to face, 
 solicit your votes to represent you in the forthcoming par- 
 liament. Suffice it, for the present to say, that I am the 
 heir of that family which none in Europe can excel, neither 
 in ancient pedigree or illustrious actions. When we meet 
 at the place to be fixed on for the contest, every assertion 
 of mine shall be fully explained to your satisfaction, that I 
 am in every way qualified to become your representative. 
 Sin WILLIAM PERCY HONKYWOOD COURTENAY, 
 
 Knight of Malta. 
 Rose Inn, Canterbury, Dec. 5, 18&2. 
 
 No better idea, perhaps, can be given of this gentleman's 
 claims to the honor of representing the Freemen of Can- 
 terbury, than the above address ; which raised sucthan insati- 
 able curiosity in the public mind, that from Is. to 5s. were 
 offered for a copy of it. 
 
 On the day of nomination, Monday, Dec. 10th, the busi- 
 ness of the day commenced at the Guildhall, at about 
 eleven o'clock, in the usual form. 
 
 The Hon. Richard Watson was proposed by Rich, 
 Halford, esq. and seconded by Alderman Snoulten. Lord 
 Fordwich was proposed by Alderman Brent, and seconded 
 by Alderman Cooper. And Sir Win. Courtenay, alias Mr. 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 223 
 
 Tom, spirit merchant and maltster, of Truro, Cornwall, by 
 Mr. J. Southee and Mr. Greenwood. 
 
 Sir William Courtenay, in presenting himself to the body 
 of citizens assembled in the hall, did it in the most ex- 
 traordinary manner, bounding over the heads of those who 
 were before him, and alighting on the table in a theatrical 
 attitude, perfectly a la Kean, his costume adding to the 
 effect of the scene, being composed of crmison velvet and 
 gold, with a mantle and cap to correspond, silk stockings 
 of the same colour, and turkish slippers, and though con- 
 siderably handsome, also considerably disfigured by a super- 
 abundance of moustache, &c. It were impossible to follow 
 with any thing like precision, the fluent, disjointed, yet oc- 
 casionally brilliant sentences which fell from this talented 
 and virtuous individual ; suffice it to say, he promised im- 
 possibilities, though that word had long been discarded from 
 his vocabulary he would reform the House of Commons, 
 he would abolish tithes ; he would remove the burden of 
 taxation from the shoulders of the poor, and place it on 
 those of the rich he would sweep away corporations, and 
 render the choice of aldermen and commoners more agree- 
 able to the public taste and, finally, he promised a return 
 of the olden time, when roast beef and plum-pudding, and 
 nut-brown ale were not so hard of attainment as* at present. 
 The Sheriff, after demanding a shew of hands, declared it to 
 be in favour of Lord Fordwich and Sir Wm. Courtenay ; 
 this was received by immense cheering, and the friends of 
 Mr. Watson having demanded a poll, the business was 
 adjourned till Tuesday. During the interval, the Knight 
 of Malta sent out the following bill : 
 
 MAGNA CHARTA. FREEMAN OF CANTERBURY. 
 
 Citizens and Fellow Townsmen, That sincere and un- 
 feigned thanks by your actions which you have this day 
 shewn to a liberal and tried servant of the public at large, 
 calls forth from me, your true friend, heartfelt gratitude for 
 such a kind reception. May Sir W. Courtenay, the true 
 
224 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 heir of Hales* Place, never forfeit that unity of interests and 
 fellow feeling that a such a connection with the lasting in- 
 terests of Canterbury must cause. My promises, by word 
 of mouth, this day given, shall, with the' same determined 
 counsel, be sacredly fulfilled upon the floor of the House of 
 Commons. My election I leave to God and yourselves. 
 Purity is my object. To go into your legislature the unde- 
 viating friend of England's Liberty^ upon sound and Stirling 
 principles. My character is my life. My honour shall 
 ever support the family from whom I came. And the inha- 
 bitants of Canterbury shall never regret Lord Courtenay's 
 alliance to the Hales' family, by electing him their member 
 of parliament this session. 
 
 If I prove not my just and fair claim to every qualifica- 
 tion to serve this city, then say, no man is true. And 
 what use is it for you to send into parliament representa- 
 tives, unless nature has given them talents, fitted for such a 
 responsibility. I shall ever remain true blue to the 
 national faith, and to the engagements I have entered into 
 between this city and the brave Englishmen. And it shall 
 never be said that De Ruyter, Van Speyk, or Marshal Ney, 
 Wallace, or Hannibal, was a braver man than 
 
 SlR. W. P. H. COURTENAY. 
 
 Knight of Malta. 
 Rose Inn, Dec. 10, 1832. 
 
 The polling commenced at nine o'clock on Tuesday 
 morning, in the Guildhall, one station being in the body of 
 the hall, and another on the elevated hustings. During the 
 whole of the proceedings, the utmost confusion prevailed, 
 and less political feeling was observable than is usual on 
 such occasions ; the whole attention of the crowd being 
 directed to the Knight of Malta, whose fine dress, promises, 
 and eccentric manners, secured him a large portion of the 
 popular favour, and it will scarcely be credited, when it is 
 asserted, that to such a pitch of enthusiasm was this carried, 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K,M. 2*25 
 
 that numbers not only flocked around his carriage, but 
 absolutely took out the horses, and drew him in triumph 
 to the Rose Inn, from whence he addressed them at con- 
 siderable length. 
 
 The numbers for each candidate at the end of the first 
 day's poll, were 
 
 Hon. R. Watson , 459 
 
 Lord Fordwich 420 
 
 Sir William Courtenay 177 
 
 Previous to there-commencement of business, the follow- 
 ing bills were issued by Sir W. Courtenay : 
 
 PURITY OF ELECTION. SIR WM. COURTENAY, KNIGHT 
 
 OF MALTA, 
 
 Presuming to be your representative, on the most pure 
 and disinterested principle, calls upon those electors who 
 have not yet polled, boldly to come forward, and without 
 partiality, give their consciences according to the rights of 
 man. To be free is a pass-word to your happiness, but to 
 vote for corporation monopolies, and chartered, vested, or 
 coalition venality, is foreign to a " True Blue." 
 Rose Inn, Dec. llth. 
 
 COURTENAY FOR EVER ! !. 
 
 TO THE FREEMEN AND OTHER ELECTORS OF THE CITY OF 
 CANTERBURY. 
 
 Brother Freemen and Electors, Now is your time to 
 bring into parliament one of the most independent, talented, 
 and popular men of this age, as^ there are about eleven 
 hundred freemen and other electors who have not voted. 
 We have the opportunity now to do it, commence polling 
 early, firmly, freely, and determinately. Elect the boast of 
 Canterbury the orator of modern times the True Blue 
 and the friend of the people. Do not split your votes, 
 10. 2 G 
 
U26 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 but give Plumpers. Pay no attention to the trickery of 
 time-serving and interested men. But have Courtenay, 
 elect Courtenay, and proclaim Courtenay for ever. 
 Dec. llth, Committee Room, Parade. 
 
 PURITY OF ELECTION. 
 
 Freemen, Englishmen, and Patriots " England expects 
 every man this day to do his duty." 
 
 To be free is to be happy ! The day is at last arrived 
 when the final state of the poll will declare SIR WM. H. 
 COURTENAY your representative, the tried friend of English 
 " Liberty," or that of the corporation, his opponents. Men 
 of Canterbury, the coalition formed between the corpora- 
 tion of this city, and your late members, the very unmanly 
 and illiberal junction of two interests to rob Englishmen of 
 their rights, and stamp upon the electors of Canterbury a 
 " Nomination Borough," cannot, I trust, be the feelings of 
 the ancient and honorable city of Canterbury, now about to 
 return her members to parliament. Whenever a coalition 
 exists, and that too with a corporation, how can the trades- 
 men and poor freemen of the land have their just election ? 
 Do not for a mess of pottage, sell your birthrights. If 
 Courtenay is zealous in your interests, it was ever in his 
 native character, for of what use is a member of parliament 
 unless his heart is warm for the wrongs of his countrymen, 
 and he possesses talents to redress them. With these facts 
 staring all England in the face, poll for Courtenay, the 
 object of the people's choice ; should the freemen voters 
 forget to do their duty, consider, Men of Canterbury, that 
 if you have the privilege of being the representatives of 
 your city, it is in trust for the people ; and if the voice of 
 the people could be heard, look at the kind manner old 
 Courtenay is received by the people ! He is the staunch 
 friend to liberty upon safe grounds of solid principles. 
 
SIR WILLIAM COUIITENAY, K.M. 2*27 
 
 Christianity having been first established in this city, is 
 the object which Courtenay as an " M.P." will never serve 
 any other constituent body in the whole world his word is 
 his bond and should he be so fortunate as to win the 
 laurel, it is his intention to propose the Hon. Mr. Watson 
 as a member for East Kent, on Barham Downs next Mon- 
 day, here the citizens of Canterbury will have an opportu- 
 nity of giving plumpers for that man who has before now 
 expressed the wish for. such an honor. It is not the desire 
 of Courtenay to turn any old member out of his seat, but as 
 the interests and welfare of old England, at this election, 
 want in her councils, men of tried virtue and abilities to 
 support her character among the nations of the earth, so I 
 trust that the electors of Canterbury will prove their spirit 
 of freedom, by returning the favourite champion for liberty. 
 
 Impossibilities, Courtenay has struck out of his dictionary 
 many years since and if Mr. Watson will come upon the 
 hustings at Barham Downs, on Monday next, so pure in 
 his actions, as Sir William Courtenay did in Canterbury, "by 
 the Lord Harry," we will elect him for the county of Kent, 
 without a two-penny postage. Courtenay is the true far- 
 mer's friend, but as a member of the House of Commons, 
 he lays down the honors of his house as a baron of the realm, 
 to serve the people of England at large by his abilities, in 
 the diminution of their excessive taxation. Arouse then, 
 freemen of Canterbury, and manfully adopt the old step of 
 returning Fordwich, Courtena}, and Watson, all members 
 for the county of Kent. An elephant to an earwig, Courte- 
 nay returns Watson, for the count)'. God bless you all, 
 
 SIR W. P. H. COURTENAY. 
 
 * # * Split your votes to keep your word, but never turn 
 out old Courtenay. 
 
 Powderham Castle, Devonshire, Dec. 12, 1832. 
 
228 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 TO THOSE FREEMEN OF THE CITY OF CANTLBBU11Y, 
 
 Whose votes have been refused, in consequence of having 
 received parochial relief. Repair, without loss of time to the 
 committee room of Sir William Courtenay, No. 2, Parade, 
 where their cases will be taken into consideration, and if 
 they have not received relief subsequent to the 1st of July 
 last, their votes will be insisted on being taken. 
 Committee Room, Parade, Dec. 12, 1832. 
 
 TO THE ASTONISHED ELECTORS OF CANTERBURY, WHO 
 HAVE NOT YET VOTED. 
 
 Give your votes this day this last day of the poll! ! for 
 the bravest of the brave, the truly independent Sir William 
 Courtenay ! Mark the extraordinary intrepidity the un- 
 exampled magnanimity of this valorous Knight of Malta ! 
 With purity of election written on his forehead, and un- 
 flinching firmness in his heart, he has come forward un- 
 asked, and unsought as your worthy friend ! With talents 
 and energies of the rarest kind, has he not laid prostrate the 
 noisy spirit of faction broken down the caste of purity 
 unveiled the eyes of the hoodwinked, and exhibited to the 
 electors of Canterbury the true nature of independence ? 
 
 Sir William Courtenay canvassed not for votes ! He en- 
 gaged no assistants he employed no agents ! yet with a 
 boldness truly noble, is he not gaining increasing reputation, 
 and advancing hastily on the poll ? Now then vote this 
 day for the distinguished Sir William Courtenay. Be- 
 lieve his sincerity confide in his abilities- and his noble 
 mind will fully satisfy all your inquiries in the end, and 
 gladden your hearts with delight ! 
 
 AN ELECTOR. 
 
 MAGNA CHARTA. 
 
 Every man who is willing to serve his country by the 
 laws of England, from the age of eighteen to forty- five, is 
 
Sill WILLIAM COURTENAY K. M. 229 
 
 entitled to vote, openly, manly, and without fear. Sir Wil- 
 liam Courtenay will prove this fundamental principle, that 
 Universal Suffrage and Annual Parliaments are the only 
 just rights of true born Englishmen. 
 
 PERCY COURTENAY. 
 Knight of Malta. 
 
 To facilitate proceedings which the bustle and confusion 
 of the previous day had greatly retarded, the sheriff caused 
 a third polling place to be erected in the Butter Market ; 
 and the Knight of Malta was to be seen clad in velvet and 
 gold, and flying from station to station as fast as a barouche, 
 and pair could convey him, haranguing the multitude, and 
 performing a variety of manoauvres, which however amus- 
 ing, were not exactly in accordance with the important 
 business of an electioneering contest. The polling, how- 
 ever, went on with considerable spirit during the day, and 
 on finally closing the books, at four o'clock, the numbers 
 stood as follows : 
 
 Hon. R. Watson S34 
 
 Lord Fordwich 802 
 
 Sir William Courtenay 375 
 
 At the close of the proceedings, the hall was crowded to 
 excess, but politics were entirely thrown into the shade. 
 Mr. Watson and Lord Fordwich, however, returned thanks 
 in a brief manner for the honour conferred on them a third 
 time; but as nearly the whole attention of the multitude 
 was directed to the Knight of Malta, it is impossible to 
 record the speeches with any accuracy. It is superfluous 
 to add, that Sir William likewise addressed the meeting 
 from the table, and also from the steps of the hall. After 
 again parading the town with drums and fifes, he harangued 
 the populace from the Rose balcony, promising to meet 
 them on Barham Downs on the ensuing Monday, and sent 
 out the following address to the freeholders and electors of 
 the county of Kent: 
 
230 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 BARHAM DOWNS PURITY OF ELECTION. 
 
 Men of Kent, The time is now arrived, when by your 
 votes you will either become the authors of your own inju- 
 ries, or the protectors of your own rights. It is useless for 
 you to harken to landlord's threats, or tithe robbers, neither 
 one of these parties will pay a poor farmer's rent, when that 
 summons is given. The present state of England places the 
 agricultural interest in a most alarming position; and the 
 class of people that call themselves Reformers in word, but 
 not in action, are again busy at their old work Promises! 
 
 That the Reform Bill is in itself another system to work 
 bribery and corruption, the late contest for Canterbury will, 
 in the House of Commons, form a decided opinion. There- 
 fore, Men of Kent, if you will suffer yourselves on the one 
 hand, by a party calling themselves Tories, to be ground 
 down by high rents, tithes, and threats ; and on the other 
 by party spirits calling themselves Whigs, merely with that 
 view to get themselves into office, to fill their own sordid 
 pockets caring but little for the public good. 
 
 Men of Kent, You have now an opportunity to return 
 one of the most talented aud virtuous of men that has for 
 for many years appeared in your defence, and as to his firm 
 basis upon the just rights of all classes to protection, from 
 the king to the meanest beggar. Mr. Ashbee of Herne 
 Bay, well knows his true friendship for the oppressed far- 
 mer. It will be useless for the farmer to cover his interest 
 under the shield of the landlord, or the gown of a parson 
 " Rogues All" The true interest of the farmer is never 
 studied ; but the pockets of the lord of the manor, and the 
 rector's tithes, absorb all the sweat of the poor man's brow. 
 
 "To live and let live," is a motto which ought to be 
 written in letters of gold upon every man's heart. And 
 how is it possible for the farmer to live at the present high 
 rents and tithes, if a free importation of corn be admit- 
 ted. It therefore becomes the farmers to look as a body to 
 their own interests, caring but little about their landlords or 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 231 
 
 parsons determined to give their vote according to their 
 conscience the Freedom of Election ! 
 
 The manufacturing districts will, in the ensuing parlia- 
 ment, come into collision with the agricultural. Therefore, 
 to reconcile those two great powers in the wheel of Eng- 
 land's rights, is the object of Sir W. P. H. Courtenay. 
 
 It is a bad politician who goes abroad to support the glory 
 honor, or trade of the country, until that nation is in itself 
 unity, peace, and concord ! 
 
 When this is the case, then a small power becomes effec- 
 tive as the example of Holland in the present day. 
 
 It is the eleventh hour for a county contest; but if one 
 shilling would return Sir W. Courtenay to be a representa- 
 tive, that shilling he would not give. If the farmers of Kent, 
 or England, will make men the object of their choice, their 
 interests must be ruined ; but on the contrary, if they make 
 measures the object, then purity and freedom of mind and 
 body must infallibly follow. 
 
 It is not the desire of Sir W. Courtenay to turn any man 
 out of parliament that deserves to go there. But if you return 
 members of parliament that possess no qualification, except 
 money, you must for ever expect to be ground down in mind 
 and body. Arouse, then, to your rights as men. Come 
 forward as Englishmen. Declare yourselves a free peo- 
 ple, determined to acquit your consciences before God and 
 man that the mind may be at peace. 
 
 Adieu, and if ever Sir W. Courtenay forgets the high 
 honor he has received from all the inhabitants of the anci- 
 ent city of Canterbury by the Lord Harry we will no 
 more chair him through the city. 
 
 P. H. COURTENAV, 
 Knight of Malta. 
 
 Powderham Castle, Devon, Dec. 17. 
 
THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 FREEMEN, ELECTORS OF THE FAVOURED COUNTY OF KENT. 
 EASTERN DIVISION. 
 
 Brave Men of Kent, To fulfil your promises, when once 
 given, it is the duty of every free-born subject ; however, 
 this principle is bad in itself, it must be solemnly kept that 
 Englishmen may support their native character. The 
 position Sir William Courtenay places the freemen and 
 electors of Kent, will be most honourable to themselves 
 and to their best friends, being of no party but the public 
 good, he guarantees upon every reasonable plea their un- 
 deniable right, to give one vote to fulfil his word, and the 
 other to that man who will ever protect the agricultural 
 interest. 
 
 As nothing particular occurred worthy of notice, at the 
 county election, we proceed with a copy of the various hand 
 bills, &c. issued by this singular character and his friends : 
 
 TO THE INDEPENDENT FREEMEN AND ELECTORS OF THE 
 ANCIENT CITY OF CANTERBURY. ANOTHER CORPORA- 
 TION JOB. 
 
 Citizens of Canterbury, That the heavy expences at- 
 tending " Elections" were to be a great object of economy 
 with the Whigs, in drawing up the far famed " Reform 
 Bill," will be understood when ^brought into -operation by 
 the Rosy Corporate Body of Canterbury. 
 
 The late election, which has produced so much conver- 
 sation in this city, can [only be equalled by the enormous 
 charges of 827. Is. 6d. for erecting that beggarly hustings 
 in the Butter Market any carpenter would have done this 
 for 405. If members of Parliament will, for their election, 
 pay this amount, no doubt the country will again be made 
 to re-imburse such infamous charges. 
 
 As for Sir W. P. H. Courtenay, it was not in his power 
 to obtain from the sheriff, even a road-way to the Town 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 233 
 
 Hall, for his voters to go to the poll table. Recollect, Men 
 of Canterbury, as the Reformers, so calling themselves, ex- 
 claim about cheap government, retrenchment, and economy 
 let the corporation of Canterbury begin at home first. 
 All words again look at the bill for the forty shillings' 
 hustings for wine, &c. &c., 82/. Is. Qd. From parsons 
 and lawyers, proctors, and boroughmongers Good Lord 
 deliver us ! ! 
 
 Under are the particulars, and the original is in Sir W. 
 Courtenay's hand. 
 
 PERCY HONYWOOD COURTENAY. 
 
 Knight of Malta, 
 
 Rose Inn, 10th Moon, A.D., 1832. 
 Canterbury Election. 
 
 Dec. 1832. Sir W. P. Horywood Courtenay. 
 The Town Clerk's Customary Fees on . s. d. 
 Election for Members to serve in Par- 
 liament 10 10 
 
 Canterbury Election. 
 
 Dec. 1832. . s. d. 
 
 To the Under Sheriff's Charges and Dis- 
 bursements at the said Election, and 
 
 Expences of Hustings 82 7 6 
 
 Sir W. Courtenay's Proportion of the 
 
 above.., 27 9 2 
 
 OLD ENGLAND ! 
 
 What is to be done for thee ? what can either Tory or 
 Whig do for thee ? Nothing ! With a starving popula- 
 lation in a plentiful land. 
 
 What has or what will the Reform Bill do ? Nothing ! 
 The present electors for Canterbury and the eastern 
 division of Kent, shew that the voice of the people cannot 
 be heard. A short time will fully prove my doctrine on 
 church and state. 
 
 10. 2 H 
 
234 THE LIFE ANJ) ADVENTURES OF 
 
 The Reform Bill, which is a disgrace to children of four 
 years old to compile it, will go to pieces ; it is only fit food 
 for the king's tobacco pipe. The very basis of that mass 
 of heterogeneous words being property ins-tead of popula- 
 tion will destroy the superstructure. All those who have, 
 under the Reform^ Bill, a vote by the late act, have not dis- 
 charged their duty' to, old England which is to represent 
 the voice of the people. Practice in this country has now 
 fully shewn that for the working classes and poor of the 
 land to have their due, all who are willing to lay down their 
 lives for the defence of their country's rights, from eighteen 
 to forty-five, must have a vote universal suffrage and an- 
 nual parliaments is the only remedy, safe in itself, because 
 it gives to every man his due. No vote by ballot against 
 an Englishman's birthright. This once obtained, away go 
 those monsters of old England's oppression high rents, 
 tithes, assessed taxes, poor's rates, free trade in manufac- 
 tured goods, corn laws, primogeniture law, taxes upon 
 knowledge, slavery at home and abroad, vested rights, 
 monopolies, bankers, stock-robbers, exchange-mongers, 
 foreign bottoms all which with the excise and post 
 offices, must be done away, and condensed into one board 
 of ^customs ; which jboard, rightly conducted, could do 
 all the business of old England, Ireland, and Scotland, 
 Colonies and all. So confident am I that it must come to 
 this ; that I trust in God no convulsion will be necessary 
 to achieve it, for what will the poor undefended female do, 
 when all is boil and bubble. A brave man is always a 
 good man, and a good man would sacrifice his very life for 
 his country, like the brave Spartans at Thyrmopylo3. 
 Away then with fears and doubts,, " England expects every 
 man this day should do his duty." 
 
 P. H. COURTENAY, 
 
 Knight of Malta. 
 
 " God save the King and Royal Family," 
 Rose Inn, Canterbury, 10th Moon, A.D. 1832 
 
SIR WIILIAM COLT IITT. NAY, K.M. "' 
 
 TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE CITY OF CANTERBURY. 
 
 It is with extreme regret, and feelings of pity, that I am 
 still informed of the malicious and envious aspersions at- 
 tempted on my honor by certain scurrilous persons., some 
 of them presuming, under the garb of sanctity in French 
 robes, others under the roquelaure of a colonel ; while even 
 the weathercock, Higgins, a dunghill by profession, and 
 Haydock, the notorious busy body ; I say, when this con- 
 clave of old women begin to settle the affairs of the Lion of 
 Canterbury, so called by the beggarly Kentish Chronicle, 
 with the utmost contempt I treat them, one and all ; and if 
 the news-room is to be admired by the inhabitants of Can- 
 terbury, let it shew itself worthy by an open and manly 
 course, trying the stuff with which Go4 has made the Knight 
 of Malta, face to face in trial by combat, according to the laws 
 of the land, the glove being ever at their service, Sir W. 
 P.H. Courtenay, on behalf of his inseparable two friends, 
 Squire Thompson, and Count Rothschild, begs to inform 
 the whole world, that he is at all times prepared to liquidate 
 all demands on those royal personages both by his purse 
 and person, justice shall ever be the motto, " Tria juncta 
 in uno," " live and let live," their creed. As the Christ- 
 mas holidays are now nearly over, and every gentleman 
 ought to discharge his tradesman's bills, that the trades- 
 man may pay his merchants, satisfy his servants, and com- 
 mence the new year as a man of spirit, giving employment 
 to the poor labourers. If those busy bodies were to follow 
 the example of Sir W. P. H. Courtenay, and so English- 
 man-like, discharge their tradesmans' bills at the end of the 
 year, when just, the right hand of the shopkeeper would be 
 prevented from inserling on his account, "to bill delivered, 
 and call again to morrow," Punctuality in payment is the 
 effect of true Christian principles. 
 
 Sir W. P. H. Courtenay, in conclusion, begs leave to 
 add his kindest regards to the ladies, respects to the gen- 
 tlemen, and a happy new year to every branch of their 
 
23G THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 families; trusting that Almighty God will bless their en- 
 deavours whilst in the paths of honor, integrity, and con- 
 scious rectitude, labouring for their support. 
 
 SIR W. P. H. COURTENAY. 
 
 Knight of Malta. 
 Rose Inn, 10th Moon, A. D. 1833. 
 
 The following letter is extracted from the Kentish Chroni- 
 t cle, of Tuesday January the 15th, 1833; in reply to the 
 above hand-bill : 
 
 " SIR, If a person bearing a name, well known in ail 
 places, and at all times if the same person filling a station 
 of acknowledged respectability in society, with the language 
 and education of a gentleman, acting under the influence 
 of imaginary or real wrongs, instead of previously demand- 
 ing either by letter or by the organ of a friend, an explana- 
 tion as reparation from his fancied assailants at once to 
 publish a vulgar libel on the latter, would not such an in- 
 dividual, though sustained by a name and by a station, 
 deprive himself of all claims to personal consideration? 
 Would not the door of an assize court be the most suitable 
 arena for such a combat ? 
 
 " I have put that hypothetically, and taking the converse 
 of its first portion, I shall now give another, which more 
 closely resembles fact. Suppose a fellow whose social 
 position, and whose name are equally unknown, super- 
 adding the language of a lackey to the ignorance and vul- 
 garity of a mountebank if such a fellow, with a contempt 
 for all moral principle, with a perversion of all human 
 decency, uniting the effrontery of an imposter to the depra- 
 vity of an outcast if such a fellow were to publish a stupid 
 libel under similar circumstances with those already given 
 what notice what proceedings could the libelled persons 
 adopt? would not the presence of such a fellow bring pol- 
 lution even into the dock of an assize court? 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 237 
 
 " It is said that hypocrisy is the homage which vice 
 pays to virtue, but the personation this fellow assumes, 
 developes a new feature in the philosophy of human turpi- 
 tude he proves to us there is one step still lower in the 
 sink of infamy than that trodden by the criminal urged on 
 by passion, and unrestrained by reason it is that which is 
 occupied by the wretch who voluntarily outrages public 
 decency, and public morals, by gratuitously representing 
 himself as one, whom a fatal career of vice has driven from 
 home, and from his country. 
 
 " 1 am, Sir, 
 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 
 " TUPTO." 
 
 The following was sent to the printer but was not pub- 
 lished : 
 
 " O Yes ! O Yes ! O Yes ! I, Lord Viscount William 
 Courtenay. of Powderham Castle, Devon, do hereby pro- 
 claim Sir Thomas Tilden, Sir Brook Brydges, Sir Edward 
 Knatchbull, and Sir William Cosway, four cowards, unfit 
 to represent or to assist in returning members to parlia- 
 ment to serve the brave men of Kent 
 
 " Percy Honywood Courtenay, of Hales' and Evington 
 Place, Kent, and Knight of Malta. 
 
 " Any gentleman desiring to know the reason why Lord 
 Courtenay so publicly exposes backbiters, any man of 
 honor shall have satisfaction at his hands, and in a public 
 way, according to the laws of the land, trial by combat 
 when the Almighty God, the Lord of Hosts is his name, 
 can decide the " truth," whether it is a libel or no. I wor- 
 ship truth as my God, and will die for it and upon this we 
 will see who is strongest, God or man." 
 
 The following letter was addressed to Mr. Wise, steward 
 of the Hales' estate, relative to that property: 
 
238 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 " As that business is now in chancery, and under the 
 protection of the Lord Chancellor, no man, whoever he 
 may be, dares to remove any heir loom or other valuables, 
 whether in pictures, shrubs, or flowering pots, without the 
 Chancellor's consent, under penalty of transportation ; 
 therefore, as you are placed in trust for the true heir, (when 
 so proved) before all England, and I shall most assuredly 
 prove my claim most honourably, I would advise your pro- 
 ving true to your trust. I am continually receiving letters 
 and informations that the house and gardens are daily plun- 
 dered. God only knows the truth for Canterbury is 
 the sink of falsehood. I hope your children and wife are 
 well. 
 
 Your most obedient servant 
 
 COURTENAY. 
 
 LETTER SENT TO THE HIGH SHERIFF BY SIR W. P. 
 COURTENAY, KNIGHT OF MALTA. 
 
 Ill health preventing his personal attendance at Barham 
 
 Downs, on the 14th instant. 
 
 Mr. Sheriff and the independent electors of the eastern 
 division of Kent. I feel it my duty to you, to those free 
 and independent electors who voted for me, and also to the 
 Men of Kent at large, to state, that nothing but the most 
 severe illness should have prevented me from attending at 
 Barham Downs this day. In offering myself as a member 
 to serve you in parliament, was to prove in practice how 
 the Reform Bill would work for the liberties of old England, 
 thai: every man should have equal laws and equal rights, 
 agreeable to that station of life to which God as been 
 pleased to call him. My object has been accomplished, and 
 from my knowledge of the human heart, I pronounce it has 
 a certainty that the party spirit of Whig or Tory, which 
 still prevails as bad as ever under the Reform Bill, will 
 bring in universal suffrage and annual parliaments as a 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 239 
 
 necessary effect of so bad a cause as party interest That 
 the voice of the poor, the fatherless, the orphan, the widow, 
 afflicted and distressed, of the United Kingdom, must be 
 heard in the House of Commons, to beg at the hands of 
 their representatives that daily bread, which they are taught 
 from childhood to pray for in the Lord's Prayer. The 
 shopkeeper, artizan, mechanic, and all the working and 
 productive classes must have consumption for their pro- 
 ductions. The labourer, who has nothing but his two 
 hands to maintain himself, his wife, and five or six children 
 with, must have employ ent for those two hands, otherwise 
 he becomes chargeable to the poor's rates, with his family 
 brought up in pauperism and disgrace, committing crimes 
 unheard of. 
 
 The poor's rate alone will in less than five years, if the 
 present system of government continues, absorb all the 
 produce of the land. The causes which produce this grow- 
 ing monster, the poor's rate,' must be cut up by the very 
 roots, and not a vestige left behind ; which causes are high 
 rents, tithes, taxation, and no circulating medium to carry 
 on the common concerns of life. I will not detain you, Mr. 
 Sheriff and gentlemen present, any longer about the causes 
 which produce the unfortunate state of our native land ; but 
 so confident am I that the country must adopt my scheme 
 for its relief, (or the sword will it,) to prevent the shedding 
 of blood, the spoliation of property, and that lasting consti- 
 tution of our country, the boast of ages, a limited monarchy, 
 given to the king and the royal family their prerogatives 
 and high birthright; the lords their due for protecting the 
 throne, not from selfish motives or borough-mongering prin- 
 ciples, but from that high sense of honor for their national 
 glory and national faith. 
 
 A pamphlet bearing the name of a certain Lord T. would 
 not be right for me here to enter into its particulars, suffice 
 it to say that it condemns itself in every page, and any man, 
 whether lord or commoner, who would destroy the national 
 
240 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 faith of his country to raise up a pauper nobility, deserves to 
 be hung up by his two thumbs until he publicly recants his 
 opinions. 
 
 Now, to conclude this short epistle with the truth ! 
 Upon the question being put by Mr. O'Connell. whether 
 Truth is a Libel or not, the last members of Parliament 
 declared by their votes, that Truth was a Libel ! now I tell 
 those members individually and collectively, that I bid de- 
 fiance to them, in the sight of God and man, ever to injure 
 me for declaring the truth, for Truth is my God, and he 
 can protect me being stronger than man. 
 
 God save the King and Royal Family. 
 
 PERCY COURTENAY. 
 Knight of Malta. 
 
 I would caution the public at large, not to credit the re- 
 port of Antwerp's surrender, until more officially announced. 
 England, old England, rejoice not if it be the case, for it is 
 a deadly blow to your true interests, levelled at you by the 
 French infidels, at the head of whom is old Talleyrand the 
 plodding serpent or Bonaparte's tyranny. Antwerp is the 
 Western Key of Europe, and if the Dutch* give it up, they 
 deserve execration to all eternity, 
 
 Canterbury, ieth Moon, 1832. 
 
 MEN OF KENT* 
 
 " Unaw'd by numbers, follow nature's plan, 
 Assert the rigbts, or quit the name of man ; 
 In spite of dullness, and in spite of wit, 
 If to yourselves you can yourself acquit. 
 Rather stand up assured with conscious pride, 
 Alone, than err with millions at your side," 
 
 CHURCHILL. 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 241 
 
 SONG. 
 Health to the brave, the gallant Knight, 
 
 The Knight of Malta is our own, 
 Preserved thro* many a dang'rous fight, 
 
 He comes to make our cause his own ; 
 He comes to make our cause his own, 
 
 To save us from oppression's grave, 
 Your labours with success to crown : 
 
 He comes, the poor, th' opprest to save. 
 Then hail him, hail the liberal Knight. 
 
 O, make, my friends, his cause your own, 
 He'll heal your wounds, assert your rights, 
 If with success his cause you crown, 
 
 Sir William's wise, religious, just, 
 
 He wishes but to see you free, 
 My friends in God then put your trust, 
 
 And hail this star of Liberty, 
 Hear him but speak, all doubt is lost, 
 
 His manner, confidence demands, 
 Support him without fee or costs, 
 
 And for him hold up both your hands, 
 Then aid, O, aid the gallant Knight, 
 
 To drive corruption from the throne I 
 O, aid him in the glorious fight, 
 
 I mean the fight of words alone ! 
 My friends with firm persuasive words, 
 
 Boldly your mighty cause sustain, 
 Ne'er may the murdering strife of swords, 
 
 Be sought but on a foreign plain, 
 O, England ; O, my native land, 
 
 Still may'st thou flourish great and free, 
 And may we all with heart and hand, 
 
 Support the cause of Liberty : 
 But while in freedom's cause we pray. 
 
 We'll hold the scales with even hand, 
 That we may not be dup'd by Grey, 
 
 The tool of wily Talleyrand. 
 
 A NEW SONG. Tune God save the King. 
 O Lord our God behold, 
 Our joys, how manifold, 
 At Courtenay's fame, 
 Freemen let all unite, 
 11. 2l 
 
242 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 And strive with all my might, 
 To bring him in this night, 
 Be it your aim . 
 
 Long has Courtenay mourned, 
 Sighed for past joys return 
 Where are they flown, 
 Gone with corruption's sway, 
 Briton's ye'll rue the day, 
 Unite with Courtenay, pray, 
 As 'twere thy own. 
 
 Yet may we see the day, 
 
 May God behold and stay 
 
 Corruptive power. 
 
 Be not your hearts dismay'd, 
 
 Bravely your parts you' play'd, 
 
 Neither desert your aid, 
 
 At the last hour. 
 
 With wisdom planted strong, 
 Dauntless he'll face the throng, 
 Whilst in his power, 
 And when this day shall close 
 With the corruptive dose, 
 Lets bravely face our foes. 
 To the last hour. 
 
 Thus may our God protect, - 
 Brave Courtenay step by step, 
 Nor on him lour, 
 May laurels grace his brow, 
 In this our cause just now, 
 Then fervently we'll bow, 
 At the last hour. 
 
 History lias scarcely a circumstance on its records pa- 
 rallel with the serio-comico exhibition which took place in 
 the city of Canterbury during and after the election of 1 832, 
 and all arising from the unprecedented influence obtained 
 by an impostor and a mountebank, over a certain portion 
 of the population of the place, and in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood of which is the residence of the primate of all 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 243 
 
 England. It is with grief and shame that we acknow- 
 ledge that there is too much of an unfortunate aptitude in 
 the lower classes of this country to imbibe false doctrines, 
 and follow the fatal suggestions of incendiaries and mad- 
 men ; much, however, as are the consequences to be de- 
 plored, which have resulted frem the extraordinary career 
 of Courtenay, during his residence at Canterbury, yet they 
 will not be wholly without their uses. They have opened 
 the eyes of the rulers of the country to the intellectual 
 degradation of its peasantry, and they have in some degree 
 acted as a stimulus to those, to whom the education of the 
 people is entrusted, to put forth their energies towards 
 dissipating the darkness which has hitherto clouded the 
 human mind, and rendered it liable to yield to the destruc- 
 tive influence of fanaticism and bigotry. Our peasantry, 
 to use the vulgar phrase, are better fed than taught. They 
 it is true, feed themselves, but they are surrendered over to 
 men, like the Knight of Malta to instruct them. And this 
 is the point to which we desire to draw the attention of every 
 well-wisher to his country. How comes it, that there exists 
 in Kent, or any part of England, a degree of ignorance so 
 brutish, a degree of superstition so grovelling, as the pain- 
 ful and humiliating accounts of the proceedings at Canter- 
 bury have brought to our knowledge ? For what do we pay 
 three millions per annum to the clergy of this country ? Is 
 it not one part of their duty, and for which they are so 
 extravagantly paid, to instruct and enlighten the people, 
 although we rather suspect that duty and interest here 
 clash together ! It may be the duty of the clergy to instruct 
 and illumine the minds of the people, but we are not quite 
 so certain, whether such illumination be exactly in accord- 
 ance with their interest. 
 
 It is the principle of the most intolerant church in the 
 world, to keep the minds of the people in the lowest state 
 of intellectual debasement, and although the clergy of the 
 church of England may be partially exonerated from that 
 
244 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 charge, yet it is not the less certain that they have not 
 evinced that ardour and zeal in the diffusion of useful 
 knowledge amongst the lower classes, which ought to form 
 a most prominent feature of their holy vocation. But what 
 has been the result of the system of education pursued 
 amongst the peasantry in the vicinity of Canterbury ? Why 
 that the son of a Cornish chandler, on the strength of a 
 pair of brawny shoulders and leathern lungs, with an un- 
 paralleled stock of impudence and presumption, shall be 
 received as the Saviour of mankind, and make a consider- 
 able rural population, men, women, and children, believe 
 him an incarnation of the Supreme Being. If we look to 
 this serious state of things, as far as the intellectual condi- 
 tion of our peasantry is concerned, we ask ourselves the 
 question, " How long is it since the Reformation ? how 
 long is it since the eighth Harry put the clergy into posses- 
 sion of the tithes, and glebes, and the fat abbey lands, and 
 the deaneries and the palaces ? May we not then ask, 
 bishops, priests, and deacons, have you not had your hire, 
 and where are the evidence and the fruit of your labours ? 
 We may be answered, that not many parts of England, 
 exhibit the extreme intellectual and moral degradation of 
 the vicinity of Canterbury ; and we may be told, that the 
 utter darkness of the Primate's immediate neighbour- 
 hood is not to be taken as a fair specimen of the general 
 state of the agricultural peasantry of the country ; we may 
 be answered, that the vicinity of Canterbury is not to be 
 taken as a criterion of the rest of England, but nevertheless 
 we have seen and know, that there are a number of people 
 to be found, in and about a city where the clergy abound, 
 who are so thoroughly destitute of the first elements of 
 mental culture and religious information, as to fall down 
 and worship, follow to the death, and believe in the resur- 
 rection of one of the most extraordinary imposters, that has 
 appeared in this country since the time of Brothers or of 
 Southcote. But if there be a degree of darkness so cim- 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 245 
 
 raerian ; if there be a spot in England involved in such a 
 dense gloom ; if there be a point of moral depression so 
 close to zero, we may be tolerably certain that there is 
 many a higher point upon the scale, at which the ignorance 
 of our rustic population is sufficiently scandalous to those 
 who are munificently paid to teach them. We may be 
 pretty confident that from the blackness of midnight to the 
 light of the wholesome day, the transition is not without its 
 gradations, and that amongst those gradations there is ample 
 space for a divinity like Courtenay, and ample materials 
 wherewith to manufacture Jacqueries. 
 
 To what purpose, then, do we pour three millions per 
 annum into the bosom of the church ? Are we not entitled 
 to demand a larger return for so lavish an endowment ? 
 Have we not a fair right to complain that a clergy which 
 has now been legally established, and munificiently por- 
 tioned for more than three centuries, has left so much as 
 one district in the island in a state of such utter destitution 
 of the very alphabet of Christianity, and the first rudiments 
 of knowledge, as to mistake a person like Courtenay for 
 the Redeemer, to worship him as the Son of God, to be- 
 lieve in his Omnipotence, his Immortality, and his Resur- 
 rection. 
 
 We have considered the fore-going remarks as in some 
 degree imperative upon us, preparatory to our entering upon 
 that part of Courtenay's life, in which his influence became 
 unbounded over the deluded peasantry of the vicinity of 
 Canterbury, and we regret to add, over some of the respectable 
 inhabitants of the city itself, whose education and intellec- 
 tual cultivation ought to have made them pause, before they 
 committed themselves so grossly in the wild and incoherent 
 schemes of an individual, who was not so mad, but he could 
 read the character of those, whom he selected as his parti- 
 cular dupes, yet, who was still so decidedly mad on certain 
 points, that the lowest possible estimate must be formed of 
 the intellectual capacity of those individuals, some of whom 
 
246 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 held a superior station of life, which actually pre- supposes 
 the possession of considerable mental attainments, and a 
 profound and accurate judgment; who could with so much 
 discredit to themselves, co-operate with such a lunatic in 
 his impracticable and preposterous schemes, and who could 
 so far demean themselves, as almost to fall down in the 
 dust before him, and worship him as some great and super- 
 natural being. 
 
 At the time when he appeared on the hustings as a can- 
 didate, in a wild and rambling speech, he declared himself to 
 be the identical Lord Courtenay, who had left this country 
 many years ago, under a certain disgraceful charge, and yet 
 with this avowal from his own lips, that he was a man, with 
 whom no one, who had the slightest regard for his character, 
 would be thought to hold the most distant association, he was 
 allowed to remain on the hustings by the side of men of the 
 most irreproachable and unsullied character, and in- 
 stead of being kicked from the place, and driven into 
 some hiding-place, from which he dare not again exhibit 
 himself to the world, he was caressed, he was cheered, he 
 could find men to propose the Lord Courtenay of most un- 
 enviable notoriety, as a fit and proper person to represent 
 the moral and religious city of Canterbury in Parliament ; 
 he could find an infatuated rabble, who could draw the man 
 like beasts to the door of his residence, whose ignominious 
 erjmes had forced him to fly the shores of his native land, 
 and hide himself in the wilds of America, from which he 
 would have been hooted by the savages themselves, if they 
 had known the character of the man, who was dwelling 
 amongst them ; he could find nearly four hundred voters, 
 and several hundreds of the unfranchised to join them in 
 their infuriated acclamations of approbation of a man, who 
 had avowed himself a detested and odious criminal, and 
 afterwards to regard him as a sainted being, sent by Heaven 
 on earth to work its great and mighty purposes. 
 
 With the view, however, of accommodating the good 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 247 
 
 people of Canterbury, and bestowing upon them a repre- 
 sentative, who was to take the lead in the councils of the 
 nation, to effect a thorough reform in the church, and 
 correct all the abuses, which had sprung up in the adminis- 
 tration of the affairs of the state ; he condescended to relin- 
 quish his right to sit in the House of Lords, no mean sacrifice 
 in the eyes of his misguided followers, and to become a 
 member of the House of Commons, where his sphere of use- 
 fulness would be more extended, and where, he promised 
 the people, that he would obtain for them, before he had taken 
 his seat a month " roast beef) plum-pudding, and nut brown 
 ale" In despite, however, of this accomplished specimen 
 of torn-foolery, of the most direct and positive insult upon 
 the human understanding, this corypheus of all imposters, 
 had CLERGYMEN both of the established church and the 
 dissenting congregations, not only to give their vote for 
 him, but to -use the utmost of their influence to induce 
 others to follow their example. Professional men, such 
 as physicians, surgeons, and solicitors, gentlemen of in- 
 dependent property, and tradesmen of the first respectability 
 were his staunch adherents and supporters, and daily in- 
 vited him to their table, and introduced him to the bosom 
 of their families. The invitations which he received to 
 dinners, tea and suppers, were so numerous, that he was 
 known to attend several parties in a few hours. On one 
 occasion, he dined with an attorney, who shortly before 
 had had the honor conferred upon him, of making out he 
 will of my Lord Courtenay ; he then hurried away from the 
 good cheer of the attorney, to take tea with a female of 
 rather a questionable character, and afterwards passed the 
 evening at the house of a respectable lady, who had several 
 daughters residing with her, and to whom he had been in- 
 troduced by one of the family, a tradesman of Canterbury, 
 who voted a plumper fop him at the election. He was in fact 
 the lion of Canterbury, as Marshal Soult was in London at 
 the coronation of the Queen ; it was considered an-honor, and no 
 
248 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 mean one either, if Sir William Courtenay would accept an invi- 
 tation, and the place where he dined or supped on the preceding 
 day, was on the morning of the subsequent day known through- 
 out all Canterbury, as if a court circular had been published 
 of his proceedings. Mothers with daughters, at a particular 
 period of life, when their emigration from their paternal 
 home to settle in the hitherto unexplored country of matri- 
 mony, would by no means be disagreeable to them, were 
 delighted to see the noble Sir William Courtenay in their 
 domestic circle, hoping that in the chapter of accidents it 
 might be written, that the heart of Sir William might be 
 brought under tha dominion of the personal attractions of 
 one of the candidates for a matrimonial emigration ; and we 
 know of mothers, who had no daughters, but with whom the 
 " heyday of the blood had not yet been tamed," who were 
 proud to behold the handsome Sir William Courtenay in 
 their train, as it could be considered in no other light than 
 a homage paid to the superiority of their beauty and accom- 
 plishments, and which must necessarily make them the object 
 of the envy of the less favoured of their own sex. In the es- 
 timation of the young men of Canterbury, he was looked 
 upon as a most dangerous poacher on the manor of female 
 beauty, for there was such a fire shot from his eyes, and 
 the splendour and magnificence of his costume proved such 
 a snare for the hearts of the beauties of Canterbury, of which 
 it can boast not a few, that it became a hopeless task to 
 enter the field with him, with the slightest chance of making 
 any impression on the fair wanderers of the domain. He de- 
 lighted the company to which he was invited, by a recital of 
 his hair-breadth escapes by land and flood, in foreign lands ; 
 of the homage that was paid to him in the Holy Land, 
 and the anxiety that was now existing in it for his return ; 
 but as a traveller is generally a linguist, and as there was 
 not a single language that was created at the building of 
 the tower of Babel, of which Sir William knew, even the 
 rudiments, he frequently subjected himself to a severe cross- 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTF.NAY, K.M. 249 
 
 lire from certain individuals, who had the penetration to 
 discern, that Sir William Courtenay was a charlatan and 
 an imposter. It is not, however, every man. who could 
 extricate himself from a dilemma in which he might be ac- 
 cidentally thrown, with the adroitness and presence of mind, 
 which peculiarly distinguished the character of the Knight 
 of Malta. On one occasion, he had been astounding a little 
 coterie of admiring ladies, with his adventures during his 
 travels in France and his residence in Paris, when some illna- 
 tured personage in the society presumed to think, that a per- 
 son, who had been travelling in France, who had resided for 
 some time in Paris, and who according to his own account, had 
 been a constant frequenter at the French theatres, and whose 
 society was courted by the most distinguished circles of the 
 French capital; it was certainly naturally to be supposed, that 
 such a person must be conversant with the French language. 
 It might not, therefore, have been an ebullition of ilinature, 
 nor a desire to expose the imposition which he was practis- 
 ing on the company, but a laudable wish to hear the 
 French language spoken with correctness, that induced the 
 individual above alluded to, to address the Knight of Malta 
 in the French language, not doubting that he should thereby 
 expose the charlatanerie of Sir William Courtenay, and hurl 
 him at once from the high station which he held in the esti- 
 mation of his enraptured audience. There can be but little 
 doubt existing, that the knight saw the snare that was laid 
 for him, and he eluded it in the most skilful manner, by 
 significantly observing, that he hoped he knew the rules of 
 politeness too well, to speak a foreign language in the 
 presence of those, who might be ignorant of it, which was 
 rather an ungracious slap in the face of the supposed detec- 
 tor of his imposition, and secondly, that he prided himself 
 so much upon being an Englishman, that he had resolved 
 never to make use of a foreign tongue in his native country. 
 His first reason exalted him in the good opinion of the 
 11, 2 K 
 
250 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 ladies, as it was to them a decided proof that he was an 
 accomplished gentleman ; and his second, on its being 
 bruited through the streets, alleys, and lanes of the city of 
 Canterbury, increased the regret of those who had voted for 
 him, that they had failed in sending so accomplished a pa- 
 triot as their representative to parliament. 
 
 So great was the infatuation which at this period appears 
 to have taken hold of the minds of the people of Canter- 
 bury., in regard to the high and noble character of Sir 
 William Courtenay, that to question his being the indivi- 
 dual he gave himself out to be, or to express the slightest 
 doubt of the authenticity of his declarations relative to his 
 title and property, was as certain of exposing the individual 
 to as great a degree of odium and insult, as if he had 
 doubted the genuineness of the three staves which are 
 shown at Cologne, as having belonged to the identical 
 ladder which Joseph saw in his dream. A striking proof 
 of this slavish subserviency, not only to the actions, but to 
 the words which fell from the lips of Courtenay, was given 
 at a dinner at which he was present on the day of the 
 Christmas Cattle Show in 1832, when one of the aldermen 
 of the city was bold enough to make a remark on the 
 absurdity of some of the observations which Courtenay had 
 advanced in a speech which he made on that occasion ; and 
 he began those remarks by saying, that " this fellow who 
 calls himself Sir William Courtenay," when on a sudden 
 the whole room was in an uproar, and the worthy alderman 
 was interrupted by the company, which consisted of the 
 gentry and agriculturists of the highest grade, calling out, 
 " Order, order." To increase the confusion, another 
 gentleman ventured to observe, that he was convinced he 
 was an imposter ; on which he was very unceremoniously 
 informed, that if he repeated that observation, he would be 
 instantly turned out of the room. 
 
 The general tone of Courtenay's conversation was any- 
 
SIR WILLIAM COUIITENAY, K.M. 125 1 
 
 thing but instructive or edifying, and strongly indicative 
 of the lowliness and vulgarity of his origin ; sometimes in- 
 deed it was marked by a grossness, that was scarcely to be 
 tolerated, and his allusions, though not exactly indecent, 
 were still such, as were calculated to give offence to a pure 
 and refined mind. His absurdities on religion and politics 
 were awful to a religious mind, and could not but appear 
 ridiculous to any one of the most common understanding. 
 One of the most singular traits in the character of Courte- 
 nay was the tact, which he displayed in humouring the 
 foibles of his associates, and yet, at the same time, the 
 method by which he accomplished it was so barefaced, 
 so full of impudence and presumption, that blind indeed 
 must have been the individual not to see through the 
 flimsy veil which the imposter threw over his actions, and 
 which could only have met with any sanction or counte- 
 nance, but from the very doltish of the human race. The 
 following may be adduced as a specimen of the conduct 
 of certain parties at Canterbury, to which we have just 
 alluded. The age of the ignominious Lord Courtenay had 
 been accurately ascertained by many of the respectable in. 
 habitants of Canterbury as corroborative of the imposi- 
 tion which Courtenay was practising on the natives of that 
 city, for Courtenay was considerably more than twenty 
 years younger than the exiled nobleman. This disparity in 
 their ages was pointed out to Courtenay, and he was in- 
 formed that it was a very strong allegation against him, 
 that he could not possibly be the Lord Courtenay, whom 
 he; represented himself to be. "Oh," he replied, "1 wi)l 
 look old enough for them ;" and a day, or two afterwards he 
 appeared on the hustings at Sittingbourne, in the costume 
 " of an old English gentleman," with his head and beard 
 powdered sufficiently to give them a grey appearance. 
 This trick, it might have been supposed, would have 
 opened the eyes of his enthusiastic supporters ; for it must 
 have been evident to the meanest capacity that an imposi- 
 
25*2 THK LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 tion had been practised upon them, and that he had 
 made himself older by artificial means, consequently, that 
 he had by no means removed the objection, which had been 
 raised to his identity with the celebrated Lord Courtenay on 
 account of the disparity of their respective ages. He, how- 
 ever, gained his point ; for he did actually succeed in con- 
 vincing his abominably stupid followers, that he was in 
 reality much older then he formerly appeared to be, and 
 this act of transformation was attributed to divine interpo- 
 sition. On another occasion, he sent for a physician, pre- 
 tending that he had been taken suddenly ill, and he then 
 requested the late Mr. Pierce, the then clerk to the magis- 
 trates at Canterbury, to prepare his last will and testament. 
 On that occasion, a Mr. George Denne, a farmer, residing 
 at Upstreet, who from first to last was swindled out of a thou- 
 sand pounds by Courtenay, and a young surgeon named 
 Robinson were present. These two individuals, under the 
 influence of a most lamentable infatuation, followed him, 
 whithersoever he went ; they ate, they drank with him, they 
 slept under the same roof with him, and to sum up the 
 whole, they paid for all. After the solicitor had seated 
 himself with all the gravity and importance of his profes- 
 sion on similar occasions, and had drawn from his pocket a 
 sheet of paper, on which certain memoranda were to be 
 written, which at the exit of the testator from this world, 
 were to transfer the vast possessions of the Courtenay 
 family, into the hands of some Kentish plebeians ; the 
 Knight of Malta assuming a countenance as sombre and 
 melancholy, as that which the Knight of La Mancha put 
 on, when his head was broken by the Yanguesian carriers, 
 and with a voice as tremulous, as that of an antiquated virgin 
 who is led to the altar at the age of seventy, he addressed 
 Mr. George Denne as follows : " My dearest George, it 
 may please Heaven to take me in a short time from this 
 sphere of my sublunary greatness, to translate me to the 
 beatitude of another world." " I hope not, Sir William," 
 
S'R WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 253 
 
 said George Denne, "and so do I," responded Mr. Robin- 
 son. " When I am gone," and the voice of Sir William 
 trembled marvellously, " the world will have lost one of its 
 brightest ornaments," " Indeed it will," said Mr. Denne, 
 " Assuredly so," said Mr. Robinson. " But," continued Sir 
 William, " I shall carry with me the pleasing satisfaction of 
 having provided in a truly princely manner for those, who 
 whilst I was on earth, had the sense and sagacity to see 
 into the nobility of my character, and to acknowledge me 
 as Lord Viscount William Courtenay, of Potvderham Castle, 
 Knight of Malta, King of Jerusalem, Prince of Arabia, 
 King of the Gypsies, and all the other honors and titles, 
 which by descent or creation belong to me. To you, there- 
 fore, my dearest George Denne, who have been one of my 
 most faithful vassals, I bequeath the Hales' estate, and all 
 that appertain thereto, with the proviso that you erect a 
 monument^ on the highest ground of the Hales' estate to 
 the memory of me, the great Lord of Devon, the regene- 
 rator of the world, and one of the greatest benefactors whom 
 the human race, with the exception of one, who is Christ, 
 ever saw upon the earth. 
 
 This kind announcement was almost too much for Mr. 
 Denne's feelings, who expressed his utter astonishment at 
 such a proof of exceeding kindness, and unexampled con- 
 descension, but how unbounded, how inexpressible was the 
 gratitude of poor Mr. Robinson, who, perhaps, had no other 
 prospect in life, than phlebotomizing, inoculating, and purg- 
 ing the good people of Canterbury, when he was informed 
 by Sir William that he bequeathed to him the whole of 
 Powderham Castle, and all its valuable paintings, together 
 with one half of the lands belonging to Canterbury cathedral ; 
 the other half he had not yet exactly made up his mind to 
 whom he should bequeath them, but his present impression was, 
 that he should bequeath them to the monks of the monastery 
 of the holy fathers of Nazareth, in return for the hospitality 
 with which they received him during his travels in the 
 
254 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 Holy Land. It was in this manner, that, he played upon 
 the weakness of those, over whom he obtained an almost 
 unlimited control, by his high sounding pretensions, and 
 the insinuation of his address, and had he known how to 
 have tempered that influence, by any degree of prudence 
 or judgment, there is no saying to what lengths he 
 might have deluded the individuals, who were so besotted 
 as to listen to his promises, or to be misled by his wild and 
 extravagant principles. 
 
 It is with extreme reluctance, that we expose the actions 
 of any person or persons, who from any weakness of under- 
 standing, or temporary delusion, may have rendered them- 
 selves the tools and instruments of an individual, where 
 every action was the studied effect of the most barefaced im- 
 posture, the detection of which required only the exercise of 
 the most secondary powers of discrimination. He inflated 
 the mind of his dupes, that he was under the special care 
 of Heaven, and that in many respects, he was not the 
 subject of those calamities, which generally befal the human 
 race, as a proof of which, he expressed his determination 
 to cross the channel in an open boat from Dover to Calais, 
 at a time when even the hardy mariners of the coast would 
 not venture to put to sea, and thereby prove to them that he 
 was the peculiar object of a superintending providence, 
 after which proof, his followers might go forth into the 
 world, like the disciples of the Redeemer and proclaim to 
 the world the dignity of his character, and the sanctity of 
 his vocation on earth. 
 
 It was one morning, when a heavy south-wester shook 
 the old battlements of Canterbury Cathedral, and fright- 
 ened many a nervous maid, with the chance of chimney- 
 pots falling through the roof into her attic apartment, that 
 Sir William Courtenay attended by his two esquires, Denne 
 and Robinson, directed their course to the town of Dover, 
 there to embark for Calais in an open boat, amidst the 
 howling of the wind, and the raging of the waves, thereby 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K. M. 253 
 
 intending to quell at once, the malicious murmurs of the 
 unbelievers, and stamp him at once as the elected protegee 
 of Heaven. We would not so far commit ourselves, as to 
 draw an irreverent comparison between Courtenay and 
 the divine founder of the Christian religion, but in relation 
 to both of them, we are furnished with the most extraordi- 
 nary proofs, as to the enthusiasm, which the human 
 character can exhibit, when under the influence of faith. 
 It was the faith of the disciples of Christ, which enabled 
 them to endure all the persecutions of their enemies, and 
 the greatest torture which could be inflicted on the human 
 frame, and it was the faith of the deluded followers of 
 Courtenay, that made them encounter dangers, at which at 
 any other time they would have shrunk back with dismay, 
 and even face death itself, on the faith alone, that he had 
 the power to protect them. Nothing but an impression 
 of this kind, could have induced two of his most devoted 
 followers, to have perilled their lives on a raging ocean, 
 on the crest of every wave of which " death grinned 
 horribly," but he had instilled into them the belief that he 
 was under the immediate protection of a supernatural 
 power, and that he could carry his followers harmlessly 
 through every danger, however, great it might be. The 
 success which attended this hazardous expedition, tended 
 in no small degree to exalt him in the opinion of his 
 deluded adherents, nor did he let the opportunity escape 
 him, of turning it to his own advantage. It dissipated the 
 doubts of many, who were wavering in their opinion of him 
 and who now beheld in him no longer an im poster, but a 
 delegate from Heaven, to accomplish some great purpose on 
 earth, for the benefit of the human race. 
 
 With great truth, did Sir William Courtenay say of him- 
 self, " I was born a mystery, 1 have lived a mystery, and 
 I may die a mystery, but I hope God will not permit it," it 
 becomes therefore no easy task to delineate a character, 
 which was acknowledged to be founded in mystery, and 
 
256 THE LIFE ANI7 ADVENTURES OF 
 
 without which the entire of the character was known, 
 would, without the slightest hesitation have been looked upon 
 as one of the grossest deceit and imposition. Lunatics are 
 proverbially known to be gifted with an extraordinary degree 
 of cunning, which in sane persons is construed into a know- 
 ledge of human nature, and in this point of view, it is very 
 difficult to draw the line as to where sanity ends and insa- 
 nity begins. Courtenay was at all times a profound 
 student of human nature, and perhaps there are few men 
 on record, who knew how to play upon the weak points of 
 those around him, with greater skill than was frequently 
 evinced by this most extraordinary character. The follow- 
 ing anecdote will amply illustrate the truth of the above 
 remarks. 
 
 When Sir William was at the zenith of his glory at Can- 
 terbury, and when the report was industriously circulated, 
 and considered to be authentic by many, that he was in 
 the habit of receiving his remittances by coach, consisting 
 of barrels of sovereigns, the size of those usually known as 
 oyster barrels, an artist, supposing that he would meet 
 with good employment at Canterbury, took up his resi- 
 dence in that City, and received many orders for portraits 
 from Sir William Courtenay, who with all his madness, 
 feigned or real was always very particular in his enquiries, 
 as to what was going on in the town, and especially to the 
 opinion which was in general held of him, the answers to 
 which enquiries were in general highly favourable to his 
 vanity and egotism. Amongst the many debts, which he 
 contracted with the too credulous people of Canterbury, 
 was one which amounted to 237. for portraits of himself, 
 to be distributed amongst his principal friends. 
 
 One evening at a social meeting of a few of the inhabi- 
 tants of Canterbury, amongst whom was the artist, who 
 took the likeness of Sir William, the conversation turned 
 upon the all-engrossing topic, of the merits and demerits of 
 the Knight of Malta, and of the authenticity of his claims to 
 
SIR WILLIAM COUUTENAY, K.M. 257 
 
 the character in which he represented himself. And in 
 the course of the conversation, an allusion was made by th^ 
 artist to the debt, which was due to him from Sir William, 
 and some of the persons present, ventured to express their 
 doubt of the debt ever being liquidated. On the other 
 hand, there were others, who although they might not 
 attach any belief to the report of the arrival of barrels of 
 sovereigns, yet, who were well aware, that there were many 
 persons of considerable property, who had advanced him 
 repeatedly large sums of money, and from whom he could 
 obtain an additional supply, whenever he thought fit to 
 apply for it. The knowledge that the latter circumstance 
 was founded on truth, induced one of the party to offer 20/. 
 for the debt, provided it was not disputed by Sir William 
 Courtenay. After some time had passed in negotiation, 
 the offer was at length accepted, and the 20/. were deposi- 
 ted in the hands of a gentleman present, subject, however, 
 to its being refunded, if Sir William did not allow the just- 
 ness of the claim. 
 
 In order, however, to obviate any chance of his being 
 over-reached in the business, the purchaser took the pre- 
 caution of proceeding without delay to the apartments of 
 Sir William at the Rose Inn, for the purpose of informing 
 him of the transaction that had taken place, and obtain- 
 ing from him an acknowledgement of the justness of the 
 debt. Sir William was at the time from home, on one of 
 his ceremonial rides, attended by his two pages, and on his 
 dismounting at the Rose Inn, the purchaser of the debt, who 
 fully expected to gain 31 by his bargain, completely outwit- 
 ted himself, by informing Sir William that he had paid 
 20Z. for him, instead of telling him that he had settled an 
 account of 23/. with an artist, who had expressed a strong 
 doubt of the debt ever being eventually paid. The pur- 
 chaser spoke of the respect, which he entertained for the 
 character^ of Sir William, and insinuated as much that it 
 11. 2L 
 
25S THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 was in consequence of that respect that the debt had been 
 discharged. The purchaser, however, had a man to deal 
 with, who had read many pages in the book of human 
 nature, and who knew well how to profit by what he had 
 read. The keenness of his penetrating power soon disclo- 
 sed to him, that the purchaser did not advance the 20Z 
 from any respect, which he entertained for him, but that he 
 expected to be a considerable gainer by the transaction. 
 From this view of the case, Sir William determined to 
 thwart him, as he did every one, whose actions appeared to 
 be guided by a principle of self-interest. The purchaser 
 had declared to him, that he had paid 20Z. in full of the 
 debt, and Sir William took care that no more than *20Z. 
 should be paid. The insanity of Sir William after a tran- 
 saction of this kind becomes a very questionable matter ; 
 he might have been mad, but he was not so mad as not to 
 know how to secure 3Z. when a favourable opportunity pre- 
 sented itself, at all events, the purchaser left Sir William 
 with a very different impression upon his mind in regard to 
 his character, than he had previously entertained, and he 
 resolved in his own mind, should he ever purchase another 
 debt of Sir William Courtenay's, to profit by the experience 
 which he ha'd acquired, and to give him credit for a degree 
 of penetration, which if properly directed, would enable a 
 man in his intercourse with the world, to steer clear of 
 many of those rocks and shoals, on which the credulous and 
 the thoughtless are too often wrecked. 
 
 The climax of this transaction is, however, yet to come. 
 When this demand of 20Z. was made upon Sir William, his 
 funds were at a very low ebb ; some delay had taken place 
 in the arrival of the barrels of sovereigns, but there was a 
 purse, which was always open to relieve his immediate 
 wants, and to which he never hesitated to apply, whenever 
 the occasion required, which occasion, however, occurred 
 more frequently, than . would have been agreeable to any 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M- 259 
 
 one but a deluded, infatuated dupe. The purse to which 
 we allude was that of Mr. George Denne, and on this 
 occasion, the following dialogue took place between Sir 
 William and his trusty and right well-belov.ed friend, George 
 Denne. 
 
 "You know me well, George, do you not?" asked Sir 
 William. 
 
 " Indeed, I do, Sir William," answered George. 
 
 You know, George," said Sir William, " that I have be- 
 queathed to you the whole of the Hale's estate fine lands 
 George manorial rights attached to them no doubt, but 
 that you will one day be high sheriff of the county." 
 
 "Your bounty to me, Sir William," said George, "is far 
 greater than I deserve words are inadequate to express 
 my gratitude towards you." 
 
 "Talk not of gratitude, my dear George," said Sir Wil- 
 liam, " it becomes a man of my rank to reward those, who 
 have been faithful to me. I make no doubt, that there is 
 not any extent to which you would not trust me." 
 
 " Even to my life itself," said George. 
 
 " Thank you, my dear George," said Sir William, " I 
 have never been deceived in the opinion, which I at first 
 formed of you; but by-the-by, this is rather an unpleasant 
 affair of the artist claiming his debt, just at this time, when 
 in a few days, my remittances will come to hand, which will 
 enable me, you know, George, to carry those plans into 
 effect, which will put an entirely new face upon the affairs 
 of the world, and in which of course, my dear George, you 
 will act a most conspicuous and prominent part, something 
 similar to the prime minister of this country there are, 
 indeed, great things in store for you." 
 
 " You overpower me with your kindness, Sir William," 
 said George. 
 
 " Do you not think, my dear George," said Sir William, 
 that the better plan would be, to settle that little trifling 
 amount at once my character might suffer^by any delay, 
 
260 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 and you know that I am celebrated for my punctuality in 
 the discharge of all pecuniary claims upon me." 
 
 " Your character is above reproach, Sir William," said 
 George, " and I do most cordially agree with you, that the 
 artist's debt should be paid." 
 
 "It gives me great pleasure, my dear George," said Sir 
 William, " to find that we agree so well in our opinions, and 
 therefore from the unbounded confidence, which you so 
 justly place in me, you will not entertain perhaps any objec- 
 tion to advance the 20/, until my remittances arrive ?' 
 
 " If you were to ask me for my life, Sir William," said 
 the good-natured dupe, " I would sacrifice it for you what 
 then are 20/. ? the debt shall be paid, Sir William." 
 
 " You can look upon me as your banker," said Sir Wil- 
 liam, " in whose hands you can deposit your money to be 
 repaid with interest, whenever you require it." 
 
 "Do not mention it, Sir William," said George, "in 
 whose service can I expend my money with greater propri- 
 ety, than in that of the renowned Sir William Courtenay." 
 
 "And how proudly," said Sir William, "will your name 
 be inscribed on the rolls of fame, as the acknowledged 
 friend of Lord Courtenay of Devon, Knight of Malta, and 
 King of Jerusalem, and from whom you inherited the vast 
 estates of the noble family of the Hales. I will this evening 
 study your horoscope more minutely, and to-morrow I will in- 
 form you, to what further honors and dignities you are born." 
 
 " You overpower me with your goodness, Sir William/* 
 said George, " I will hasten and discharge the debt." 
 
 " And, my dear George," said Sir William, " you may as 
 well bring 10Z. or 15/. in addition with you, on the suppo- 
 sition that my remittances may not arrive to-day." 
 
 " Oh ! most willingly, Sir William." And the dupe 
 hastened away to satisfy the demands of the insinuating 
 imposter." 
 
 We will, however, reverse the picture, and show how Sir 
 William acted towards those, who required assistance from 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 261 
 
 him, and who had received his promises of procuring for 
 them, all the good things of this world, provided they 
 would place their faith in him. 
 
 Amongst others of his numerous dupes, he had become 
 acquainted with a preacher of the supralapsarian school, 
 who, although professing to be one of his followers, and 
 believing in the validity of his pretensions, to all his titles, 
 honours, dignities and expectancies, was yet not quite so 
 strong in his faith as some others, in regard to his power of 
 distributing the loaves and fishes of this world, as he pre- 
 tended it was, for as yet, he had not heard of a single 
 individual, who had in any manner profited by his assistance, 
 although there were many, to whom his charity might have 
 been dispensed with great propriety, and who were, in 
 reality, objects greatly deserving of the countenance and 
 support of the great Lord Courtenay of Devon. In that 
 class, might be included the preacher, who was luke-warm 
 in his faith, for his circumstances were such as not to 
 permit him to refuse assistance from those friends, who 
 might be charitably disposed towards him, and on whom 
 had he a greater claim for a temporary assistance, than on 
 the opulent King of Jerusalem, who received not his 
 remittances, in the way of other men by driblets, but in 
 oyster barrels, stuffed with sovereigns. From the profes- 
 sions, which Sir William was continually making of his 
 extreme readiness, to assist the indigent and the needy, a 
 person, who was supposed to possess the greatest degree of 
 influence over him, undertook to make known to Sir 
 William, the necessitous situation of the preacher, who 
 promised that he would take the earliest opportunity of 
 visiting him, for the purpose it was supposed, of administer- 
 ing some temporary relief to him, by the advance of a 
 little money. It must, however, be related, that the 
 worthy preacher, considered himself called upon in the 
 faithful discharge of his duty, frequently to lecture Sir 
 William, on the impropriety of some parts of his conduct, 
 
THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 for which reason, Sir William always called him " his little 
 faithful reprover," and so far from Sir William taking um- 
 brage at the admonitions and reproofs, which the preacher, 
 so unceremoniously and so forgetful of the respect and 
 dignity, which were due to so great a personage, was in the 
 habit of so lavishly bestowing upon him, that he considered 
 it was only in conformity with the high station which he held 
 in the world, to have in his retinue, a chaplain, or a father 
 confessor, who by virtue of his sacred office, was privileged to 
 call him to an account for any venal fault, which he might com- 
 mit, and consequently he made it known to the worthy 
 preacher, that he had appointed him chaplain to his establish- 
 ment, with a salary attached to the office of 500Z. per annum to 
 commence from the moment that he was put into possession 
 of Powderham Castle. Had now the preacher been full of 
 faith, this information would almost have burst his heart 
 with joy, but his induction into the office of the cure of the 
 souls of the Powderham establishment, was accompanied 
 by a contingency, which might never be realised, and 
 in the mean time, neither he nor his family could live 
 upon the flattering prospects, which were held out to them. 
 With the announcement of the appointment to the chap- 
 lain-ship, Sir William sent a very condescending message 
 to the preacher, stating that he would visit him on the follow- 
 ing day, he having been informed that his circumstances 
 required some immediate relief, which he was most 
 willing to grant him, Anxiously, therefore, did the 
 preacher look out on the following day for the arrival of 
 Sir William, and to the great delight of the preacher, Sir 
 William kept his promise. On entering the apartment, the 
 preacher, very becomely, evinced that deference and respect 
 which were due to so great a personage, and the little 
 urchins, with whom the room was studded, crept be- 
 hind their mother's chair, wondering with staring eyes 
 at the great man, who had condescended to visit their 
 father. 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M< 263 
 
 " Well C ," exclaimed Sir William, on entering, 
 
 the room " and how is it with you now ?" 
 
 " As badly as ever, Sir William," responded the preacher, 
 " I am in rather a woful plight." 
 
 " I am sorry for you, very sorry for you, my little faithful 
 reprover," said Sir William ; " but you must have faith 
 place your confidence in me, v and all will be well." 
 
 " I have faith," said the preacher, " and my confidence 
 in you is great, Sir William." 
 
 "So it ought to be, my faithful reprover," said Sir 
 William, " for have I not shown the high respect which 
 I entertain for you, by appointing you the chaplain of 
 Powderhara Castle ?" 
 
 "Indeed you have, Sir William," said the preacher, 
 6i and my gratitude to you is boundless, but in the mean 
 time, Sir William, a little pecuniary assistance would be of 
 the greatest benefit to my family." 
 
 " Not a doubt of it, my little faithful reprover," said Sir 
 William, " but you must have faith." 
 
 " I have faith, Sir William," said the preacher, " but had 
 I a mountain of it, it would not just now relieve me from 
 my embarrassments, whereas, but a small portion of your 
 vast riches, Sir William, would gladden the hearts of my 
 family." 
 
 "Certainly, my dear little faithful reprover," said Sir 
 William, "my riches are vast, and if you have faith, all will be 
 right with you, and your embarrassments entirely removed." 
 
 " Faith," said the preacher, will not satisfy the cravings 
 of hunger." 
 
 Not, perhaps, exactly at the moment," said Sir William, 
 "but if you have the faith that all your embarrassments 
 may be removed on the morrow, ought not that to be a 
 source of great consolation to you ?" 
 
 " Certainly," said the preacher. 
 
 " Then have faith, my dear little faithful reprover," said 
 Sir William, " and you cannot conceive, how well you and 
 
264 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 your family will find yourselves all will be right with you, 
 if you have but faith thou chaplain to my Lord Courtenay of 
 Devon, think of that, my little reprover." 
 
 " I will, Sir William," said the preacher, " but it will not 
 find me a meal for the morrow." 
 
 " Follow my advice," said Sir William, have faith, and 
 you will have no occasion to think of the morrow, for all 
 will be right with you. I have punctually kept my promise 
 that I would visit you, and I have given you the advice of a 
 friend, and of your future Lord and Master ; have faith, and 
 all your necessities will be relieved. You shall have the 
 earliest intelligence of your services being required at Pow- 
 derham Castle and so I take my leave," 
 
 If the preacher did not abound in faith before, the con- 
 duct of Sir William to him on this occasion was not much 
 calculated to increase it, in fact, Sir William was only 
 bountiful and charitable, as the impulse of the moment 
 directed him, or when he had some particular end to gain 
 by a display of ostentatious charity. The virtue itself was not 
 resident in him, and in that respect he resembled many of 
 his fellow-men, who are charitable only, when their deeds 
 are known, but carefully abstain from it, when no publicity 
 is given to their actions. 
 
 One of the most clever exhibitions ever given of the 
 character of Sir William Courtenay, is to be found in the 
 novel of Rookwood, written by Mr. Ainsworth, of which 
 the following is a copy. 
 
 A CANTERBURY TALE. 
 
 " Come list to me, and you shall hear, without a hem or haw, sirs, 
 A Canterbury pilgrimage much better than old Chaucer's, 
 'Tis a hoax, I once played off upon that city clever, 
 The memory of which, I hope, will stick to it for ever. 
 
 With my coal-black beard and purple cloak, 
 Jack boots and broad-brim in 'd castor, 
 Hey, ho ! for the knight of Malta. 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 265 
 
 "To execute my purpose, in the first place, you must know, sirs, 
 My locks I let hang down my neck my beard and whiskers grow, sirs, 
 A purple cloak I next clapped on, a sword tagged to my side, sirs, 
 And mounted on a charger black, I to the town did ride, sirs. 
 
 With my coal-black beard, &c. 
 
 " Two pages were then by my side, upon two little ponies, 
 Decked out in scarlet uniform, as spruce as macaronies; 
 Caparisoned my charter was, as grandly as his master, 
 And o'er my long curlly locks, I wore a broad-brimmed castor. 
 
 With my coal-black beard, &c. 
 
 " The people all flocked forth, amazed to see a man so hairy, 
 Oh ! such a sight had ne'er before been seen in Canterbury; 
 My flowing robe, my flowing beard, my horse with flowing mane, sirs, 
 They stared the days of chivalry they thought were come again, sirs. 
 
 With my coal-black beard, &c. 
 
 " I told them a long rigmarole romance, that did not alter a 
 Jot, that they beheld in me a real Knight of Malta* 
 Tom a Becket had I sworn I was, that saint and martyr hallowed, 
 I doubt not just as readily the bait they would have swallowed. 
 
 With my coal-black beard, &c, 
 
 " 1 rode about and speechified, and every body gulled, 
 
 The tavern keepers diddled, and the magistracy bullied. 
 
 Like puppets were the towns' folk led, in that show they call a raree, 
 
 The Gotham sages were a joke to those of Canterbury. 
 
 With my coal-black beard, &c. 
 
 " The theatres I next engaged, where I addressed the crowd, sirs ; 
 And on retrenchment and reform, I spouted long and loud, sirs ; 
 On tithes and taxation, I enlarged with skill and zeal, sirs ; 
 Who so able as a Malta Knight, the malt-tax to repeal, sirs. 
 
 With my coal-black beard, &c, 
 
 " As a candidate, I then stepped forth to represent their city, 
 And my non-election to that place was certainly a pity ; 
 For surely I the fittest was, and very proper, very, 
 To represent the wisdom and the wit of Canterbury ! 
 
 With my coal-black beard, &c. 
 
 " At the trial of some smugglers, next, one thing I rather queer did, 
 And the justices on the bench, I literally bearded ; 
 
 For I swore that I some casks did see, though proved as clear as day, sirs, 
 That I happened at the time, to be some fifty miles away, sirs 
 
 With my coal-black beard, &c. 
 
 lit 2M 
 
260 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 " This last assertion I must own, was something of a blunder, 
 And for purjury indicted, they compelled me to knock under ; 
 To my prosperous career, this slight error put a stop, sirs. 
 And thus crossed the Knight of Malta was, at length obliged to hop, sirs. 
 
 With my coal-black beard, &c." 
 
 Sir William Courtenay had hitherto made himself ex- 
 tremely common upon the streets of Canterbury, and he 
 began to consider whether so much publicity was not derog- 
 atory to the dignity of his character, for when was it ever 
 heard of, that kings and potentates, or other great ones of 
 the earth, went parading about the streets to show them- 
 selves to the rude gaze of the people ; but on the contrary, 
 that they kept themselves confined within their palaces, on 
 the very proper principle, that people are apt to lose all in- 
 terest in and respect for an object, which is daily before their 
 eyes, and, therefore, as the actions of kings are in themselves 
 not always calculated to obtain the respect of the people, 
 the more prudent plan is, not to let the people know what 
 those actions are, but to shut themselves up within the walls 
 of their palaces, and leave the people to their conjectures 
 and surmises, as to what may be passing within them. In- 
 visiblity is one of the attributes of a great man, especially if 
 you have a favour to ask of him, and as some of the fol- 
 lowers of Sir Willam Courtenay, were rather importunate 
 in their petitions to bestow upon them some of the lucra- 
 tive situations in his gift, such as the ehaplainship of Pow- 
 derham Castle ; he considered it would be an act of sound 
 policy in him, to lead a more secluded life, when the peti- 
 tions of his followers might be transmitted to him through 
 the hands of his appointed ministers, and like certain other 
 petitions, they might 'be laid on the table, and no further at- 
 tention paid to them. By degrees, the appearance of Sir Wil- 
 liam Courtenay in the streets became less frequent; his re- 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 267 
 
 fusal to accept of an- invitation was almost universal, and as 
 is generally the custom in such matters, the people put their 
 heads together, to divine what probable end Sir William 
 Courtenay could have in view, in thus withdrawing himself 
 from the gaze of his devoted followers, who lived but in the 
 sunshine of his smiles, and felt themselves exhilarated when 
 the sound of his voice was heard amongst them. Thus was 
 one of the objects of Sir William gained ; he was informed 
 by his emissaries of the great importance which was attached 
 to his actions by the people, and the report was now circu- 
 lated in Canterbury, that Sir William Courtenay was se- 
 cretly engaged in some mighty project, which would in a 
 very short time disclose itself to the astonishment of the 
 whole world, and the dire confusion of all the tithe-mongers, 
 and other cormorants of church property. 
 
 Not more intensely did the bigots of " House of God," 
 look for the* forthcoming of young Shilo from the virginal 
 womb of Johannah Southcote, than the good people of Can- 
 terbury and its vicinity looked for the bursting forth of this 
 great project of Sir William Courtenay, and the intensity 
 of that expectatio'n was not a little increased, by an answer 
 which Sir William gave to an old soldier, who had enlisted 
 himself in the ranks of his followers, but whose faith like 
 that of the chaplain of Powderham Castle, was not so strong 
 as it ought to be, considering the undoubted authenticity 
 of the object from which it emanated. Meeting Sir Wil- 
 liam accidentally one day, the old soldier thus accosted 
 him ; " I suppose Sir William, it will not be long before 
 you remove all doubts, for they are springing up very fast 
 in some minds." 
 
 " I shall come out" said Sir William, with an uncommon 
 air of dignity, which he knew well how to assume, " when I 
 have fully accomplished my design, and I shall not come 
 out as a lamb that goeth to its pasture, but as a raging 
 thunderbolt. 
 
 " Ah ! exclaimed the soldier," lifting up both his hands, 
 
'268 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 struck with wonder and astonishment, "and crush all the 
 works of satan and his imps." 
 
 " Exactly so," said Sir William, and went on. 
 
 The answer, which Sir William gave to the soldier, was, 
 as might have been naturally expected, circulated through 
 all the lanes, alleys, streets and squares of the city of Can- 
 terbury, and a number of its wise inhabitants looked out 
 for the thunderbolt of Sir William Courtenay, from which 
 so great a benefit was to be derived, whilst others quaked 
 and trembled, for fear of its falling upon them, from an in- 
 ward consciousness that they had some connection with 
 the individual, whose actions it was destined to crush for 
 ever. 
 
 It was at this period that some of the venders of periodi- 
 cal publications were desirous of obtaining an interview 
 with Sir William, but for some reason they could not suc- 
 ceed. A Mr. Carr, however who was in the service of Mr. Hunt 
 of Burgate Street, was determined to obtain an interview, 
 and accordingly addressed the following note to him. 
 " SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, 
 
 " I should feel obliged to have an interview with you, to 
 lay before you some specimens of books and periodicals, 
 particularly the views of Devon and Cornwall. 
 
 " I remain, 
 " Your obedient, humble Servant, 
 
 " J. Carr," 
 
 'Bookseller, Broad Street, 
 " St. Paul's Canterbury." 
 
 This note was carried up to Sir William, by Thomas 
 Stroud, the waiter at the Rose Inn, and a verbal answer 
 was brought down, directing Mr. Carr, to be in attendance 
 at or before 1 o'clock.] 
 
 I i Mr. Carr was punctual to his appointment, but Sir Wil- 
 liam was just on the point of riding out, accompanied by 
 his two esquires, Messrs. Denne and Robinson ; he, how- 
 ever, bowed respectfully to Sir William, and informed him 
 
SIR WILLIAM COUBTENAY, K.M. 269 
 
 that he was the person, whom he had appointed to call 
 for the purpose of laying before him, some specimens of 
 books. 
 
 "True," said Sir William, and addressing himself to 
 Messrs. Denne and Robinson, he said, " we will not go out 
 to day, I must see this gentleman." 
 
 Accordingly, Sir William dismounted, and was followed 
 by the rest of the party into his sitting room. Mr. Carr 
 had at that time a scrap book in his bag, which he showed 
 Sir William, who appeared much pleased with it, and in- 
 quired the price ; on being answered that it was a sove- 
 reign, he turned to Mr. Denne, saying, " My dear George, 
 pay that gentleman a sovereign, and I will make you a 
 present of the book." 
 
 Mr. Denne as usual, expressed his sincere thanks to Sir 
 William, for his extreme kindness. 
 
 Mr. Carr had now good encouragement to proceed, and he 
 accordingly proceeded to lay before Sir William, a work con- 
 taining the views of Devon and Cornwall, and so good a tactician 
 was Mr. Carr, that he took care particularly to exhibit the 
 part which contained the view of Powderham Castle, the 
 seat of the earl of Devon. An unusual fire shot into the 
 eyes of Sir William, " There," he exclaimed, holding the 
 book out for the inspection of Messrs. Denne and Robin- 
 son, " there, you behold a view of my seat and park ; the 
 very place, my dear Robinson, which I have bequeathed to 
 you. I will take you down with me, and introduce you as 
 the heir. Turning to Mr. Carr, he said, "you will supply 
 me with the whole of the work when it is finished and my 
 good friend, Mr. George Denne, who has the management 
 of all my pecuniary matters, will pay you for them ;" and 
 Mr. Denne did in reality pay for them, in his capacity of 
 privy purse to the King of Jerusalem, to reimburse himself 
 on the arrival of the oyster barrels. 
 
 On another occasion, Mr. Carr took some other works to 
 
270 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 show Sir William, when he asked, " Were yon ever in 
 Devon or Cornwall?" 
 
 " I have been in both those counties in my younger 
 days," Mr. Carr answered. 
 
 " Were you ever on the north-west coast of Cornwall," 
 asked Sir William artfully ; Mr. Carr little suspecting the 
 drift of the question " I mean the vicinity of St. Colomb." 
 
 " I cannot recollect to have been in that part," said Mr. 
 Carr. 
 
 " Then," said Sir William^ " mention to me some places 
 and families, with whom you have transacted any business-" 
 
 Mr. Carr mentioned several of the noble and respectable 
 families, with whom he had transacted business, on which 
 Sir William exclaimed, " I am intimately acquainted with all 
 of them, and with some of them, I am closely allied by blood, 
 in fact, there are few of the most opulent families in that 
 part of England, who have not the honor of claiming an 
 alliance with me." "You appear to have travelled much, 
 Mr. Carr, and have seen a good deal of the world ? 
 
 * From the age of twelve," said Mr. Carr, " I have been 
 a traveller by land or sea." 
 
 " You are the very person 1 want," said Sir William, 
 " but in the first place, you must furnish me with a full 
 account of your life. When I return to the Holy Land, 
 after having obtained possession of my title and estates, 
 you shall accompany me as my chief interpreter, or in 
 some other important capacity, in the mean time I will 
 consider in what situation I can place you in my estab- 
 lishment; you are well acquainted with books, I suppose? 
 
 " To a certain degree Sir William," answered Mr Carr. 
 
 " I am informed," said Sir William, " that the library at 
 Powderham Castle is in great disorder ; you shall go down 
 there immediately, and put the books in order. I suppose 
 you know how to arrange a library ; little books at top and 
 big books at bottom." 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.IM. 27 1 
 
 " Certainly Sir William," said Mr. Carr, " that's the way 
 to arrange a library." 
 
 " I intend to become a Biblopologist" said Sir William, for 
 " I believe it is now fashionable to collect old books. 1 will 
 have your life printed, at the same time* with the grand 
 work which I have written, and which will place me in the 
 first rank of the authors of the present day. I have been 
 told that a noble author and a fool are almost synonymous, 
 but I will prove to the contrary. Now, Carr, you may 
 retire, I will issue my orders, that you be admitted without 
 any further ceremony, whenever you call you will lose no 
 time in furnishing me with an account of your life/' 
 
 Mr. Carr accordingly took his leave, and we certainly 
 cannot compliment him highly for the resolution which he 
 took of writing an account of his life, on the suggestion of 
 a man, whom he himself, denounced to be either an 
 enthusiast or a lunatic. But perhaps a little personal 
 interest was mingled with the resolution, and as such it 
 might have been pardonable. 
 
 The account of his life being completed, Mr. Carr .re- 
 paired to the Rose Inn, to deliver it into the hands of Sir 
 William, who after he received it, informed Mr. Carr that 
 he should hold it as sacred. At this interview, Mr. Carr 
 was interrupted in his conversation with Sir William by the 
 entrance of Mr. Francis, and another gentleman, having 
 with them a little boy. He showed them some of the 
 views of Devon, and particularly a sea- view, which Mr. 
 Carr believed to be Topsham, " Here," said he to Mr. 
 Francis " here it is where my three yachts used to be sail- 
 ing about, and 1 was the commodore of this little fleet. I 
 had the honor of attending upon his Majesty George the 
 Fourth, on his excursion to Ireland." He had scarcely 
 finished these words, when he put a gold lace belt on the 
 little boy, and desiring all the company to rise, he pro- 
 ceeded with all due formality to dub the wondering boy a 
 Knight [of the Holy Order of Malta, promising that he 
 
272 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 would obtain the necessary insignia from the superior of the 
 order with all possible despatch. 
 
 On dismissing Mr. Carr from his presence, he informed 
 him, that he wished to see him on the following day, as he 
 had something of considerable importance, to communicate 
 to him. Mr. Carr was punctual to the appointment, 
 surmising perhaps that it had some reference to an order 
 for some books, or perhaps to his immediate occupation of the 
 office of librarian at Powderham Castle. On entering the 
 room, where Sir William was sitting, he informed him that 
 he had appointed the present interview, for the purpose of 
 imparting to him an historical account of the manner in 
 which the different swords, which were then lying on the 
 table, came into his possession. " In the first place, Mr. 
 Carr," said Sir William. " I must inform you, that this 
 sabre was presented to me by the family of Sir J. Honey- 
 wood, whose name I bear, and to whom I am very closely 
 allied by blood. The history of this sabre, is attended 
 with some most extraordinary circumstances, bordering 
 strongly on the marvellous, in fact, it is strongly suspected 
 to be the enchanted sword of Ronaldo, with which he, 
 as I dare say, you know, chopped off fifty heads at one 
 blow" 
 
 Mr. Carr, by a significant nod, gave Sir William to 
 understand, that he was well aware of the fact. 
 
 " This steel dress sword," continued Sir William, u once 
 belonged to the Percy family, but the manner in which it 
 came into my possession, is a secret, which I am bound not 
 to disclose. It was, however, placed in my hands, as a 
 proof of my alliance with that family, of which, I dare say, 
 Mr. Carr, you never heard any person express a doubt." 
 
 " Certainly not," said Mr. Carre 
 
 " This scymitar," said Sir William, " is to me the most 
 valuable of all my instruments of war. It was presented to 
 me by one of the pachas of Egypt, when I was in that coun- 
 try, for some very important services which I rendered him, 
 
STIl WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 273 
 
 and the whole account of which I will one day narrate to 
 you. This dirk was given to me, when I was made Knight 
 of Malta, and I am sworn to use it in defence of the oppres- 
 sed, and for the protection of female innocence ; therefore 
 Mr. Carr, should you hear of any fair lady, who stands in 
 need of a champion, to redress an insult that has been of- 
 fered to her virtue, refer her to me, and the dirk of the 
 Knight of Malta, shall drink deep of the villain's blood. 
 Now Mr. Carr, you may retire, and 1 will do you the honor, 
 of calling upon you soon at your abode, and examining your 
 books no doubt but I shall be a considerable purchaser." 
 
 Mr. Carr accordingly did retire, and we make no douBt, 
 that as he perambulated the streets of Canterbury, from the 
 Rose Inn to Broad Street St. Paul's, some strong surmises 
 must have crept into his mind, that my Lord of Dev.on came 
 under that description of men, who are not mad enough to 
 be put under restraint, but still so decidedly mad on certain 
 points, as to be totally undeserving of any trust or confidence. 
 
 We must now introduce Sir William Courtenay in another 
 important character, viz., in that of an author. It had been 
 known for some time, that he had a printing press in one of 
 the unoccupied rooms of one of the outhouses of the Rose 
 Inn, and nothwithstanding all the vigilance to prevent it, 
 the secret " crept out through the dark cranny of the night/ 7 
 that the thunderbolt of which he had formerly spoken, was 
 to burst upon the people in the shape of a weekly publica- 
 tion, which he called the ''Lion," and by which the veil was to 
 torn away, which had hitherto concealed the face of truth 
 from the benighted millions of the British people. 
 
 The anxiety of the people of Canterbury was unbounded 
 to peruse the lucubrations of the Knight of Malta, and one 
 morning it was satisfied by the appearance of the following 
 first number, of 
 
 "THE LION." 
 
 12. 2 N 
 
274 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY'S WEEKLY PUBLICATION, 
 
 "THE LION." 
 
 THE BRITISH LION WILL BE FREE. 
 
 Heaven is his Throne, and the Earth his footstool, 
 
 He spake and it was done, he commanded and it stood fast, 
 
 Liberty Truth bears off the Victory Independence. 
 
 PRINTED AND DECLARED BY SIR \V. COURTEXAY, K.M. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 We should, in proper respect to our readers, and the sup- 
 porters of truth in general, give in the first number of our 
 Review, the fundamental principles which will for ever guide 
 our public characters and private virtue. There is in pre- 
 suming to become writers for the people of any nation, a 
 duty which must at all times be acted upon faithfully but 
 fearlessly, that all ranks of society may have justice done 
 them. Scurrility and personal abuse we feel ourselves far 
 above, for in all questions of little or great importance if it 
 be the truth that we support, there is no need of scandal or 
 blasphemous reference to assist us. Our endeavours will at 
 all times be directed to the first causes of religion and 
 politics, tracing from eternity the design of an all-powerful 
 Creator in producing visible and sensible objects, the favo- 
 rite creature which is man. It is impossible for any true 
 philosopher to separate God from nature, his omnipresence 
 being a certain position which no power can contradict. As 
 such then we advocate, that in purity the doctrines of a 
 people's worship must be kept to the full letter of his tenet, 
 and the healthy state of public affairs must follow, as an 
 effect produced from so good a foundation. 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 275 
 
 To persecute, by unjust and unmanly aspersions, a true 
 and just cause, is the sure way to raise the truth of any 
 object or subject the higher. For as truth is such a power- 
 ful agency in nature, being no less than the great universal 
 Elohim himself, in his first qualification, to attempt to per- 
 vert or conquer this power, would be for ever to kick against 
 the pricks. We have no other object in view but the cause 
 of all good, to make mankind happy ; and how can we ever 
 attain this desired haven, unless we plant the root of Jesse, 
 which the cross bears so bold a witness to. The standard 
 of true liberty erected by the infinite wisdom of an omnipo- 
 tent Creator. Whilst we support the temple of the body, 
 as the only true seat of the living God, and in the course of 
 our weekly publication, clearly demonstrate that the heart 
 of man is the true source and fountain of his happiness, so 
 we shall strictly adhere to the Christian doctrines of its im- 
 mortal Melchizedec, so theologically and philosophically laid 
 down by the apostle Paul. 
 
 In the course of our advancement on the universal per- 
 sonality of the first cause of creation, and in following the 
 church -establishments of the different nations since the 
 foundation of the world, do not think that we desire to sup- 
 port bricks and mortar at the expence of an impoverished 
 and groaning population, or to keep ourselves like the 
 priestcraft of all ages, merely to terrify the consciences of 
 our fellow creatures, that their bodies and purses become 
 the easier prey. No, we take our stand in argument and 
 Christian philosophy upon the rights of man, that all living 
 beings have the undeniable right to exercise the will of their 
 own heart, as directed by the consciousness of doing what 
 is to the best of their belief, just in the sight of God and 
 man. The poor. are the great sufferers in every age of 
 the world"; but does poverty abrogate the liberty of the 
 subject? God forbid. 
 
 It is to this class from which all bessings flow to those 
 above them. It is to the poor labourer arid working me- 
 
276 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 chanic, who are the real riches of a country, and never 
 more so than when virtue and morality are the companions 
 of their daily toil. It is useless for the upper classes of 
 society to pre-suppose that this review of the present dis- 
 tresses and causes of such distress of our native land ever 
 wish, by democratic language or popular declamations, to 
 win the hearts of the people ; they have no such selfish or 
 sordid motive in view. The people are the true supporters 
 of the throne, much less the high birth of some provincial 
 districts. We come before the public as children of liberty, 
 independent of the air we breath, and never shall the fangs 
 of atheistical slavery of the old dragon, or the party spirit of 
 Tory or Whig principle, pollute the columns of our humble 
 Review. While we address the public of the United King- 
 dom in the cause of liberty upon Christian principle; while 
 we firmly support equal laws and equal rights for the poor 
 as well [as the rich, that every man may claim protection, 
 according to that state of life in which he is born. We 
 trust that our labour in so heavenly a cause will be crowned 
 with success. The liberty of Englishmen. Our basis 
 being taken upon truth, in which is no mistake, we shall 
 firmly direct our attention to the roots of all present immo- 
 rality and crimes of England, Ireland, and Scotland, trace 
 them to the fountain head, and clearly prove this fact, that 
 fault is not in the actual pepetration against his fellow crea- 
 ture, but those men who, from corrupt causes in the church 
 produce such inhumane and unheard of crimes in the 
 people. It is generally the practice of all publications to 
 assume the character of liberal principles, and this only 
 with a view to a great sale, or to support party, they hold 
 out any trash to mislead an ill-governed people, and the 
 greater the abuse and scurrillity, interspersed with direct 
 falseholds, a better place is appropriated to it in their 
 journal. The real interest of a much injured nation is 
 never thought of, party spirit or to please the people is 
 their only aim, and having a great sale, and a long mass of 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K. M. 277 
 
 falsehood, their mischief is complete, not so with us, we 
 have only one direct object to which we fondly attach our- 
 selves, the exaltation of Christ, riot by Popish superstition, 
 or selfish bigotry, but as the only antidote to misery, and 
 the only road to a nation's glory and happiness. 
 
 In the pursuit of this direct object, we shall from time to 
 time open to our reader's minds, the gospel being the 
 source of all truth, from the faith therein promulgated, 
 right reason flows to direct politics, or the true rights of 
 man. It is useless to write for the public good, unless the 
 cause is stripped of all self, and founded on truth. Wisdom 
 then has a foundation to do her perfect work, but where 
 there is the least particle of selfish motive, no man can ever 
 by his word, writings, or deed, do the public at large any 
 real good. 
 
 We shall take a direct opposite course to any public 
 Magazine, Review, or Conservative, now in print, we shall 
 never study the public taste, to please like a French cooked 
 fricassee, but rather with truth in our foreheads, serve the 
 public with roast beef and plum pudding. Englishmen 
 have in their blood, those materials of creation by the 
 which they are enabled to live under authority, as all powers 
 that are ordained of God. The throne of England is the 
 source of all power, and its perogatives shall ever by our 
 publication be loyally supported. But should that throne 
 forget what is due to itself and its vast authority, the peo- 
 ple, which is the strength and power of all nations, must 
 for their own prosperity, rally around it, demand their 
 liberties and just rights, and firmly claim them; but never 
 suffer their Sovereign to be ill- used or hen-pecked by de- 
 signing party spirits, to suit their own sordid views over a 
 liberal people. 
 
 It is impossible for any power in Christendom to have or 
 stand upon a republican form of government, such as the 
 tyrant Buonaparte and the wily Talleyrand wanted, under 
 their atheistical and infidel principle to plant, this feeling 
 
278 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 of liberty in the minds of men is quite opposite to the go- 
 vernment of Christianity, established near two thousand 
 years; therefore, whoever supposes that the liberties of 
 England, or any other part where Christianity is established 
 can ever be obtained by a republican form of government, 
 they are indulging in an impossibility, a chimera of ideas, 
 like the Pope of Rome, when he thought himself the 
 Saviour of the world, Being thus fortified upon that rock 
 of Jerusalem, which will never desert us, we shall always 
 be found the foremost in supporting our king and country, 
 according to the faith of our forefathers, the heroes of 
 Magna Charta. It is evident from the present state of 
 society, in the upper classes, the impossibility of an honest 
 tradesman to have a just remuneration for his capital, and 
 the great distress of the working and labouring classes, 
 having no demand for their two hands, that the prosperity 
 of our country is fast departing from us. 
 
 To save England from blood and revolution is an object 
 worthy her children, and when we come forward to support 
 by our humble efforts, as Englishmen, the true interests 
 and welfare of the different classes, into which she is most 
 unfortunately divided, when we respectfully but firmly open 
 her real causes of complaint of the lower orders most es- 
 pecially, we maintain that by this line of open argument 
 and public investigation, they are the true adherents of our 
 Monarch, our liberties, and our future prosperity. Is it 
 not far better to come before the public in time, to save the 
 unprotected and innocent female ? 
 
 Is it not better for those who have so long had the riches 
 and overflowing tables of a bountiful Providence, to remit 
 a portion of those blessings to the suffering poor, which 
 meet their eye at every corner of Canterbury streets? 
 Rather say this position of our Review is the only truth of 
 philosophy, which instead of real injury or exposure of the 
 upper ranks, would save them from that inevitable ruin, 
 which their own ignorant state of the population of the 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 279 
 
 United Kingdom are now reduced, and which their own 
 imbecile and short sightedness bring upon themselves. 
 
 It is but too often the case, that when an individual is 
 by a sincere and disinterested friend advised to act in ac- 
 cordance to his best interests, that he spurns the opinion 
 with sovereign contempt, but should another specious and 
 persuasive character come with his soothing syrup to please, 
 this, being more suitable to the taste, takes immediately, 
 so it is'the case with public bodies, if any individual or in- 
 dividuals come boldly before their country, and serve them 
 with fidelity, instead of pleasing them with French bows 
 and Italian scrapes, such faithful stewards are but too 
 likely the objects of unjust calumny and unmerited asper- 
 sions. 
 
 Such being from our experience, and which all lovers of 
 truth must acknowledge, the practice of the present age, 
 we shall ever support those objects and subjects only which 
 will really produce unity among the people, and loyalty to 
 the throne. 
 
 The liberty of the press of England is a privilege which 
 ought to be 'rightly applied, not to become the vehicle 
 through which our monarchy should be upset, our land 
 taken from us, and direct falsehood propagated, but rather 
 the means to convey truth alone to the people, and justice 
 to the oppressed, The press, by pursuing the paths of 
 party spirit, colouring every positive fact to suit their own 
 sordid and selfish views, will bring down destruction upon 
 their own heads, and ruin to their establishments , and we 
 would here advise that press, which have now so much 
 power over a brave people, never to deviate from their ob- 
 ject. Let them direct all their native genius and talent to 
 the truth alone, study to exalt in their columns measures 
 and not men ; then by divesting themselves of selfish and 
 party motives, the truth of Englishmen's liberty and Briton's 
 rights, will soon be the reward of a united press. 
 
280 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 THE BRITISH LION WILL BE FREE. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 Heaven is his Throne, and the Earth his Footstool ! 
 He spake and it was done, he commanded and it stood fast. 
 Truth bears off the Victory Independence. 
 
 Printed and published by George Frederick Hills, for Sir William Courte- 
 
 nay, K.M. 
 
 INTRODUCTION CONTINUED. 
 
 There is no surer way of bringing down one of the 
 greatest blessings of a Christian country, that of the perfect 
 liberty of the press, than by issuing through that press 
 merely to please a supposed friend, or annual subscriber, 
 any personal abuse, or contrived falsehood. It is necessary 
 that all men should live by their profession, but when that 
 profession is propped up by gross perversions of the truth, 
 how long do such principles of conduct last our answer 
 is, better for the real interests of the press itself, were it 
 to print one half of its subjects condensed into sound 
 principles of opinion and reason, firmly support truth and 
 independence alone, search out the first causes of abuse 
 and not admit every villifying and false imposition upon 
 their credulity. If it be necessary to fill up the columns 
 with ill-gotten subjects, merely for the quantity of its read- 
 ing, it will never attain that for which printing was de- 
 signed, the real interests of society at large for as the 
 readers of any public journal find out the direct falsehood 
 conveyed through their columns, so most undoubtedly, a 
 native of England's soil drops his support, and so will go 
 down a publication, which if otherwise conducted, might 
 have done service to their God, King, and Country. 
 
 We have long considered, that upon the liberty of 
 England's press is suspended the future happiness of man- 
 kind throughout the world, and should any legislative 
 
Sill WILLIAM COUHTENAY, K.M. 281 
 
 enactment abrogate or lessen this powerful means of con- 
 veying truth and justice, away will go every principle of 
 Christian liberty and the just rights of man. There is no- 
 thing that can injure any free government more than by 
 prosecuting any publication, however strong their opinion 
 is expressed. Should government attack every newspaper 
 offender, the lawyers might now have nothing else to do, 
 and nothing, which experience has fully proved, will sooner 
 destroy confidence in a government more than ciushing and 
 being afraid of the press. If the government of a country 
 is rightly, and for the welfare of the people at large, truly 
 carried on for the benefit of all, what have they to fear ? 
 No sponer is an editor of a newspaper prosecuted, than the 
 people immediately suspect government of something wrong, 
 and the real state of the result is, that instead of suppress- 
 ing the machine for which they prosecute, they undermine 
 their very power, the hearts of the people. But while we 
 condemn the slavish and Mahomet-like tyranny of any 
 power, governing by brutal force, let us direct all public 
 writers never to depart from respectful, but firm prin- 
 ciples, to maintain their liberty emanating from a Christian 
 land. 
 
 Truth alone should ever be the pursuit of any reporter 
 editor, or printer ; in this practice, he will find a reward in 
 his own bosom, and public gratitude from a generous 
 public. But should he, on the contrary, publish either 
 from gross neglect in his regular correspondent, or a wilful, 
 misconstruction of positive facts, to suit party spirit, or 
 private resentment, the press at large acting thus, will bring 
 destruction to themselves and ruination to their readers. 
 It will be our province most especially to watch over the 
 flock of Christ in these perilous times, that when the wolf 
 comes, in all his venomous attacks, they may have some 
 one to whom they can fly for refuge which flock are the 
 publicans and sinners, for them he died, and while our mo- 
 12, 2o 
 
282 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 tives from the heart be good, we care but little for Satan, 
 or all his deep contrived plans, to enslave our minds and 
 our bodies, in the pursuit of conscious rectitude and rights 
 of man. We lay it down for our readers, not to suppose 
 that in any of our future comments on the corruption either 
 of Church or State, that we attack either the mother church 
 or any other dissenting minister individually, for we consider 
 not the name, but the substance Being in all things unto 
 all men Doing good to all. 
 
 Our weekly publication will be issued regularly on 
 Saturdays, that the poor, especially, may have an opportu- 
 nity to read on the Sunday, as it will ever contain that 
 direction for the lower orders of society, so necessary in 
 these eventful times. Agents will be appointed in all the 
 neighbouring towns and villages, to deliver them at two- 
 pence each and after the expences of printing, paper, and 
 house-rent are discharged, the overplus will by a discreet 
 hand, be given away to the distre v ssed widow, orphan, and 
 poor of the land. We shall be the first to support the 
 agricultural interest, as the first grand cause of any nation's 
 prosperity pointing out, as we proceed weekly, the most 
 profitable and advantageous method of farming, breeding, 
 and comforts of life. The cottager will find also in our 
 review, food for his mind, which for his homely habitation, 
 will bring balm to an impoverished family. We hold the 
 mind to be the cause of all disease, and shall, by the bless- 
 ing of Almighty God, apply under his guidance, such 
 remedies as will suit every class or rank ; all will from us 
 gain something towards their happiness. 
 
 From week to week we shall treat of the different trades, 
 and shopkeepers in general, shewing the state to which they 
 are reduced by a mismanagement of the public purse, and 
 a wrong application of the excessive taxation to which they 
 are called upon to pay. Our great object being to shew 
 that Agriculture, if it be properly and nationally encouraged, 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 283 
 
 is the true and only source of a nation's prosperity, and that 
 commerce must fall as a good leader. 
 
 AGRICULTURAL INTEREST IS THE ONLY PRIME CAUSE OF 
 
 A NATION'S PROSPERITY. 
 
 The soil of our land, commonly called the earth. Bear- 
 ing this always in our view, the more encouragement we 
 give the cultivators of the earth, the higher we keep good 
 the first cause ; for if there be any principle or power of 
 government, or any burthens put upon the farmer that he 
 cannot bear, the sooner those dead weights are removed 
 the better, for every cla?s must live one by another. The 
 real causes which produce the present reduced and alarm- 
 ing state of the agricultural interest, should be by every 
 thinking person, carefully examined, and while we attempt 
 to go into the principal cause, we trust the Almighty will 
 open the minds of all those who wish well to their country, 
 and the public in general, that they may see to what a state 
 party spirit have brought themselves to. We must be per- 
 mitted to lead our readers back so far as the year 1797 ; it 
 was at this time the immortal Wm. Pitt restricted the 
 Batik of England from paying off their notes in gold thus 
 a one pound note and a shilling were taken in payment 
 equal to a guinea ; and while here, we must inform the 
 public, that if Mr. Pitt had not resorted to this system of 
 credit to withstand Buonaparte, England and all her sons 
 must eventually have become that tyrant's subjects. In 
 the defence of Wm. Pitt's liberal and patiiotic mind, we 
 shall in a future publication, fully prove, however Eldon, Peel, 
 or Wellington, may presume to come under the same party, 
 yet how different their sterling qualities to that of the 
 virtuous Pitt. To return to our subject When one 
 pound notes, which were so readily made by the Bank of 
 England, began so numerously to circulate, a stimulus was 
 immediately felt by the whole nation, and as money became 
 
284 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 plentiful, so the demand for the farmer's produce increased 
 in the like proportion; thus every species of property 
 began to rise in value upon credit, on the common faith of 
 the country between man and man. The land-holder and 
 tithe- procter, who were never backward in their demands, 
 also kept pace with their rents and tithes, until the peace 
 in the year 1816, and at this time England, in appearance, 
 was at her highest national prosperity, so far as regards 
 a circulating medium. From this year we shall have to 
 descend to the present a period of momentous crisis, not 
 only to England, but to the whole race of mankind. In 
 the year 1816 peace was declared, and England, from the 
 neglect and personal ambition of Castlereagh, lost many of 
 her best conquests, was also left with a debt of eight hun- 
 dred millions of money, which the interest of amounted to 
 fifty millions annually. The stock jobbing business of the 
 Bank of England, in 1816. is a sufficient example how the 
 national debt arose to such an enormous sum ; but more of 
 these corporation jobs another time. The farmer had 
 every reason to live and enjoy himself, according to his 
 income during the war, (and a fool if he did not) now 
 we would stop here and ask the farmer one simple ques- 
 tion from what source did he derive the income to live 
 in such splendour ? we answer boldly and positively, and 
 once for all, not from the landlord or parson, but from the 
 working classes and poor of the land. Here is the consu- 
 mer of his produce, these are the people who are now 
 obliged from necessity to enter the poor's house, or to re- 
 main unemployed ; and until the voice of the people, which 
 is the voice of God, be attended to, not in word, but in 
 deed, no relief will ever come to the agricultural interest. 
 The landed proprietors and tithe proctors obtaining such 
 high rents and tithes, stood on tolerably comfortable 
 until the year 1825, here was a change unparalleled in 
 the history of all the world just after this a bill was 
 brought into parliament, styled Peel's Bill, to pay off in 
 
SIH WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 285 
 
 gold a debt that was rose upon credit never was such a 
 piece of folly and ignorance combined in one instrument to 
 destroy confidence among the people, and destruction to 
 the agricultural and commercial interests. The freeholder 
 grinding down the farmer from rents; the rector cleaving 
 to the loaves and fishes ; and the poor having no money to 
 consume the farmer's produce ; he stands as it were sus- 
 pended on a gibbet, with his rnind harassed how to raise 
 his poor's rates, rent, and tithes, with scarcely money to 
 discharge the labourer's wages of a Saturday night, having 
 no demand for his production, the farmer's capital is daily 
 going from him : and never can any ministry or govern- 
 ment retrieve their unfortunate state, unless they can 
 create a demand for labour, the poor of the land, being the 
 real strength of a nation, thus the farmer, tradesman, and 
 all those who hold in their hands the representation of their 
 country, if they would only hear in time the voice of a 
 powerful people, speaking a long time patiently, and repre- 
 sent them, instead of the landlord and tithe-holder, England 
 would again be herself. Better would it be for the United 
 Kingdom, if twelve honest tradesmen, twelve honest farmers, 
 and twelve poor labourers were elected to serve their coun- 
 try, rather than the present ignorant house of commons, 
 which is a mock parliament, not being the voice of the 
 people. Whatever Whig or Tory may say the present 
 state of the country fully shews the truth of our argument, 
 that unless the tithes are wholly given up, rents brought 
 down to a standard value, taxation borne by those who 
 have the property to pay it, England must go to a revolu- 
 tion, then Sir William Courtenay will in his relative value 
 be credited the people must be heard when justice de- 
 mands it, and when were the wants of any people so great 
 as the present. For a country to prosper, the working 
 classes can never have too good wages ; they are the con- 
 sumers to raise the taxes, and circulate their money, and 
 the more trade and labour are called for, the better state 
 
286 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 are all the upper classes. We do not lay any blame on the 
 farmer, being brought into this dilemma, but to those de- 
 signing men who have, for their own selfish views> imposed 
 on their credulity and generosity. 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 Truth bears off the Victory," 
 Printed and published every Saturday by Elijah Lazarus Canterbury. 
 
 FAITH. 
 " All which is not of Faith, is Sin." St. Paul. 
 
 We would premise our short treatise upon the above 
 words relative to the Jews In all our writings and say- 
 ings, we must ever be considered as excepting and reser- 
 ving this nation as a chosen and peculiar people to serve 
 the living God, and to remain under the law of Moses, 
 until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, The fathers 
 of the Jewish nation were at Mount Sinai when the law 
 was delivered, and it is the birthright and inheritance of 
 their children to remain subject and firm to Moses and the 
 Ten Commandments, and to one united God. Hear, Oh 
 Israel, the Lord our God is one. While we permit the 
 Jews to be deists, and live under the law, being expressly 
 given to them for that purpose, we shall also shew that no 
 other people dare rob them of their birthright or be deists, 
 and that the Jewish belief in one undivided God is the full 
 confirmation of the Christian's hope in one undivided God, 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, he is the Lord, he is God. Faith 
 in all doctrines is the object of things not seen, it is a prin- 
 ciple of life and animation, to which no limits are set 
 without this powerful agency in man, he becomes less than 
 an animal, a spiritless being caring little about his present 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 287 
 
 or future state of existence, with it he subdues all difficul- 
 ties and opposition, remains firm to his word and first prin- 
 ciples, a man in true faith is fixed and determined, never 
 deviates from expediency, or recants his opinions, unalter- 
 able by friend or foe, a hero in the field, and an angel in 
 the cabinet. We will first investigate what this faith is we 
 so much extol, shew the difference of character it assumes 
 as a governing principle in man possessed of it, and a man 
 without it. From the age of creation to the present day, 
 all men have been searching out first causes of existence, 
 without any one step further as to positive certainty. 
 Philosophical institutions have been formed, chemical ope- 
 rations daily undergo new trials, and Galvanic batteries re- 
 sorted to, as means to resusciate nature, and find out first 
 causes ; all these are spurious, weak attempts of man, and 
 will never attain their object ; being all done and performed 
 by man's invention, without faith in the first cause that 
 produced natural objects thus men who strive to attain 
 knowledge by their works fail in all their undertakings so 
 to do, while others who possess true faith, and trust simply 
 upon the confidence that faith inspires the soul with, attain 
 a knowledge of first causes without any trouble or search- 
 ing for. It was the design of an all-supreme Deity, in his 
 formation of man, to establish a method or rather set up an 
 object of faith, whereby man in his perfect obedience to that 
 object, should receive wisdom how to govern himself, and 
 be respected by all those around him. This faith being 
 worth inestimable treasures, it is necessary to go into its 
 very source and foundation. When Adam was first created, 
 he was perfect in his moral character, being in all things 
 pure and innocent ; his fall by disobedience so offended the 
 author of his existence, as to bring death into the world, and 
 all the miseries of the present day. The Supreme Being, 
 in the first creation of his son Adam, as nature's child, 
 caused him to fall by trusting to his own will and strength ; 
 having in his first trial upon this earth failed to stand the 
 
288 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 test of his Creator, he was again born the son of God as 
 Jesus, the second Adam, the Lord God of Heaven. The 
 justice of God is in the creation of Adam, his first born, 
 who brought sin into the world most fully shown to man, 
 for as Adam the first was the cause of disease, so he did 
 wring out upon the second Adam, the Lord Jesus, all that 
 retribution which is due to the offended Deity. Our readers 
 should always bare in mind that the human nature of Jesus 
 was in form, size, height, and bodily appearance, to the 
 very tittle of the creation, as Adam the first when made, 
 being a perfect moral image hence the first and second 
 Adam were both children of conception, not generation. 
 From eternity the great Elohim had detrmined that one 
 man should be the object and the rock of salvation to which 
 all others should look to ; and as this personage was to be 
 so illustrious and exalted a character, it was necessary and 
 according to infinite wisdom, that his birth and life should 
 be suitable to his future pretensions : being in all things 
 fashioned like other men, sin only excepted he was made 
 perfect through faith, obedience, and sufferings, that we 
 might the more rely on his word and works. It is the inten- 
 tion of baptism to introduce the infant into the simple be- 
 lief, that Christ was God, perfect in his deity, and perfect 
 in his humanity impressed with this national faith of Eng- 
 lishmen, all who admit the divinity of our Saviour are, al- 
 though the greatest sinners, denominated Christians, but all 
 who deny the attribute of his personality (Jews excepted) are 
 professed infidels, being no better than Mahometans. 
 
 We shall always be necessitated to speak and write thus 
 strongly in defence of truth, as this position of the Deity, as 
 setting up by figures and types from eternity, the Lord Jesus 
 as our only object of faith, so fi we in our hearts make this 
 object the first love in our bosom, wisdom is given unto us not 
 only to direct our own mortal bodies, but this reason which 
 is the effect of this faith, will give us the very truth of all 
 political and philosophical subjects. It is one of the greatest 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M, 289 
 
 proofs of the divinity of our Saviour, that all men who 
 have once tasted of this spirit of Christ, never alter in 
 the opinions or firmness of purpose that such a powerful 
 influence creates over the mind of man, but it is not all who 
 call themselves Christians, believe upon the Godhead of 
 Christ, that are really so. No man dare call himself a 
 Christian who condemns another 'judge not for ye shall be 
 judged/ We have before mentioned, that nominally all men 
 or women who admit the divinity in the second person of 
 the Godhead (Jews excepted) are included in our common 
 belief, now it is the duty of all natural born Christians (by 
 name only) to attend to the right means of obtaining the 
 truth, that is to wait upon the Lord, to see as a mortal 
 being, whether he will open your mind to see the truth of 
 his gospel. Being in a state of nature we cannot compre- 
 hend by natural reason right from wrong, there is no attain- 
 ing as worldly wisemen, loving gold and silver, that truth 
 upon any subject, which all men are or ought to adhere. As 
 the Deity in his infinite wisdom, has thought proper to 
 make Christ the only object of love, adoration, and prayer, 
 so all men, being the creatures of his formation, ought 
 submissively to bow down before that object, and rely simp- 
 ly by faith upon him although we so strenuously advocate 
 and exalt the blessed Redeemer as the only object of faith, 
 or trust for man and woman to love in their hearts, yet will 
 we with that Christian charity, so essential and necessary to 
 shew the fruit of faith, willingly permit civil and religious 
 liberty throughout the world. It is with us in all .our future 
 writings to be considered, the higher a man is in the faith 
 of truth, the higher is he in sound reasoning, politics, and 
 morality, but while we admit and still endeavour to shew, 
 that Christ is the only object of faith set up by the God of 
 Israel, so we shall ever consider sound politics, reason, and 
 morality, only the sure criterion, as the effect of our faith in 
 truth-r-not the object. 
 
 13, p 
 
290 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 No man must ever presume to condemn another man's reli- 
 gion violently, let men reason together, for we have before 
 said, that any man who possesses the greatest knowledge of 
 a Deity by faith alone, must, as the effect of that faith in 
 truth, have more reason in truth to put down all his ene- 
 mies, truth bearing off the victory in the field or cabinet 
 whether as a warrior, minister, or statesman. However 
 truth may be persecuted for a time, however oppressed its ad- 
 vocates may be driven by the darkness of natural men. It is 
 sure to raise its head triumphant, even as Luther over the 
 foul crimes of Popish superstition, and the reformation of the 
 present age over the corruption of a polluted hierarchy and 
 corrupt oligarths. The next argument that we will bring 
 forward to plant the standard of liberty by faith alone up- 
 on Christ, its object shall be to illustrate who is, and who 
 is not, his ministry. While we are in this place, we would 
 stop and respectfully ask the reader for what does he go to 
 a place of worship ? no doubt he will answer to hear the 
 truth spoken. If then you go to obtain so desirable an 
 object, we should be most happy to know, by any com- 
 munication to us, where to hear it, that we may accompany 
 you ; for we have searched and attended, but never yet 
 heard a gospel minister exalt that master, under whose 
 cloke his selfish aggrandizement is obliged to take refuge. 
 Who is a gospel minister? We answer all who preach the 
 truth, divided only into two separations sin the cause of 
 all disease, and Christ the only remedy. We are now going 
 to lay down positive foundations, how to ascertain this fact, 
 whether a minister is possessed of the mind of Christ, or 
 whether the mind of Satan. Beware, reader, of appearances - 
 in the pulpit, under the covering of a black gown and white 
 frills ; Satan's ministers often deceive their hearers into 
 blind security, to obtain that filthy lucre, so much the 
 object of our present church and state. If any minister who 
 preaches in the pulpit, or professes to hold forth Christ, and 
 
SIR WILLIAM COUR'i'ENAY, K.3VI. 291 
 
 takes money for such a calling, it is impossible for that man 
 to have the truth in him ; for if any man is an instrument 
 in the hands of an Almighty God, that same spirit which 
 called him to that sacred office, can raise up the means 
 without begging at the meeting door to justify his chosen 
 servant, or making the poor man's sweat of his daily toil, 
 carry a tithe-pig to a pensioned rector. We do not desire 
 to hold up any minister or any individual to ridicule, but 
 we wish for the right horse to wear the right saddle and 
 until we find a minister who holds forth from his pulpit 
 that Saviour alone, as the antidote to misery and destruc- 
 tion, we shall ever consider him as a ruin to a country's 
 doctrine, and destruction to the Church of Christ. If 
 Christ be truth, why make the pockets of any man pay for 
 truth ? It is a sure and certain argument, that when men 
 take money for this inestimable treasure, it cannot, it is 
 not, from Christ, but from Satan, under the mantle of Jesus. 
 Men deceive themselves, neither do we personally or col- 
 lectively blame any man or minister, but we say, for our 
 Christ's sake, let them not fancy or conceive that they are 
 appointed by Christ, or his spirit, if they by any direct or 
 indirect way take any fee or reward for such preaching. 
 God forbid that the example of the Apostle Paul, who 
 possessed the very mind of our Saviour, should not be 
 attended to as a pattern for the ministry. He laboured with 
 his own two hands to maintain his body, delivering the 
 gospel without money or price, go ye professing ministers 
 of the present day, do like Paul did, deliver the truth -as 
 your master bid ye, without money or without scrip in 
 your pockets, and the result would be, not the present dis- 
 grace of so heavenly a structure, bought with no less a 
 price than the blood of the Son of God ; but the temple 
 of the body, the heart of man, would be the seat of the 
 living Elohim. Secondly, we will shew that all Christians 
 in purity, having wisdom from above, must live by faith 
 alone, for all which is not of faith, is sin. 
 
THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 When a man gains a battle, we call it a victory over our 
 enemies, so it is the case with a Christian, his triumph is 
 always in Christ by faith living upon this truth, we shall 
 ever go on conquering and to conquer hope is the anchor 
 of the soul both sure and stedfast, in this we have a cer- 
 tainty, but without Christ being God, where is this rock of 
 protection ? in the humanity of Christ there is no hope, it 
 is centered in his divinity alone, as the anchor for all the 
 followers of the cross now all who really are ki the mystic 
 body of Christ, must have that God-like attribute charity 
 of which we must direct every Christian to judge for him- 
 self not being biassed by Satan's minsters or hypocritical 
 professors of Christianity. If from faith, which is the cause 
 of all things, we live in hope, so we must have charity to 
 shew it forth to the world. Every tree is known by its 
 fruit. Paul says, that charity believeth all things, is never 
 puffed up, <humble--so was the life of our Lord, he visited 
 only with the poor, the very lost sheep of Israel, always 
 kept the company of publicans and sinners, treated the self- 
 righteous and rich man with the utmost contempt, saying 
 " Verily it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a 
 needle, than for a rich man to enter the gates of heaven," 
 this era is fast approaching, and woe be to those men who 
 have been working the poor to starvation, and crushing the 
 liberties of Christianity, to fill their coffers with ill-gotten 
 wealth. Charity is not in its highest sense the bestowing 
 of alms, for all people have not the means to gratify their 
 wishes. It is simply in this one sentence, if you cannot 
 speak well of a person, never speak ill by attending to 
 this precept, it will for ever make you happy, and beloved 
 by your neighbours, but while you return evil, envy and 
 hatred will never cease. How is it possible for any minis- 
 ter of the gospel of Christ to possess that faith, and go 
 into the pulpit declaiming against every worldly man and 
 their pursuits, denouncing vengeance against all who do 
 not support their pockets or opinions ? If a minister is 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 293 
 
 called to be a ministering spirit, that same power which 
 called him, will justify his chosen vessel. All who are pos- 
 sessed of the spirit of Christ, need not trust to the interested 
 opinion of selfish ministers, or to their pharasaical doctrine 
 Christ being God himself, will do his own work, and take 
 those means to provide for his church, which is the heart of 
 man, better than a ministry who look at the loaves and 
 fishes, and make the grace of .God and souls of men a 
 traffic for filthy lucre, wrung from the poor of their country. 
 Charity is rode over by a Bishop's carriage every step the 
 horses take : and are these the men to proclaim and guard 
 over the church of Christ, and direct morality to the people ? 
 God forbid that such a set of men should presume to be 
 the guardians of truth, and patterns of sobriety, while they 
 pour out anathemas upon a poor sailor on the Sunday 4 tor gett- 
 ing intoxicated ; let them look to their own hearts and pri- 
 vate characters, and clean the platter within. Any minister, 
 whether dissenter or church, t who goes about in his own 
 ingenuity, to make proselytes, cannot possess the grace of 
 God. It is impossible, for "if the grace of God is held out 
 for a reward to the parson or ministers, like the Pope of 
 Rome, we advise them to sell it out at five shillings per 
 lump. If a preacher of the gospel has the truth in him, he 
 will deliver those truths without money or price ; and it is 
 a sure criterion and infallible the opinion, when men, 
 whether in the pulpit or cabinet, take money for their 
 services, the truth is not in them. Truth wants no reward, 
 but the pleasure of making others happy. Conscious of 
 our firm principle to monarchical government, and loyalty 
 to the. throne, we shall next week commence our Review 
 on every subject, in which all classes are concerned, in the 
 form of a book, making the numbers from one upwards ; 
 and as our publication will be conducted upon liberal and 
 independent principles, sound in doctrine and politics, every 
 attention to the morality of a Christian country will make it 
 desirable for families, standing the test of eternity. We 
 
"294 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 have appointed Mr. Divine Parker our agent, who will con- 
 duct all the affairs of this work, and we do pledge ourselves 
 never to deviate from the truth, never to belong to any 
 party, but firmly will we adhere to the people's rights. We 
 shall publish next Saturday eight columns, and when our 
 numbers are finished, it will form a handsome book, in 
 which will be contained golden treasure in silver goblets. 
 
 THE LION. No. 4. 
 
 To support the chrone as the birthright of the Princess Victoria, should 
 be the object of all loyal subjects, 
 
 To exalt the cross as our national banner, is the only road to England's 
 liberty. 
 
 '* Truth bears off the Victory." 
 
 Liberty. Independence. Heaven protect the Fatherless. 
 
 Saturday, April 6, 1833. 
 
 Printed by Elijah Lazarus, Canterbury. 
 
 It is now time for some liberal patriots and friends to 
 justice to come forward and defend the noble-minded Cour- 
 tenay, in his heroic career, for the liberties of his country, 
 and the support of his king. Grounded as he is upon the 
 fundamental basis of a Christian character, determined to 
 support the throne as a faithful subject to the present royal 
 family; who can come before the public with sounder 
 constitutional principle of patriotism than Sir W. Courte- 
 nay has done, since he became a public man ? fulfilling to 
 the tittle all ordinances of law that are over him, returning 
 to his very enemies good for evil, zealously defending the 
 rights of officers appointed by authority to direct public 
 affairs ; wherein, we would ask the British government, or 
 England's population, dare they accuse him? From the 
 very coward-like and unmanly attacks of certain hole and 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 295 
 
 corner writers in public prints men who sit in dark closets, 
 and pollute the world with their atheistical and infidel pro- 
 ductions. We shall for ever consider ourselves moving in 
 a situation of intellectual happiness and moral character, to 
 which they or their infidel admirers never can understand 
 or attain. It is true, that plausible diction, bombastic 
 words, and long speeches, are sent forth to the public by 
 way of robbing their pockets, with here and there a perso- 
 nal security to amuse them, and satisfy their own cowardly 
 and selfish hearts, not daring to appear in any public meet- 
 ing to support with their person, what a vilifying pen can 
 so readily execute, at the instigation of a debased and 
 wicked mind. We see every day the real intention of a 
 great portion of the public press of England ; their only 
 aim is to introduce republicanism, blood, and confusion in 
 our land, to upset the throne and all Christian governments, 
 to become tyrants over a free people, and bring an English 
 monarch under such usurpers as Cromwell, Buonaparte, or 
 Robespierre. We do not find any fault with the people, 
 they are the riches, strength and power of a nation ; the 
 onus lays with those designing men, who under the cover 
 of a feigned name, or from selfish views of gold or honors, 
 direct the public press to any object or end, provided al- 
 ways that the editor is well paid for it. Gold and rogues go 
 hand in hand, and such are all party spirits, whether Tories 
 or Whigs, Radicals or Conservatives professed friends to 
 reform, or open enemies to liberty all their desire is to 
 support their party, to get at the loaves and fishes of an 
 impoverished people, and wallow in their luxury. No man 
 can be ever of any party, if he be in the truth. No man 
 can be in the truth, unless the Almighty bestows it upon 
 him ; and no man will ever have that blessing, but from 
 Jesus Christ the crucified Redeemer, in whom are the pro- 
 mises, yea and amen. However enthusiastic or fanatic 
 this language may appear to a worldly character, yet as de- 
 fenders of the truth, we must declare it, as a rock of certain 
 
THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 foundation that no power in man can avert. It is useless 
 for any man to attempt the alteration of a divine will or 
 first cause. It will be accomplished in spite of all the in- 
 fernal writings of Voltaire, Tom Paine, or Carlisle, and 
 that in a mysterious manner. Blessed are those who can 
 understand those sayings we are in vindication of truth 
 and justice, called upon to defend the innocent and virtu- 
 ous, from the caluminous attacks of an ungrateful world, 
 and having from the best sources of information, obtained 
 sterling value, we proceed to discover it. 
 
 Sir William Courtenay, the only male child of the last 
 Lord Courtenay, of Powderham Castle, Devon, heir to the 
 Hales's blood and other lands, King of Jerusalem, Prince 
 of Arabia, King of the Gipsies, Defender of his King and 
 Country, &c. now in the city gaol, Canterbury, feeling the 
 distresses of his native land, at a distance of 2,700 miles, 
 he left Palestine about 13 moons since, and arrived at the 
 Clarendon Hotel, in the second moon, 183*2, here he 
 remained incog, under the name of 'Squire Thompson, and 
 left it after obtaining a rough sketch of the upper circles, 
 such as M.P.'s, Honourables, and my Lord this and that ; 
 highly pleased with the attention of the landlord, and Mr. 
 Chaplin very much pleased to have so contented a booby 
 loaded with so much gold ; well, it is at all times proper 
 to behave well, for the 'Squire in return for good conduct 
 and gentlemanly appearance, obtained a good report and 
 written character from the host to all his friends in the 
 county of Kent, understanding himself the knowledge of 
 his birthright he felt rather awkward with this kind of in- 
 troduction committed it to the flames, at the same time thank- 
 ing Chaplin for his kind and polite attention. Being in search 
 of wisdom, his next adventure was to get amongst the Jews, 
 knowing them in the East to be clever and learned people, 
 and after a day or two at the Hotel, Berkeley-square, 
 Providence introduced him to a family connexion of 
 Israelites, whose acquaintance is an honor to a king. After 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTKNAY. K.M. 297 
 
 various adventures in London, principally on behalf of the 
 distressed Jews in the Holy Land, and having the society 
 of the most learned Rabbis of Europe, Count Rothschild 
 visited Ramsgate, Margate, Herne Bay, and other places, 
 to make himself thoroughly acquainted with the operation 
 of steam engines, on the agricultural interest. Returning 
 again to 43, Albany-street, Regents Park, and No. 9., Half 
 Moon-street, Piccadilly, he left his London and Hammer- 
 smith friends finally in August, and arrived at Canterbury 
 in the same moon. It would be useless in this weekly 
 publication to enter into all the private adventures of this 
 child of fate, as it would call into public many names, who 
 are not so independent of the world as Sir Wm. Courtenay, 
 therefore we shall abstain from inserting such scenes, until 
 his whole travels appear, in which all particulars of his 
 birth, christening, and parentage, will be set forth, even to 
 the very shoes he was nursed in. Upon his arrival in the 
 City of Canterbury, according to the direction of Mr. Chap- 
 lin, Count Moses R. Rothschild first presented himself to 
 the Fountain Head, which is at all times " Wright," but the 
 worthy host being either mad himself, or thinking him so , 
 deliberately told him his beds were all engaged ; and with 
 the velocity of a wild Arab, the Count found himself at the 
 Rose, comfortably seated in the Rose room. Now, it would 
 appear to us, that this inn was most properly situated for 
 the hero's future career in the town of Canterbury, its 
 central situation, being near the market, and a good post- 
 ing house, commanded a ready approach to all sources of 
 local and foreign information, and we can assure the pub- 
 lic, not a little did he learn here practically of men and man- 
 ners of high life and low life, rogues and honest men. Yet 
 with true Christian charity, we feel convinced from Sir W. 
 Courtenay's own heart, that he freely forgives all his ene- 
 mies, persecutors and slanderers, but boldly will he ever 
 maintain the truth. It was not long after Sir W. Courte- 
 13. 2 Q 
 
298 THE LIl'E AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 nay bad been at tbe Rose, before the inhabitants of that 
 inn were convinced of his perfect docility and mildness of 
 conduct, in so much that some weeks he would scarcely 
 leave his sitting room, unless to keep the Lord's day, at 
 the Union Chapel, or elsewhere, as duty called him ; making 
 himself happy in his own studies. It was during the first 
 six weeks of Sir William's stay at the Rose, that Thomas 
 Stroud seeing so much gold and other riches belonging to 
 this illustrious stranger, formed an attachment to him, for 
 a snack at the loaves and fishes, and having had substantial 
 proofs of his liberality at one time in gold to the amount of 
 sixty guineas ! ! ! thought he had a profitable cow in his 
 bucket, stuck to him like cooler's wax. Now, it so hap- 
 pened, this nobleman incog, knew well the human heart 
 was deceitful, felt determined to prove the faithfulness of 
 this Iscariot, by an honest trial of his sincerity. We should 
 premise this transaction, by stating that long ere this he 
 had given Mrs. Clements notice to leave his situation to 
 become Sir William's servant, and well does he know the 
 honourable and noble conduct of Courtenay to him in this 
 and all other matters during Sir William's stay at the Rose. 
 We know well the private virtues and patriotic zeal of this 
 honourable stranger to be such, that it. is impossible for 
 him to be guilty of the least deceit or guile. Honour is his 
 stimulus to live, and when men betray their masters for 
 filthy lucre, like Judas our blessed Saviour, and lend them- 
 selves to a party for money, as a recompense for kindness 
 and fidelity : If we say that any man forfeits his word 
 without cause, and to cover his own perfidy and violation of the 
 sacred rights of man, deserts an indulgent master, let him 
 receive that punishment in his own dishonourable bosom, 
 the effect of an unbelieving heart, and want of a fellow 
 feeling, which even the brutes themselves have towards 
 their own kindred. If at the morning of Sir W. Courte- 
 nay's commitment, Thomas Stroud could have stated the 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K. M. 299 
 
 amount due to him, or in what way the money was assumed 
 to be had, there was a gentleman present who would have 
 been immediately ready to discharge it, without asking even 
 a question ; but he knew well Sir William Courtenay per- 
 sonally, nor for his own use, never received of him but 
 eleven pounds, and that out of sixty. 
 
 In what particular of the most marked manner has ever 
 Stroud been deceived ? under what pretence, in the name 
 of God, could Stroud have taken an oath, that Sir William 
 Courtenay is not the child of the last Lord Courtenay ? If then 
 he be the offspring of the last Lord Courtenay, and his only 
 son, he is- lawfully sole heir to that family, and the only 
 Lord Courtenay alive. And when Sir William Courtenay's 
 day is come, to receive from the Providence of an Almighty 
 God, that which is his high birthright and just claim, then 
 will his enemies tremble in their shoes, and the poor re- 
 joice. If the father and son were one at Jerusalem 1833 
 years since, so is Sir William Courtenay and his father one, 
 even as they were one. Until a child offends his father, 
 that child being an only son, the name, honour, and estate 
 of the father must, under Christianity, centre in the son 
 for as God is, so man must follow in unity of character. 
 What is a figure by the spirit, must be in nature by the 
 body. Those that have got ears to hear, let them hear, 
 but woe to the unbeliever. In concluding this affair of so 
 persecuting a character, we observe that men should be 
 careful in giving their word to another, and afte'rwards 
 coward-like turn their deadly enemy. We should ever well 
 consider before we enter upon any enterprize or under- 
 taking, to examine carefully, whether it is just and right 
 in the sight of God and man so to do ; after our conscience 
 bears to us evidence of its correctness, then it is for us to 
 shew forth the truth to the world that we will never desert 
 a just cause. If men break their words upon every trivial 
 occasion, to suit their selfish purposes, and present circum- 
 
300 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 stances, tossed about by every foolish report and envious 
 assertion, wherein do we shew ourselves men or Britons to 
 stand firm to each other, in perfect unity to die for our 
 cause in time of trial Depend upon it, Englishmen, that 
 a rolling stone never gathers moss. Do nothing to sting 
 your own conscience, and you may defy not only this world, 
 but all the devils in hell cannot touch you. So perfect is 
 a just man kept by his maker. We have just visited Sir 
 William. Courtenay in his cell, he is happy, and resigned 
 to the will of heaven, persecuted as he is for the poor's 
 sakes, a staunch and determined friend to the people's 
 rights, a royalist by birth and education, his political prose- 
 cution cannot carry their venom farther, having reduced 
 him to a bed of straw, and bread, potatoes, and nine ounces 
 of meat per week, and all this because he loves his king and 
 country. Thanks to those friends of truth and justice, who 
 have sent him those comforts, a cold and damp prison re- 
 quires, being stone bed rooms, stone cells, and stone from 
 top to bottom, in those wet seasons it is very injurious to 
 prisoners' health, and more especially to those poor men 
 who have not warm clothing to cover them. In our next 
 week's publication, we shall give a brief account of Sir 
 William's trip to Chatham, to defend twelve poor families 
 from a gallant captain, and four or five of his crew, whom 
 to this day Courtenay knows not, not even one of their re- 
 lations. Fie upon that public print who can boast of being 
 friends to the people, and when they see a brave man come 
 forward to venture his blood for twelve unfortunate smug- 
 glers, to condemn by insinuations, so just a man in so just 
 a cause. Take off the taxation from the poor man, and 
 smuggling would immediately cease. Condemn not the 
 effects, but remove the causes that produce them. As our 
 Review will come out with new subjects every week, it 
 would be desirable that the numbers should be carefully 
 kept clean, and when we have completed our publication, 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 301 
 
 they will form altogether such a volume of truths on theo- 
 logy, philosophy, and natural production, as no man dares 
 contradict. 
 
 THE PEOPLE justified being the voice of God. While 
 we take a retrospective view of the present government of 
 our country, arid compare their acts with their words, do 
 not suppose we are instigated by any party feeling, or self- 
 ish purpose. The truth we must declare, if to be hung for 
 it is the result and as the facts of our position are daily 
 manifesting themselves in their imbecile conduct to the 
 country, so we will impartially investigate the causes which 
 will for ever mislead man, and ruin a nation filthy lucre. 
 We lay it down as a fundamental basis, that any statesman 
 who takes money from his country, as a reward for his 
 services, cannot be in the truth. It is impossible for a 
 man to love mammon and the people at one time, and no 
 surer test can be offered to human nature, than by abstract- 
 ing all worldly advantage, and let a man's virtue have its 
 own reward. 
 
 THE LION. No. 5. 
 
 '* Justice for the Poor ! Justice for the Rich ; 
 Heaven protect the widow, fatherless and distressed." 
 
 Saturday, April 13, 1833. 
 
 The present Ministry of England came into office under 
 the most sacred pledges of fidelity to the country, that men 
 ever thought of giving, but no sooner were they comfortably 
 fixed in the Boroughmonger's seats, than they filled their 
 own families with bumpers of bishoprics, fourteen thousand 
 per annum to my Lord Uni with 5,000/. retiring pension, 
 as a compensation for the silence of his long speeches, 
 and satirical foolery When men have for twenty or thirty 
 
302 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 years been hammering away in the House of Commons, 
 supporting with all their energy and abilities, certain 
 political principles, no sooner obtain a peerage and snug 
 salary, than they forget and recant all their former pro- 
 fessions, and desert the very power which brought them 
 forward in life, which is the people. Let us only take up 
 some of the old newspapers ; say the Times, about three 
 years since read there the furious speech of one of the 
 ministry, now acting a prominent part upon the navy 
 estimates, in regard to sinecures, you will there find a three 
 or four hour's harangue, abusing the Tories in all the 
 venom of envy for office, about the sinecurist and placemen, 
 but no sooner does this champion for the loaves and fishes, 
 get into power, than he positively forgets his former pro- 
 testations and vows to a misguided public, and says by his 
 vote, we cannot touch the sinecurist or placemen, for if we 
 do. out of the land of Goshen the Tories will throw us. 
 The first step the present ministry took was sufficient to 
 prognosticate their future worth, that of electing a chairman 
 who had opposed them in every stage of the Reform Bill. 
 Here was sufficient to pronounce an easy dissolution of a 
 reformed house of commons, so weakly and unconstitu- 
 tionally brought together. We say unconstitutionally, for 
 the voice of the people, such as the industrious and work- 
 ing classes, has nothing to do with the present elected 
 members of Parliament. The only excuse which the 
 Whig press could make for this truckle to their deadly 
 enemies the boroughmongers, was the saving of 4,0007. 
 per annum, and utility of the heir apparent of the 
 right father in God to the office as if no one was capable 
 of doing justice, but the son of a bishop to the vacated chair. 
 Futile argument to once more gull the throats of a starving 
 population. It will not go down so readily as the eleven 
 sheets of Reformation concocted after two years' hard 
 fighting, but never yet brought forth any good. God for- 
 bid, that so industrious and working a people, as the brave 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 003 
 
 English, Irish, and Scotchman is, should not have a voice 
 in that legislature, which have so many years been wallow- 
 ing upon the sweat of their brows, and rolling around in 
 carriages wrung from the people's rights. As the people's 
 publication, we shall ever advocate the prerogatives of our 
 monarch, and just claim of that monarch to his subject's 
 protection ; and while we do this we offer up our prayers 
 to an all-seeing Deity to direct us in the right way. 
 
 The hue and cry that went with the Reform Bill, can 
 better be understood than expressed. The Whigs boasted 
 that it was only to shew this eleven sheets of paper, drawn 
 up with such zeal and spirit for the public good, and the 
 return of their partizans was certain Under what plea was 
 it that this "bag of smoke," was first thought of by the 
 followers of Fox, we answer for the express purpose of 
 drawing themselves popular opinion, and for the selfish 
 purpose of going into those offices, their opponents then 
 enjoyed. The bill with all its fair promises, became the 
 fury of the day. Grey, and Reform, Brougham or the 
 schoolmaster to perfection, were the only cries from the 
 lisping babe to the hoary matron, resounded from John O' 
 Gaunt to the Land's end. What has now become of those 
 boasting speeches which for two long years, occupied the 
 House of Commons and Lords? some even down upon 
 their knees, imploring that Deity whom they knew nothing 
 about, speaking four hours or more in ideal fanaticism, in 
 support of a bill which they never meant to carry into act 
 and exercise, neither had they the nerve or abilities to go 
 through with. What can the consciences of those men 
 be, who merely for the " loaves and fishes," of office and 
 power, prostituted every right due from man to man, 
 and committed a national imposition upon the British 
 public. There was never since the creation of man, such 
 a violation of public faith and common decency, as that 
 which the present House of Commons are evincing towards 
 the people at large ; without any system of government to 
 
304 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 direct them, in pursuit of right objects tossed about by every 
 day's occurrence, they are like a vessel without a 
 rudder, ready to dash in pieces on a lee shore. 
 If the present ministry, of self-elected house of commons, 
 thought it proper to raise the expectations of all classes of 
 society by their ^forrn humbug." Why do they not re- 
 deem their time, and proceed to be in reality an " acting" 
 house of commons, instead of so much nonsensical talking. 
 The people are tired of such palaver, and boasting ideas 
 seeing nothing done to ameliorate their present ruinious 
 condition ; only a ministry swallowing in the luxuries of a 
 nation's wealth, and the sweat of a poor man's brow. It is 
 evident to the most illiterate mind, that the present gover- 
 ners of the United Kingdom, created such feeling of liberty 
 under their fair promises, and persuasive eloquence, that 
 we defy them to stay its progress, or clog the the wheel of 
 that reformation, which the people have now an undeniable 
 right to demand, and the power to obtain. While we re- 
 vert to their specious language to draw popularity, and call 
 upon the public to remember what the reform "humbug" 
 promised, let us for a moment compare their fine promises 
 with their actions done since the commencement of the 
 present sessions of Parliament. In alluding to the king's 
 speech, as the first essay of the enlightened host, we pay 
 every respect to our brave British sailor, and cannot con- 
 sider him in any way answerable for the defects of those 
 paltry men, who brought forward such a heap of trash, and 
 inanimate matter, as never before offered a British nation. 
 In this formation of words without meaning, no certain line 
 of policy is pursued, instead of coming foward with positive 
 certainties, as to future security for property or the en- 
 couragement of trade, giving the poor of the land their reward 
 for labour, it is in short everything, but what it ought to be 
 words without meaning. No merchant can act upon it, 
 no manufactory is encouraged to consumption of the raw 
 article, no tradesman or shopkeeper has any hope for a 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 305 
 
 remission of taxes; the farmer by it must still pay his high 
 rents, tithes, &c, and the working and industrious classes, 
 who have so long borne the payments of our revenue, have 
 no relief by a speech that ought to be firm, determined and 
 based upon those principles of actual reform, that brought 
 the framers of this " silly" composition into power. Thus 
 in the very first onset the nation felt disappointed, by their 
 outline of future operations, and well did the people calcu- 
 late from the King's speech, how it would be. It is proper 
 for us to expose hypocrisy and deceit in every way agree- 
 able to truth and justice, that the public may form their 
 own opinion, and judge for themselves, and whilst we lay 
 before our readers the private or public character of any 
 individual, be it remembered that we bear no animo- 
 sity or public pique, always pitying them as they know 
 not what they do. What justification could the present 
 ministers offer to the public, for electing Mr. Manners 
 Sutton their speaker? the beggarly saving of 4,0007. per 
 annum is too weak to be believed or wanted, his efficient 
 services could be equalled by many members of that house, 
 this will not do say rather to win the Tories over by 
 sacrifice of every principle to keep themselves in office, and 
 to desert the country. The second exposure of the " re- 
 form humbug," was upon the sinecure list ; this very motion, 
 which, if it had really been carried into execution, would 
 have been but as the drop out of the bucket, this too was 
 also refused the country. Why, if the present ministry 
 had common skulls of plough boy philosophy, they would 
 have gone into the placeman and pensioned puppet as 
 doing something to redeem their pledges to the injured and 
 over-reached nation. If they had condescended to read 
 their own protestations out of office, and compared them 
 with their acts and deeds when in office, what could they 
 think of honour or integrity ? God forbid we shall ever 
 again see England so imposed upon by professions, when 
 13. 2 R 
 
306 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 the heart is so polluted with the " filthy ill-gotten lucre 
 of church and state, never satisfied until death closes the 
 scene of life. To have pleased the people and kept them 
 quiet a little longer, the present government should have 
 done justice to the meritorious officer, and cut off the pa- 
 tronized placeman, but doing neither, not even going into 
 an investigation of the motion, condemned them for ever 
 as men lost to all principle of consistency, and sense of 
 virtue. The third act, which arose from the ministers 
 themselves in conjunction with the Tories, was the des- 
 potic " Irish coercion bill," a heap of laws only worthy a 
 Turkish Pacha to carry into execution, and Damascus 
 sabre to peform the sacred office. Is it possible that any 
 set of men could be so infatuated with the love of lucre, 
 patronage, and honors, as so far to forget themselves as to 
 become butchers of the common rights of humanity, in 
 substituting " courts martial," for " the trial by jury." 
 
 Is Christianity so far debased in its first principles as 
 to be superseded by the sword, and that too upon a nation 
 whose veins have been sucked by the most injurious system 
 of government and party spirit, ever exhibited to the race 
 of mankind ? Whatever could possess a reforming minis- 
 try or house of Commons to resort to such an extreme and 
 bloody resource ? forsooth, because the people of Ireland 
 felt themselves oppressed by tyrannical landlords, merci- 
 less middlemen, and oppressive tithe-mongers. Let us 
 all feel for our fellow creatures, doing unto all men as they 
 should do unto us. We consider Ireland as 'part of 
 England, no distinction of laws or government, one and the 
 same body politic, and should have the same protection and 
 liberties as English subjects. If this atrocious violation of 
 our free constitution and liberties of our land, is carried 
 into act and exercise in the sister isle, how long will it be 
 ere the same " Reforming Parliament" will apply the red 
 coat puppy as a judge, and the sword wreaking fresh from 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 307 
 
 the slaughter of our countrymen as the verdict for the 
 British peasant, or working mechanic ? We maintain, that 
 by the Union of 1801, Ireland is a part and portion of 
 England, and any legislative enactment that compels the 
 Irish to payments and tithes which they cannot raise, 
 will equally apply to the impoverished poor of England, so 
 soon as they refuse to pay those tythes and imposts, a des- 
 potic Government thinks proper to set upon them. Thus 
 the present parliament, instead of using reason as their 
 guide to the present distresses of the United Kingdom, has 
 thought proper to keep themselves in power, by resorting 
 to military execution as a safe refuge for future persecu- 
 tion. If ever a house of commons deserved a vote of censure 
 from the nation at large for one measure, it is for the passing 
 of this iniquitous bill, the very way to produce 'a contrary 
 effect that the ministers intended so we prophecy and so 
 it will come to pass the fourth act to the heterogenous 
 mass of corruption, was upon the motion to go into the 
 enquiry relative to the present distresses of the country, 
 and is it to be believed, they actually threw out the pro- 
 position, and with silent contempt denied all investigation 
 We should like to see published the names of the ma- 
 jority on this division, and billet some of them in Gilby 
 Square straw-beds, and let them experience whether there 
 is not poverty and distress amongst the people, even 
 amounting in many cases to starvation, Heaven forbid that 
 such unfeeling men should continue long in parliament, 
 wallowing in all the dissipation of a nation's wealth, and 
 letting the poor man go down to the grave, unheeded or 
 uncared for. Let the rich bear their proportion of the 
 taxation as well as the poor man, then all will go on well ; 
 but never will a nation prosper who forsake their God, the 
 founder of the Christian monarchy, and oppress the poor to 
 fill their own filthy lust and selfish purposes. The fifth 
 act of the reforming house of Commons was upon flogging 
 in the army; this debasing system upon the feelings of 
 
308 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 human nature, and outrage of all common decency, has 
 only once to be seen to be condemned without judge or 
 jury who but tyrants could ever see a man lashed with 
 three or four hundred stripes, and then vote for a continua- 
 tion of such fiend-like acts ? Do the captains of the army 
 consider the injury a man's spirit receives at the bare idea 
 ot being flogged causes ? We pronounce it as a certainty 
 that nothing- injures the real glory of the English army 
 more than the infamous practice of flogging ; breaks the 
 soldier's love of liberty, and while stripping before his com- 
 rades, exposes a back furrowed with the bloody lash of a 
 cat-o'nine- tails, and derision of his fellow soldiers. We 
 should like well to see an officer, who would advocate this 
 atrocious cruelty, tied up as the poor man is, receive his 
 five hundred lashes, and. let him then say how he approves 
 of the principle of flogging human flesh. Do unto all men 
 as you would they should do unto you. 
 
 There is not a body of finer men in the whole world than 
 the army of the united kingdom ; but we are sorry to add, 
 that many of the officers are not worth two-pence per dozen- 
 Men who understand the soft luxury of a Turkish Ottoman, 
 or the promenade of a Brussel's carpet, much better than the 
 bravery and hardships consequent on the honor and glory 
 of a soldier's life. God forbid that any poor man who 
 enters the army should ever be treated with less justice 
 than the glittering toy of an officer. And we should hope 
 ere long that however the present government and house 
 of commons may be pleased to continue this disgrace to a 
 Christian country, the people, when properly represented 
 in parliament, will strike out of their military code this in- 
 famous and degrading system, so incompatible with the real 
 welfare of our army. We shall in a future publication 
 again return to this subject, and never will we cease con- 
 demning its brutality until the poor soldier is totally relieved 
 from so base a practice and useless a remedy. Let every 
 man, whether poor or rich, rise in the army according to 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 309 
 
 his merit and bravery, not by patronage and boroughmon- 
 gering interest. " He that deserves the palm, let him wear 
 it." The sixth act of the present reforming parliament, is 
 a bill to secure the better observance of the Sabbath Day. 
 We cannot but again pity the remedies applied by such an 
 ignorant body of men, they may mean well but it is not 
 according to knowledge. It is a subject which none but 
 Christians can converse about or understand, and verily 
 we believe there is no such being in the house at present. 
 
 The upper circles of society seem very tenacious about a 
 better observance of the sabbath, yet while they enforce new 
 laws and restrictions upon the poor man, they make it an 
 invariable rule to have their grand routes and card parties 
 on this very day. Woe be to ye, hypocrites, pharisees, and 
 sabbath breakers, clean your own filthy vessels within, be- 
 fore you prescribe to another. Upon what principle dare 
 any man to alter the authority and fundamental basis of our 
 Christian religion ? did not Christ fulfill all the law and 
 the prophets ? Is not the sabbath a part of the moral law ? 
 Did our Saviour keep one part of the ten commandments, 
 and not the whole of them? We boldly state to all our 
 readers, that Christ himself bursted the seventh day, and 
 all his followers by faith upon him, make every day in the 
 week a sabbath. Thus the establishment of a sabbath day 
 under the Christian dispensation, is wholly the ingenuity 
 of man; never was it intended by the Almighty God 
 Jesus of Nazareth is his name. We shall only in this place 
 give our decided opinion in a few words,, relative to this 
 canting and useless attempt to bring morality amongst the 
 poor, whilst the rich commit all manner of sin, and set them 
 so bad an example. 
 
 The sabbath day is not of Christ's foundation, being in- 
 consistent with a Christian's faith. As it is a human law, 
 so it will require constables to keep it observed. The sab- 
 bath day was made for man, not man for the sabbath. 
 Christ being the power of God. can of his own strength 
 
310 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 keep all who are his followers in truth and sincerity. If a 
 man be compelled to worship a God, this cannot be accept- 
 able in the sight of a deity. No government or church 
 dare, by tradition or authority, alter the divine laws of our 
 blessed Saviour, who never authorized the observance of 
 the sabbath. This ignorant device of men, being of human 
 construction, will fall into that contempt it so richly 
 deserves. No nation by following after morality will ever 
 attain unto morality. Christ is all in all. In its proper 
 place we shall prove from holy writ, the impropriety and 
 impossibility for a true Christian to have any particular 
 day, as he lives by faith, so this power does not accompany 
 him more upon one day than another. So much do we 
 treat with contempt the exertions of man to hold by their 
 cunning plans of a nation together, that all the wisdom, 
 prudence, and self-opinionated principles of a professing 
 Christian, are as dung and dross, when compared to the 
 divine precept and example of our adorable Jesus. Go ami 
 cleanse the church of its foul pollutions, preach and exalt 
 Christ alone as the best sabbath day, and make the heart 
 of man the seat of reformation, and there will be no need of 
 sabbaths or new moons, feasts or tabernacles, to keep society 
 in a healthy state. 
 
 THE LION. No. 6. 
 
 " Justice for the Poor ! Justice for the Rich ! 
 Heaven protect the widow, fatherless, and distressed." 
 
 Saturday, April 20, 1833, 
 GOOD FRIDAY. 
 
 Crimes of the present age arise, for in Adam's loins were 
 all the children, according to the order of natural production, 
 centered; and as it rolled onwards it gathered with its 
 growth and strengthened with its strength. It is evident to 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 311 
 
 any thinking man, that if a child in his first state of boy- 
 hood should be permitted to tell one lie unpunished, so he 
 will go on until he is miserable as a man, and dissatisfied 
 with all things about him. Keep up first principles of 
 purity, and train a child in the path he should go, and he 
 will not depart therefrom so it is in the condition of man- 
 kind, from Adam to the present moment, one sin made 
 many. However, man may suppose he is improving in all 
 the necessary qualifications to make himself happy how- 
 ever high his intellectual capacities as a worldly wiseacre, 
 we tell the world, one and all, that never at any one time 
 was there so much ignorance as to the real causes of the 
 present wretched and demoralized state of society; and 
 while they are looking to themselves, and their own con- 
 ceited wisdom, it will daily go worse, until destruction will 
 again visit man. As for us and our little publication, we 
 will serve the Lord : trusting to him alone for justification, 
 in our assertions from week to week. We are fully aware 
 that our writings will always tend to lower the natural man 
 with his deeds, in full assurance, that by thus doing, we 
 serve the people if we do not please ; and by exalting the 
 Saviour, our only object worth living for is attained. In 
 the state in which Adam lived after the fall, and during the 
 first two thousand years, the Antideluvians knew not what 
 sin was, although Adam's transgression was its original 
 cause. 
 
 When we say that the Antideluvians knew not what sin 
 was, we must be understood, not by commandment, for as 
 yet no law was delivered, how the infinite wisdom of our 
 Creator had so formed man, that if at any time he did any 
 thing contrary to the original agencies of his snbstance, he 
 was by such acts bringing himself into misery and destruc- 
 tion: thus, in the time of Seth, his sons and daughters 
 were so groaning in spirit and persecution from the world, 
 that they were from the material of their creation compelled 
 to call for assistance from a first cause of production. Thus 
 
312 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 man was first formed in truth, and to this he must return ; 
 otherwise he will be for ever unhappy and to this end 
 Christ came. 
 
 f After the Deluge, man still continued in the same dark- 
 ness, and sinning against the cause of his formation, with- 
 out any direct means to really ascertain what sin was. 
 Abraham was the chosen vessel of God to stand by faith 
 alone and thus became the father of all those who lived as 
 he did, by faith alone ; for all which is not of faith is sin. 
 
 At a future time, we must again revert to this interest- 
 ing period of time ; the introduction of the Holy One of 
 Israel, through Abraham his faithful servant; although 
 Abraham had resting upon him the peculiar favor of God, 
 yet Abraham was under no law by command only the 
 justification of his conscience through faith. The epoch at 
 last arrived, when in the person of Moses, those laws were 
 to be promulgated, and finally laid down, which were to be 
 the rule and walk of men essential to promote God's glory 
 and man's eternal happiness. The Mosaic Law, delivered 
 by the disembodied Elohim at Sinai, was given to the Jews 
 only as trustees for the whole natural world ; and the abuse 
 which that nation made of the truth and justice of the Mosaic 
 economy, brought down destruction upon them as a reward 
 for neglect of God's commands. There are presumed by 
 the learned Rabbis to be two ways of fulfiling the Law of 
 Moses, one is in the oral tradition, attributed to Joshua 
 the other, that mode or ceremony which the Creator insti- 
 tuted through the mediation of Moses. Upon these very 
 points of doctrine arose those different sects of professed 
 characters that always abound in every land, and more par- 
 ticularly where truth really is ; for where grace is, there 
 the old serpent is the most employed. It is for certain, 
 that all men in a natural state of creation, are looking for 
 justification by works what is meant by works is to follow 
 after the law of Moses that is, the moral, ceremonial, and 
 sacrificial laws. Now, if any man will justify himself in 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 3 13 
 
 the sight of God or man by works, he must keep all the 
 laws of Moses not only the moral law as the standard of 
 society, but he must make an atonement, and offer sacrifi- 
 ces, and perform all the ceremonies consequent upon those 
 laws ; as firmly fixed as the basis of God's promises. It is 
 a mistaken notion amongst mankind, that he can set up as 
 a rule of life and conversation the Ten Commandments, 
 and fix it up in the eastern end of your churches, be 
 pleased to have the table of shew bread, the sacrifical altar, 
 and the golden candlesticks at the western end ; for Christ 
 will not permit of partnership with any one. If you look 
 for justification by the law, go and do the deeds of the law ; 
 you cannot take the sweets without the bitters. It is very 
 easy to place the moral law on tables of wood, and nail it 
 to a wall in the chapels and churches; but we ask, is it so 
 easy to offer up bullocks, goats, and the ashes of an heifer? 
 No man dare alter that which a God has commanded to be 
 kept done, and performed ; and if you live by the law of 
 the Ten Commandments, and ever break them, that 
 sn must be atoned for by a sacrifice. No Christian can 
 look for atonement to the Lord Jesus, who lives by the law 
 either he must be justified through faith upon Christ's 
 perfect work ; or, he must fulfil the laws of Moses to the 
 tittle. It will be said by some of our Jewish readers, that 
 the oral tradition of Joshua was only the difficult parts of 
 the Mosaic laws better explained. We fully admit the 
 force of Joshua's interpretation and practice of the law ; 
 therefore we take the precept and example together, and 
 and hold him up as the greatest type upon record of our 
 adorable Jesus. " As for me and my house," says the 
 ancient warrior, " we will serve the Lord." It was upon 
 those traditional records of the Jews (being much easier 
 than the performance of the Mosaic economy), that, in the 
 end, superseded all the truth and justice contained in the 
 Jewish law of Moses ; and as that nation fell away from the 
 U. 2 s 
 
314 THE LIFE AND ADVKNTURES OF 
 
 standard and performance of the rights and ceremonies of 
 the ordinances of God, which would for ever have kept 
 them together ; so at last by their traditions, they brought 
 themselves to slaughter and blood. Of what use is the 
 offering of the Son of God on the bloody cross, unless it be 
 a full satisfaction ; and who but God would give his life a 
 ransom for those who crucified him? Perhaps one might 
 die for a good man ; yet who but perfection of love would 
 die for the sinner ? this so exalts the Christian character, 
 that it abounds with every possible justification. 
 
 The whole of the Jewish economy was the mere shadow 
 of things to come ; and this [shadow cannot be divided, 
 neither can the substance, which is in the Lord Jesus, be 
 divided. 
 
 Hence Cnrist being God, can do all things without 
 man's resistance as to the operation ; for all men are created 
 beings, and must be subjected to a Creator's will, which is 
 Christ. 
 
 The age of the world, in which Good Friday is a com- 
 memoration, was one which in the minds of all men were 
 prepared for a change, the Gentile nation, nineteen centu- 
 ries past, were at the top of their philosophy and worldly 
 knowledge under their worship, fur we must all bear in 
 mind, the nearer we worship the Deity in truth and since- 
 rity of heart, the higher is our reason to guide the morta 
 body into all happiness. We must know that it was from 
 the Jews we received the truth and light of life ; that their 
 persecutions have all been for our advantage and gain ; 
 then, surely, let Christians love Abraham's race ; for Christ 
 also was a Jew. No people have ever suffered so much as 
 the children of Israel; apd all this for being faithful to 
 the laws of our beloved Moses, and for the good of man- 
 kind. 
 
 If, then, the Jewish nation have remained so firm to 
 their God, as the children of Abraham after the flesh, so 
 
Sill WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 315 
 
 let Christians shew forth their love and boldness for their 
 God, by faith alone upon the Lord Jesus, after the spirit 
 by the which new birth, we too become the children of 
 the promises made to Abraham and his posterity. No man 
 dare call himself a Christian, unless he is born again ; and 
 no man is more likely to obtain this blessing than an open 
 profane character (John Bunyan for example,) a poor lost 
 sinner, who acknowledges his guilt, and looks only to the 
 cross for relief and justification, just as tha Jews in the wil- 
 derness of Arabia looked to the brazen serpent set up by 
 Moses, for life and immortality, so let all who are in guilt 
 and misery, by faith alone, look to Calvary's bloody cross, 
 and there he will find that antidote to his wretchedness ; 
 and wisdom from above to lead him happy here below, and 
 eternal redemption for the mortal body. 
 
 We shall continue these gospel truths weekly ; and as 
 the Jews will soon become a great nation again in their 
 own land, so we feel it our bounden duty to protect the 
 true Christian, and explain the pure principles of Christ's 
 foundation, lest the Jews may suppose the whole of the 
 New Testament as an imposition, and like the infidel 
 Voltaire or Tom Paine, bring down ruin upon themselves, 
 Mnd destruction to the whole race of mankind. 
 
 Let no man suppose the wheels of nature were ever let 
 go, to again retrograde, this is impossible ; therefore let no 
 beggarly Unitarian, infidel, or sceptic, harbour the envious 
 thought that he can devise or scheme a new method of sal- 
 vation ; to the bar of Jesus Christ will he be brought ; and 
 no man can can injure his fellow creatures more than such 
 men, who openly, and in secret, deny the Divinity of Christ, 
 such men are a disgrace both to God and man, and unfit 
 for a Christian land having no feeling of humanity, or 
 kindness of heart to sympathise with the distresses antl 
 afflictions of their country ; and, for political power or ma- 
 gisterial government they would on the altars of personal 
 ambition, sacrifice every follower of Jesus to the very cross 
 
613 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 itself. Damnable heretics ! fit only to be ranked with Vol- 
 taire and the scorpion Paine ; robbers of a Christian's 
 birihright ; the freedom and liberty of his own soil ; the 
 very Devil's agents, going about like roaring lions, seeking 
 whom they may devour. All men who allow the Godhead 
 to Christ are his ; particularly the publican and sinner : 
 but all] men who consider him as a mere man, are infidels 
 (Jews excepted). There is no medium either Christ was 
 God, or the greatest im poster the world ever saw. As for 
 us, and our humble publication, we will serve the Lord, 
 through evil report and good report, confident that the 
 Cross of Jesus is the banner of heaven. Sub hoc signo 
 vinces. 
 
 " Where Truth has made her glorious stand, 
 Holding the faithful by the hand 
 The good man's boast, and fraud's eternal foe, 
 The best of gifts Heaven can on man bestow, 
 Where she is found, bright virtue still resides, 
 And equal justice every action guides ; 
 In the pure heart., and spotless mind she reigns, 
 And with mild power, her happy sway maintains 
 The attributes of God himself cohfest 
 That stamp'd his image in the human breast, 
 Whate'er our lot, through life's dark dangerous way, 
 If she direct we cannot go astray." 
 
 CORPORATIONS. 
 
 This name, so applicable to a set of cormorants, who 
 have been preying like blood hounds upon the sweat and 
 toil of the artisan and labourer, now begin to feel that prick 
 of the conscience, which long practice of ill-gotten wealth 
 and over-reaching the poor, must invariably bring upon 
 man. 
 
 Those turtle-soup gentry and public wine-bibbers, feel- 
 ing their present situation but weak and feeble ; use every 
 
SIFl WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 317 
 
 unmanly and grovelling method to support their falling 
 dynasty. The word Corporation is both visible and in- 
 visible ; no men shew a belly better stuffed with the flesh- 
 pots of Egyptian luxury and good dinners; and no men 
 keep up appearances better than these corporate bodies, 
 without any ostensible or real means how they can do it, 
 We take these aldermanic heroes not individually, but col- 
 lectively, and consider them all, without exception, the very 
 worst csmposition, as a body, that can possibly exist ; doing 
 good to no one, making destraction amongst society, and 
 bringing themselves into bondage and disgrace. What 
 satisfaction is it to any man, if he be exalted above his 
 fellow creatures, unless that exaltation is with the public 
 consent? We grant that the name of alderman sounds 
 dignified when applied before the surmane ; and it is a 
 worldly ambition to which all fools aspire, bringing with it 
 that misery which selfish and cowardly honours invariably 
 confer upon the wearer. 
 
 Where is the honour, liberty, and integrity of man, if, for 
 the enjoyment of luxuries and powers, he will forfeit every 
 principle of manliness, and become the tool for a corporate 
 body? Man, without a conscious principle of rectitude 
 towards his fellow creatures, had better be dead than alive ; 
 and no men bring themselves into greater bondage and con- 
 tempt than they do who pursue personal ambition, at the 
 expence of their fellow creatures. While we condemn the 
 right of any Christian country to grant Acts of Parliament, 
 chartering certain people to have privileges above their fel- 
 low townsmen ; we do not envy such bodies that honour 
 and selfish gratification, to enjoy the authority which such 
 acts empovver, but we boldly deny the power of any Chris- 
 tian land to make Acts of Parliament to subvert the free 
 constitution of a Christian monarchy. Under the Chris- 
 tian's birthright we are all free-born Englishmen ; and all 
 and every Act of Parliament which gives to any number -of 
 
318 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 t 
 
 men a chartered right, deprives the whole~population of their 
 undoubted privilege the liberties of a Christian monarchy. 
 
 We will not go back so far as the musty records in the 
 reign of Edward the Fiist, or any other Sovereign between 
 his day and James the Second ; but will clearly shew the 
 narrow-minded policy of the bigotted Popish Stuart family, 
 the great supporters of venality and corruption. When the 
 family of the Stuarts found their blood and throne going 
 from them, every nerve and sinew was stretched to keep 
 their falling house ; charters to certain towns were in 
 creased, privileges allowed and countenanced on purpose to 
 deprive the people of their liberties, and enforce the laws. 
 In a Christian land, we are all baptized into the free liber- 
 ties of the gospel, and brought up as free men, to have the 
 command of our own mind and bodies ; this freedom then 
 is engrafted in our infancy and grows with our growth ; but 
 no sooner does a man wish to set out in life as a freeman, 
 according to the principles in which he is brought up, but 
 a body of men, to suit political purposes, were incorpo- 
 rated by a bigotted Stuart, and demands so much for a 
 freedom. Thus the divine laws of Christ, which is "liberty 
 of mind and body," are at variance with the selfish acts of a 
 corporate body. It is impossible to divide religion from 
 politics ; they must go t hand in hand, and will in spite of 
 nature ; for as the Stuarts were superstitious and a bigotted 
 Popish race, so was their government of this country. 
 
 We would ask, what becomes of the immense revenues 
 of all Corporations the purchase of freedoms, market dues, 
 &c. &c. &c. this comes from the poor of the land ; the con- 
 sumer must pay for all. If the tradesman has so much to 
 pay for his freedom or dues to a corporate body, he must 
 put it on the article he sells; if a farmer, or any other 
 person, brings into a market his corn, butter, or eggs, im- 
 mediately the basket or standing must be paid for, so much 
 to the Corporation ; all these payments must be wrung 
 
Sill WILLIAM COUKTENAY, K.M. 319 
 
 * 
 
 from the poor. Now we have laid down all our arguments 
 upon a rock that no man can alter, which is, hy our religion 
 we are taught, the glorious liberty of the gospel; and we 
 contend that the common business of life and dealings must 
 follow after such a free foundation. Let us investigate the 
 real injury it does to every town where a corporation is 
 allowed ; we say allowed, because it is upon a contrary 
 principle of action to that of a free government under a 
 Christian monarch. 
 
 -In every market town, the inhabitants of that town in 
 common, should have the general direction of all their 
 immediate affairs, such as markets, freedoms, and standings. 
 There is nothing which injures the real welfare and interest 
 of a market town more, than to clog the fair dealings be- 
 tween man and man. It is not only the bare money which 
 is paid to a corporation, but it is so impressed upon the 
 country people's mind to compel for payment, that it 
 prevents by this monopoly, thousands in the course of a 
 year, from coming to market. It were by far the better 
 way that every inhabitant tradesman, shop-keeper, or even 
 labourer, subscribed together, and have a freedom of quay 
 dues, market dues, or market place, rather than any 
 corporate body should put it into their own pockets. 
 
 If the public sale of the country's produce, such as corn, 
 potatoes, eggs, and all kinds of the farmer's produce, were 
 allowed a free and unfettered sale, without the fangs of a 
 toll-dish, depend on it the streets and shops of all the trades- 
 men would not want ready- money customers. Nothing 
 advances more the healthy state of a city, and general 
 welfare of its inhabitants, than a free and uncontrolled sale 
 of every produce that the neighbourhood affords ; and 
 nothing injures a town more than a venal and unprincipled 
 corporation ; and no corporation can stand long together 
 where Christians and infidels form the body politic; our 
 reasoning applies to every corporate body and vested rights. 
 Englishmen, by the constitution of their country, are free- 
 
THE LIFE ANp ADVENTURES OF 
 
 born subjects, under a beloved monarch and royal family, 
 anointed as such by the Lord of Hosts ; yet how can this 
 freedom apply to a city where the magisterial office is filled 
 by Unitarians, denying the birthright of that Deity who 
 died to give them freedom. 
 
 When a magistrate denies the divinity of the Son of God, 
 and is a judge in political questions, or common justice due 
 from man to man, how great must his condemnation be, 
 when, before a community, he publicly acknowledges it. 
 In the breast of a Christian is love, benevolence, and all 
 charity, condemning nothing ; but in the breast of an infidel 
 is envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness, believing 
 nothing. More of this subject another time. 
 
 The highest character as the world now stands, or people 
 upon it, is a true born Englishman, firm in his purpose, 
 loyal to his royal family, and determined in a just cause. 
 Yet this character in his natural state, is not to be depended 
 upon ; but if regenerated by the spirit of Christ, then is 
 he a man indeed ; such a person do we conceive the noble- 
 minded Courtenay the friend of liberty, and a true royalist. 
 We know full well the laying down and rising up of this 
 illustrious individual ; and such a staunch adherent is he to 
 the present king and royal family, that his life shall be at 
 their service whenever called upon so to do. Sooner would 
 Sir William Courtenay be deprived of existence, than leave 
 a brave British sailor in distress, and as such, we consider 
 the present generous King-William now is, by the situation 
 of his country. 
 
 If the corporation and church of Canterbury has thought 
 proper to persecute this friend of the poor, because he 
 boldly stands upon the truth, why do they not bring forward 
 evidence to prove their calumnious assertions and public 
 scandal ? Every man is innocent until he is proved guilty ; 
 and God only knows he treads in the steps of his Saviour, 
 and according to the authority of Paul. When the world 
 can fid one fault, that Sir William Courtenay ever did, or 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 32 1 
 
 ever forfeited his honour, let them publicly lay their charge, 
 and he is always prepared to meet it for truth must bear 
 off the victory. Upon this alone stands the defender of his 
 master's prerogatives, the king of Britain is his name. No 
 other man upon the earth shall have the honor of being a 
 sovereign to so faithful a subject as Sir William Courtenay 
 will prove himself to be to the present princely house of 
 Hanover. We know fullwell when a monarch loses his high 
 birthright and powerful prerogatives, the people, under a 
 Christian government, must also lose their just claim to the 
 liberties of their land : for while the government of a coun- 
 try is distracted by party spirits to suit their own pockets, 
 both the king and his subjects pay dear for it ; as well do 
 we see this fulfilling every day the times are getting worse 
 and worse, and the present state of society warrants our 
 saying nothing of the true principles of Christianity is 
 now in the present order of affairs. 
 
 Before we close this week's publication, it is our bounden 
 duty to the poor of the land, and to the rich also, if they 
 too will love the distressed and afflicted, that we have 
 patiently submitted to every insult that a British Lion 
 could be offered, by the scurrilous and unjust calumny of 
 the liver-coloured Kentish Observer ; and the dry bones of 
 Tom Paine, re-animated in the Kent Herald editor. We 
 only consider those two weekly prints worth their value, 
 when applied to light a bonfire, on which is set the effigies 
 of their editors, proprietors, and supporters, and burn them 
 up altogether. Is it because the British Lion speaks the 
 truth, and supports the liberties of his country, that he is 
 from week to week attacked by such cowardly dastards 
 as the proprietors and editors of the " bullock's liver" system 
 to support the frame of a poor labourer, after toiling in the 
 fields, that the tables of the rich may groan with luxury ? 
 
 Is a Christian's publication so humble in its pretensions, 
 but yet so faithful to God and his country, to be attacked 
 14. 2T 
 
3'2'2 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 by such infidels and destroyers of morality, as the fiend-like 
 gang which supports the Kent Herald, and pollute the very- 
 air with corruption, by Tom Paine's ashes ? God forbid 
 that Englishmen will ever read, or permit their children to 
 soil their fingers with such debased writings, and scurrilous 
 language as weekly appears in those paltry trash of com- 
 position, the Kentish Observer arid Kent Herald the one a 
 supporter of bullock's liver for the poor ; and the other to 
 gull the people by infidel blasphemy and party spirit. 
 
 There are many subjects we shall often expose, as they 
 deserve ; such as the present system of the poor rates, corn 
 laws, tithe robbery, men in authority saddling the parishes 
 with unfortunate children : all those, we shall treat and 
 fairly lay before the public in truth and justice. 
 
 When we see a population of no more than 14,000 souls, 
 rated to maintain its " poverty" to the tune of 8,0007. or 
 10,0007. per annum, we begin rather to smell the doubtful- 
 ness of this position; that in so small a town, so enormous 
 a poor's rate can accrue. Is it possible, that a majority of 
 the inhabitants of so ancient and honorable a city as Canter- 
 bury, will not firmly hold together and upset those oligarchs 
 now in office ? Of what use is it, that the honest shop- 
 keeper stands, from morning till night, behind his counter, 
 in all the toil of his body and harassing of his mind, while 
 those magisterial paupers, in all the pride of insolent 
 authority, refuse an honest tradesman any reasonable justi- 
 fication for so enormous a poor's rate. 
 
 It is indeed well to hold out to the last, specious pre- 
 tences, to gull the inhabitants of any city into blind security 
 for future plunder; but we must take up the cudgels for the 
 poor of Canterbury, and as their staunch supporters deny 
 the possibility, that so many thousands per year go into the 
 half starved bellies of English paupers ; wherever there is 
 any public dispute or doubtful disputations relative to the 
 management of a city's affairs, search should be immediately 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 323 
 
 made into the accounts of " the head receiver" and above 
 all things, in an English community, take particular care 
 that this "general receiver" is not crossed with French 
 blood ; a great deal depends upon the selection of this per- 
 son as he must be answerable for all misdemeanors and 
 public wrongs. 
 
 We cannot think how any English city, or body of in- 
 habitants, in any English society, will ever permit a 
 cowardly Frenchman to superintend a people's purse. You 
 may firmly rely, that all a tri-coloured Talleyrand wants, is 
 "the money of John Bull:" and to hell the inhabitants of 
 his country may go, for what the French care. 
 
 Sole Agent, John Waters Banks, 
 
 46, Union-street, Northgatey 
 Printed and published by Elijah Lazarus, Canterbury. 
 
 THE LION. No. 7. 
 
 Truth and Justice ! Religion and Piety ! 
 
 Reformation. 
 The Root of all Evil is in the Church. 
 
 Lucre ! Lucre ! ! Lucre ! ! ! 
 Heaven protect the Widow, Fatherless and Distressed. 
 
 Saturday, April 27, 1833. 
 
 Reformation. The Root of all Evil is the Church. 
 Lucre ! Lucre ! ! Lucre ! ! ! 
 
 While we presume to lay before our readers the truth 
 upon this all-absorbing question one in which all the race 
 of mankind is so deeply and seriously interested let us 
 with humble adoration to our God, trust to him alone, that 
 in all things we shall be directed according to his will, and 
 for the exaltation, honor, and glory of his only begotten 
 Son Jesus Christ oi Nazareth, in the Kingdom of Israel. 
 
324 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 To treat of a subject to be established on such a univer- 
 sal scale, we must be thoroughly master of the word of 
 God, from the Genesis of Moses to the Revelation of St. 
 John : not only should we read it with the natural eye, but 
 also have the spirit of light and wisdom given to us to un- 
 derstand the meaning and intent thereof. Reader, we will 
 give thee one axiom or statement, that thou wilt never be 
 able to get over so long as thou art in being, that is the 
 word of God is both written and spoken by a spirit-direct- 
 ing matter for his own purpose and that is Christ, or the 
 Spirit of truth, synonymous appellations with God or Jeho- 
 vah That as the word was delivered to be done, kept and 
 performed, by a spirit of truth, and the same " Spirit" 
 which spake through the mouths of " holy men" promised 
 many blessings to the faithful ; so we tell you one and all, 
 that every man born of a woman must have a portion of 
 this spirit of Christ or truth, otherwise the whole Bible and 
 New Testament is to them a dead letter. 
 
 The wisdom of God in this is very great, and past all 
 finding out ; and it is not given to any man to make a 
 boast of it, or a trade of it it is given to a chosen vessel 
 in trust, for the pure direction of church and state, which is 
 the heart of man. 
 
 We must lay it down before the whole world, that truth 
 is but one spirit, or animating principle, running in all 
 flesh ; and, also, whatever living properties contain the most 
 truth, must ultimately triumph. 
 
 Now, to guard against the supposition, some will fool- 
 ishly run away with this absurd notion, that " some are 
 formed to be damned and some to be saved ;" we hear 
 many say, " all is one grand design or plot by the living 
 God ;" others will tell you with their canting hypocrisy " if 
 you do not join our society, and come into this method of 
 salvation, you are sure to go to hell." Pharasaical priests 
 Presumptuous ministers, under the " mantle of Jesus" 
 to prop up your own tottering church, which the very 
 
SIR WILLIAM COUKTENAY, K.M. 325 
 
 bricks and mortar are all mortgaged to usurers to support 
 appearances. God forbid that any one should think him- 
 self a Christian minister who condemns another in what 
 way he shall worship his God. It is of little moment to us 
 personally, whether men worship Christ or the devil. 
 Every man must answer to his Maker for all deeds done in 
 the body, and as such, we shall firmly support the right of 
 every man to his free worship of a Deity. While we sup- 
 port this principle of " civil and religious liberty," as 
 public writers, we must be allowed to lead the untutored 
 slave into those paths which we deem proper for his pros- 
 perity and happiness here below, and eternal redemption of 
 his mortal body. 
 
 It is evident, that in the composition of our natures are 
 two great agencies working at different times within us 
 the one is ." good" the other "evil." In this position of our 
 reasoning, (we have no doubt the infidel Voltaire will per- 
 fectly agree), that a "good man, who does good actions to- 
 wards his fellow creatures, ought to have the pre-eminence 
 over another who is a wicked man, and Hoes evil actions 
 towards his fellow creatures." In no other light do we 
 presume to extol the Saviour of the world ; as Christ, we 
 give him the pre-eminence over satan, as he conquered 
 sin, satan, death, and hell. Now we have simply laid down 
 this foundation, agreeably to our first argument, that all 
 men, however profane and dissolute their lives and conver- 
 sation may be, let them ask themselves this question 
 whom do you like best, a good man or a bad man ? and 
 we deny the material of his composition, but will allow the 
 preference to doing good, let that man's practice, himself be 
 what it may. 
 
 In this light only shall we ever consider Christ as the 
 angel for good ; and the devil as the angel for evil. And 
 in going into the different arguments drawn from Holy 
 Writ alone, we shall prove to the fiend Voltaire, and the 
 followers of Tom Paine's " Age of Reason," that Jesus wag 
 
326 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 the very Lord. We have no reluctance to enter into a fair 
 and dispassionate argument with any of the fools who, like 
 puss in boots, strut about the streets calling a true Christ- 
 ian every thing but what he really is, an ornament to his 
 God, his king and country. We tell those lovers of the 
 coward Voltaire and Tom Paine, that, like their infernal 
 masters, they are all a lump of corruption, fearful of any 
 little storm or tempest cowards in their practice. It is a 
 truth, allowed by the greatest French infidel, that Voltaire 
 himself never heard a peal of thunder, or saw a flash of 
 lightning, but his very limbs trembled like a brute in their 
 sockets; and if he at any time was ever caught in a storm 
 or tempest, his nature sunk within him, and his body be- 
 came a lifeless form of clay. So it was with the boasting 
 sceptic Paine ; a man who never in truth possessed the first 
 principles of reason, much less to lead a nation into pros- 
 perity and happiness. 
 
 How different is the conduct and actions of a true Christ- 
 ian, fearful of nothing, always in the path of duty, he 
 braves the tempestuous ocean, and fears not death itself 
 no doubts or fears in the pulpit or cabinet, field or sentry- 
 box. No man is his equal either as a warrior or statesman. 
 His soul, his mind, his word, his honor, his love of glory, 
 is ever fixed upon one direct object the exaltation of the 
 cross. Saul did kill his " thousands," but David his " tens 
 of thousands." There was never one man who did so 
 much injury to mankind in general as the infidel Voltaire 
 A destroyer of nations by the wholesale, one whose free- 
 dom of intellect and demon-like writings was the cause of 
 the American Revolution, and French blasphemy. To 
 this man, as the origin from whence comes the present 
 licentious age, is mainly to be attributed the stigma which 
 Christianity daily meets with in the form of some sceptic, 
 who thinks as he did, that Christ was a bastard, in the same 
 degree of pernicious and false reasoning we include the in- 
 fidel Tom Paine, whose talents for the real benefit of his 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 3*27 
 
 country, can better be known in practice than theory : for 
 depend upon it Paine's Age of Reason," makes cowards 
 of all men. The fallacious arguments of this atrocious 
 monster, in all his own writings, would persuade all men to 
 be gods, and that reason was the author of itself. This 
 weak minded beggar, from the ashes of Voltaire's filthy 
 productions, has done England more real mischief in his 
 works, than any other character the British Isle ever pro- 
 duced. We feel sorry that Albion should have produced 
 such a son out of such a mother and to the disgrace of 
 his name, it stinks in our nostrils when we mention it. In 
 our future reasoning upon all worldly considerations, we 
 shall only consider her powers as the effect of faith. Our 
 object will at all times be to lead men to the Cross of 
 Christ, as the object of worship, from which fountain 
 true reason is given to argue on politics or worldly sub- 
 jects. 
 
 Truth may for a time be blamed and scandalized ; but 
 never, never, can you shame it ; the more it is persecuted 
 the more it rises, and no better way can the enemies of 
 truth take to establish the Divinity, than by tha most ag- 
 gravated persecutions. There never was an age of the 
 world in which the lovers of truth were more contemptuously 
 treated, or vilified, than the present. Indeed such is the 
 state of society from the corruption of the church alone 
 after filthy lucre, that gold is the object of all ranks and 
 denominations. Well may we say this is the great day of 
 apostacy, both in church and state, falling away from the 
 foundation which was cut out without hands Christ the 
 founder of the Christian monarchy. 
 
 While we then presume to expose the errors of the 
 present church establishment, with a view only to draw a 
 line of demarcation between the dregs of Popish supersti- 
 tion and the pure Church of Christ, let not our readers 
 suppose that we, like the Kentish Observer and Kent Herald, 
 would lay prostrate at the footstool of tyranny and infidelity, 
 
328 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 that beautiful edifice bought with no less a price than the 
 precious blood of the Son of God ? The heart of man 
 this only is the church of Christ. It is in the heart alone 
 that he desires to be made known, not in the fine walls of 
 brick and mortar, or the escutcheons of some pampered 
 bishop, who, for the " loaves and fishes," would sell his own 
 master, We would ask, wherein the difference consists 
 how a man gets money, provided always he does not get it 
 honestly ? Judas Iscariot betrayed his master for money 
 and we ask any one the difference between his act, and the 
 present ministers of every sect and denomination ? It is 
 true the present established church have the fat livings, 
 drawn from the poor distressed farmer, and the sweat of a 
 poor man's labour; yet, well we know that, if the dissent- 
 ing minister, or the methodist preacher, could get a snack 
 at them, and have the same advantage, they would be 
 equally as bad. It will never be our purpose to lay the 
 least blame on the congregations ; the onus falls upon 
 those who deserve it : that is the ministers, or rather the 
 proclaimers of dogmatical logic, who enter into a fine defi- 
 nition of words, pompous expressions, and philosophical re- 
 searches, Indeed, we have been told that some of the 
 Canterbury preachers have so far degraded themselves, as 
 to give lectures on certain doubtful questions imitating 
 the practice of an infidel institution, or Unitarian reasoning. 
 If a minister of the gospel possessed one spark of heavenly; 
 calling, he would never be found on the platform of a large 
 room descanting on the first cause of light, or material bo- 
 dies. Canting hypocrites ! while they condemn and tra- 
 duce a person's character in the pulpit, under the plea of 
 explaining certain texts, let them not forget Christian 
 charity which believeth all things ; and remember to preach 
 Jesus ; and him crucified, holding up the glorious Messiah 
 as the only object of faith, and a Christian's hope. In all 
 our exposition of the present abuse and corruption of the 
 church, we do it not from any party motives or personal 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 329 
 
 enmity ; but seeing as we do, every day, that gospel the 
 light of which in truth is Heaven itself held up to a mis- 
 guided population as common traffic for filthy lucre, how 
 can we remain silent, and peaceably to see the pampered 
 bishop and hypocritical minister leading their congregations 
 into blind infatuated security, until they both fall into the 
 ditch. It is not only in the church establishment that apos- 
 tacy is violently raging ; but it is in all the places of pub- 
 lic worship ; they are all holding forth some stuff and false 
 philosophy, instead of the praise, honor, and glory of 
 Christ. No minister dare enter the pulpit but to hold 
 forth two certain principles Sin, the disease, and Christ 
 the remedy this is all, as Paul says " I know nothing 
 amongst men, save Jesus and him crucified." Our atten- 
 tion is to lead sinners to Christ, and to open the eyes, if 
 possible, of the self-righteous ; not to condemn any thing, 
 but to expose, and, in all glory and singleness of heart, 
 hold forth to man the glorious " liberty of the gospel" 
 the only road to man's happiness here below, and a nation's 
 prosperity. The present foundation of the established 
 church was erected by the pope of Rome, in the year 
 606, as the ' great image mentioned by St. Paul, in the 
 Revelations, 
 
 This very foundation of our present church is rotten and 
 in error from the very beginning. The pope "of Rome did 
 not build his church upon Christ as the founder, but upon 
 Peter, as the rock of salvation ; bear in mind the difference 
 to suit the pope's authority and convenience, twisting the 
 very truth itself to exalt his own person and bloody martyr- 
 dom. And behold the Heavens opened, and we heard the 
 martyred saints cry aloud, " how long, Lord, how long will 
 it be before thou wilt avenge our murdered children upon 
 the heads of their destroyers ?" Now it was upon this por- 
 tion of the word of Jesus, that the pope began his reign. 
 And Jesus said unto Peter, " whom dost thou think that I 
 14. 2 u 
 
THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 am ?" and he answered, " thou art Christ, the son of the 
 living God upon this rock will I build my church, that 
 the gates of hell cannot prevail against it." In this passage 
 the foundation of the Christian religion is fully laid down. 
 When Jesus asked Peter who himself was, and received for 
 answer, that he was the Son of God, it was upon this(being 
 the Son of God) that he built his church, knowing well it 
 was a sure foundation cut out without hands ; but the pope 
 of Rome seeing the Roman power falling under their 
 ancient heathenish form of worship, seized upon the wri- 
 tings and letters of the apostolic age, and erected that 
 authority and church which stood 1000 years, more or less. 
 The pope well knowing that Christ had nothing to do with 
 him or his foundation, chose another corner stone, which 
 was Peter, and upon this man, says the bloody tyrant, I 
 will build my church, knowing within himself that Christ 
 was his own shepherd, and would look after his own sheep. 
 They know my voice and will follow me ; thus Christ 
 being God, can take care of all those who trust upon him 
 by faith in the mind, and does not want the kind assistance 
 as a representative in the pope of Rome. It was this 
 which Paul foresaw would be the result of that beautiful 
 building, which the Son of God had given his life to redeem 
 the heart of man to his maker. 
 
 Without going any more into further proofs of the 
 Romish church foundation, we will take it for granted that 
 all our readers perfectly agree, that the present church of 
 Rome is not built upon Christ, but upon Peter. Peter, 
 Paul, or the Virgin Mary herself, is to us no more than the 
 pope of Rome at present, as to objects of faith ; we love 
 them as fellow prisoners in the bonds of Christ ; but con- 
 sider them no more than labourers, and highly privileged 
 as servants to our Master and Lord, the Son of God ; he 
 is all in all. It is folly and absurdity to suppose that 
 Christ ever delegated the pope of Rome, or any other man 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY. K.M. 331 
 
 to stand in his shoes. Peter was but a servant, and did not 
 sell his master's cause, entrusted to his hands, for " filthy 
 lucre" to the pope. If a man will take money for preach- 
 ing the Gospel in any shape or form, he will sell that same 
 Gospel again for money. It is exactly like the present 
 disgraceful practice of the House of Commons ; that same 
 principle of action in man, which would lead him to take 
 any remuneration for his services to his country, would 
 also lead him to sell his constituents' birthright for a mess 
 of pottage. In the same line cf reasoning will every man 
 do, that receives filthy lucre for serving his God, King, or 
 country. What man is better qualified for the business and 
 common affairs of life than a good Christian ? Is it a dis- 
 grace for a minister of the Gospel to be seen behind his 
 counter, or making clothes, tents, or harness for horses ? 
 Did not the Almighty God bring up the apostle Paul to be 
 a tent maker? How much better are the ministers of the 
 present age than Paul ? Then why not take the example 
 of Paul, as well as his precept. When Paul says, that 
 those who administer to the altar shall be partakers of the 
 altar, he had no allusion to worldly consideration, but ex- 
 clusively to the mind. Do the ministry of the present age 
 know that the church of Christ is food for the mind only, 
 and that whatever appertains to the preaching of the 
 Gospel, is intellectual and sublime itself? Food for the 
 body, or a sufficiency for a Christian's support in this world, 
 must be the effect of this calling to the ministry ; and he, 
 whom the Spirit calls, him will the Spirit justify. Why 
 the present ministers of the church are so much craving 
 after the "loaves and fishes," is for the want of faith in this 
 simple belief: That Christ being a Spirit, and that a 
 Spirit of truth, he can do his own work. 
 
 There was never a minister yet called to be so by the 
 spirit of Christ; which is God, but that same body in 
 which the spirit dwelt, will always be provided for, suitable 
 to its wants. Christ's church is a spiritual church. Christ's 
 
33'2 THE LITE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 kingdom is a spiritual kingdom, and all who are called to 
 be Christians must walk through this world simply trusting 
 by faith upon Christ for all things necessary for the body as 
 the soul. If any minister condemns any worldly enjoy- 
 ment or amusements of this sinful world, that minister, 
 instead of doing the church good, is in reality doing it an 
 injury; for if a minister holds forth Jesus alone, then the 
 spirit of Christ works with him ; but if he holds himself up, 
 or any selfish legal doctrine, it is the death of Christ, and 
 never will convert a soul, or do his hearers good. As our 
 article upon faith, three weeks since, gave general satisfac- 
 tion by its great demand, so we intend to expound again 
 upon this delightful and solid subject, in a more lengthened 
 form ; for nothing will ever give us so great a pleasure in 
 all our public writing, as to rivet the soul of man to the 
 Lord Jesus, as his object of faith, hope, and charity. How- 
 ever distressing the present times may be to the poor, how- 
 ever low the true church of Christ may be reduced, there is 
 yet that God of Israel who will raise up a deliverer for the 
 poor of this land. England, thy church has fallen away 
 into popish priestcraft and followers of Mammon, like the 
 Jews in the days of our Saviour, they are pursuing after the 
 " loaves and fishes," even to blood, to satisfy their rapa- 
 cious lusts. Good God ! is it possible that any set of men 
 can be so blind as to suppose for a moment, that the 
 present church of England, the dregs of popery, is the 
 foundation of Christ's erection? We boldly tell the church 
 there is no difference between them and the papists, save 
 one is in the receipt of the "loaves and fishes," and the 
 other is not. No difference whatever as to their practice, 
 gold is their only aim, and it is as well for them to worship 
 Romish idolatry to obtain it, as to presume, under the 
 mantle of Jesus, to make gold their god. If the present 
 ministry or church of England, make a traffic of men's 
 souls, and sell them to the best bidder, like a bullock in 
 Smithfield, why do they ever hold forth, under the mantle 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. fl33 
 
 of that adorable Lamb, who told his ministry to go forth to 
 the world, without money or script in their pockets, and 
 what lacked ye ? Nothing, says the apostles. For shame ! 
 for shame ! ye ministers and churchmen of the present day, 
 you to whom you say the Gospel is entrusted for the wel- 
 fare and happiness of man, to betray the cause of your 
 injured Master, and bring his precious blood in open 
 scandal. Where can you look for justification ? Where is 
 the hope of the hypocrite, though he should gain, when 
 God taketh away his soul ? This text we heard one even- 
 ing expounded on in a meeting in this city ; it was got up 
 on purpose to injure the feelings of an innocent man, and 
 never did the bosom of a Christian feel so high an injury 
 as when the Pharasaical minister, with the most pointed 
 calumny, aspersed a Christian's hope. But sincerely do we 
 forgive him, and with a blessing upon all our enemies, we 
 trust, for the cause of Christ, that the pulpit will never 
 again be made a " school for scandal," 
 
 It never could have been the Countess of Huntingdon's 
 intention to have had her pulpit the theatre of abuse; no 
 woman ever possessed a more Christian spirit ; no woman 
 ever stood firmer to the true tenets of the Gospel ; and no 
 woman was a greater champion for her Lord, than the 
 amiable Countess of Huntingdon. 
 
 We must now return to the present church establish- 
 ment as it stands. 
 
 The Pope of Rome was its founder upon Peter's word ; 
 but in this present number of our work, we cannot stay to 
 explain that passage in which our Saviour says, "Whoso- 
 ever's sin thou remittest, it shall be remitted ; or whose sin 
 thou retainest, it shall be retained." In a future publica- 
 tion we shall consider this, to our papal readers, of great 
 interest and moment. Now the church of Rome being the 
 founders and builders of the present cathedrals or 
 churches, more or less, according to the emancipation 
 of the different ages, light springing up, we contend that 
 
334 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 the foundation itself is upon a sand, and must fall ; that 
 the colleges at Oxford, Cambridge, and all other societies, 
 temperance societies and institutions of every kind or 
 description must all go together. 
 
 It is a mistaken notion, and fallacious reasoning, to sup- 
 pose that any set of men can devise means, or create 
 institutions, to avert the present awful state of this country. 
 We tell you the church itself is upon a wrong foundation ; 
 for what did Christ himself tell the Jews in his days ? Did 
 he not plainly tell them thus, " I will destroy this temple, 
 and in three days build it up again ?" What temple we 
 ask the archbishop was it that our Saviour meant to 
 destroy ? Was it not the temple built by hands ? Was it 
 not that temple of the Jews, put together by bricks and 
 mortar ? Christ's temple was his own body ; this is what 
 he meant, when he said, " in three days 1 will build it up 
 again ;" and never, never did he intend that bricks and 
 mortar should be his church. What does Christ again and 
 again say ? Take no notice of what ye shall eat or what 
 ye shall drink, or wherewithal ye shall be clothed. Take 
 no notice of the weather, but look at the signs of the times. 
 We tell you all again, that the purity of Christ's church is 
 perfect freedom; that any minister, in purity of the 
 founder's intention, will always preach in the open firma- 
 ment of heaven, without money and without price. Why, 
 if a minister is feed for it, where is the difference between 
 him and a lawyer ? The one sends the soul to hell after 
 his death, and keeps him there in torments ; and the other 
 robs a man of every thing who employs him, and keeps his 
 mind and body in continual hot water with his neighbour. 
 
 Woe be to you, hypocrites, painted sepulchres, parson, 
 priest, lawyers, and doctors; you heap loads of burdens 
 upon other people's shoulders, which you would not touch 
 with your fingers. " Do unto all men as you would have 
 they should do unto you." 
 
 A short time now will openly reveal that man of sin 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTKNAY K. M. 335 
 
 John Wesley. We condemn not the poor untutored slave 
 for his being misled, but the ministers who dare cover 
 themselves in the mantle of our great Captain, and like 
 cowards divide the glory. We cannot devote in this week 
 any more for such a subject ; but shall again, and again, 
 and again, prove to man, that if the plan of redemption was 
 not completed and finished by the adorable Son of God, he 
 would not have said so ; when upon the cross, he cried out, 
 " It is finished," and not till then did he give up the 
 ghost. 
 
 LIBERTY. 
 
 Tune. " The Conquering Hero." 
 
 Hark ! old England's pris'ners' groan 
 "Pis a deep and mournful tone, 
 From oppression to be free, 
 And enjoy true liberty, 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 Britons must be will be free : 
 Truth bears off the victory ! 
 
 Lo 1 deliverance is at hand ; 
 Courtenay 's made a noble stand, 
 He, the tyrants has arous'd 
 He has freedom's cause espous'd, 
 
 Britons must be, &c. 
 
 Courtenay's cause is good, is just ; 
 Safely we in him may trust : 
 Truth and virtue's on his side, 
 We will still in him confide. 
 
 Britons must be, &c. 
 
 Men and devils still may rage, 
 Their united powers engage 
 Infidelity shall fall, 
 Christ shall still be all in all. 
 
 Britons must be, &c. 
 
336 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 Slav'ry's chains shall then he broke, 
 We shall soon cast off the yoke, 
 Independence is our right, 
 Victory soon shall crown the fight. 
 
 Britons must be &c. 
 
 Let us then be firm and strong 
 Lawless pow'r shall fall ere long 
 Soon the laurels we shall wear, 
 Freedom's num'rous blessings share. 
 
 Britons must be, &c. 
 
 What ! though infidels deride 
 Laagh to scorn our nation's pride, 
 Courcenfiy's triumph shall ere long, 
 Be the burden of our song. 
 
 Britons must be, &c, 
 
 Corp'rate bodies then shall cease, 
 They're destructive to our peace ; 
 Party spirit shall no more 
 Tyrannize with lawless pow'r. 
 
 Britons must be, &c. 
 
 Then, when victory's palm is won, 
 Glorious as the summer's sun, 
 Shall Lord Courtenay's cause arise. 
 Shining forth in cloudless skies, 
 Britons must be, shall be free : 
 Truth bears off the victory ! 
 
 A SONG. 
 
 Tune. " The King ! God bless him ! 
 
 Composed in honour of Sir William Courtenay's triumph of Truth 
 over Injustice. 
 
 Oh, now let us greet our champion's return, 
 
 With legal advice did we press him, 
 
 That the corporate body might have in their turn, 
 
 A just and a hearty good dressing. 
 
 And now since our Courtenay's with victory crown'd, 
 
 In the joy of our pride we address him ; 
 
 Then with heart and with soul, let the bumper go round; 
 
 Here's a health to Sir William ! God bless him. 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 337 
 
 We'll welcome to Boughton this friend of the poor, 
 
 Who are anxiously Awaiting to cheer him ; 
 
 He's faithful arid just what can we say more ? 
 
 Oh, no we can never forget him . 
 
 With four faithful friends James and Georges combined, 
 
 To them we did fearlessly trust him, 
 
 Then with heart, and with soul, let the bumper go round ; 
 
 Here's a health to Sir William ! God bless him. 
 
 And now let us offer up gratitude's pray'r 
 To the Divine Redeemer of all, 
 For him, who now tastes of deliverance sweet, 
 From foes who would wish to enthral. 
 And may he continue, supported by truth, 
 With friends who know how to caress him j 
 Then with heart, and with soul, let the bumper go round ; 
 Here's a health to Sir William ! God bless him. 
 April, 1833. 
 
 We shall here refrain from making any further extracts 
 from this singular production, which may be justly charac- 
 terised as a farrago of truth and fallacy, of mental acuteness 
 and mental imbecility, but still, calculated in many respects 
 to render him the idol of the poorer classes, whose champion 
 he avows himself, and in whose service, he professes that he 
 is willing to sacrifice his life. The most superficial observer 
 could not fail to perceive, that the system of government 
 adopted in this country, whether politically or spiritually 
 considered, is in the majority of its institutions and enact- 
 ments, at direct variance with the welfare and prosperity of 
 the lower classes, and Sir William Courtenay possessed a 
 sufficient degree of penetration to detect the most oppressive 
 of the grievances, which lay so heavily on the poor, and by 
 a solemn pledge, that he would obtain the redress of them, 
 he gained the affections of the poor, who saw in him their 
 deliverer and emancipator from all the political evils by 
 which they were surrounded, and by the existence of 
 which they were withheld from the enjoyment of many 
 15. 2x 
 
THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 blessings and of many rights, to which they were en- 
 titled by the constitution of their country. The farmers 
 flocked to his standard, by his exposition of the illegality of 
 tithes, and the determination which he evinced on all 
 occasions, but more particularly in the pages of the Lion, 
 to break up the system of tithes altogether, or at least to 
 force the holders of them, to appropriate them to the 
 purposes, for which they were originally granted them. 
 Although in the very midst of the satellites of the primate 
 of all England, he penetrated into the strong-holds of the 
 church, and brandishing the sword of extermination of all 
 the abuses which had crept into it, he found thousands who 
 were ready to follow him, and who, under the influence of 
 the wildest delusion, would have desecrated the very altars 
 of Christianity, from a lamentable belief, . that had taken 
 possession of their minds, that their leader was possessed 
 of superhuman powers, and that he was a commissioner 
 from Heaven, to restore the church of Christ to its primitive 
 purity, and expel from the fold of Christianity, the ravenous 
 wolves, that had been so long gorging themselves with the 
 blood of its sheep. If, however, there was one thing more 
 than another, which attracted his followers towards him, 
 it was his apparent enthusiastic love of truth, in defence of 
 which, he was ready to draw his sword, and sacrifice his 
 life. Truth was his palladium, in its cause, he was willing 
 to expend his own property, as well as the property of 
 others, and therefore, his benighted and besotted followers 
 were disposed to look upon every thing which he said, as 
 the most positive and undeniable truth, whereas in reality 
 much that he advanced, was nothing less than mere rant 
 and declamation. He established for himself a particular 
 standard of truth, both theological and moral, philosophical 
 and political, and all, who presumed to deviate from that 
 standard, were not fit to inhabit this world, much less to 
 hold any association with himself, as the founder of it, and 
 to whom as such, all due homage ought to be paid. 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 339 
 
 A circumstance however, occurred at this time, which 
 was well calculated to shake the belief of many, in the 
 genuineness of the love of truth, which its great champion 
 so fervently displayed, not only in his writings, but also in 
 his actions, as far as he could succeed in hoodwinking the 
 observers of them, and which would have discomfitted any 
 other individual than Sir William Courtenay, who, by a 
 tact peculiar to himself, and by a recourse to expedients, 
 which never would have entered into any other brain than 
 his own, contrived to extricate himself from many a dilemma, 
 which the majority of persons would have considered as 
 utterly hopeless. 
 
 Sir William was one day parading the streets of Canter- 
 bury, receiving the congratulations and the homage of his 
 admiring followers, when he perceived an individual stand- 
 ing at the entrance of the Fountain Inn, who appeared to 
 recognize him with a considerable display of surprise, and 
 in whom Sir William, not a little to his mortification, dis- 
 covered the Mr. Smith, in whose house he had lodged at 
 Pentonville, in the character of the Hon. Sydney Percy, 
 the Son of the Duke of Northumberland, and the claimant 
 to a peerage, and all the vast estates belonging to it. There 
 was also, as it may be remembered, a certain balance of 
 money due to the said Mr. Smith, as arrears of rent, and 
 no doubt now rested on the mind of Sir William Courtenay, 
 that the visit of Mr. Smith to Canterbury, had some re- 
 ference to the payment of that sum of money, which it was 
 not only inconvenient to Sir William to pay, but he very 
 wisely considered that the acknowledgement of the debt, 
 would be a tacit confession, of his having passed in the 
 world under a variety of names, which could not by any 
 means redound to his credit, but, on the contrary, lead to 
 such an investigation, as might fully expose the imposition 
 which he was practising, and hurl him at once from the 
 lofty station which he occupied, into an abyss of odium and 
 ignominy. There was, therefore, only one line of conduct 
 
340 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 open to him by which he could extricate himself from the 
 dilemma, in which the unexpected appearance of Mr. 
 Smith in Canterbury had thrown him, and that was reso- 
 lutely to deny that he was the Hon. Sydney Percy, who had 
 lived at Pentonville, and as there was no one in Canterbury, 
 to corroborate the statement of Mr. Smith, he entertained 
 not the slightest doubt, that he should be able to persuade 
 his followers, to look upon it as a direct fiction, and a 
 scandalous invention on the part of his enemies, to injure 
 him in the good opinion of the people of Canterbury, and 
 thwart him in the glorious and patriotic aims which he had 
 in view. In pursuance of this plan, he perseveringly re- 
 fused to condescend to grant Mr. Smith an interview with 
 him. In vain did Mr. Smith protest that Sir William 
 Courtenay had lodged with him, under the assumed name 
 of the Hon. Sydney Percy, and that he had left his lodgings 
 in debt. Sir William appealed to the dignified station, 
 which he held in society, as a voucher, that he could not 
 be guilty of the disreputable acts, which were imputed to 
 him, and it is very probable, that if the opinion had not 
 been entertained by many, that that very condition was in 
 itself a direct imposition, the proof might have been allowed, 
 and the charges brought against him by Mr. Smith, con- 
 sidered as originating in some mistake, or as the effect of 
 mere fiction. It was, however, nothing but the most con- 
 summate effrontery which extricated Sir William from this 
 dilemma. In proportion as the tide of popular opinion ran 
 against him, he assumed an air of consequence and dignity ; 
 he talked loudly of the machinations of his enemies, and the 
 scandalous measures to which they had recourse, in order 
 to thwart him in the glorious schemes which he had in 
 view for the regeneration of the human race, He assembled 
 a small conclave of those persons, who were the most de- 
 voted to his cause, and informed them, that he had by some 
 supernatural agency obtained information of the plans which 
 his enemies had devised, for arresting the progress of his 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 341 
 
 plans for the abolition of all abuses in cburch and state, and 
 that the person, styling himself Mr. Smith, was one of their 
 emissaries who had been sent into the camp, with a gross 
 and wicked falsification of his having formerly been known 
 as the Hon. Sydney Percy, although there might be a little 
 truth mingled with it, for it was known to all, that he was 
 allied by blood to the Percy family, and, therefore, they 
 had taken the advantage of that fact, in order to cast an 
 imputation upon him, which it was confidently expected, 
 would alienate from him a number of his friends, and raise 
 such a commotion amongst them, as could not but prove 
 highly injurious to their cause, by sowing amongst them 
 the seeds of dissension, where unity and concord ought only 
 prevail. He, therefore, called upon them to stand nobly by 
 him ; to use their utmost exertions to defeat the schemes 
 of their enemies, and rather die as martyrs in a great and 
 glorious cause, than like slaves to truckle at the feet of 
 their tyrants and oppressors. He advised that the strictest 
 watch should be kept upon the motions of the individual, 
 who had appeared amongst them under the name of Smith, 
 and that the earliest information should be conveyed to him 
 of his proceedings, in order that the most summary steps 
 might be 'taken to circumvent his plans, and ultimately 
 drive him from the city of Canterbury with disgrace and 
 discomfiture. In the mean time, however, he considered it 
 as an act of sound policy in him, to keep himself in a state 
 of comparative seclusion, for it scarcely amounted to a doubt 
 that an attempt would be made upon his life, were he to 
 expose himself as usual to the gaze of the multitude, and 
 he was fully persuaded, that his*, friends would concur with 
 him in the opinion, that a life like his, of such inestimable 
 value to the people of this country, was not to be placed in 
 jeopardy, for the mere gratification of receiving the homage 
 of an admiring crowd, or of attending those assemblies of 
 which he was conscious to himself that he was the pride 
 and ornament. His besotted followers were too infatuated 
 
342 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 to see through the deep cunning and art, which were incor- 
 porated with every part of his conduct, and although there 
 were many on whom the statement of Mr. Smith made a 
 very just impression, and who were henceforth disposed to 
 look upon Sir William Courtenay as a rank imposter, yet 
 on the other hand, so 'great was the ascendency which he 
 had obtained over the minds of a considerable number of 
 the inhabitants of Canterbury, that they regarded every 
 attempt to injure him, as a crime of the blackest dye, and 
 which they were resolved to avenge at the peril of their 
 lives. 
 
 In consequence of this appeal of Sir William to the zeal 
 and fidelity of his friends, Mr Smith found his residence in 
 Canterbury any thing but agreeable to him ; he saw that 
 he had literally become, what might be termed, a marked 
 man. In whatever quarter of the town, he directed his 
 steps, he was sure to meet with some abuse or insult, and 
 at one time, a small party of the low rabble of the town pro- 
 ceeded to such an extremity, as to threaten to put him 
 under one of the pumps of the town, and there to give him 
 a thorough good ducking. He therefore finished the busi- 
 ness which had brought him to Canterbury with the ut- 
 most expedition, and was happy when he saw the tower of 
 the cathedral of the city at a distance, in which, however, 
 he had left behind him, according to his own experience, a 
 greater number of infatuated fools, then were to be found 
 perhaps within the precincts of any other town of England. 
 Mr. Smith had no sooner taken his departure from the 
 city, than Sir William gradually crept from his hiding 
 place like a snail from its shell, and although his ears were 
 now and then assailed with a sound very much resembling 
 the Honorable Sydney Percy, followed by the ungracious 
 epithet of an imposter, yet Sir William condescended not 
 to take the slightest notice of it, but treated the scandalous 
 imputation with that disdain and contempt, which became a 
 man of his rank and dignity. 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 343 
 
 'The time, however, was now fast approaching, when ac- 
 cording to his own declaration, he was to take possession 
 of Powderham Castle, but before that event took place, he 
 informed one of the most infatuated of his friends, that he 
 had occasion to pay a visit to the Duke of Cumberland in 
 London, on matters of the greatest import to the country. 
 From the knowledge that we possess of that royal duke, we 
 should be inclined to consider that the author of the Lion ; 
 the destroyer of all church establishments, and the uncom- 
 promising foe of priests and parsons, would not be a very 
 welcome visitor to the royal duke, but nevertheless, it was 
 looked upon as no mean addition to his dignity and conse- 
 quence, that he should be in any degree associated with 
 royalty, although the bigotted creatures could not perceive 
 that any such association on his part must be fictitious and 
 assumed. To a weak mind there is something highly flat- 
 tering in an association with nobility, and if it should ex- 
 tend as high as royalty, the infatuation of vanity becomes 
 so great, as to deprive a man almost of his senses. It was in 
 the estimation of some people no little addition to their 
 consequence and importance to be patronized and admitted 
 to the intimacy of so great a character as Sir William 
 Courtenay, but when it was bruited forth, that his presence 
 was required in London, on matters of high import, at the 
 head of which stood the Duke of Cumberland, an extraordi- 
 nary sensation pervaded the whole city and suburbs of Canter- 
 bury, and proud indeed was the individual, who was se- 
 lected as the companion of Sir William on so important a 
 mission, for independently of the political character, which 
 was attached to it, the royal duke was, according to the 
 statement of Sir^ William, indirectly concerned in his acces- 
 sion to the title of the Earl of Devon, and to his being pla- 
 ced in possession of the estates belonging to it. Previously 
 however, to Sir William starting for London, he put a very 
 important question to his companion, whose name out of 
 charity to him, we will not disclose, whether he had the 
 
344 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 means in his possession of defraying the expences of the 
 journey, seeing that owing to some circumstances, which he 
 could not account for, his remittances in the oyster barrels 
 had not yet arrived. The answer was highly satisfactory 
 to Sir William, and it was no doubt equally satisfactory to 
 the accommodating friend, to know that his money was to 
 be expended in so good a cause, and by an individual, who 
 after his interview with the Duke of Cumberland, was to 
 hasten to Powderham Castle, where not the slightest doubt 
 existed, that his tenantry by the immediate payment of 
 their rents, would enable him to repay any money, that had 
 been advanced to him, independently of the lucrative office 
 which would be bestowed upon the individual, who had so 
 disinterestedly come forward to assist him, during the period 
 that his property had been so unjustly withheld from him. 
 
 Sir William and his squire set out on their journey to 
 the metropolis, nor did the worthy Sancho entertain a 
 higher opinion of the prowess and consequence of the re- 
 doubtable knight of La Mancha, then did the squire of the 
 future Lord of Devon, as they sat cheek by jowl on the top 
 of a Canterbury stage, to be in a short time in the presence 
 of royalty, and the enjoyment of all those inestimable ad- 
 vantages which that presence never fails to afford. If how- 
 ever, the opinion, which the squire entertained of the rank 
 and dignity of the knight whom he accompanied, was pre- 
 vious to their departure from Canterbury, of a high and 
 imposing character, how much then must it have been 
 exalted, when on presenting themselves at the door of the 
 residence of the royal duke, he discovered for the first time, 
 that he was not only the squire of Sir William Honeywood 
 Courtenay, but actually of the brother of the Duke of Cum- 
 berland, for as such Sir William represented himself to be, 
 to the great astonishment and surprise, of the dolter-headed 
 squire, who if Sir William had given himself out to be the Pope 
 himself, would have attached implicit credence to his asser- 
 tion. 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 345 
 
 The servants of royalty are at no time proverbial for 
 civility, especially to the humble plebeian, who presumes to 
 invade the precincts of royalty, or attempts to obtain an 
 interview with the possessor of it, but when Sir William 
 presented himself to the scrutinizing gaze of the parti- 
 coloured biped, announcing himself as the brother of the 
 Duke of Cumberland, when with the exception of the 
 brother, who occupied the throne, there happened at that 
 particular period, not be another brother in England, it was 
 perhaps fortunate for Sir William, that the pompous and 
 pampereoSmenial had not a horsewhip in his hand, or 
 perhaps, Sir William would have experienced the infliction 
 of it with the same force as the Knight of La Mancha re- 
 ceived the drubbing from the cudgels of the Biscayans. 
 There is, however, a kind of punishment of rather a more de- 
 grading nature, the same which another valiant knight, Sir 
 Hudibras, received in the fair, which without much 
 ceremony was applied to a particular part of the body of 
 Sir William Courtenay, the pretended brother of the Duke 
 of Cumberland, and which obliged him to descend the steps 
 leading to the royal residence with rather more expedition, 
 than he had ascended them, and in which rapid motion he 
 was seconded by his 'Squire, who was not a little surprised 
 at the ignominious treatment, which his noble master had 
 received. There was njot, however, any treatment which the 
 valiant Knight of La Mancha received, however degrading 
 and humiliating it might be, in which he did not succeed in 
 convincing his credulous 'Squire that it was an honour and 
 and a benefit to him, and Sir William Courtenay had no 
 sooner recovered from the effects of the very uncourteous 
 and truly unroyal treatment which he had received, than 
 he proceeded to account to his 'Squire for the conduct that 
 had been pursued towards him, by informing him, that in- 
 telligence had been transmitted to him, that the Duke of 
 Cumberland was at the head of a band of conspirators to 
 
 15. 4 2Y 
 
346 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 keep him from taking his seat in the House of Lords, as 
 one of the peers of the realm, where his influence would in 
 a short time be so powerful as to defeat all the measures, 
 which the Duke of Cumberland had in view, particularly 
 the perpetuation of the abuses in the administration of 
 the affairs of the church, of which he, (Sir William) 
 was the most strenuous reformer. This appeared very 
 plausible to the infatuated dupe, who verily believed that a 
 plot was in existence, to deprive his noble master of his 
 rights, but as it was now the intention of Sir William to 
 proceed immediately into^ Devonshire, and^ take possession 
 of Powderham Castle; he congratulated himself with the 
 pleasing reflection that the moment was fast approaching, 
 when the Duke of Cumberland and all the base conspira- 
 tors would be made to bite the dust, and acknowledge his 
 Lord and Master as the rightful heir 01 the vast possessions 
 of the Lord of Devon. 
 
 Another examination now took place into the state of the 
 finances, when they were found to be in such a condition, 
 as would defray all the expenses to Powderham Castle, but 
 as to any that might be required from that place, was a 
 matter not worthy of consideration, as Sir William assured 
 his 'Squire, that on account of the estates having been for 
 some time in litigation, a considerable arrear of rent was 
 due, which would now without the slightest hesitation be 
 paid to him as the rightful heir of Devon. 
 
 It is scarcely to be believed as possible, that an individ- 
 ual in actual possession of his senses, or of the means of 
 discriminating between right and wrong, between that 
 which was false, and that which was true, could have allowed 
 himself to be so bamboozled, and we may add, so bewitched 
 by a man, whose impositions were too gross and barefaced 
 not to meet with immediate detection, as to follow him in 
 his quixotic expedition to take possession of a vast estate, 
 without having in his possession a single document to prove 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 347 
 
 his title, or any other voucher to substantiate his claim, 
 than his own immediate affirmation, of the falsity of which 
 the 'Squire must already have received so many irrefragable 
 proofs, as would have deterred any rational man from at- 
 taching any further credence to whatever assertion might 
 flow from his lips. Courtenay had not as yet in any one sin- 
 gle instance, substantiated a single one of his pretensions, 
 but in every case, his imposition, and his quackery had 
 been displayed in a truly ridiculous light, and yet individuals 
 could be found, who could not be merely'content with'allowing 
 the enthusiast or the madman to run his career of folly and 
 impudence alone and unsupported, but they must harness 
 themselves like so many galley slaves for the purpose of 
 dragging him through the quagmires and cesspolls of his 
 unparalleled frauds. Acts like these might have been tole- 
 rated in the- dark and unenlightened ages of heathen igno- 
 rance, when fanaticism and superstition conspired to hood- 
 wink the human mind, and to render it impervious to a 
 single beam of truth, but when the education of the people 
 has become one of the leading principles of the day, when 
 the combined talent of the legislature of the country has 
 been employed in devising the best methods by which the 
 intellectual character of man can be improved, it is truly 
 lamentable and discouraging to observe, that in one of the 
 richest and most highly endowed counties of England, and 
 which, if the residence of the clergy ought to be received 
 as the criterion of the advance of the people in useful 
 knowledge, should stand pre-eminent for the illumination of 
 the human mind ; that comparatively considered, the people 
 appear to be there deeper immersed in ignorance, then in any 
 other part of England. Whether Sir Willaim Courtenay were 
 aware of that fact, or whether chance threw him into the 
 midst of such an unenlightened race, is a question which 
 admits of some dispute, at all events, it is certain, that he 
 could not have selected a place more fit in which to carry 
 on his torn- fooleries, or where he could have succeeded in 
 
348 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 finding a greater number of dupes, then in the clerical city of 
 Canterbury. 
 
 With visions of future splendour dancing before them, 
 Sir William Courtenay and his 'Squire proceeded on their 
 way to Powderham Castle, and as they passed through the 
 several towns on their way thither, they left behind them, 
 some very strange notions as to the sanity of the soi disant 
 Lord of Devon, and there were many, who never having 
 seen a Lord before, were now convinced that the nobility 
 of the country are right in their affirmation, that they are a 
 different rare of beings to the common herd, for one of the 
 most extraordinary samples of nobility had been now ex- 
 hibited to them, and if the remainder bore any resemblance 
 to the sample, the House of Lords must bear a greater 
 similarity to a menagery of wild beasts, than to an assembly 
 of human beings. 
 
 On the arrival of Sir William at Exmouth, between which 
 place, and Topsham, Powderham Castle is situate, he des- 
 patched his 'Squire to the principal authorities of the 
 place, announcing his arrival, and that as Lord of Devon, 
 and King of Jerusalem, he would hold a levee at 8. o'clock 
 in the evening, at which he would be ready to receive them, 
 and lay before them -his right and title to Powderham 
 Castle, and the estates belonging to it. 
 
 The hour of the levee arrived, and Sir William, attended 
 by his 'Squire, sat with becoming pomp and dignity in 
 expectation of the crowds, who would hasten to pay their 
 homage to him, when the first person who arrived, was a 
 little short, squat, square-built, dumpty kind of a personage, 
 who entered the room not as an inferior would do, coming 
 to congratulate an individual on his accession to his titles 
 and estates, but as one, who carried with him the outward 
 bearing of a man of consequence, and who was not in the 
 least daunted, although he saw before him a Knight of 
 Malta, and the King of Jerusalem. 
 
 Sir William received his visitor with that dignity, which 
 
Sill WILLIAM COUIITENAY, K.M. 349 
 
 he knew so well how to assume, and he was beginning to 
 inform him, that he had come, attended by his faithful 
 'Squire, to take possession of Powderham Castle, and all 
 its appurtenances, when he was rather rudely interrupted 
 by the official gentleman, who informed him that he might save 
 himself the trouble of taking possession of Powderham 
 Castle, for that it had already a proprietor, whose hereditary 
 right it was, and who was not to be ousted out of it, by any 
 pretender, that might take a fancy to it. He further informed 
 Sir William, that he was the accredited agent of Lord Courte- 
 nay, and that he would not allow of the slightest trespass upon 
 any part of the property. 
 
 " I dismiss you from your stewardship," said Sir William 
 Courtenay, " and accordingly you must consider yourself 
 as dismissed," and turning to his faithful 'Squire, who was 
 standing behind his chair, he said, " you will make a note 
 of that in your memorandum book, as one of my first acts 
 as Earl of Devon," and addressing himself to the steward, 
 he said, " you will deliver up all your accounts by to- 
 morrow morning at 10 o'clock, and you will pay into my 
 hands, or into those of my confidential attendant, whatever 
 monies you may have in your hands, belonging to the Earl 
 of Devon. You may now retire ; you are dismissed, I hold a 
 levee this evening, and I expect the authorities of the place 
 to pay their homage to me on second thoughts, however, 
 you may be in attendance below, as I may have some 
 questions to propose to you, touching the state of affairs at 
 Powderham Castle, with which it may be necessary, that I 
 should be made acquainted, before I proceed to take pos- 
 session 'Squire, attend the late steward to the door." 
 
 A very indecorous smile came upon the countenance of 
 the steward, who appeared by no means disposed to obey 
 the orders of the King of Jerusalem, and Earl of Devon, 
 but on the contrary, he had the temerity to tell his lordship 
 that he looked upon him as a bare-faced im poster, and that 
 if he ventured to show himself at Powderham Castle, he 
 
350 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 would experience a reception, which he would not soon 
 forget. 
 
 6 I know you," said Sir William Courtenay, " to be one 
 of the conspirators in league to deprive me of my just 
 rights, but you will not succeed. My claims to the title 
 and estates of Lord Courtenay will be confirmed by the 
 House of Lords, during the next session, and you will then 
 repent of the highly disrespectful conduct which you have 
 now pursued towards your rightful lord." 
 
 The ex-steward had the impudence to burst into a loud 
 laugh, and the pride of the Knight of Malta was so severely 
 wounded, that he drew his sword, and there is very little 
 doubt, but that a very serious affray would have taken 
 place, had not the steward made a precipitate retreat, and 
 left the Knight and his 'Squire to meditate on their pros- 
 pects of obtaining possession of Powderham Castle. 
 
 " Now," exclaimed Sir William to his esquire, " you be- 
 hold the extent of the conspiracy which is entered into to 
 deprive me of my just rights." 
 
 " I do, indeed, Sir William," said the esquire. 
 
 " We will lose no time," said Sir William, " we will 
 hasten our return to London, and having obtained a decree 
 of the House of Lords in my favour, we will return to this 
 place and appear with all the honors due to my rank." 
 
 The esquire highly approved of his plan, but pre- 
 viously to the departure of Sir William from Exmouth, 
 he repaired to the newspaper office, having drawn up an 
 advertisement, purporting to be an announcement of the 
 arrival of the rightful Earl of Devon, for the purpose of 
 taking possession of Powderham Castle, but who was sud- 
 denly recalled to the metropolis, to appear before the House 
 of Lords to substantiate his claim. For some reason which 
 Sir William could not account for, a titter sat upon the 
 countenance of the person, to whom he had presented the 
 advertisement, who having perused it, tore it to pieces in a 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 351 
 
 very unceremonious manner, telling him not to come to him 
 to impose his nonsense upon him. 
 
 " I see how it is," said Sir William, " you are one of the 
 conspirators, but the day of your punishment is not far off, 
 when dreadful will be my vengeance ;" and he hurried out 
 of the shop, and shortly afterwards was on his return to 
 the metropolis. 
 
 He remained but a few days in London, and returned to 
 Canterbury to the great joy of his expectant followers. 
 
352 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES Or 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 WE are now arrived at one of the most important epochs 
 in the life of Sir William Courtenay. 
 
 In the month of February, an action took place between 
 her Majesty's sloop Lively, a revenue cruiser, and a smug- 
 gling boat called the Admiral Hood, near the Goodwin Sands, 
 which ended in the capture of the latter, which, with the crew, 
 was taken to Rochester for adjudication. On boarding the 
 smuggler no contraband goods were found ; but, during the 
 chase, she had been distinctly seen by the Lively throwing 
 tubs overboard, and some of them were marked and picked 
 up by the crew of the cruiser. On the examination of the 
 smugglers before the magistrates at Rochester, Sir William 
 Courtenay made his appearance, attired in a grotesque 
 costume, and having a small scimitar, suspended from his 
 neck by a massive gold chain. On one of the men being 
 examined, Sir William became his advocate ; but the man 
 being convicted, a professional gentleman from London de- 
 fended the next, and Sir William presented himself as a 
 witness, when he swore that he saw the whole transaction 
 between the Lively and the Admiral Hood, and was positive 
 the tubs stated to have come from the Admiral Hood, 
 had been floating about in the sea all the morning, and 
 were not thrown overboard from that vessel. The object 
 of this statement was evidently to prove that the Admiral 
 Hood was not a smuggler, and consequently to procure the 
 liberation of the men. The solicitors of the Customs, 
 having undoubted evidence that this testimony was false, 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 353 
 
 determinined to proceed against an individual who had been 
 guilty of such a public and daring act of perjury ; and hence 
 arose the present inquiry, which we shall now proceed to 
 detail. 
 
 THE TRIAL. 
 
 1 HE trial took place at the Summer Assize for the county 
 of Kent, on Thursday the <J5th of July, 1833, before Mr. 
 Justice James Parke, one of the judges of his Majesty's 
 Court of King's Bench, at the Court House, Maidstone. 
 
 On the day of the trial, there was, as might be expected, 
 an unusual pressure in the court. Numerous ladies oc- 
 cupied the galleries, and there were some accommodated on 
 the judicial bench. These, with the greater number of the 
 other sex, appeared prefectly willing to sustain whatever 
 inconvenience arose from the crowd or weather, if they 
 could but witness and hear the novel proceedings of the day. 
 When Sir W. Courtenay appeared, with his favorite at- 
 tendants, the excitement was at its height. He stood not 
 at the bar, but in the part just before it. He was dressed in 
 a plainer manner than usual : indeed, in several recent ap- 
 pearances he looked, not less full and imposing, but 
 less splendid and eccentric in costume. His hair had not 
 been arranged to the same advantage ; and, in front, it had 
 now more of a puritanical aspect than formely, while his 
 beard retained its wonted beauty of which he seemed per- 
 fectly conscious, by the manner in which he handled it : 
 while his fine eyes looked complacently at the different 
 classes around him. 
 
 While the jury were being sworn, Sir William exclaimed 
 " May I be allowed to ask a question ? I want to know 
 what is their faith. ^Do they believe in the Trinity in 
 Unity ? Because that being my own faith." 
 
 15. "2 z 
 
354 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 His lordship here interposed, and said that the defendant 
 could not be allowed to make any speech then, but should 
 have an opportunity of making his defence, and he might 
 be assured that every thing would be done with propriety 
 and regularity. 
 
 Sir W. Courtenay Thank you, my lord, that is all that 
 I want ; because if it does not strike my counsels head to let 
 me have a fair trial, I hope your lordship will allow me. 
 
 The Clerk of Arraigns then read the indictment, charg- 
 ing the defendant with wilful and corrupt perjury, and 
 detailing the circumstances under which they are alleged 
 to be committed, as they will be found in the subsequent 
 proceedings. 
 
 Mr. Serjeant Spanlde, Mr. Bullock, and Mr. Walsh, 
 were counsel for the crown, and Mr. Wells for the defend- 
 ant. 
 
 Mr. Bullock having opened the proceedings, Mr. Serjeant 
 Spankie proceeded to state the case. The learned counsel 
 said the jury had heard from his learned frend the nature 
 of the charge his duty would be discharged, when he had 
 stated the circumstances under which the alleged offence 
 had been committed. A vessel called the Lively, belonging 
 to the Preventive Service, was cruising near the Goodwin 
 Sands, on Sunday, the 17th of February last. She descried 
 a vessel which was suspected to be a smuggler, and turned 
 out to be the Admiral Hood. At three o'clock a chase com- 
 menced, and the Lively was obliged to fire a shot before 
 she was brought to. During the chase, the crew of the 
 Lively observed the Lord Hood throwing overboard small 
 tubs, such as are usually used to convey spirits. The cir- 
 cumstance having attracted attention, some of the crew of 
 the Lively were directed to keep a strict look out, and they 
 would state to the jury that they distinctly saw a number 
 of tubs afterwards thrown overboard/ The vessel was 
 afterwards taken, and carried up to Rochester, where in- 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 355 
 
 formations were laid against the persons found on board. 
 A man named Coltrup was first put on his trial before the 
 magistrates ; on which the present defendant, Sir William 
 Courtenay, presented himself as the prisoner's advocate, 
 and discharged the duty of a legal adviser. The man was 
 found guilty and another man, Crowley, was than put 
 upon his trial , and it was thought adviseable by the person 
 who conducted his defence, to call Sir William Courtenay 
 as a witness. The material question was, whether the 
 vessel in question was a smuggler or not ; and whether 
 the tubs which were picked up by the Lively came from 
 the Lord Hood, or from some other vessel Had it not 
 been for the circumstance of a " mark buoy" being thrown 
 across two of the tubs which were seen to be thrown out 
 of the Lord Hood, and watched till they came up to the 
 Lively, there might have been some mistake ; it might have 
 happened that the tubs floating about did not come from 
 the Lord Hood. But these two tubs being particularly 
 watched and carefully distinguished, they could be no mis- 
 take on the subject. On the examination of Sir William 
 Courtenay, he swore distinctly and positively that the tubs 
 in question had been previously floating about, and were 
 not thrown from on board the Lord Hood. The learned 
 counsel then read the depositions, as they will be found 
 below and proceeded to say that not only would his state- 
 ments on that occasion be contradicted by persons who had 
 seen the whole transaction, but by persons who had picked 
 them up. The gentleman who stated all this, said that he 
 saw the whole affair. What would be the astonishment of 
 the jury when he (the learned serjeant) informed them that 
 Sir William Courtenay was actually at that very time at 
 church, at Boughton under Blean, near Canterbury ! (The 
 defendant, on hearing this, smiled with the greatest con- 
 tempt). What would the jury think, when he proved that 
 the defendant was actually at church on the 17th of Feb- 
 uary, at the very hour when he said he saw the transac- 
 
356 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 tion ! That would be enough to establish the charge of 
 perjury ; but witnesses would also satisfy them of the justness 
 of the charge, even if there were no alibi. This was, there- 
 fore wilful perjury the charge which the jury had to try. 
 He did not mean to enter into any discussion as to who the 
 defendant was. He regretted to hear that he had acquired 
 some influence over a number of silly people in another 
 part of this country. Whether he called himself Parker 
 Warbeck, or Napoleon Buonaparte, with that they had no- 
 thing to do ; they would try him by the name by which he 
 called himself. 
 
 The learned counsel then called the following wit- 
 nesses : 
 
 Mr. William Essell examined I am clerk to the magis- 
 trates of the north division of the lathe of Aylesford. On 
 the 1st of March last, informations were preferred against 
 Thomas Coltrup, and William Crowley, and others, for 
 offences against the revenue laws. Coltrup's was the first 
 case investigated. The Rev. George Davis and the Rev. 
 Dr. Joynes were the magistrates present. Coltrup was 
 assisted in his defence by a person who declared he was 
 Sir William Courtenay, only child of Lord Courtenay, and 
 heir to Lord Mount Cashel. Lieutenant Shamble was 
 examined, and several other witnesses. Coltrup was con- 
 victed. Crowley's case was then gone into. All the pro- 
 ceedings were taken down at the time. Crowley was 
 assisted in his defence by W. Langham, an attorney. 
 Lieutenant Shainbler was examined in this case also, and 
 William Godfrey, George Wellard, George Wrake, Waters 
 Banks, and Sir William Courtenay. The latter was ex- 
 amined on the part of Crowley by Mr. Langham. I took 
 down all he stated on this occasion. He was sworn as a 
 witness, but at first desired to be examined on his affirma- 
 tion as a Quaker. His deposition was read over to him. 
 (Witness here produced the information against Crowley, 
 charging him with offences against the revenue laws, which 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 357 
 
 was/ead.) Mr. Essell then said that Sir William Courtenay's 
 evidence was as follows : after stating that he was of 
 Powderham Castle, Devonshire, now sojourning at Canter- 
 bury, he said : I was at sea on the February, about the 
 middle of the moon. I knew the Lively cutter. Saw her 
 in the afternoon of that day, about two o'clock, and con- 
 tinued to keep her in view till about four. I saw the Lord 
 Hood draw towards the Lively. Before that I saw the tubs 
 floating on the waves. Nearly all day I had seen tubs 
 coming up with tide from the westward. They appeared 
 green, with light stones to them, bobbing up and down. 
 I saw the Lord Hood taken possession of, with my sight, 
 not with a glass. The Lively blazed away like fire upon 
 the vessel. My attention was particularly called forth. I 
 saw the boat go off, and pick up the tubs. I first saw the 
 tubs in the morning. I saw tubs forty fifty, or sixty times 
 in the day, all floating. The tubs I saw picked up, did not 
 come out of the Lord Hood, I say so sterling and plump. 
 I cannot say that what the others have sworn to is an error. 
 The tubs picked up were mine, for I first saw them." On 
 his cross-examination by Mr. Thackeray, the solicitor for 
 the customs, he said " I saw the tubs in the morning com- 
 ing from the westward with the tide, about sixteen or 
 seventeen miles from the French Coast. They came up 
 three or four knots an hour. I cannot say what number of 
 men were in my vessel. We were about a mile and a half 
 off. Cannot say what was thrown out of the vessel on the 
 other side. I was on board the Active, a fishing vessel 
 from Deal, there were four on board besides myself." He 
 was than re-exaimed and said, "I swear that the tubs 
 picked up did not come out of the Lord Hood" Mr. Essell 
 then deposed that Crowley was convicted in the penalty 
 of 100. 
 
 Cross-examined by Mr. Wells Sir W. Courtenay said. 
 " The tubs I saw picked up did not come out of the Lord 
 Hood" Is in the habit of taking down minutes in this way 
 
358 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 on particular occasions. Did not know Sir W. Courtenay 
 before. He was accompanied b} one friend. He was in a 
 situation to hear all that passed. The magistrates were 
 present when I came in before I took down anything. 
 Then come a long discussion, previous to the plea of Col- 
 trup being taken, in which Sir W. Courtenay took part. 
 He said he thought the attorney not so well calculated to 
 defend the prisoner as he was. I have not put that down 
 in my minutes, I considered that as extraneous. I took 
 down all matters relating to the proceedings. Sir William 
 appealed to the man whether he would be defended by him- 
 self or " Mr. Lawyer," and he chose the former. He said 
 he could not swear what was thrown out of the vessel on 
 the other side. I will swear that those remarks were not 
 part of his speech as advocate. Sir William was not at 
 first willing to be sworn. He wished to make an affirma- 
 tion, which was refused, and then seemed anxious to be 
 sworn. I will swear that he said he was at sea on the 17th. 
 I did not hear any explanation of his mode of computing 
 time. I heard him say he attended as the poor smuggler's 
 friend, and he gave them a guinea to get something to eat. 
 Cannot say whether he said this when he first came into 
 the room. He said he admired the smugglers' character, 
 that they were excellent seamen, and paid them some other 
 compliments. 
 
 Mr. Essell on being re-examined read the evidence of 
 Lieutenant Shambler, the substance of which was as fol- 
 lows : " I am a lieutenant, R.N. commanded the Lively 
 the 17th of February, 1833. On that day I was cruising 
 at the back of the Goodwin Sands, about three o'clock, p. 
 m. I observed a fore and aft vessel standing towards me. 
 When within a mile she hauled up to go to windward.' 
 When on our weather beam, I tacked after her, having 
 given directions to one officer and two men to watch her 
 with their glasses. When I tacked, she went about to alter 
 her course. I did so also. She then commenced heaving 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 359 
 
 her cargo overboard. We begun firing musketry over her 
 to bring her to. She did not come to, and I ordered our 
 long three pounder to be fired over her, the shot went 
 through her sail. I ordered our boat out to pick up the 
 tubs. I ordered the marking buoy to be thrown over two 
 of the tubs. About twenty- two tubs were bi ought on 
 board my veasel. There was no other vessel near us at 
 the time." 
 
 On his cross-examination by Sir William Courtenay, 
 Lieutenant Shambler said he could not say that he saw the 
 tubs thrown out of the vessel. She was a fore and aft 
 vessel^ dandy rigged. 
 
 On being re-examined, he said, " Sometimes, while 
 cruizing, I have found tubs and no vessel near." Mr. 
 Essell then read the depositions of the other witnesses 
 which corroborated the foregoing, all mentioning the day 
 as the 17th of February, about three or four o'clock in the 
 afternoon. Sir W. Courtenay appeared to lay great stress 
 on the witnesses believing in the divinity of Christ. 
 
 Lieutenant James Shambler was then examined, and 
 detailed the particulars of the capture of the Lord Hood, 
 and stated that there were only three other vessels in sight 
 at the time, one six miles off, hull down, and the others 
 were French boats, four or five miles astern. The tide was 
 running to the westward. 
 
 Cross-examined. Cannot swear positively that the tubs 
 taken up were thrown out of the Lord Hood. 
 
 William Godfrey, one of the crew of the Lively, also 
 detailed the capture of the Lord Hood on the 17th of 
 February. We distinctly saw tubs taken out of the hold 
 of the Lord Hood, placed on deck, and then thrown over- 
 board. He saw the tubs picked up by their boat, and is 
 sure they came from the Lord Hood. 
 
 Several other seamen of the Lively corroborated this 
 evidence. 
 
 The Rev. T. Wright. I am vicar of Boughton under 
 
060 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 Blean, in this county, about six miles from Canterbury, 
 and about twenty-one or twenty- two miles from the North 
 Foreland. On Sunday, the 17th of February last, I did 
 duty in the afternoon at my church. The evening service 
 begins at half-past two. I saw the defendant sitting in a 
 pew between the hours of half-past two and three that 
 afternoon. I had seen him before, and knew his person. 
 He came in rather late, about the second lesson, and staid 
 the whole service till about four o'clock. 
 
 Cross-examined. Always perform my own service. Hav 
 not been absent three times for thirty years. Am sure it 
 was the 17th of February. Sir William Courtenay has 
 been to my church three times. The first time was upon 
 the 1 7th of February. He might have been there before, 
 but I had never seen him. 
 
 (Here the prisoner seemed to possess a stronger feeling 
 than usual, and from the look he gave the reverend witness, 
 it was judged that he thought his testimonies inconsistent 
 with strict truth.) 
 
 Examination continued. I know Captain Gordon ; his 
 child was christened subsequently to the 17th of February, 
 and Sir William stood sponsor. At church Sir William's 
 conduct was perfect and proper, and his conversation at 
 the christening at Captain Gordon's was that of a Christian 
 and a gentleman. 
 
 Re-examined. The 17th of Feb. was Quinquagesima 
 Sunday, and my sermon was adapted to the epistle of the 
 day. On coming out of the church, a friend asked me if 
 my sermon was at Sir Wm. Courtenay " No ! certainly 
 not." 
 
 (Here Sir William strove to express by a countenance 
 of scorn, his utter contempt as well as denial of the witness's 
 statement.) 
 
 Mr. Parker, overseer of Boughton, stated that he was at 
 church in the afternoon of the 17th of February. He saw 
 the defendant there a little before three and until four, 
 
Sill WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 361 
 
 when he followed him out of church He then put it down 
 as a remarkable circumstance in his memorandum book. 
 (Here Sir William turned up his eyes and grinned with 
 great complacency). Knew he was coming for several days 
 before. 
 
 Cross-examined. I will swear it was the 17th of Feb- 
 ruary. Never told any body that I had any doubt of it. 
 
 Mr. Wells submitted that the indictment could not be 
 sustained, as there was only one witness (Mr. Essell) who 
 deposed to the perjury, and the law made it necessary that 
 there should be several. 
 
 His lordship overruled the objection saying there were 
 several witnesses who deposed to the contrary of what the 
 defendant had sworn, 
 
 Mr. Wells then addressed the jury for the defendant. 
 The learned counsel commenced his address by saying, 
 that no man could detest the crime of perjury more than 
 his gallant but unfortunate client ; nor was there any one 
 more anxious to uphold the due administration of justice 
 in every respect. He begged the indulgence of the jury 
 in the arduous duty he had to perform : the difficulties of 
 which they would be able to appreciate when they beheld 
 the array of power (pointing to the counsel for the prosecu- 
 tion) against him. 
 
 There was no less than three of the most eminent coun- 
 sel marshalled against him, and if the trial had taken place 
 earlier, they would have been assisted by another no less 
 distinguished than the learned recorder of London there 
 was all this talent against him, aided by all the resources 
 of a government who had no less than sixteen millions of 
 money at its disposal. His learned friend Mr. Serjeant 
 Spankie might with great propriety rise from his place in 
 Parliament, and speak from personal acquaintance of the 
 extravagant manner in which the Board of Customs carried 
 on its proceedings. He begged ^ilso to entreat the indul- 
 16. 3 A 
 
362 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 gence of the jury on account of another difficulty under 
 which he laboured that of having 1 no attorney to assist 
 him. Added to this, was the disinclination of his honoura- 
 ble, he would say his respected client, to make any effort to 
 rebut the charge against him ; feeling conscious of his in- 
 nocence, and relying on that to be able to overcome any 
 evidence that might be brought against him. On another 
 occasion, when his client was called upon to defend himself 
 from a most unfounded charge but to which it was not 
 necessary to allude farther he was] similarly anxious that 
 no effort should be made in his behalf; but some of his at- 
 tached friends deemed it more prudent to have the assist- 
 ance of counsel, and had thought proper to entrust to him 
 Sir William Courtena/s defence. But did he shrink from 
 the task ? By no means ! And he was principally em- 
 boldened to go further, because, whatever might be his own 
 deficiences, his client would not suffer on that account, as 
 his lordship, by the constitution of his country, no less than 
 by inclination, was counsel for the prisoner, and would not 
 suffer the case to be prejudiced by the inadequacy of his 
 advocate. Another reason why he would not -shrink from 
 the performance of this duty was, that he was satisfied the 
 distinguished individual whom he had the honor to defend, 
 was altogether incapable of committing the crime imputed 
 to him. He had one favor to entreat of the jury. It was 
 impossible they should not have heard of the individual 
 now at the bar. Should any of the observations they had 
 heard in company, or seen in the public press, tend to cast 
 obloquy on Sir William Courtenay, or to make upon their 
 minds any unfavourable impression, he entreated them to 
 discharge any such impression, as it was indeed their boun- 
 den duty to do. The learned counsel proceeded to say 
 that Sir William Courteuay was born a gentleman, and 
 educated as a gentleman. Circumstances had induced him 
 to visit the East. He had been a very extensive traveller. 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 363 
 
 He had slept in the tent of the Arab he undauntedly met 
 the scimiter of the Turk he had visited the tomb of the 
 prophet Mahomet and bowed devoutly at the holy sepul- 
 chre in Jerusalem. Having lived long in eastern nations 
 he had thus acquired habits and "manners not accordant 
 with those rules of polished life which obtain in this our 
 more northern country. When he returned home, he found 
 it difficult to fall in with our habits ; and hence, as well as 
 from the singularity of his costume, he had been rendered 
 a general subject of curiosity and admiration. Sir William 
 Courtenay would shrink from no examination into his cha- 
 racter and conduct. He had now resided in this country 
 some time, and he could, if he pleased, fill the court with 
 the most respectable witnesses to his character. He (Mr, 
 Wells) had already cautioned them against the calumnies of 
 the public press, and he regretted that there was too much 
 reason for the caution. He regretted to learn that in one 
 of the country papers of that very day, his honorable client 
 was charged with swindling ! Sir William had certainly 
 been called upon to defend himself from a charge of that 
 sort, and he was his counsel on that occasion. The same 
 zealous friends who had employed him now, had employed 
 him then, and what was the result of the charge? Why, 
 after dragging Sir W. Courtenay all the way from Paris to 
 defend himself from it, his accusers were afraid to proceed 
 first removed it into the Court of King's Bench, and sub- 
 sequently abandoned it altogether ! Was it to be endured, 
 that this gentleman should be persecuted in this way, and 
 thus become a marked man ? He would defy any one to 
 produce a single act of his which did not mark him as a 
 man of honor which did not mark him as a gentleman 
 which did not mark him as] a Christian. Mr. Wells then 
 went on to say, that in all cases of perjury the party com- 
 mits the crime with some expectation of deriving personal 
 benefit. But could it be supposed that there was any in- 
 ducement of that nature in this case ? He did not mean to 
 
364 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 defend smuggling, but it was well known that an infraction 
 of the revenue laws was not an offence of that high degree 
 of immorality which marks most offences. What were the 
 real circumstances of the case ? Here was a number of 
 poor men charged with an offence against the customs- 
 Sir William Courtenay having his heart in its right place* 
 and being ready to overflow with kindness, was anxious to 
 render them all the assistance in his power. With this 
 view alone he flew to Rochester, knowing the power of the 
 crown, and fearing that they might be oppressed. Mr. 
 Wells then proceeded to comment upon the proceedings at 
 Rochester, and upon the probability of Sir William Courte- 
 nay having mistaken the day, from his different mode of 
 computing time to that used in this country. It was very 
 probable that he had stated that which was perfectly correct 
 according to his own ideas and intentions. He would put 
 it to the jury whether they thought it possible that Sir 
 William Courtenay could have committed the crime impu- 
 ted to him and imputed to him too on such unsatisfactory 
 evidence. He threw himself on their candour as English- 
 men, believing that they would restore him to the world 
 with an unsullied character. 
 
 At the conclusion of this address, Lieut. Shamble was 
 re-called by his lordship, and stated that he never fired on 
 the Lord Hood before the 17th of February. There was no 
 other vessel into which he fired under similar circumstances 
 in the month of February. 
 
 Mr. Wells then called the following witnesses : 
 
 Captain Gordon, R. N., resides at Boughton under 
 Blean, in this county. Knows the defendant ; has known 
 him since last December. His character for religion and 
 morality is very good. His religious habits are as strong as 
 any man he knew. 
 
 Witness thinks him incapable of committing the crimes 
 imputed to him. 
 
 Mr. Francis resides at Boughton. Has known the de- 
 
SIR WILLIAM C'OURTENAY, K.M. 365 
 
 fendant since December ; has done witness the honour of 
 visiting him for a fortnight together. It was the greatest 
 pleasure he ever felt to hear him explain the scriptures. 
 He is thoroughly convinced, and he would say it from the 
 bottom of his heart, that Sir William Courtenay would 
 rather die than sin against his God. (Sir William here 
 exclaimed " very good !") 
 
 Mr. Denne had known the defendant eight months 
 During that intimacy he has observed his conduct, and be- 
 lieves him to be a man of most religious sentiments. The 
 most religious one he ever knew. Witness is a member of 
 the church of England. 
 
 John Morris Thomas lives at Canterbury. Has fre- 
 quently seen Sir William Courtenay. He is one of the 
 best men he ever saw, and is utterly incapable of commit- 
 ting the diabolical charge imputed to him. 
 
 John Waters Banks has been on most intimate terms 
 with Sir William Courtenay. Had travelled with him, and 
 been with him day and night. His moral and religious 
 character exceeds that of any man he ever met. Witness 
 has had the honor and pleasure of conversing with many 
 clergymen of the establishment, and many eminent dissen- 
 ters, but Sir William Courtenay supersedes them all for 
 knowledge in the word of God, and conduct in accordance 
 therewith. He is in the habit of visiting the Rev. James 
 Crowther, a clergyman of the established church, of Canter- 
 bury. 
 
 Newington, innkeeper, also gave him an excellent 
 character. 
 
 George Robinson said his opinion of Sir William Courte- 
 nay was infinitely too high to express ; he never came near 
 his equal. 
 
 Cross-examined. When 1 first knew Sir William Courte 
 nay, I was in the medical profession ; and I have given up 
 every thing to follow him, and would follow him still. 
 
366 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 Mr. Serjeant Spankie said the case was so clear, he would 
 forego his right to reply. 
 
 His lordship was about to sum up, when the defendant 
 begged to know if he might not speak in his ^defence. His 
 lordship said that as his counsel had addressed the jury, he 
 had no right to speak. 
 
 Sir. W. I did not employ counsel, it was my friends who 
 did it. 
 
 Judge. I must deal with you as with any other of his 
 majesty's subjects. You have suffered the learned counsel 
 who has done you ample justice, to defend you, and there- 
 fore you cannot now speak. 
 
 Sir. W. (With great earnestness) I did not suffer him, 
 it was my friends who did it. Am I to be condemed un- 
 heard ? 
 
 Mr. Justice Parke You allowed your counsel to 
 conduct the whole case without objection, and therefore 
 you have renounced your right to speak for yourself. 
 This is the law of this country, which I am sworn to ad- 
 minister. 
 
 Sir W. I do not wish to offend your lordship, therefore 
 I have to apologize to your lordship. I have also to apolo- 
 gize to Mr. Thackeray, and (raising his voice) I have also 
 to apologize to the magistrates, and 
 
 Mr. Justice Parke. The best apology you can make is 
 to be quiet. Sit down I The knight then desisted. 
 
 His lordship then proceeded to sum up, and prefaced a 
 very luminous address with some very appropriate obser- 
 vations on the immorality of smuggling, by which a 
 direct robberry is committed on the revenue of the country. 
 The jury were not to allow their minds to be biassed by 
 any difference of opinion on this subject, but they were 
 to look at the case as sensible men, and from the evidence 
 produced say whether the defendant was or was not 
 guilty. 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 367 
 
 The jury, after consulting a few minutes, expressed a 
 wish to retire, and after being out of court twenty-one mi- 
 nutes, returned, and pronounced a verdict of guilty, but re- 
 commended to mercy. 
 
 The knight seemed thunderstruck he first stared wildly 
 at the jury, then cast his eyes to heaven, and clasping his 
 hands, appeared to resign himself to his fate. 
 
 His lordship ordered him to be taken into custody, and 
 then said that he found great difficulty in entertaining the 
 recommendation of the jury. He could see no ground for 
 it whatever. There never was a plainer case. 
 
 In consequence of some misapprehension on the part of 
 the officers the prisoner was then removed, having pre- 
 viously shaken hands with his friends, some of whom were 
 actually weeping ; but he was immediately ordered to be 
 brought back, when the clerk of the arraigns called upon 
 him in the usual way, to state what he had to say why sen- 
 tence should not be passed upon him. 
 
 Sir W. ( With much emphasis) May I then be allowed 
 to speak ? 
 
 His lordship., Yes, any thing you please. Strictly, you 
 ought only to address yourself to me in mitigation of punish- 
 ment; but you may say what you please. 
 
 Sir W. My lord, that is all I do wish. He then spoke 
 as follows, with great vehemence of voice and manner, and 
 frequently addressing himself to the people behind, in the 
 body of the court ; his eloquence appeared however to be 
 in a great measure lost upon them ; for though they listened 
 with curiosity, no decided feeling of interest appeared to be 
 excited among the populace. 
 
 Sir William commenced his most incoherent, uncon- 
 nected harangue by saying, " I came to Rochester under 
 motives which were purely disinterested. In the heat of 
 the moment I might have offered an insult to the gentlemen, 
 but nothing could be farther from my heart. I offered an 
 insult to the gentleman there (pointing to Mr. Thackeray), 
 
3fi8 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 by drawing my sword. I did not intend to insult him. I 
 did it from a warm heart and a just cause. If that has 
 operated against me, I give him here rny humble apology. 
 I consider that every man is bound to support the laws and 
 constitution that every one is bound to give up his life for 
 them ; while there are laws it is our duty to support them. 
 I feel it due to the magistrates, to Mr. Thackeray, to the 
 captain, and to the crew, to apologize to them ; but used as 
 I am to the hard field of battle, it is a hard thing for me to 
 come here. The whole case has been proved by evidence 
 which never came out of my lips. I never alluded to the 
 17th of February at all, nor to the tubs for which I am 
 tried. I am charged with wilful and corrupt perjury. When 
 the magistrates wished me to take the oath, I objected to 
 it, it was contrary to my wish ; I was dragged into it. The 
 charge is wilful and corrupt perjury. How can it be wilful, 
 if I was dragged into the oath ! It was contrary to my 
 faith, and contrary to my conscience. Remember it is a co- 
 pulative conjunction : wilful and corrupt. What did I do 
 it for ? I could expect to get nothing by it. 
 
 His lordship. It is immaterial whether your intention 
 was to obtain any pecuniary reward, or to stand well with 
 these men, by whom you wished to be well thought of. 
 
 Sir W. I did not do it to be well thought of, I hate 
 popularity. I never denied that the tubs came from the 
 Lord Hood. 
 
 His lordship. What you say should be addressed to me, 
 in mitigation of punishment It is not of any use to 
 address the jury now, or to pretend that you are not guilty. 
 You know that on that day you were even twenty-five 
 miles off. 
 
 Sir W. Did I ever say a word about the 1 7th of Febru- 
 ary? (turning round) Did I, Mr. Robinson? Did I, Mr. 
 Thackeray ? 
 
 Mr. Thackeray. (From the council table) Yes, you 
 did. 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY. K.M. 369 
 
 Sir W. I did not. They say wilful and corrupt. But 
 how .can there be corruption without bribery. I am one of 
 the Society of Friends. They gave me a book, I know not 
 what for. I never said a word about the tubs picked up by 
 the Lively. The tubs I saw were coming from the west- 
 ward. My God ! (turning round to the spectators) What 
 if this wera the justice of the whole country ! Ah ! Did 
 you know my heart, and the real wishes of Sir William 
 Courtenay for you, you would not judge me. I would lay 
 down my life for you. I would take all my prosecutors and 
 jurors to my heart, for they know not what they do. And 
 now, my lord, have I not a claim on your mercy ? Surely I 
 was tried on a separate charge. The tubs I saw never came 
 out of the Lord Hood. They were never picked up by the 
 Lively. Am I actually tried and condemned? My case 
 will soon come before the House of Peers, and I shall have 
 justice, if I Tian but get my liberty. I am born of the best 
 blood in the country. (Clasping his hands and looking up- 
 wards) Kent ! your God will see me done justice to. If I 
 have been convicted on mistake 
 
 His lordship. No mistake at all, nothing can be clearer. 
 
 Sir (W.: With encreased earnestness) I will say \ am as 
 innocent as a lamb. God knows I know nothing more 
 about it than the man in the moon. As to popularity, I 
 detest it. I hate politics. I like government to come from 
 the throne to the people, not democratic. I will never 
 dabble in politics any more. They are a whirlpool of misery. 
 My politics henceforward shall be the same as those ad- 
 vocated by the Standard newspaper. (He here ceased 
 abruptly, walking up and down the dock in a state of great 
 excitement). 
 
 His lordship. Have you done ? 
 
 Sir W. Yes, my lord I 
 
 His lordship then proceeded to pass sentence as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 16. 3 B 
 
370 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 On the clearest evidence you have been convicted of the 
 crime of wilful and corrupt perjury. It is one of the clearest 
 cases which it ever fell to my lot to try. There can be no 
 doubt that, on the spur of the moment, finding that the 
 smuggler was likely to be convicted without better evidence 
 than has been already produced, you came forward, and 
 swore positively that you saw^the transaction, when you 
 knew that you were not present. Now, though your object 
 might not be to obtain any pecuniary advantage, yet in the 
 eye of God and man, you have been guilty of willul perjury. 
 I am afraid from this specimen of your religion, of which 
 your friends have said so much, that you have been making 
 them your dupes, or that you have deluded yourself; per- 
 haps both. Your offence is one of the greatest magnitude, 
 and as there are in your case no mitigating circumstances, 
 it must be visited with the full rigor of the law. On the 
 sanctity of an oath depend all our rights and liberties, our 
 lives and properties, and it must be most carefully guarded. 
 I see no reason whatever, in your case, why the law should 
 not take its course. Perhaps it will teach people that on 
 no account whatever, either to procure any personal ad- 
 vantage, or to endeavour to serve their friends who have 
 broken the laws, ought they to swear that which is not true 
 The sentence of the court upon you, William Courtenay> 
 therefore is, as the law directs, a sentence of imprisonment 
 and banishment that you be impriboned in gaol for the 
 space of three calendar months, and at the expiration of 
 that time you be transported to such place beyond the seas as 
 his majesty, by and with the advice of his privy council, 
 shall direct, for the term of seven years. 
 
 Sir William betrayed no emotion when the sentence was 
 pronounced, but received it with calm resignation, and im- 
 mediately left the dock with the gaoler. The sentence 
 seemed to excite surprise in court, on account of its severity. 
 but there was no manifestation of feeling whatever by the 
 
SIR WILLIAM COUtlTENAY K. M. 371 
 
 crowd. The gross prevarication and contradictions of the 
 prisoner had completely prevented his extraordinary ad- 
 dress from producing that effect which he doubtless antici- 
 pated. 
 
 On being taken to a cell, he manifested the greatest 
 calmness and resignation, saying it was the will of God, 
 and he must submit. He was frequently reading the Holy 
 Bible, and altogether exhibited a mild firmness of mind, and 
 unrepining acquiescence in his fate, worthy of a better 
 cause. 
 
 Notwithstanding that Courtenay was now in prison, con- 
 victed of a heinous offence, and sentenced to a very severe 
 punishment, yet the belief prevailed amongst his numerous 
 partizans that he was innocent of the crime imputed to him 
 and that he was in every respect an injured and a persecu- 
 ted man. We may look back to the times of Brothers, 
 Naylor, Irving, and Southcote, for instances of fanaticism 
 and infatuation, which are actually a disgrace to the human 
 understanding, but it is deplorable to observe that in the 
 improved enlightened state of the human mind in the 12th 
 century, a number of individuals could be found, of educa- 
 tion and professional learning, who could be led away by 
 the pretensions of a lunatic, and degrade themselves to a 
 level with the most ignorant of their fellow creatures. 
 
 Much indeed has been said concerning the ignorance of 
 the followers of Courtenay, and there can be no doubt that 
 many of them have a great claim to a very large share of 
 that distinction ; but there has been comparatively little 
 said about the criminality (for such it must surely be) of 
 the persons who, as tradesmen and citizens of old Canter- 
 bury, and known to possess what is called respectable 
 talent, could plead no ignorance as an excuse for their folly, 
 to say nothing of the professional men, from whom (having 
 passed an examination before the learned of the land) we 
 have a right to expect sufficient wisdom to enable them to 
 act as wise and discreet men. What excuse have they, or 
 
372 ' THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 can they have, to offer for having patronized, associated 
 with) and even voted for, to fill the high office of their re- 
 presentative in Parliament, a man whose only recommenda- 
 tion was that he was a total stranger, and in the habit of 
 galloping up and down their streets, dressed in superb and 
 splendid robes of velvet and gold, and ornamented with an 
 enormous black beard and a sabre, accompanied by a 
 servant dressed in the same fashion, although with less 
 costly materials ? and yet there is in existence a list of 
 these worthies to the number of 360 ! who would have made 
 this poor maniac their M. P. 
 
 If the poor peasants in the vicinity of the ancient city 
 are to be pitied for being misled into riot and murder, 
 surely the more sensible (?) citizens ought to be punished 
 for assisting to mislead them; for had not the miserable 
 man who was their leader been distinguished and patronized 
 by the inhabitants of the city, he would never have been 
 knoivn by the poorer classes in the neighbourhood. 
 
 The following copy of a handbill, which was freely circu- 
 lated in the city at the period of its peculiar date, will 
 show the close connection that had grown between the two 
 parties, Sir William Courtenay, (alias Mr. Tom) and the 
 citizens ; and the accompanying circular, which followed it, 
 is almost sufficient to immortalize the individuals whose 
 signatures it bears, even if they had not been recorded in 
 the poll-book. The conservatives, wishing to monopolize 
 the direction of the new town council, put forth a list of 
 eighteen individuals, exclusively of their own party, as the 
 most fit and proper persons to fulfil the important duties 
 about to be vested in their new municipal authorities ; and 
 the liberals (immediately following their example)] soon 
 made the inhabitants acquainted with the names of 18 re- 
 formers who were deemed more fit and proper. Courtenay 
 seems to have been willing to stake the success of his own 
 recommendation against that of the more alert partizans of 
 the ancient city, as the following bill will show : 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 373 
 
 "TO THE ELECTORS OF THE NEW COUNCIL OF THE 
 ANCIENT CITY OF CANTERBURY. 
 
 " Men of Canterbury Seeing by numerous handbills is- 
 suing from your ancient and loyal city, that unholy and de- 
 signing men are endeavouring to force themselves^ upon 
 you as members of the council lately ordained by our 
 Imperial Parliament to supersede the functions of the pre- 
 sent unworthy corporation, I hasten to call your attention 
 to such of our well-beloved and deserving fellow -citizens, 
 as have proved themselves worthy of your confidence, by 
 righteously standing forward in time of need to record their 
 votes for one who would have worked the salvation, not 
 only of your ancient city, but of this our wicked kingdom. 
 I will set their names before you, and God speed your 
 choice. Let not evil men turn you either to the right or 
 to the left, but < do your duty in that stage of life unto 
 which it has pleased God now to call you/ and choose the 
 following, who are my friends and the friends of Christianity, 
 as well as goodly citizens : 
 Edward Wooton, Burgate Thomas Hacker, Watling 
 
 Street. Street. 
 
 James Roberts, Shakespeare George Ash, Watling Street. 
 
 Tavern. John Southee, Burgate-st. 
 
 W. Pool, Guildhall Street. George Eastes, Staplegate. 
 George Plomer, High Street. R. W. Lavender, St. Mar- 
 Reverend James Crowther, garet's. 
 
 New Road. Charles Cottrell, St. Mar- 
 
 Reverend James Blomfield, garet's. 
 
 Watling Street. Thomas Dean, St. Peter's 
 
 D. B. Major, Surgeon. Street. 
 
 W. H. Trimnell Parade. J. T. Tyson, High Street. 
 
 J. Greenwood, High Street. Bart. O'Brien, Infantry Bar- 
 
 racks. 
 
 " These are the men whom it behoves you to elect to 
 fill the offices in your new city government ; for, as you 
 ought humbly to put your trust in the Most High, so ought 
 
574 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 you to place your confidence in those who staml highest 
 among yourselves for their righteousness. 
 
 " Fail pot to do this, as you value the blessing and pros- 
 perity which must follow the election ot such a council. I 
 will come and be amongst you at the time of your voting, 
 in order * that I may glorify my Father which is in heaven* 
 by the direction of your choice. 
 
 " I am, men of Canterbury, in love and unity, 
 " Ever your most faithful knight, 
 
 " W. P. H. COURTENAY, 
 
 " Knight of Malta, King of Jerusalem, &c. 
 " Barming-heath, llth moon, 10th day, anno domini 1835." 
 
 A day or two only elapsed, when the following circular, 
 from the gentlemen who had previously given Sir William 
 their plumpers at the^ general election, was addressed to the 
 numerous electors of the council : 
 
 " Sir Having been recommended by Sir William Cour- 
 tenay, Knight of Malta, &c., as candidates for the honour 
 of representing you in the town council of this city, we feel 
 it our duty to state, that having always considered Sir 
 William as a gentleman of superior, and even surpassing 
 understanding, and feeling also that his present lamented 
 situation is entirely owing to an imprudent exercise of a 
 generous disposition, and not to any deficiency of intellect 
 (as has been maliciously asserted), we beg respectfully to 
 acknowledge the honour he has been pleased to confer up- 
 on us, and to solicit the favour of your votes and interest 
 pledging ourselves to the performance of every duty con- 
 nected with the office, diligently, and to the best of our 
 ability ; as well for the honour of the illustrious character 
 who has condescended to recommend us to your notice, as 
 for the interest of our fellow-citizens. 
 
 We are, Sir, your obedient servants, 
 Edward Wooton Thomas Hacker 
 
 James Roberts George Ash 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 375 
 
 William Pool John Southee 
 
 George Plomer George Eastes 
 
 James Crowther J. Greenwood 
 
 James Blomfield C. C. Cottrell 
 
 D. B. Major Thomas Dean 
 
 W. H. Trimnell J. T. Tyson 
 
 R. W. Lavender Bart, O' Brien. 
 " Committee Room, Shakespeare Tavern, Dec. 6, 1835." 
 
 When oar readers are informed that this poor Knight of 
 Malta, King of Jerusalem, Prince of Abyssinia, &c. was at 
 that very time imprisoned for perjury, they will not wonder 
 more at the credulity of these simple citizens, than they 
 will be surprised at a few agriculturists of the neighbour- 
 hood being led on to slay their countrymen especially 
 when it is remembered that they had the sanction of such 
 men, whose station warranted their being thought wise and 
 discreet. 
 
 Courtenay had not been above three months in prison, 
 when it was ascertained that he was decidedly insane, on 
 which the sentence that had been passed against him was 
 annulled j and he was sent to the Kent Lunatic Asylum at 
 Banning Heath, where he remained nearly four years. 
 The circumstance attending his discharge from the lunatic 
 asylum, became the subject of a serious investigation in the 
 House of Commons, imputing in the first place a gross 
 direlection of duty on the part of Lord John Russell, as 
 Secretary of State for the Home Department, and secondly, 
 as having been effected to suit an electionering purpose. 
 
 Although the investigation into all the circumstances con- 
 nected with his release did not take place until after the 
 fatal fight at Bossenden Wood, yet we consider their inser- 
 tion here as most appropriate, as they are necessarily elucida- 
 tory of many collateral circumstances which preceded the 
 Canterbury affray, and on account of which particular in- 
 dividuals have been exposed to so much unmerited obliquoy. 
 
376 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 The first notice which was taken of the business in the 
 House of Commons, was from Mr. Plum tree who wished 
 to inquire of the noble lord the Secretary of State for the 
 Home Department whether he had received any informa- 
 tion of a melancholy and sanguinary affray which had taken 
 place near Canterbury ? He wished to ask, also, whether 
 the individual who was the chief author of that affray was 
 not a decided madman ; whether he had not been for some 
 time confined as such in a lunatic asylum in the county of 
 Kent; and by whose authority that individual had been 
 set at liberty ? 
 
 Lord JOHN RUSSELL, with regard to the unfortunate 
 occurrence, could only say that the accounts received at the 
 Home Office from the magistrates as well as the military 
 authorities coincided very nearly with the public accounts, 
 with which the honourable gentleman was already ac- 
 quainted. With respect to the individual who was the 
 chief author of the melancholy occurence, he was found 
 guilty of perjury in the year 1633, as he (Lord J. Russell) 
 believed, at the assizes for the county of Kent It was then 
 said that he was of unsound mind, and he was confined 
 from the year 1833 in the lunatic asylum |in the county of 
 Kent. Towards the latter end of the last year his father 
 reported to him (Lord J. Russell), as Secretary of State, 
 that although his son was in some degree of unsoundness 
 and flighty, yet that he had not been found guilty of any 
 criminal act of violence, and he stated that, if released, he 
 would take charge of his son. Upon this representation, 
 he (Lord J. Russell) directed the visiting magistrates to 
 give an account of his state of mind, and an account was 
 forwarded from the surgeon of the asylum that he cer- 
 tainly still was of an unsound mind, fancying himself (Sir 
 William Courtenay) a knight of Malta, and having other 
 erroneous impressions ; but there was nothing [to show 
 that there was anything dangerous or malicious in his mad- 
 ness. He (Lord John Russell) had no reason to doubt 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 377 
 
 that the person who was his father, and who was repre- 
 sented to him as a person of good character, would un- 
 dertake the charge of his son ; and on his representation, 
 and on his engagement, this individual, having been 
 four years confined, he (Lord John Russell) gave orders 
 should be sat at liberty. It appeared that the father after- 
 wards went to the lunatic asylum, and instead of taking 
 charge of his son himself, said that he had authority to have 
 his son delivered up to whomsoever he might appoint ; 
 and instead of appointing a person used to the care of 
 patients, he gave him in charge to a person living in the 
 neighbourhood, in the county of Kent, of whom there was no 
 reason to suppose that he was fit for the charge of any man 
 in such a condition. There was nothing with which he 
 (Lord John Russell) was acquainted in the previous cir- 
 cumstances to induce him to believe that the individual was 
 likely to commit any crime of violence; he had been 
 found guilty only of perjury, and not of any violent 
 assault, or of an attack on any individual; and under 
 these circumstances, he complied with the request of the 
 father. It appeared that since his. discharge, the individual 
 had been living in the county of Kent, and had been guilty 
 of the acts which led to this unfortunate occurrence. 
 
 Sir GEORGE SINCLAIR wished to learn from the noble 
 lord, whether there was any connection between these riots 
 and the Poor-law Bill, as endeavours were made in some of 
 the journals connected with government to prove that the 
 excitement was brought about by those opposed to the 
 Poor-law Bill ? 
 
 Lord JOHN RUSSELL believed, although he had not suffi- 
 cient information to give a direct answer, there was no 
 connection between them. The new Poor-law was one of 
 the subjects on which the individual excited the deluded 
 men ; but he (Lord John Russell) did not attach much im- 
 portance to the statement. A person in such circum- 
 16. 3 c 
 
378 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 stances would take advantage of this law, or anything 
 which was at hand and which would at the time raise ex- 
 citement. 
 
 Mr. PLUMPTRE did not believe that the Poor-law had 
 any permanent connection with the address of this person. 
 That he was a madman there was no doubt; and it was in 
 his (Mr. Plumptre's) knowledge that, when he was at large 
 before, he drew a large number of persons after him, and it 
 was with great regret that he had been released. 
 
 Sir HUSSEY VIVIAN had been applied to on this subject 
 by an honourable friend, a member of that house, whom he 
 did not then see in his place, who stated that he knew the 
 individual, and that his family were most respectable, and 
 they were very desirous of having him under their protec- 
 tion. They stated that they were convinced that the in- 
 sanity was only temporary, and the request came not only 
 from the father, but also from the wife. The noble lord 
 had particularly guarded himself, by making particular in- 
 quiries as to the respectability, before he acceded to the 
 request, and under the conditions as to the charge of his 
 person, the individual was ultimately released. 
 
 Sir ROBERT PEEL wished to ask whether, previous to 
 the actual collection of persons which led to the unfortunate 
 collision, the magistrates had made any representations that 
 this individual was occupied in agitating the public mind 
 upon this subject ? 
 
 Lord JOHN RUSSELL replied that he had not received any 
 representation of the kind, nor had he received any state- 
 ment till this day. 
 
 Sir ROBERT PEEL : Did not accounts reach the noble 
 lord sqme days previously that the individual was occupied 
 in agitating the public mind ? 
 
 Lord JOHN RUSSELL : No ; no information of any kind 
 had reached him before this occurrence. 
 
 On the 6th of June, Sir Edward Knatchbull again called 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 379 
 
 the attention of the house to the subject, on account of cer- 
 tain misrepresentations which had been made relative to 
 the recent unfortunate and melancholy proceedings at Can- 
 terbury. This was the first opportunity which had presen- 
 ted itself for obtaining any explanation from the noble lord ; 
 and, in order that the house and the country might be sa- 
 tisfied that some of the lepresentations which had been 
 made were erroneous, he felt it his duty to move for the 
 production of certain papers, having reference to the late 
 fatal proceedings in a part of the county which had done 
 him the honour of electing him for their representative. 
 
 The house would see that in the answer which the noble 
 lord the Secretary of State had given to the inquiry of his 
 Hon. Colleague, a strong charge was made against the 
 visiting magistrates as well as the superintendent of the 
 lunatic asylum, and he was sure the noble lord would feel it 
 his duty to set the matter right. The only way this could 
 be done was by the prduction of the documents relating to 
 the liberation of John Nicholls Tom, and, as hedid not expect 
 any opposition from the noble lord, he should conclude with 
 a motion to that effect, in order that the public might have 
 an opportunity of being well informed in regard to the 
 whole transaction. It was not his intention to enter into 
 the details of the fatal riot which had taken place, but he 
 trusted the house would permit him to correct some misre- 
 presentations which had gone forth. Since he had returned 
 to town that day he had seen a charge brought against the 
 magistrates, that they had issued their warrant for the ap- 
 prehension of John N. Tom, calling himself Sir William 
 Courtenay, without any deposition having been taken. 
 Now, he could state that such was not the fact. A deposi- 
 tion had been taken, for he had himself seen it ; and, as far 
 as his judgment went, no irregularity of any kind had taken 
 place, as the measures of the magistrates were fully borne 
 out by the depositions which had been made. There was 
 another circumstance which he had seen stated for which 
 
<380 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 there was no foundation in truth. Jt was said that the 
 officer who was killed in the affray first stabbed the person 
 by whom he was shot; but he had the authority of those 
 who were present, and who witnessed the whole transaction, 
 for stating that such a report was utterly untrue. There 
 were other circumstances which had been misrepresented, 
 but in regard to which he would not trouble the house at 
 that time. If the noble lord had no objection, he would 
 move for a copy of the order for the commitment of John 
 N. Tom, and for copies of any correspondence with the 
 home-office in reference to the discharge of that individual, 
 and of the order from the home-office authorizing his dis- 
 charge from the lunatic asylum. Painful as the duty was 
 to all parties concerned in the lamentable proceedings to 
 which he had alluded, both magistrates and officers had 
 done their duty in a way the most creditable to themselves, 
 and he did not think that there was any feeling to the con- 
 trary in the district where the riots had taken place. 
 
 The motion having been put. 
 
 Lord JOHN RUSSELL: I can only express, as the right 
 honourable baronet opposite has done, my very deep regret 
 for the occurrence which has taken place. The right Hon. 
 baronet is, I think, quite justified in asking for an explana- 
 tion, in consequence of the statements which have been 
 made, grounded on inferences which have been drawn form 
 what I said in reference to this person, John Nicholls Tom. 
 I am ready to say that I did not state anything in this house 
 which was intended to convey, or which would convey, any 
 charge against the visiting magistrates, or against the direc- 
 tors of the lunatic asylum, because the fact is, that in con- 
 sequence of the statements which I received, I thought it 
 ught to recommend that a pardon should be granted in the 
 case of the prisoner ; and that being the case, it was not in 
 the power of the visiting magistrates, or of the directors of 
 the lunatic asylum, to require that any terms besides those 
 attached to the petition besides, that addressed to me should 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTE&AY, K.M. 38l 
 
 be complied with. But I may perhaps mention that the 
 papers comprised in the motion of the right honourable 
 baronet will contain some matter of importance which it is 
 desirable .should be known by the house, for it is desirable 
 that the whole of the transaction which proceeded the libera- 
 tion of Tom should be laid before the house. The first re- 
 presentation which was made to me on the subject was 
 made by the father of this person, who came to me with his 
 wife, for they described themselves as the father and mother 
 of the prisoner, and who were recommended to me by two 
 honourable members of this house, one of whom spoke on 
 this subject the other night in the course of the debate the 
 Master-General of the Ordnance and who vouched for 
 their respectability. The father made various statements 
 to me with respect to the actual state of his son, and said 
 that he was perfectly well assured, that if heVere permitted 
 to take care of him, instead of his being kept any longer 
 in confinement, he should be able to prevent any further 
 mischief being done by him. I stated to him that it was 
 not because his son might be perfectly harmless then, 
 and that there were then no symptoms of violence in his 
 demeanour and conduct, that there might not be a paroxysm 
 which might render him dangerous to others, and, therefore, 
 I could not agree to the proposal, unless he would engage 
 that there was a proper person who should be near him, so 
 as to be able to prevent any violence being committed by 
 him. He gave me that assurance, and afterwards he made 
 a statement in writing to the effect which I have stated. I 
 think it right to lay these circumstances before the house, 
 because they occurred in a private conversation which I had 
 with the individual to whom I have referred, and because 
 therefore, they would not be embodied in the papers for 
 which the right honourable baronet has moved. With re- 
 spect to the other observations of the right honourable 
 baronet I will only say this. He has referred to reports 
 which have appeared, and to statements which have been 
 
382 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 made; and I will also beg leave to refer to a statement 
 alleged to have been made by a noble lord connected with 
 the county of Kent, that certain magistrates of the county 
 had made representations to me against the liberation of 
 John Nichols Tom. Now if such had been made, I must 
 declare my ignorance of the fact, that any representations 
 were addressed to me, or that even any opinion of the kind 
 suggested was entertained, and on the contrary, I should 
 rather infer, from their not making any statements to me 
 while this matter was under consideration, that there was 
 not any immediate apprehension with respect to the con- 
 dition of the prisoner. However, there can he no fault at- 
 tached to the visiting magistrates, or to the directors of the 
 lunatic asylum, for they had no discretion in the matter, 
 because it rested on me, and not on them. With respect 
 to the further statement made by the right honorable baro- 
 net, I am glad he has corrected the error which he appears 
 to have fallen into with regard to the conduct of the ma- 
 gistrates. I can only say in the commencement that, if 
 what he has said is true, it appears to me that the conduct 
 of the magistrates regarding this affair has been as judicious 
 and as prompt as the circumstances of the case would per- 
 mit. From all the statements which I have heard, I doubt 
 not, however, that they acted as soon as possible for men in 
 their situation. I received this morning some letters from 
 Dr. Poore containing a relation of all the occurrences that 
 took place, and it appears that he only heard of it on Tues- 
 day the 29th of May, and his conduct has been regulated 
 by a wish to prevent any mischief, and has been character- 
 ised by the greatest promptness and decision. I will only 
 move now that these letters may be laid on the table of the 
 house, in addition to the papers to which the motion of the 
 right honorable baronet has reference, because I think it is 
 right that the account given of this transaction by Dr- 
 Poore should also be brought under consideration. I will 
 not now go further into the subject except to move that 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 383 
 
 these letters be produced, for I think that the steps taken by 
 Dr. Poore should be brought under our attention. 
 
 The papers moved for by Sir Edward Knatchbull were 
 ordered, and although it was evident that there was a con- 
 siderable portion of party spirit mixed up in the motion of 
 the Hon. Member for Kent, as well as a direct inclina- 
 tion to impeach the conduct of Lord John Russell, yet it 
 was allowed by all that the whole affair required the most 
 serious investigation, involving as it did the great preroga- 
 tive of mercy vested in the crown, which in the present in- 
 stance, was supposed to have been most improperly exerci- 
 sed. Finding, however, from the fair, manly, and candid, 
 manner in which Lord John Russell met the question, that 
 every hope must be relinquished of bringing home to him 
 any positive blame in" the liberation of Courtenay, Sir Ed- 
 ward Knatchbull changed his mode of attack, on the 
 ground that the release of Courtenay had been effected en- 
 tirely for electioneering purposes, as Mr. Tom, the father 
 of John Nichols Tom was an elector of East Cornwall, and 
 in order to secure his vote for the two liberal candidates, 
 Sir Hussey Vivian, who was one of these candidates, had in, 
 terfered in behalf of Courtenay, and succeeded in obtaining 
 his release. 
 
 It was on the 26th of June, that Sir Edward Knatchbull 
 brought forward his motion for the appointment of a com- 
 mittee to enquire into all the circumstances connected with 
 the discharge of John Nichols Tom alias Courtenay, from 
 the Kent Lunatic Asylum. Our limits will not allow us 
 to follow Sir Edward throughout the whole of his speech, 
 which in all its bearings was a covert attack on Lord John 
 Russell, at the same time, that Sir Edward attempted, al- 
 though in vain to impress the belief upon the house, that 
 he had not brought forward his motion for mere party pur- 
 poses. As, however, some circumstances were mentioned 
 during the debate which possess peculiar interest, as throw- 
 some light upon the history of Courtenay, which other- 
 
364 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 wise would perhaps never have been made public, we shall 
 confine ourselves to those parts, and particularly to the 
 account which Lord John Russell gives of his share of the 
 transaction in refutation of a charge which Sir Edward 
 Knatchbull brought against the noble lord of having re- 
 ceived a private visit from the parents of Courtenay at his 
 vate residence in Devonshire, and upon which a construc- 
 tion was put, that the object of that visit, had a reference 'to 
 the release of Courtenay from the lunatic asylum, by which 
 the vote and interest of Mr. Tom were to be secured for 
 the liberal candidates at the ensuing election. 
 
 After a long prefaratory addres's, in which Sir Edward 
 Knatchbull laboured hard to convince the house, that his 
 respect for Lord John Russell was unbounded, but that 
 his lordship was then suffering under his high displeasure 
 for the part which he had acted in the affair of Courtenay, 
 he proceeded to state that the act of 9th George IV., under 
 which Courtenay was sent to the lunatic assylum, directed 
 that such person should there remain until a certificate 
 should be produced, signed by two medical men, stating 
 him to be of sound mind, and that then the prisoner should 
 be taken back to the prison from which he was removed, 
 to finish the term of his confinement, if not yet expired. 
 What happened in this case ? The noble lord had certainly 
 commenced his proceedings under the provisions of the 9th 
 George IV. He applied to the visiting magistrates to send 
 a certificate, and received one regularly signed by two 
 medical men, on the 8th of September, stating that the 
 prisoner was of sound bodily health, but of unsound mind. 
 Now, as far as he (Sir E. Knatchbull) had been able to 
 ascertain, no further inquiry was made by the noble lord as 
 to the condition of this person ; and yet on the 9th of 
 October, a free pardon, with an order for his immediate 
 discharge, was sent down from the Home Secretary's office. 
 That was the point on which he wished for explanation. 
 He could not see why the noble lord, acting in the first 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 385 
 
 instance under the act of Parliament, that was to say, as re- 
 garded the medical certificates, should without further inquiry 
 give an order for the prisoner's dismissal. He knew, it was said, 
 that though of unsound mind, he still might not be a dangerous 
 character. Now, he believed most conscientiously that if 
 the noble lord had made inquiry in the county of Kent, he 
 would have found that nine out of ten, nay ninety out of one 
 hundred persons, were of opinion that this individual could 
 not be made free and unrestrained in his action, without 
 endangering to a serious extent the peace of the county. 
 He did not mean to say that the consequences which flowed 
 from his liberation could have been anticipated by the noble 
 lord, 'or that on the noble lord devolved the responsibility 
 of those results ; but he apprehended that he should be able 
 to show from the papers on the table of the house, what 
 were the circumstances under which, and the real ground 
 upon which, the noble lord had granted Courtenay his 
 pardon and liberation. Those papers enabled him to say 
 that it was through the interference of the gallant officer, 
 (Sir Hussey Vivian) that this liberation had taken place. 
 There was no letter that he was aware of from the gallant 
 officer, but there were two documents which had some how 
 or other got into the secretary's office, bearing date the 
 15th and 16th of August, 1837, which would suffice to show 
 that the Master General of the Ordnance had requested 
 the liberation of the prisoner confined in the county asylum. 
 Now, the time at which this happened was immediately 
 after the election for Cornwall, the .declaration for which 
 was made, he believed, on the 10 th of August. The hon* 
 and gallant officer was acquainted with Mr. Tom, the father 
 of the prisoner, and Mr. Tom happened to be an elector of 
 East Cornwall, and one likewise who had voted for the two 
 Liberal candidates. The hon. and gallant gentleman ad- 
 mitted that he knew Mr. Tom, and he (Sir E. Knatchbull) 
 knew that Mr. Tom had promised to vote for Lord Eliot, 
 17. 3 D 
 
386 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 but that instead of doing so he had voted for the hon. and 
 gallant gentleman himself, and his unsuccessful colleague. 
 
 In regard to the proper arrangements for the safe custody 
 of the prisoner, he could not say that sufficient precautions 
 had not been taken the information he had received might 
 not be correct ; but he certainly had been given to under- 
 stand, that at the time these unfortunate proceedings were 
 going on there was proof at the Home-office of the state of 
 mind in which the man called Courtenay was. There had 
 been at the same time a letter from a medical gentleman 
 addressed to the Secretary of State demanding an investiga- 
 tion of the individual in question, and affirming that it was 
 not safe that he should be at liberty. In addition to this, 
 he was enabled to say, from a letter dated the 22nd of this 
 month, which he had received, as we understood, from Mr- 
 Tooke, the late member for Truro, that that gentleman had 
 made inquiry at the Kent Lunatic Asylum on the state of 
 the man called Courtenay, and there learned, upon testimony 
 which could not be doubted, that his condition of mind was 
 decidedly such as disqualified him from being left to his own 
 guidance that, in fact, it was exceedingly dangerous to 
 allow him to go abroad. He had now briefly laid before 
 the house the circumstances of the case ; but there was one 
 circumstance which in some degree appeared to be connected 
 with the case, and to that he would shortly advert. Very 
 soon after the election for Cornwall William Tom and his 
 wife, the parents of the unhappy lunatic, paid a visit to the 
 noble lord opposite, the Secretary of State for the Home 
 Department, at his country residence in Devonshire. The 
 house would observe that the time chosen for this visit was 
 rather remarkable, and he confessed that he felt curious to 
 know what that introduction was which gained for those 
 parties access to the noble lord. Coupling, then, these 
 various circumstances of the election, the visit, and the 
 liberation, he thought that he had laid a sufficient ground 
 
SIR WILLIAM COUUTENAY, K.M. 387 
 
 for an inquiry. That the Secretary of State should be ex- 
 onerated from the imputations now cast, of indiscretion at 
 the least, for he certainly did stand charged with indiscre- 
 tion in the execution of his duty, was a matter of infinitely 
 greater moment than any advantage which party could 
 obtain by any motion in that house. He concluded 
 by moving for a select committee to inquire into all 
 the circumstances connected with the discharge of John 
 Nichols ,Tom, alias Courtenay, from the Kent Lunatic 
 Asylum. 
 
 Lord JOHN RUSSELL said, that whatever judgment the 
 House or the country might pronounce upon his conduct, 
 he felt fully entitled to perfect exoneration so far as his in- 
 tentions went (hear, hear) ; he felt further, that in every 
 other respect he was equally entitled to be considered 
 blameless ; at the same time he likewise felt that the events 
 to which reference had been made were the most calamitous 
 circumstances that had occurred since he was intrusted 
 with the seals of the Home Office he felt that the blood 
 which had been shed was caused by the person whom he 
 had been instrumental in liberating, and, with whatever 
 other circumstances the question might be connected, he 
 sincerely declared that it had occasioned him more pain 
 than any other with which he ever had to deal. The 9th 
 of George IV., cap. 40, contained various enactments rela- 
 ting to lunatics. According to that act they were regarded 
 in two points of view in the one as criminals, in the other 
 as mere lunatics. A lunatic who had committed or at- 
 tempted an act of violence, appeared to be in a very differ- 
 ent situation from a person tried for any ordinary offence 
 which might have been committed by any other person not 
 threatening the life or person of any man, and to whom or- 
 dinary rules might be applied. The case of John Nichols 
 Tom was one of the latter description, having been found 
 guilty of perjury, and confined for four years in a lunatic 
 asylum. The right Hon. gentleman was perfectly right in 
 
388 THE LIFK AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 saying that the parents of this person had seen him (Lord 
 J. Russell) when he was was living in the county of Devon, 
 at Endsleigh, he believed some time about the month 
 of August last year. This brought him to that part of the 
 case in which he thought the right Hon. Gentleman had 
 deviated from the course which should have been pursued 
 on such an occasion. If he wished to keep this case free 
 from party feeling (hear) if he wished to make out a case 
 of the mere exercise of the prerogative of mercy or discre- 
 tion in the discharge of a criminal lunatic, it was not at all 
 necessary to have imputed motives for him (hear, hear) in 
 seeing those persons ; nor was it at all neccessary to con- 
 nect the recommendation of his right Hon. friend near him 
 (Sir H. Vivian) with the county election which was then 
 taking place. When at Endsleigh, a part of the county not 
 very near any large town, several applications were made 
 to him, not with respect to any official business, from per- 
 sons connected with the property, being farmers in the 
 neighbourhood* With respect to criminal cases, he was 
 always very unwilling to see the parties who made applica- 
 tion to him ; and if those parties had apprised him that 
 they wished to see him on such a subject, he should most 
 probably have declined seeing them. But he did see them : 
 there was a respectable old man, apparently in the situation 
 of a farmer, and his wife. They stated to him their great 
 distress at the continued confinement of their son, and that 
 they had ascertained from the person they saw at the luna- 
 tic asylum that no danger was likely to arise from his 
 liberation. He told them what he had already stated to 
 tbe House, that even putting aside the question of the im- 
 mediate danger, a person who had been confined in a lunatic 
 asylum, could not be liberated without an assurance that he 
 would be properly taken care of, because there might be a 
 fresh access of paroxysm of insanity which might make him 
 dangerous to other persons. They assured him that they 
 would take the utmost care of their son ; that both they 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 389 
 
 and their son had property sufficient to enable them to pay 
 for his careful custody, and that it would be an act of great 
 kindness to them to allow them the care of their son, in- 
 stead of continuing his confinement in the lunatic asylum. 
 This was some time in the month of August, and his libera- 
 tion did not take place till October. During that interval 
 applications were made to the visiters of the lunatic asylum 
 with respect to the state of this person, and in the certifi- 
 cate of the medical superintendent he was no doubt descri- 
 bed as " a person of unsound mind, who fancied himself a 
 Knight of Malta, &c." That letter was dated September 
 8th, and it was on October 3rd that a free pardon was 
 issued, and John Nichols Tom was liberated. Now, if any 
 apprehension were entertained by the magistrates or any 
 other persons in the county of Kent, there was sufficient 
 opportunity for them to have forwarded a representation to 
 him on the subject. But the fact was, he believed, no 
 such apprehensions were entertained. The conduct of the 
 father, however, seemed to have been the most extraordi- 
 nary. After engaging that he would take proper care of 
 his son, instead of taking charge of him himself or provid- 
 ing a proper keeper for him, as he certainly ought so to have 
 done, he delivered him over to a person named Francis, who 
 was by no means fit to take care of him under the circum- 
 stances. But he (Lord J. Russell) had received no informa- 
 tion to that effect. 
 
 With respect to the mischief which had occurred, the 
 right hon. gentleman, as member for the county of Kent, 
 naturlly felt and said that the liberation of this person had 
 been the occasion of those calamities. But, on the other 
 side, having no information from the magistrates with re- 
 spect to the danger to be apprehended, no information with 
 respect to this person's influence in the county beyond 
 what he (Lord John Russell) had collected from a news- 
 paper several years ago, he must say, unless he had been 
 witness to the events, unless he had himself received the 
 
390 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 accounts which had been forwarded to him, he never could 
 have believed that people in the county of Kent could have 
 been so utterly and entirely ignorant as to have given cre- 
 dence to Tom's representations and pretences. 
 
 Lord John Russell concluded by concurring in the ap- 
 pointment of the committee. Sir Hussey Vivian entered 
 into a full and satisfactory explanation of the course which 
 he had pursued relative to the liberation of Courtenay. 
 During his speech, however, he produced the three, follow- 
 ing letters, from Mrs. Tom, and Mr. Turner, the member 
 for Truro, which place the conduct of the parents of Courte- 
 nay in a very extraordinary light. 
 
 61 Truro, August 15, 1837. 
 " Right Hon. Sir, 
 
 " Will you allow me to ask you the favour of interfering 
 with the Government of this country (as my friend) to 
 obtain their consent and permission for the discharge of 
 Mr. Tom, my husband, now confined in the Kent Lunatic 
 Asylum, as it is my wish he should have his liberty. I am 
 informed that the magistrates and governor, acting for the 
 above institution, have no objections whatever to his re- 
 lease, provided you can obtain the Government consent. 
 Now, I beg of you to be my friend in this case, and in duty 
 I shall ever pray for your ..welfare. 
 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 
 " CATHERINE TOM." 
 " Right Hon. Sir Hussey Vivian, &c." 
 
 " Truro, 16th August, 1837. 
 " Dear Sir H. 
 
 " Mrs. Tom, who signs the enclosed, is the wife of Mr. 
 Tom confined in the asylum spoken of by her. Mr. Tom's 
 father, who brought you a letter from me, is the party 
 whose wish in this matter I begged your favour of at- 
 tending to. I have every reason to think the interest 
 you may take in this matter would be successful. Mr. 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 391 
 
 Tom was head clerk with me seven years, and I had 
 always a very high esteem for him ; but his mind, for 
 some cause or other, was excited, and the consequence 
 was, he said he saw that which, by possibility, he could not 
 have seen. He was prosecuted for perjury, and has suf- 
 fered four years imprisonment in the lunatic asylum. 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 G. TURNER." 
 " Right Hon. Sir Hussey Vivian." 
 
 " To Sir Hussey Vivian, Bart. 
 Sir, 
 
 " My husband, Mr. Tom, of St. Colomb. having spoken 
 to you at Bodmin respecting his son, and you having kindly 
 promised to receive with attention a letter from him, will, 
 1 trust, prove my apology for now troubling you. I am on 
 all occasions his amanuensis, as the gout in his hands pre- 
 vents him from using his pen, and should I be too prolix in 
 laying before you the particulars of the case, I hope Sir 
 Hussey, you will pardon me, for I am interested, deeply 
 interested in it ; he is my husband's only remaining child ; 
 his private character before he left his home (Truro) was 
 exemplary, and far better known to Mr. Turner, the pre- 
 sent member, than myself, who hare been his stepmother 
 but a few years. The young man in question (and for 
 whose liberty I now solicit your benign influence with our 
 august and lovely young Queen, who has recently ascended 
 the throne, and whose reign, under the blessing of Divine 
 Providence, will, I hope, be long and happy,) was, from an 
 epileptic attack at the commencement of the year 1832, de- 
 prived of his senses ; he left his home, and travelled under 
 the fictitious name of Sir William Courtenay ; unknowingly 
 (it was evident,) he swore falsely, was convicted of perjury, 
 and sentenced to transportation, before any of his friends, 
 who were offering large rewards for discovering him, knew 
 where he was ; his insanity was then clearly demonstrated 
 
392 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 by the physicians who attended him, and he was confined 
 in an asylum in Kent; he is now much better, and wishes 
 his liberty ; his private property is good, sufficient to make 
 him comfortable with his friends. I will now rest satisfied 
 that I have put his case into the hands of a gentleman, a 
 minister of the crown, whose public character as a soldier and 
 a friend I revere, and who stands so high in the estimation 
 of our whole neighbourhood. I am, Sir Hussey, totally 
 unacquainted with the etiquette used in laying such a case 
 before her Majesty, yet I feel assured, if you will conde- 
 scend to undertake it, her tender and philanthropic heart 
 will listen to you, for he has been guilty of no crime. 
 " I have the honour to subscribe myself, 
 
 " Respectfully your most obedient, 
 
 " CATHERINE TOM." 
 " St. Colomb, Aug. 30, 1837." 
 
 The member, however, who threw the greatest light upon 
 the character of John Nichols Tom, for it is absurd to call 
 him by any other name, was Mr. Turner, the member for 
 Truro, with whom Tom formerly lived in the capacity of 
 a clerk, as has been already represented in a former part of 
 this work. In the speech delivered by Mr. Turner on this 
 occasion, he represents Tom as a generous, open-hearted, 
 humane man, and fulfilling in the most honourable manner 
 all the engagements which he had entered into with him, 
 on alluding to the proceedings at Canterbury, Mr. Turner 
 said " We must all of us believe that nothing like them 
 could have occurred in any other part of the country. They 
 had, however, taken place, and within so short a distance 
 of the head-quarters of the church in England as to make 
 men afraid of what might be passing at a distance from 
 them when such absurdities could be perpetrated in their 
 immediate vicinity. The hon. member then read a letter, 
 beginning, " ]\ly dear Sir William Courtenay." Here was 
 a person (he continued) who was not Sir William Courte- 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, KM. 393 
 
 nay, who was nevertheless addressed by that title. ("By 
 whom signed?" from Mr. Praed.) It was signed " Gordon 
 and Francis." There was another letter addressed, " Sir 
 William Courtenay, Knight of Malta." These were from 
 Kentish gentlemen, who styled him thus, though they might 
 have known him to be plain John Nichol Tom. This letter 
 said, " I am grieved to hear from Miss O. that you are not 
 so well as I could wish. I am fearful you are not allowed 
 to take exercise sufficient for your health. Let me per- 
 suade you to take exercise in your room, if you are not 
 allowed to take it in the open air." 
 
 Mr. Turner then entered into a statement of the corres- 
 pondence which had taken place relative to the election of 
 1837, in the course of which he completely rebutted the 
 charges, which had been brought against the members for 
 Cornwall, in having been the instruments of effecting the 
 release of John Tom, for the purpose of securing the vote 
 of his father. In regard to the liberation of Tom, Mr. 
 Turner appeared inclined to throw the greatest blame on 
 the magistrates, for he said, " from the correspondence, he 
 thought the magistracy would find it hard to get out of the 
 matter with clean hands he wished to God they could. 
 If such things had occurred to him, under his own nose, he 
 should have insisted upon an inquiry being instituted. 
 Why did Mr. Francis keep the man in his house, and not 
 send him to his friends in Cornwall ? Why was his wife 
 not informed, though an anonymous letter was sent, which 
 was not anonymous (laughter) the day after? The day be- 
 fore he died, she received an anonymous letter, and the next 
 day there was a letter from Mr. Gordon, and on a com- 
 parison between that and the anonymous letter, it was as 
 clear as that two and two make four, that both letters were 
 the hand-writing of the same man. The letter said, " Your 
 husband is dead, come and bury him." A man who could 
 write to this man's wife and say " Your husband is dead, 
 17. 3E 
 
394 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 come and bury him," was no credit to the gentlemen of the 
 county of Kent. On the 1 9th of October, 1837, a corres- 
 pondence took place with Mrs. Tom, of St. Colomb, the 
 step-mother of Tom, with reference to a letter of Mr. 
 Maule, dated the 5th of October, addressed to the father of 
 the unfortunate man, referring to his liberation from 
 the lunatic asylum, on the application of his friends. He 
 did not think the unfortunate man ought to have been re- 
 leased without the attendance of some of his friends. But 
 the superintendent of the asylum stated that two of the 
 visiting magistrates had been of opinion, that he should be 
 justified in releasing him, and he accordingly left, the 
 asylum. This showed that two of the visiting magistrates, 
 who were supreme in these matters " 
 
 Sir ROBERT PEEL. Was this after the warrant for free 
 pardon ? 
 
 Mr, TURNER. Yes; but what was the condition of the 
 free 'pardon? "It is requested that Sir William Courte- 
 nay may not be discharged till his father, or some person 
 acting for him, attends at the asylum to receive the pri- 
 soner." The release took place under the eyes of the 
 magistrates, and they must, of course, have believed he was 
 in a sound state. This matter was full of mystery. When 
 it was considered what mischievous and fatal consequences 
 had followed in the county of Kent, that it was with the 
 knowledge of the magistrates that this unfortunate man had 
 been enlarged, and that afterwards he was suffered to tra- 
 verse the country with a number of followers, most of them 
 armed, and that a person could not be found who would 
 apply to have him confined and prosecuted, whereby the 
 county would have been spared these scenes, he thought 
 much blame was imputable somewhere. 
 
 The motion for the appiontment of the committee, was 
 ultimately carried by a majority of thirty, but in the 
 appointment of the members of it, each party attempted 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 895 
 
 to obtain the majority and a scene ensued, which would 
 have been more in character, had it been enacted in a bear- 
 garden, than in the august assembly of the representatives 
 of the country, and which drew from Sir G. Sinclair, the 
 pithy remark, "that he hoped none of the illustrious foreigners 
 then in this country, were witnesses of their proceedings." 
 
 Previously to our entering into a narrative of those de- 
 plorable events, which followed the liberation of Tom from 
 the Lunatic Asylum, we may perhaps be allowed to make 
 a few remarks on the contents of the letters written by the 
 step-mother of Tom, and which were produced by Sir Hussey 
 Vivian. The contents of those letters open a new field for 
 inquiry, particularly in regard to the conduct of the parents 
 of Tom, who by those letters it' would appear were not 
 strangers to the condition of his mind, attributing it to 
 epileptic fits, at a time, when it was evident that not one 
 of his family knew where he was, or that he was practising 
 his impositions on the public under fictitious names, From 
 the time of his departure from Liverpool, there is not a 
 single datum existing, which could induce the belief, that 
 the most remote intercourse subsisted between him and his 
 family, and if such intercourse did exist, what opinion can 
 be formed of a father, who could allow a son, under a state 
 of direct mental alienation, to be wandering about the 
 country, committing those acts, which brought him within 
 the penal laws of the country, and not adopt some measures 
 of placing him under that restraint, to which he was after- 
 wards exposed by the commission of a very heinous crime? 
 If Mr. Tom of St. Colomb, knew that Sir William Courte- 
 nay of Canterbury, was his own son, and that according to 
 the statement of Mr. Tom, his insanity had been brought 
 on so recently, as about three years ago, by epilepsy, we 
 scarcely know an epithet of censure too severe in the 
 English language, of which he is not richly deserving. 
 In the investigation of this mysterious conduct of the 
 parents of John Tom, we are forced to the conclusion, that 
 
396 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 the statements of Mrs. Tom in her letters to Sir Hussey 
 Vivian, were fabricated for the purpose of effecting the libe- 
 ration of her step-son, for it is scarcely possible to conceive 
 that a' parent could be cognizant of a son running such a 
 career of fraud and imposition, as was pursued by John 
 Tom at Canterbury, andjiot hasten to devise some means 
 by which that son might be saved from the ruin, which 
 sooner or later, must inevitably overtake him. It is, how- 
 ever, not the least remarkable feature of this mysterious 
 affair, and we publish it on the most indisputable authority, 
 that the people of Canterbury knew not that John 1 om had 
 a father living, until Lord John Russell made it known in 
 the House of Commons on the inquiry into the liberation 
 of Tom from the lunatic asylum. If then, we are to give 
 credence to the statements in the letters of Mrs Tom, it 
 would appear as if his family were secretly abetting him in 
 his wild and insane projects, for according to their own 
 showing they knew of his madness, and they also knew the 
 cause of it, which was in itself a falsity, for it was well 
 known that John Tom was partially insane before he left 
 Truro with the cargo of malt for Liverpool, and yet Mrs. 
 Tom dates the commencement of his lunacy so recently as 
 three years ago, when we can most positively assert, that 
 not the slightest intercourse existed between him and his 
 family, and one of the most difficult points which his 
 biographer has had to establish is the identity of John 
 Nichols Tom of St, Colomb with the Sir William Courtenay 
 of Canterbury, which, however, would not have been at- 
 tended with any difficulty at all, had any intercourse existed 
 between him and his family, or such intercourse, which it 
 might have been supposed ought to have existed between a 
 father and a son in the singular situation in which the 
 latter had placed himself. The collusion between John Tom 
 and his family for the purpose of keeping the birth and 
 parentage of the former a secret, must have been of the 
 most extraordinary nature, for during the whole of his 
 
Sill WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M- 397 
 
 career at Canterbury, not the slightest suspicion was enter- 
 tained of his real descent, although by many it was con- 
 ceived that his pretended one was altogether fictitious. It 
 must also be admitted that the conduct of the father of 
 Tom, after the liberation of the latter from the lunatic 
 asylum, was not distinguished by that good faith, which the 
 lenity, that had been shown, so amply deserved. He had 
 given his undertaking to take his son under his immediate 
 inspection, and yet in defiance of that promise, he left him 
 to the care of an individual, who was well calculated from 
 the ascendency, which the soi disant Sir William Courtenay 
 had obtained over him, to bring him under the subjection 
 of his authority, especially as his pretensions soared higher 
 after his liberation, than they were previously to his incar- 
 ceration. In exculpation, however, of the part which Mr. 
 Francis, the individual, to whose care Tom was consigned 
 after his liberation, took in the affairs of Courtenay, that 
 gentleman delivered the following statement to the magis- 
 trates at Canterbury, from which it would appear that Mr- 
 Francis had obtained some insight into the character of Cour- 
 tenay, and the only question which then presents itself is, 
 that as Mr. Francis had imbibed so unfavorable an opinion 
 of the character of Courtenay, as to forbid him his house, at the 
 same time that he was, if the expression may be allowed, the 
 consignee of his person, why did he not communicate im- 
 mediately with the family of Tom, and by resigning his 
 trust, enable his family to place him in such a situation 
 as would prevent him from committing any acts of violence. 
 
 The following statement was at the request of Mr. Francis 
 put into the hands of the county magistrates. 
 
 Mr. G. Francis having unfortunately been upon terms of 
 intimacy for a considerable length of time with the late 
 madman, Mr. Tom, who declared that he would never leave 
 the asylum with any person but Mr. George Francis, when 
 Mr. G. Francis was deputed by Mr. Tom, senior, to receive 
 his son from the asylum, Mr. G. Francis was not aware that 
 
398 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 Mr. Tom, sen., had given security to the Government for 
 his son's behaviour, nor did Mr. G. Francis ever see or cor- 
 respond with Mr. Tom, sen., on the subject, nor was Mr. 
 G. Francis ever requested to give any security; but, on 
 the contrary, having received a letter from the medical 
 man of that asylum that he considered Sir W. Courte- 
 nay perfectly inoffensive (which letter was also put 
 into the magistrates' hands), he was induced to fetch him 
 from the asylum to his own house, where he resided as 
 a visitor for some time, always conducting himself to 
 Mr. G. Francis and his family in the most gentlemanly 
 manner. 
 
 On Mr. G. Francis observing, in January last, a new 
 pair of pistols in the possession of Mr. Tom, he imme- 
 diately remonstrated with him on the subject, and insisted 
 on their being taken from the premises. Mr. Tom having 
 failed to give Mr. G. Francis convincing proof that he was 
 the man, he had represented himself to be, Mr. Francis, 
 on the 10th of January last, desired him to quit his house. 
 
 On the 9th of March Mr. Tom thrust himself into Mr. 
 G. Francis's house, and slept there one night, Mr. G. 
 Francis avoiding to hold any conversation with him, ex- 
 cepting the requesting Mr. Tom to take his horse from off 
 his premises. 
 
 On the 5th of May Mr. Tom came to Mr, Francis's 
 house for his horse, and uninvited, drank tea there, on 
 which occasion Mr. G. Francis left his own house for the 
 express purpose of avoiding him, and drank tea at his son's 
 house." 
 
 John Tom being in some manner actually ejected from 
 the house of Mr. Francis took up his abode at a cottage 
 adjoining occupied by one Wills. This man appears from 
 the inquiry and information that has since been obtained, 
 to have been the prime mover with Courtenay in the affray. 
 He was a native of the neighbourhood, and he used all his 
 endeavours to induce the peasantry to join Sir William 
 
Sill WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 3D9 
 
 Courlenay, and in many instances it was known that he 
 threatened violence to some parties who refused to have 
 anything to do with them. It is also said that it was by 
 his hand that Lieutenant Bennett met his death. From a 
 statement made before the coroner's jury, which was of the 
 most important character, it appeared that the pistol aimed 
 at Lieutenant Bennett, by Courtenay, was struck up, and 
 consequently missed him ; and Wills being the only man 
 besides Courtenay, among the rioters, who carried fire-arms, 
 it would appear evident that the officer must have met his 
 death from his hand. 
 
 On leaving Will's cottage, he was received at a farm- 
 house, called Bossenden Farm, occupied by a person of the 
 name of Culver. 
 
 The manner in which he was able to delude the people 
 in the neighbourhood of Canterbury appears extraordinary. 
 It appears he had for some time back boasted that some of 
 the finest seats in the country were his. The time for his 
 coming into possession of them was two years from this 
 time; and, in addition to his living upon and amongst 
 the farmers, he induced many of them to give him large 
 sums of money, promising to them that for every shilling 
 they gave to him, he would return a pound ; and that, when 
 he was in full possession of his estates, all his followers 
 should have land free from him, according to their deserts. 
 These promises made many dupes, and enabled him to in- 
 dulge in luxuries which excited the astonishment of those not 
 acquainted with his resources, and made many believe that 
 he was what he pretended to be really a gentleman of 
 property. To keep up this notion he made presents to 
 various individuals ; for instance, to an individual who had 
 been prosecuted by the revenue, Courtenay gave two horses 
 worth 407. He afterwards thought to dupe the person to 
 whom he was so generous, by purchasing from him his 
 stables ; but the man, who was cunning enough to take his 
 
400 THE LIFE AND ADVENTUKES OF 
 
 horses, was by far too knowing to enter into any dealing 
 with him. He was fond of displaying himself in fantastic 
 dresses, but of late dressed himself in a smock frook, and 
 wore a broad shaped hat ; on the day of the affray he had 
 a belt round his body, in which pistols were placed. 
 
 Courtenay, for the last few days, previous to the fatal 
 meeting, had been living amongst the peasantry, gaining 
 subsistence at several houses, in return for which he made 
 long and inflammatory speeches to the mob of the neigh- 
 bourhood, and promised them that if they would follow his 
 advice, they should have good living and large estates, as 
 he had great influence at court, and was to sit on her Ma- 
 jesty's right hand on the day of the coronation. Nearly 
 one hundred of the most determined characters joined him, 
 and marched about the various parishes, inviting other 
 labourers to join them. These harangues rendered him 
 very popular, and he summoned a large assembly to meet 
 him on Wednesday, at Blean Wood, about four miles from 
 Canterbury. 
 
 From Culver's farm-house appears to have commenced 
 the horrid affair. On Monday, May 28th, they sallied 
 forth from the village of Bough ton, where they bought 
 bread, and proceeded to Will's house, near Fairbrook. A 
 loaf was broken asunder and placed on a pole, with a flag 
 of white and blue, with a rampant lion. Thence they 
 proceeded to Goodneston, near Faversham, producing 
 throughout the whole neighbourhood the greatest excite- 
 ment, and adding to their numbers by the harangues 
 occasionally delivered by this ill-fated madman. They next 
 proceeded to a farm at Herne Hill, where Courtenay re- 
 quested the inmates to feed his friends, which request was 
 immediately complied with. Their next visit was at Dargate 
 Common, where Sir William, taking off his shoes, said, 
 "I now stand on my own bottom." By Sir William's 
 request his party went to prayers, and then proceeded to 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 401 
 
 Bossenden Farm, where they supped, and slept in the barn 
 that night (Monday). At three o'clock on Tuesday morn- 
 ing they left. 
 
 He made his appearance at Sittingbourne on Wednesday, 
 May 30th, about half-past six in the morning, accompanied 
 by about sixty men, most of them provided with large 
 sticks, bludgeons, &e. Sir William walked into Sitting- 
 bourne, but had a horse with him, which was led in advance 
 by one of his followers; he wore a sword, and had on a 
 military cloak, and was also armed with a brace of pistols 
 at his belt. He and his followers came in quietly ; the 
 men had bread and cheese and beer, and he a glass of 
 sherry, &c., at the Wheatsheaf Inn, which they left about 
 nine o'clock in the morning as quietly as they came in, 
 paying 25s. for their breakfast. Sir William gave as his 
 reason for coming " that they got up for a walk, and came 
 purposely to see the Wheatsheaf of Sittingbourne, of which 
 they had heard much talk." Onwards he went, and com- 
 mitted many most outrageous enormities. He had drilled 
 the men to march as soldiers. Some had fire arms, and 
 the others clubs. One was appointed and called the gene- 
 ral, and they carried a flag. On Wednesday warrants were 
 issued for the apprehension of Courtenay, and two others 
 who seemed to be leaders. 
 
 The following is the statement of the intended apprehen- 
 sion of Courtenay by the magistrates warrant, as it was 
 transmitted to Lord John Russell, as Secretary of State, 
 and to which we have already alluded. 
 
 Statement of what came to my knowledge from the release 
 of the person calling himself Sir William Courtenay, from 
 the Kent County Lunatic Asylum, to the melancholy 
 transactions that occurred on Thursday last, the 31st 
 May, 1838: 
 
 Some time in the autumn of last year, I saw in the public 
 17. 3F 
 
40*2 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OP 
 
 newspapers that Courtenay had been released from the Lu- 
 natic Asylum, and was spending a few weeks with Mr. 
 Francis, of Fairbrook, in the parish of Bough ton. From 
 that period to Tuesday last, 29th May, I never heard any- 
 thing of him. On that day, about four in the afternoon, 
 Colonel Groves, of Boughton, stopped me as I passed 
 through Sittingbourne, and told me that he had called at 
 my house, to inform me that Courtenay, was collecting large 
 mobs in the neighbourhood, and that the language he used 
 was of the most exciting description, telling them they were 
 greatly oppressed, but particularly by the New Poor-law ; 
 and that if they would follow him, he would rescue them. 
 I immediately told him that if he would make an affidavit 
 of these particular S) I would issue a warrant against Courtenay 
 and the leaders of the party ; this he declined doing^ as he 
 only spoke from hearsay. 1 then arranged that he should 
 collect all the evidence he could, and meet me the following 
 morning, at ten, at Mr. Shepherd's office (he is clerk to the 
 magistrates), at Faversham. About six o'clock of the same 
 evening Mr. Francis called on me, and told me that on the 
 preceding Sunday Courtenay had a meeting of more than 
 two hundred of his followers at Bo ugh ton-hill, when he 
 excited the people, by stating the hardship the poor were 
 labouring under from the New Poor Law Bill, &c. &c. ; 
 and that on that very morning (29th May Courtenaj had 
 been in his field attended with more than twenty people, 
 and that he understood he was going to Ospringe fair in 
 the evening. I asked Mr. Francis to make affidavit of 
 these facts ; he said he could not, as he only spoke from 
 what others told him. I then requested him to see Col. 
 Grove, and get what information he could for me on the 
 following morning, when I should be at Mr. Shepherd's 
 office. The same evening I went to the Lunatic Asylum, 
 to learn by whose authority Courtenay had been released. 
 The answer I have already forwarded to your lordship. 
 On Wednesday the 30th May, I was called up about six 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 403 
 
 in the morning, and informed that Courtenay, with about 
 thirty followers, had come to Sittingbourne ; I desired them 
 to be watched. Courtenay was armed with a sabre and 
 pistols ; his men with clubs, and one carried a white flag, 
 having a lion painted in the centre. I soon after went to 
 Sittingbourne, and found that they were at breakfast in a 
 public house of the lowest class, conducting themselves 
 peaceably and quietly. I then proceeded to Faversham, as 
 arranged, and was met there by Col. Groves, the Rev. 
 G. March, and Mr. Curling, the overseer, and one of the 
 principal occupiers of the ville of Dunkirk. I than received 
 the evidence of Alfred Payne and John Dunkin, sent here- 
 with, and issued warrants against William Courtenay, William 
 Wills (the person at whose house Courtenay had lodged), 
 and Edward Newman, who lived under the same roof with 
 Wills. 
 
 From the representation of the gentlemen present of the 
 excited state of the country, I considered it essentially ne- 
 cessary that Courtenay should not be allowed to continue 
 tampering with and exciting the people ; but at the same 
 time they should not attempt to apprehend him without an 
 adequate civil force, and that much care should be used to 
 prevent any fatal result. 
 
 I then returned to Sittingbourne, and found that Courts- 
 nay had left, going back to Boughton by a different route, 
 and passing through several retired villages, no act of vio- 
 lence had been committed, and no mob harrangued. 
 
 The fatal results of Thursday, 31st May, you are fully 
 acquainted with, and therefore it is not necessary for me to 
 recapitulate them. 
 
 From the above, your lordship will perceive that I did 
 not know Courtenay was in the county until the afternoon 
 of Tuesday, 29th ; I obtained information on oath of his 
 exciting and tampering with the people on Wednesday, the 
 30th, and on the following day the melancholy scenes took 
 place we all so greatly deplore* 
 
404 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 From this statement your lordship will, I hope, feel satis- 
 fied that no exertions were wanting on my part to secure 
 the pubic peace. 
 
 (Signed) JOHN POORE. 
 
 Murston, 5th June, 1837. 
 
 Perhaps I ought to observe that I am residing between 
 fourteen or fifteen miles from where the affray with the 
 military took place, ten from Boughton, and seven from 
 Faversham. 
 
 Kent to wit Alfred Payne, of St Stephen's, near Can- 
 terbury, harness maker, on his oath saith, this 30th day of 
 May, 1838, that yesterday morning the 29th of May, I was 
 at work at Colonel Groves's, at Boughton-under-the-Blean, 
 when I heard two women say that Sir William Courtenay 
 was gone down the street giving away bread. Never having 
 seen him, I went down the street. I saw him come out of 
 a bakers shop on the right-hand side of the street. I fol- 
 lowed him about a mile to Fairbrook. He had with him 
 about thirteen others. They went into a garden, and thence 
 into a house that I was told belonged to a person by the name 
 of Wills. I went into Will's on the invitation of Sir William 
 I sat down and heard him say, " This is the 29th of May, 
 arid a glorious 29th of May it shall be for the poor who 
 stick by me. They have been long enough imposed on, 
 both for truth and liberty, and I will head them through it, 
 Now, Wills, let us have the bread and cheese, and beer, and 
 fill their bellies." After eating a crust of bread he gave 
 toasts, one was, " Health to the poor, and may they gain 
 independence." About half an hour after this Sir William 
 sent for some tobacco, which he gave away. He then got 
 the women that were assembled to sing; but what they 
 sang I could not make out. It seemed as if they had com- 
 posed it themselves, against some persons that had injured 
 them. In about ten minutes after this, I heard a woman, 
 who they said was Mrs. Wills, use this expression, " There 
 goes (pointing to Mr. Francis who was going across a piece 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 405 
 
 of growing corn) who was the first that wanted to be top- 
 ped." The name she called him by I could not make out ; 
 she also said she wanted to know who had written something 
 she repeated, " he will not know, but will soon." In the 
 room where we had the bread and cheese there was a re- 
 spectable looking female with glasses on, and who appeared 
 deaf. She said to Sir William, give me your hat," and 
 kissed him. This person, I heard, was Mr. Francis's sister, 
 I heard Sir William desire the men to get some good big 
 boughs, and he would soon be with them, telling a man, 
 dressed in a fustian jacket, at the same time, to go and take 
 his horse. The number of men that assembled at Wills' s 
 was about thirty, and about twelve or fourteen women. 
 When we went into Wills's house it was about nine in the 
 morning, and when we left about eleven. When we left, 
 Sir William came out with a loaf of bread on a stake, Wills 
 with a white flag, having a blue border round it, and a red 
 lion painted on it ; over his shoulder a leathern haversack. 
 A man who lives under the same roof with Wills came out 
 with them, having also a leathern haversack over his 
 shoulders. Sir William had on a brown Holland frock, 
 and overalls of the same ; round his waist a leathern belt, 
 with a brace of pistols and a sword in a steel scabbard. 
 He had suspended from his neck a trumpet. He desired 
 the men to fall in by threes, as soldiers, they did so ; he 
 also told them to look at the lion, and to have hearts as 
 fierce, also to be as hard as heart of oak ; he then sounded 
 the trumpet, bidding them to " go on, boys ;" they marched 
 on some considerable distance. After this I saw a man 
 with a dark blue bag ; he was in front of me ; I felt the 
 bag, and it had something in it that was round, which 
 I thought were bullets ; it had also several other things in 
 it., After going some distance we came to a farm-house on 
 the right-hand side, with a good pond in the yard ; near the 
 yard was a hop-garden. Two men were at work in the 
 garden. Courtenay called to them and desired them to put 
 
406 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 on their clothes, for he was the shepherd that would lead 
 them to life and happiness. He then pointed to the loaf, 
 and said to the two men, " the loaf, the loaf, my boys ; come 
 on, or you will be sorry for it." They did not join him. 
 We then passed a public-house and came to a stile, where 
 they halted the men, bidding the man who had his horse to 
 go to Graveney Church. He told the man to stop all 
 he met with, whether at work or not, and to desire them 
 to go to Graveney Church, and wait for him their shep- 
 herd. Courtenay then went over the stile and called Wills, 
 and spoke to him. Courtenay then said, " any of you who 
 have hearts true to follow me, come." The whole did follow 
 After crossing the corn-field we were in we came to a 
 meadow, when he again called Wills and spoke to him. He 
 also called three others. There were four besides Courte- 
 nay. He then desired the rest to remain in the corn-field, 
 under a man he called the general (the same person who 
 dwelt under the same roof with Wills), and told them to 
 remain there while he struck the fatal blow, and they would 
 see something. After this he proceeded towards 'a bean- 
 stack in the meadow, and near the hop-garden. He and 
 Wills went on the west side of the stack, the other three on 
 the opposite side. 1 saw Courtenay take something out of 
 his right-hand pistol-case ; I do not know what it was, but 
 it appeared as if it was paper from the packing of cartridge. 
 He then went round the stack by himself, and Wills joined 
 the other three. While they were at the stack the men in 
 the field murmured, and said, " Surely he is not going to 
 set fire to that bean stack." After that, the man who was 
 acting as general over us said, " Never mind, you will see 
 something presently." After this, Courtenay and the four 
 came back to us, when he said, " I am now going to strike 
 the bloody blow ; the streets that have heretofore flowed 
 with water shall flow with blood for the rights of the poor." 
 He and the others then advanced, except myself and two 
 older men, who remained at the stile. I recommended 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 407 
 
 them to return with me, which they did. After this I saw 
 a person, as if going from the hop-field, go to the bean- 
 stack and look round it apparently examining it. One of 
 the old men wished to go and and examine the stack. I 
 recommended him not, for if anything should happen he 
 would be blamed for it. We three then went to Boughton 
 Street and parted. 
 
 Alfred Payne cross-examined. The quantity of beer 
 drank, I should think, must have been about three or four 
 gallons. Courtenay sent two shillings to pay for the half- 
 pound of tobacco. When he was in the room at Wills's he 
 said, " he was not an earthly man, he fell from the clouds, 
 and that he should leave them without their knowing 
 when." 
 
 I met Sir William Courtenay and forty-one men armed 
 with flawed sticks this morning, the 30th of May, at 
 BoughtOn Chalk Pits. There were several among them 
 who were at Graveney yesterday. 
 
 The man (John Dunkin) just come into the room is the 
 person who went to the beanstack when Courtenay and the 
 four others came from it. 
 
 ALFRED PAYNE. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 The flag was taken at the affray in the wood, and since 
 there have been found in the wood the sword (sworn to as 
 Courtenay's), a leathern haversack, the contents of which I 
 gave on Sunday last, and amongst them Wills's flute, and a 
 quantity of matches ; also a blue bag was produced before 
 the Coroner, found in the wood, containing a bag, one 
 hundred and forty bullets, and a large quantity of matches. 
 
 Kent to wit John Dunkin, of Faversham, waggoner to 
 Mrs, Muston, on his oath saith, this 30th day of May, 
 1838, that yesterday, about half-past eleven in the morn- 
 
408 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 
 
 ing, I was carrying dung out of the yard, I saw three or 
 four persons go up to the bean stack in my mistress's 
 meadow ; one had a flag, and laid down by the stack. I 
 saw one of the persons put his two hands to the bean stack, 
 and seemed to be putting something in ; he looked towards 
 me, as if to know whether I noticed him : he then went 
 round the stack ; another man came round after him. When 
 they came to the flag and the other two, they took it up, 
 and returned, all together, to the people in the oat-field. 
 After they were gone I went down to the stack, and at 
 the spot where I thought the man had put his hand I found 
 the match I now produce. I went round the stack twice, 
 but could find nothing but a bit of string that I gave to 
 the thrasher. As soon as I found the match I took it to 
 Mrs. Luckhurst, and said to her, " it seems as if they had 
 been putting matches into the rick ;" and I showed her the 
 match. 
 
 The Mark of 
 
 X 
 JOHN DUNCAN. 
 
 Whilst Tom was at Sittingbourne, he asked thirty men 
 who were working at the gravel pits close to that place, to 
 join him ; but one of them had the good sense to reply that 
 he must have sufficient grounds shown him for putting his 
 own neck into jeopardy, and the country into disturbance, 
 before he joined in such an expedition. On this Tom 
 turned round and left the men, saying, " It is of no use 
 talking to you, You are a set of Methodists." He assailed 
 .them, however, with some other inflammatory topics, and 
 among other inducements which he held out to them to 
 rise against the rich, asked them, " Do you think it ever 
 was ordained by God that these unions should separate 
 man and wife ?" That was the only reference he made to 
 the New Poor Law, and however that law may be disliked 
 in the county of Kent, he never proposed to any of his dis- 
 
\ 
 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 409 
 
 ciplcs that they should follow him to obtainfts repeal, nor 
 is there any reason to think that, to produce such a result, 
 any of them who would have ventured upon such a course 
 of turbulence and violence as that which has recently 
 stained the reputation of the parishes in the immediate 
 vicinity of Canterbury. Though most of the men who 
 followed John Tom in his riotous march through the country, 
 were personally attached to that mischievous person, and 
 regarded him as a super-human being, it would be wrong 
 to suppose that every one who joined his ranks was in- 
 duced to accompany Mm from respect for his real or as- 
 sumed character. There is no doubt that some, having, 
 unfortunately for themselves, met Tom in his mad career, 
 were compelled by threats, and by the fear of instant death 
 to remain with him. 
 
 After visiting Eastling, Throwleyj Seldwich, Lees, and 
 Selling, and occasionally addressing the populace, holding 
 out to them such inducements as are, usually made by 
 persons desirous of creating a disturbance, they halted in 
 a chalk-pit to rest, and on Wednesday evening arrived 
 at Culver's farm, called Bossenden, close to the scene of 
 action. 
 
 Mr. Curling, having had some of his men enticed from 
 their work, applied for a warrant for their apprehension. 
 Hears, a constable, in company with his brother, proceeded 
 to the house of Culver on Thursday morning. Hears, who 
 had the warrants, was personally known to Courtenay, went 
 to expostulate with him, accompanied by his brother, who 
 was not a constable. It is understood there was no. inten- 
 tion of executing the warrants, if there were any resistance. 
 When they came to the place where Sir William and his 
 party were encamped, Courtenay came forward, and asked 
 the brother " if he were the constable ;" he answered 
 "Yes." Courtenay immediately shot him, wounded him 
 afterwards with his sword, kicked him, and then ordered 
 18. 3 G 
 
410 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 his men to throw him in a ditch, which they did. Courte- 
 nay did not know that warrants were issued for his ap- 
 prehension, nor were they attempted to be executed. 
 
 Previous to Hears' death Courtenay addressed his men 
 at Culver's, and said to them, " This is the day of judg- 
 ment this is the first day of the Millenium and this day 
 I will put the crown on my head. Behold, a greater than 
 Sampson is with you ! If any of you wish to go home, you 
 may have my permission to go; but, if you desert me, I 
 will follow you to the furthermost part of h 1, and invoke 
 fire and brimstone from heaven upon you !" 
 
 It is a fact that Mears, was so strongly impressed with 
 the certainty that Courtenay would kill the first, who should 
 attempt to take him, that when he and his brother were 
 proceeding to the fatal spot, he said to his brother, " It is 
 certain one of us must die in this attempt; which shall it 
 be ?" and then almost immediately said, " It shall be me 
 I shall not leave any children." He also bade an affec- 
 tionate farewell to his wife in the morning, and said he did 
 not like the business he was going on, and that he would 
 rather go any where else. 
 
 Immediately after that atrocity was committed, they 
 went to the house of Hadlow, one of the rioters, where they 
 received a plentiful supply of bread and cheese, for which 
 Tom paid. They then returned into the wood, where they 
 were at eight o'clock, at which hour an old man, who was 
 engaged in cutting underwood, and was, from necessity, a 
 spectator of the scene said that Tom, who represented 
 himself sometimes as Christ, sometimes as a person armed 
 with a Divine commission, sometimes as a supernatural 
 being, and sometimes as acting under the immediate direc- 
 tion of a supernatural being, undertook to administer the 
 sacrament in bread and water to the deluded men who 
 followed him. He told them on this occasion, as he did on 
 many others, that there was great oppression in the land, 
 
SIR WI1LIAM COURTKNAY, K.M. 411 
 
 and, indeed, throughout the world, but that if they would 
 follow him, he would lead them on to glory. He depicted 
 the gentry as great oppressors, threatened to deprived them 
 of their estates, and talked of partitioning them into farms 
 of 40 or 50 acres among those who followed him. He told 
 them that he had come to earth on a cloud, and that on a 
 cloud he should some day be removed from them ; that 
 neither bullets nor weapons could injure him or them, if 
 they had but faith in him as their Saviour ; and that if 
 10,000 soldiers came against them, they would either turn 
 to their side or fall dead at his command. Between seven 
 and eight o'clock on that morning, after the constable was 
 murdered, when Courtenay had all his followers in Bos- 
 senden-wood, he administered the sacrament to them in 
 bread and water ; and this cermony being over, Alexander 
 Foad, whose jaw was afterwards shot off by the military, and 
 who was afterwards in Maidstone gaol on a charge of murder- 
 ing the constable Mears, knelt down at his feet and wor- 
 shipped him ; so did another man of the name of Brankford. 
 Foad then asked Tom whether he should follow him in the 
 body, or go home and follow him in heart ? To this Tom 
 replied ." Follow me in the body." Foad then sprang on 
 his feet in an ecstacy of joy, and with a voice of great 
 emulation exclaimed, " Oh, be joyful ! oh, be joyful ! The 
 Saviour has accepted me. Go on, go on ; till I drop, I'll fol- 
 low thee !" Brankford also was accepted as a follower, and 
 exhibited the same enthusiastic fervour. At this time, his 
 denunciations against those who should desert him were 
 terrific. Fire would come down from Heaven and consume 
 them, in this world ; and in the next eternal damnation was 
 to be their doom. His eye gleamed like a bright coal whilst he 
 was scattering about these awful menaces. At that moment 
 the wood-cutter was convinced that Tom would have shot any 
 man dead, who had ventured to quit his company. After this 
 mockery of religion, the wood-cutter went to Tom, shook hands 
 with him, and asked him if it was true, that he had shot the 
 
41*2 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 constable ?" " Yes," replied Tom cooly ; " I did shoot the 
 vagabond, and I have eaten a hearty breakfast since. I 
 was only executing upon him the justice of Heaven, in 
 virtue of the power which God has given me." Then said 
 the man, " I saw that his eyes were blood-thirsty, and I de- 
 termined to leave him as soon as I could. I durst not, 
 however, go at once; for I am sure he would have shot 
 me. I contrived, however, to skulk among the trees, and 
 about 12 o'clock I got away from his party. Oh, sir, he 
 was an awful man. He had a tongue which an unlarned 
 person could not get over. His threats were so terrible 
 they made the heart quake. He could turn men which 
 way he liked, if they only once listened to him. A man 
 that I know could not sleep all Wednesday night, for think- 
 ing of him, and told his wife in the morning that he must 
 go with Sir William ; for if he did not, he was convinced 
 that a shower of fire would come down from Heaven to 
 burn him and his children to ashes." He was asked how 
 the people could be so foolish as to believe that any man 
 like themselves could be gifted with this power ; and his 
 reply was, "Oh, sir, you did not know Sir William. He 
 had too much ' laming.' " No one could stand before him. 
 When he went to Canterbury, nobody could stand before 
 him." 
 
 There appears to have been another profane stratagem to 
 convince the peasantry that it was he to, whom allusion is 
 made in the 6th chapter of Revelations, for in the 13th 
 verse it is said " and the stars of Heaven fell unto the 
 earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she 
 is shaken of a mighty wind." After firing off his pistol 
 loaded with tow and iron fluings, he desired the wife of one 
 of the prisoners to listen to the heavenly music which filled 
 the air as the bright particles descended to the ground ; 
 and this ignorant creature, either deceived by her own 
 fanatical imagination, or imposed upon by the rude skill of 
 Wills, who could play the flute, declares that she heard 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 413 
 
 strains of the most divine harmony come from the clouds. 
 Many other instances of the superstitious credulity which 
 this extraordinary man unhappily inspired might be stated. 
 When the soldiers were heard to fire upon the rioters, Mrs. 
 Adlow, who was at the time in her garden at Herne Hill, 
 fell upon her knees, and "prayed to see fire and brimstone 
 pour down from Heaven, and destroy the enemies of Sir 
 William ;" and in a frenzy of religious exultation she cried 
 out, " I'll die too ; I'll die too." She then looked up in the 
 clouds to discover a lion (a rampant lion was John Tom's 
 device), but perceiving no such figure, this wretched wo- 
 man sat down and wept bitterly. Nothing could exceed 
 the infatuation of Wills on the subject of Tom's divinity. 
 One evening he met some of his companions at a public- 
 house, and conversed for about an hour with them respect- 
 ing that madman. At last he rose up abruptly and took 
 his departure, saying, " I dare stay no longer , Sir William 
 will be angry : though a mile off, he knows what we are 
 saying, and will be able to repeat every word to me." 
 
 On the morning after Tom had shot the constable 
 in the wood, he came armed to Mr. G. Francis* house, 
 with thirty-six of his deluded followers with bludgeons, and 
 insisted on Mr. G. Francis supplying them all with gin 
 and water, on which Thorn's was supplied with 'gin 
 and water for himself, and beer for his followers. At this 
 moment Mr. G. Francis came up, when Tom said 
 " Francis, I am come here to make my peace with you ; 
 we have not been on good terms for some time ; I forget 
 and forgive you all that has passed, and I hope you will do 
 the same and shake hands." Mr. G. Francis replied, " Sir 
 William, I regret seeing you in such actuation : you are 
 not only getting into trouble yourself, but by coming to 
 my house, you are getting me into trouble also. I must 
 request that you will immediately take your party off my 
 premises. I feel no animosity against you (and shook 1 
 hands), at the same time I must tell you, that if you are not 
 
414 THK LIFE AND ADVKNTUUKS OF 
 
 the person you have represented yourself to be, you 
 deserve the severest punishment that can be inflicted." At 
 this moment it was reported the soldiers were coming to 
 the house, when Tom said, ' My lads, come on down 
 to the osier-bed, were we shall have an open field to fight 
 in." Mr. Tom and his deluded followers immediately 
 went to the osier-bed. We are enabled to state from 
 authority, that on a friendly application to Mr. Francis by 
 the magistrates, that gentleman and his family at once gave 
 up the whole of the property in their possession which be- 
 longed to Tom. 
 
 The greatest alarm now prevailed in the neighbourhood. 
 An express was sent to the Rev. Dr. Poore, informing him 
 of the circumstance; and another to Canterbury for the 
 military, it being found impracticable to subdue the rioters 
 without their aid. About half-past eleven (in the morn- 
 ing), a major and about one hundred men of the 45th Foot 
 arrived, when the Rev. Dr. Poore, Sir N. Knatchbull, Mr. 
 Halford, and Mr. Baldock, county magistrates, accompanied 
 the military. They were divided into two parties, in con- 
 sequence of the rioters having moved to Bossenden Wood. 
 That part of the military, accompanied by the Rev. Dr. 
 Poore and Sir N. Knatchbull, came up to the rioters who 
 were found parading the fields in the neigbourhood, in the 
 same manner as they had done in the forenoon, and with 
 an appearance of resolute defiance. Upon perceiving the 
 military, however, a few of them separated and retired ; 
 but the majority receded steadily into Bossenden Wood. 
 Thither they were followed by the military, where a most 
 shocking scene of slaughter ensued. The number of men 
 collected in the wogd was about a hundred and each being 
 armed with heavy bludgeons, bid a fierce defiance to- the 
 soldiers. Lieutenant Bennett having stepped up to Cour- 
 tenay, and called upon* him to surrender, was immediately 
 shot dead by the madman ; and a private nearest to the 
 officer, immediately levelled his piece and killed Courtenay 
 
\ 
 
 S*SS I 
 
SIH WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 415 
 
 himself on the spot. Upon this the deluded men com- 
 menced a fierce attack upon the military, and fought with 
 desperation : they were several times fired upon, but never- 
 theless seemed determined to fight it out to the last. 
 
 After a sharp contest, which lasted for some time, nine of 
 the rioters were killed, seven or eight very severely wounded, 
 and about a dozen taken prisoners ; the remainder secured 
 themselves by flight. Besides one officer (Lieutenant Ben- 
 nett killed), another was brought back to Canterbury 
 severely wounded, four or five privates sustained serious 
 injuries. A portion of the detachment returned to Canter- 
 bury about seven o'clock with the prisoners. 
 
 Dr. Poore immediately forwarded the following commu- 
 nication to Lord John Russell, the Secretary of State for 
 the Home department. . 
 
 -" Murston, near Sittingbourne, May, 1836. 
 " MY LORD, 
 
 " It is my painful and distressing duty to inform 
 your Lordship that a serious disturbance took place 
 this day at the ville of Dunkirk, distant between four and 
 five miles from Canterbury, which terminated in the death 
 of eight of the rioters, including Courtenay, the leader, 
 and two others, one an officer of the 45th regiment, quar- 
 tered at Canterbury, by name of Bennett, and a private in- 
 dividual of Faversham, who was assisting the magistrates 
 in suppressing the disturbance. Seven of the rioters are 
 also wounded, as well as one other officer of the 45th regi- 
 ment, by name of Pendergrass. The particulars are briefly 
 these : 
 
 " A man, calling himself Sir William Courtenay, but 
 whose real name is, I believe, Tom, was, in the month of 
 October last, discharged from the Kent County Lunatic 
 Asylum, although of unsound mind, as appears by a letter 
 accompanying this. It was represented to me, Tuesday 
 afternoon last, that this man was exciting the lower classes 
 
416 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 residing in the ville of Dunkirk, Boughton, and the adoin- 
 ing parishes, to breaches of the public peace, by assembling 
 in large numbers, and using violent inflammatory language. 
 Courtenay represented to them that they were oppressed 
 by the laws in general, but more particularly by the New 
 Poor Law ; he called upon them to place themselves under 
 his command, and that he would insure them not only 
 redress, but plenty and affluence. From fifty to a hundred 
 of the most determined characters joined him, and marched 
 about the various parishes, inviting others to join them. 
 Courtenay himself was armed with pistols and a sword. 
 He drilled the men to march as soldiers, and some, I am 
 told, had fire-arms, and others clubs ; one was appointed 
 and called their General, and they had a flag. Yesterday 
 I issued warrants for the .apprehension of Courtenay and 
 two others, who seemed to be leaders. This morning a 
 constable, who had the warrants, and who was known to 
 Courtenay, went to expostulate with him, accompanied by 
 his brother, who was not a constable. I am told there was 
 no intention of executing the warrants if there was the least 
 resistance. When they came to where Courtenay and his 
 party, of between forty and fifty, were encamped^ Courte- 
 nay came forward, and asked the brother, " if he was the 
 constable?" who^ said " yes"_ (this was not true), .when 
 Courtenay immediately shot him dead, and endeavoured 
 with his sword to run the constable through the body, which 
 he was only prevented doing by falling in making the 
 thrubt. Courtenay never knew tfiat warrants were issued, 
 neither were they attempted to be executed. An express 
 was sent to me of the circumstance and the military sent 
 for from Canterbury, as it was found'impracticable to sUbdue 
 the rioters without their aid. A Major and about 100 men 
 of the 45th regiment arrived, when Mr. N. Knatchbull, Mr. 
 Halford, Mr. Baldock, and myself, all county Magistrates, 
 accompanied the military. They were divided into two 
 parties, in consequence of the rioters having moved into a 
 
I 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K. M. 417 
 
 large wood, That part of the military accompanied by Mr. 
 Knatchbull and myself came up with the rioters, when 
 they resolutely came down on the military, Courtenay call- 
 ing on the rioters to behave like men. The military ad- 
 vanced, when Courtenay shot one of the officers dead, and 
 the military, in self-defence, were obliged to fire ; the con- 
 sequence was the loss of life I have already described. The 
 Coroner will sit on the bodies to-morrow, and the result I 
 will forward to your lordship. I cannot find terms suffici- 
 ently strong to express my regret at the numbers killed and 
 wounded on this melancholy occasion, and all to be attributed 
 to the act of a madman, and which would have been greatly 
 increased but for the military. Can anything be done with 
 the parties who ought to have taken care of Courtenay on his 
 discharge from the lunatic asylum ? Time will only permit 
 me to add, that I have, &c. 
 
 (Signed) " JOHN POORE, D.D. 
 
 "Justice of the Peace for the County of Kent." 
 
 8 rioters killed, including Courtenay. 
 
 1 officer, Mr. Bennett, of the 45th regiment, also 
 killed. 
 
 1 private individual, who went to assist the Ma- 
 gistrates. 
 
 Total. ..10 killed. 
 
 ' 
 
 7 rioters wounded. 
 1 officer, Mr. Pendergast of the 45th regiment. 
 
 Total.... 8 wounded. 
 
 And three other rioters taken prisoners, the rest dispersed 
 in the woods. 
 
 The bodies of the slain were conveyed to the Red Lion 
 at Bough ton, and were placed side by side with each other, 
 18. 3 H 
 
418 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 accordingly as it is represented in the plate, the body of 
 Courtenay being in the middle, and to look upon him, he 
 appeared to have been a most noble and muscular man, 
 Notwithstanding his bloody and brokenf orehead, the fine- 
 ness of his countenance was still perceptible, although 
 those, who had seen him whilst living, could scarcely 
 recognize him, as, we know not by whose orders, his large 
 whiskers and beard, as well as the hair of his head were 
 shaven off, and from the meagre, diminutive forms, which 
 were stretched at either side of him, he appeared as a giant 
 amongst men of moderate size. The faces of all the dead 
 indicated but little pain in their last agony, with the excep- 
 tion of one whose eyes were staring open, the nostrils 
 dilated, and the hair starting from the head, and still stif- 
 fened with the clotted blood, which had flowed from his 
 wounds. It was a hideous spectacle to see them flung 
 together seven human bodies, all presenting to the spectator 
 the ghastly wounds, which produced their deaths. 
 
 Near the mouth he had a deep bayonet wound, which 
 extended down the neck to the bullet wound in the 
 shoulder, and all down the left side. He had also a slight 
 bayonet wound in the left arm. The ball which deprived 
 him of life has been described as having " entered in front 
 of the joint of the left shoulder, passed along under the 
 collar bone, fracturing the first rib, then through the upper 
 part of the left lung, through the spine, crushing the second 
 dorsal vertebras, through the right lung, fracturing the 
 second rib on the right side of- the . chest. Here the ball 
 took a backward and downward direction, making its escape 
 from the back, just below the right shoulder blade." In 
 the barn where his body first laid we saw the whitish blouse 
 frock he wore when killed. It was actually steeped in 
 blood ; and upon perceiving that it had been greatly torn, 
 we were assured that the rents had been made by persons 
 visiting the place, and who venerating, we suppose, the 
 


SIR WILLIAM COUIITKNAY. K.M. 419 
 
 character of Courtenay had taken these as precious relics 
 to be preserved. 
 
 The body of Lieutenant Bennett was placed in a bed- 
 room at the Red Lion, the access to which was carefully 
 guarded. He was a small, handsome featured, dark-haired 
 young man, apparently little more than twenty-five years of 
 age. When we looked upon his body, and beheld it pene- 
 trated by the mortal wound of which he died, and perceived 
 also that the wretches who had murdered him, had in the 
 moment, inflicted a severe blow upon his left temple, we 
 were inclined in grief and commiseration, at looking upon 
 this victim to the discharge of his duty to heap our maledic- 
 tions on the heads of those wicked and malignant men, who 
 by this base and brutal outrage had brought death to so 
 many of the ignorant, and reduced their families to the 
 utmost extreme of suffering and want. 
 
 The scene presented at the inn where the prisoners 
 were, was the most melancholy one we ever witnessed. In 
 the parlour of the inn was the jury, while in an upper room 
 at the back part of the house, looking into the yard, were 
 the prisoners, some desperately wounded, others dying, and 
 even while the inquest was going on three of them actually 
 expired two of them, Baker and Griggs, and a third whose 
 name we did not hear. In the yard were the female relatives 
 and friends of the prisoners their wives, their sisters, and 
 their children, trying each to get a sight through the 
 narrow window, of the faces of those who were thus parted 
 from their homes for ever. Occasionally, as each recog- 
 nized a relative bitter . groans were heard, and all were 
 weeping; while in the stables adjoining were two of the 
 dead bodies, over which their friends were crying. One of 
 these was Catt, a man who had been stated to be a rioter, 
 but was, it appears, assisting the constables, and who, as it 
 will be seen by the evidence of Major Armstrong, was, as 
 well as Lieutenant Bennett, shot by Courtenay. It must 
 be remarked, that there was not one of the men who were 
 
420 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 killed, nor any of the survivors, who were taken prisoners, 
 who were not actual believers in the divinity of Courtenay, 
 and from all the information that we could gather on 
 the spot, the conviction was strongly impressed upon our 
 minds, that these unhappy murders were all the result of 
 wild and furious fanaticism, completely unconnected with 
 politics. Courtenay spoke against the new Poor Law Bill, 
 just in the same manner as he disclaimed against the 
 revenue laws, and both were but referred to by him, or 
 thought of by his followers, but as proofs of the oppression 
 practised by the rich towards the poor ; and his elysium 
 was to be destroying all laws, getting possession of the fine 
 seats of the country, and distributing the lands in portions 
 to all his " true believers." The means of effecting this 
 were the invulnerability of himself and all his followers, so 
 that neither wounds nor death could be inflicted upon them 
 while they possessed the power of destroying all others. 
 This they actually believed, and upon that belief they acted. 
 The very place where the conflict occurred proved that 
 they had such a notion. The battle-field is in the middle 
 of a copse, where men stooping down could be concealed, 
 but where one standing up must be immediately seen. 
 Slight as this shelter was, Courtenay and his followers dis- 
 dained to avail themselves of it, for they came into the only 
 spot not occupied by the underwood to face the soldiery, 
 and where every shot must have told against them. None 
 but men believing themselves impenetrable to any instru- 
 ment of death could have presumed, in such a position, to 
 engage with armed men exceeding. themselves in number. 
 And yet it was in such a position that they fought for three 
 minutes, and not until sixty cartridges had been discharged 
 upon them, and that one-third of their number was lying 
 on the field, and their leader dead, that they thought of 
 running. He, Courtenay. to impress them with a notion 
 that he was devoted to religion, has latterly been going to 
 all places of religious worship, and has even been known 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 421 
 
 to visit the Jewish synagogues. The worshipping I have 
 described, and the carrying of oak boughs before him, in 
 imitation of Our Saviour's entering into Jerusalem, prove 
 that he wished to be treated and regarded as the son of 
 God. This was the day on which he had promised glory 
 and conquest, with the shedding of much blood, to his 
 dupes; for on this day he had announced to them he would 
 take Canterbury by storm, and seize the estates of Sir 
 Edward Hailes, and also the property of Major Handley, 
 and others. Had not the isoldiers been sent out in sufficient 
 numbers, and had Courtenay obtained a victory over them, 
 it is believed that he would have been joined by not less 
 than three thousand persons from Canterbury and its 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 On Saturday, June, 2nd, an inquest was held on the body 
 of Nicholas, Mears, when, after the usual preliminaries, the 
 following evidence was called : 
 
 John Hears, plumber, of the parish of Boulton : He is 
 a constable ; yesterday morning proceeded towards Bossen- 
 den, towards the residence of one William Culver, for the 
 purpose of executing three warrants for the apprehen- 
 sion of Sir William Courtenay alias John Tom, William 
 Wills, and Edward Newman, was accompanied by Daniel 
 Edwards and Nicholas Mears, whom he had called to his 
 assistance; when he arrived near the house he saw William 
 Burford, Thomas Mears alias Tyler, and several others j 
 heard some one say " Is that them ?" and on getting over a 
 style in front of the house, William Courtenay made his 
 appearance and said, " Are you the constable ?" at the 
 same moment the deceased and witness answered " Yes/' 
 All the persons with Courtenay had bludgeons ; Courtenay 
 immediately presented a pistol at the deceased, and fired ; 
 the deceased then rested on a fence, and shortly after fell 
 to the ground ; Courtenay then struck at the witness with 
 a dagger, wrrtch he had in his left hand, but missed him ; 
 witness then ran away, and was followed by Courtenay, but 
 
 
422 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 succeeded in escaping, asCourtenay was near falling : witness 
 then went to Faversham, and obtained warrants against 
 William Courtenay, William Price, William Burford, Thomas 
 Mears alias Tyler, for the murder of Nicholas Mears ; 
 having tne warrants, he obtained the assistance of Dr. 
 Poore and Mr. Knatchbull, and he was accompanied by a 
 great number of persons to assist him ; they proceeded to 
 Fairbrook-field, in the parish of Boulton-under-the-Blea, 
 and there saw a number of men, about forty or fifty, armed 
 with bludgeons ; he distinctly saw Sir William Courtenay ; 
 he saw him present something at two gentlemen, Major 
 Handley and the Reverend Mr. Handley, who were passing 
 at the time, and then he heard the report of a pistol : 
 Courtenay's men then proceeded towards the place where 
 witness's brother was shot in the morning; he recognised 
 at this time a labouring man named William Wills and 
 Thomas Mears, who was armed with a bludgeon ; he then 
 proceeded to the Red Lion on the turnpike-road, and there 
 saw a large body of soldiers ; before the party left the osier 
 bed at Fairbrook he heard a bugle sound ; the men imme- 
 diately formed in marching order, headed by Courtenay, 
 and so marched towards the house of Mr. Francis at Fair- 
 brook, and then came round the wood towards Bossenden ; 
 witness accompanied about fifty soldiers up the road towards 
 Bossenden, Mr. Knatchbull and others being still with 
 them, and hearing a noise in the wood he immediately turned 
 into a road leading into the wood, and when they had pro- 
 ceeded about half a mile saw Courtenay's party ; he recog- 
 nised among them two men, named Wraight alias Foad, 
 Thomas Mears, William Wills, William Rye, Henry Had- 
 low, Spratt, Edward Curling, Phineas Harvey, William 
 Burford, Thomas Griggs, and Gauge ; he also saw 
 Courtenay with them, having a pistol in his right hand ; 
 one of the officers approached him, and Courtenay called 
 on his men to come on ; Courtenay immediate^ got within 
 a stride of him, presented the pistol at him, fired it off, and 
 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 4'2'3 
 
 killed him on the spot ; the order was then given to the 
 soldiers to fire, and they obeyed ; saw William Wills very 
 active at this time assisting and defending William Courte- 
 nay; the entire body of men immediately came forward 
 with their bludgeons very violently, and resolutely attacked 
 the soldiers, and the other persons who were associated to 
 assist the magistrates ; William Courtenay called to the 
 men to follow him up close, or something to that effect, 
 and they did so ; upon the soldiers firing, William Courte- 
 nay and several of his followers fell, some being killed on the 
 spot and others wounded; great confusion ensued for some 
 time, when several persons were taken prisoners, who are 
 now in custody; the soldiers continued to fire until the 
 men desisted from the attack, and then an officer desired 
 the soldiers to desist, which they immediately did. 
 
 Daniel Edwards, of Boulton- under- the- Blea, labourer 
 and petty constable, was yesterday morning called by the 
 last witness to assist in executing some warrants ; did so, 
 and having arrived near the house of William Culver, saw 
 William Price, William Burford, and Thomas Mears alias 
 Tyler, who were armed with bludgeons made of flayed oak; 
 saw William Courtenay come out of Culver's house over a 
 stile towards witness, and asked " Who is the constable ?" 
 deceased said, " I be ;" Courtenay went up to him with a 
 pistol in one hand and a dagger in the other ; presented 
 the pistol at the deceased and shot him ; it is about a rod 
 from the house to the spot where the deceased was shot ; 
 deceased leant on some railings a little while, and then fell 
 to the ground; Courtenay changed the dagger from his 
 left to his right hand, and struck at the last witness, who 
 ran away, followed by Courtenay, but escaped from him ; 
 Courtenay then came back and went again into Culver's 
 house, but soon after came out again, and deceased said, 
 " Oh dear, what must I do ? must I lay here in this 
 dissabille 9" Courtenay said, " You must do the best you 
 can," and then went up to him, and taking his dagger from 
 
4 k 24 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 his left side with his right hand, struck the deceased three 
 several times across the shoulder, and thereupon witness 
 ran away; when Courtenay was running after the last wit- 
 ness, Mears, alias Tyler nodded to witness to run the other 
 way, at least that was his belief; after witness had gone 
 some distance he looked round, and saw Courtenay still 
 striking the deceased with the dagger ; as soon as witness 
 got into the wood, being about thirty rods from the house, 
 heard the report of another pistol; he continued through 
 the wood, and got into the turnpike-road, when he again saw 
 the last witness, whom he accompanied to Faversham, and back 
 to the osier bed, and there they saw William Courtenay, and 
 the three other persons before mentioned, along with a large 
 body of men, all armed with bludgeons ; at the time the 
 men were in the osier bed he heard the report of a pistol 
 in that direction ; being near his own house he was 
 directed by some gentlemen to go and get his gun, which 
 he did ; when there he heard a bugle sound, and saw the 
 men form themselves into marching order, passing his 
 house and proceeding towards the house of Mr. Francis, of 
 Fairbrook ; witness went into his own house, and remained 
 there about an hour ; he saw Alexander Foad and William 
 Nutting at Bossenden. 
 
 The Rev. Charles Richard Handley, of Hernehill : Yes- 
 treday, between 11 and 1'J o'clock, saw a large body of 
 men proceeding from the direction of Mr. Francis, of Fair- 
 brook, towards the osier bed ; accompanied by his brother, 
 Benjamin Handley, he rode to a meadow adjoining the 
 osier bed, where he saw a large party of persons, and very 
 shortly after saw Courtenay, whom he knew, advance to- 
 wards a party near Mr. Francis's house ; that party was 
 the magistrates and constables ; Courtenay more than once 
 called them cowards ; witness advanced close to the osier 
 bed, addressed the men, and exhorted them to leave Courte- 
 nay, as he had murdered one of their neighj^>urs, and wa? 
 guilty of high crimes and misdemeanours, and unless thev 
 
SIR. WILLIAM COUBTENAY, K.M. 425 
 
 did so they would get themselves into great trouble ; 
 Courtenay again returned to the osier bed, where witness 
 was with his brother, and said, " I will plant a ball in your 
 heart, sir?" witness was about twenty-five or thirty yards 
 from them at the time; his brother said to Courtenay, 
 " You are a madman," when Courtenay immediately fired 
 at his brother; his brother said, " We want to come to a 
 parley with you and your men ;" Courtenay then turned 
 round in an insulting manner, and returned to the osier 
 bed ; his brother then addressed the men, telling them 
 they were guilty of high treason; witness again addressed 
 them to the same effect, and then went round into the 
 Faversham Road, and joined the party of constables and 
 magistrates before mentioned ; at this time he saw Courte- 
 nay and his men advance from the osier bed towards 
 Fairbrook, passing at the distance of about thirty yards, 
 Courtenay at their head, and all walking singly; saw 
 amongst them William Knight, Thomas Mears alms Tyler, 
 Edward Wraight the elder, Edward Curling, Noah Miles, 
 Charles Hadlow, and also a youth named Hadlow ; as they 
 passed witness he addressed them, calling several by name, 
 to wit, Charles Hadlow, Noah Miles, and Edward Wraight, 
 and begged of them to leave Courtenay; he asked Noah 
 Miles if he had any regard for his family to leave Courte- 
 nay ; Miles replied, " I have a regard for my family ;" 
 Hadlow made a reply which he did not hear ; from what 
 witness heard and saw, he was quite satisfied the civil 
 power was insufficient to quell the disturbance, and it 
 would have been imprudent for Mr. Knatchbull or his 
 party to have attempted the apprehension of Courtenay, 
 
 and the other persons against whom the warrants had been 
 issued. 
 
 Charles Neame, of Selling, yeoman : Knows Noah Miles 
 and his son, John Miles, whom he saw yesterday at the 
 end of Nash-court-Lane, who said " They were tired, and 
 18. 3 i 
 
426 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 should leave Courtenay's party ; this time Courtenay and 
 his party were proceeding towards Bossenden Wood, and 
 those two left them accordingly ; was fully satisfied, from 
 what he saw, that the civil power could not quell the riot, and 
 that it was absolutely necessary to call in the aid of the military, 
 in fact, if the military had not been called in he was deci- 
 dedly of opinion that more blood would have been shed 
 than there was, he was confirmed in this from the resolute 
 manner in which the peasantry attacked the military. 
 
 John Ogilvie, of Boulton-under-the-Blea, surgeon, as- 
 sisted by Mr. T. Andrews, surgeon, of Canterbury, exa- 
 mined the body, and found that the deceased had been shot 
 through the body, the ball entering about the seventh ver- 
 tebrae, and coming out on his breast at the seventh rib, and 
 in its course passed through the liver, wounding the great 
 bloodvessels and nerves ; there is another gun-shot wound 
 entering his breast above the ninth rib, and lodging in his 
 body, but the ball has not been found ; deceased was also 
 wounded on the left shoulder by a sharp instrument, which 
 fractured the neck of the blade -bone, and produced a wound 
 about two inches in length and one in depth ; there was 
 another wound on the left arm, inflicted by a sharp in- 
 strument; either of the wounds was sufficient to produce 
 death. 
 
 Surgeon Andrews confirmed the testimony of the preced- 
 
 ing witness. 
 
 The Rev. John Poore deposed that he was present when 
 Henry Ashbee searched the person of William Courtenay, 
 then deceased, and the following articles produced were 
 found, viz : A purse, half a sovereign, ten in silver, four 
 in copper, a tobacco-box, several leaden bullets, a whistle 
 a gun-screw and pick, a knife, and several trifling articles. 
 
 After a lengthened and able address from Mr. De Lasaux, 
 the coroner, showing that all parties joining in the riot 
 were equally guilty, 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.JM. 427 
 
 The jury, having retired for a shot time, returned a 
 verdict of wilful murder against six persons, namely William 
 Courtenay alias John Tom, William Burford, William Price, 
 Thomas Mears alias Tyler, Alexander Foad, and William 
 Nutting. Of these the two first, Courtenay and Bulford, 
 are dead. Thomas Mears alias Tyler (who was cousin to 
 the murdered man), is wounded. Alexander Foad, who is 
 a farmer possessing a freehold of fifty acres, and in very 
 comfortable circumstances, has been severely wounded ; and 
 William Nutting and William Price, not wounded. The 
 four last have, on the coroner's warrant, been committed 
 prisoners to Maidstone Gaol. 
 
 On the same day an inquest was held at the White 
 Horse Inn Boughton, on Lieutenant Henry Boswell Ben- 
 nett, when the following evidence was adduced. 
 
 Major Elliot Armstrong being sworn, stated that he was 
 a major in her majesty's 45 Regiment of Infantry, stationed 
 at Canterbury ; in pursuance of an order from his com- 
 manding officer to place himself under the direction of Dr. 
 Poore and other magistrates, he attended with a body of 
 troops consisting of one hundred men, with a proportion of 
 officers and non commisioned officers; they proceeded 
 from the barracks of Canterbury on the road towards 
 London, on Thursday, the 31st of May last, about one 
 o'clock in the afternoon ; and having arrived at a public- 
 house called the Red Lion, about four miles from Canter- 
 bury, he met Dr. Poore, Mr. Knatchbull, and other ma- 
 gistrates. In consequence of directions he then received, 
 he left the turn pike -road, having first divided his party 
 into two divisions; the deceased acommpanied Captain 
 Read, who had command of one division, and Mr. Knatch- 
 bull, a magistrate; and he (Major Armstrong) left the 
 turnpike-road with the other division ; he proceeded with 
 his party and Dr. Poore about a mile and a half into the 
 centre of a thick wood ; when he got there he observed a 
 body of men, about fifty or sixty make their appearance, 
 
428 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 with a man at their head answering the description of the 
 person calling himself Courtenay; almost immediately 
 afterwards he saw Lieutenant Bennett with his section of 
 military advancing towards the men before alluded to 
 there was a white flag carried by one of Courtenay's party ; 
 Major Handley, who accompanied the military, upon notice- 
 ing the white flag, said they are coming to parley, and 
 thereupon he (Major Armstrong) with Major Handley, ad- 
 vanced in front of his division ; Major Handley then called 
 out to the rioters, " You misguided and deluded men, are 
 you coming to reason with or to speak to us," but no reply 
 was made; Courtenay turned round to his men, and said 
 " Come on follow me," or words to that effect ; at the time 
 the deceased was advancing rapidly towards Courtenay, and 
 Courtenay quickening his pace towards the deceased ; he 
 ( Major Armstrong) called out to the deceased to fall back, 
 which he did not do, being then only about four yards from 
 each other; deceased and Courtenay then closed, and 
 almost rushed against each other; deceased raised his 
 right arm, in the act of striking at Courtenay with his 
 sword; Courtenay advancing with a cocked pistol in his 
 right hand at the same moment, fired the pistol, the effect 
 of which was that the ball therefrom passed through the 
 body of the deceased, who made another blow or two at 
 Courtenay, and then fell on his back; he (Major Arm- 
 strong) then called out to Dr. Poore " Am I to fire ;" but 
 in consequence of a scream of horror from his men at 
 seeing Mr. Bennett fall, it was impossible for him to 
 hear any reply that might have been given to that 
 question ; but his impression was that he had received 
 directions to fire ; and, acting' under that impression, and 
 his previous orders from the magistrates, he gave the 
 command to fire, which his men instantly obeyed, and 
 tired at Courtenay and his party ; the orders which 
 he had previously received from the magistrates were 
 " to load with ball cartridge, and take Courtenay, dead 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 429 
 
 or alive, and as many of his followers as possible ;" 
 at that time the men who were with the deceased 
 joined in a division under his (Major Armstrong's) com- 
 mand, and then the men acting with Courtenay rushed upon 
 the officers and men with bludgeons, making a most resolute 
 attack ; indeed, he never saw men evince more determina- 
 tion in his life ; he was then compelled to order his men to 
 charge with the bayonet, and disperse or take the party pri- 
 soners, which was accomplished, and he ordered the bugle 
 to sound " cease firing," which was immediately obeyed ; the 
 prisoners who were apprehended were given over to the civil 
 power ; witness observed that in consequence of the violent 
 attack made by the men with their bludgeons, himself and se- 
 veral of his men were injured ; Lieutenant Pendergast was 
 knocked down by a bludgeon, and beaten severely when 
 down. Major Armstrong expressed his decided opinion, 
 from what he saw, that the civil power could not have ap- 
 prehended Courtenay or the other persons against whom 
 warrants had been issued ; he distinctly heard the report 
 of two pistols from Courtenay's party, and he firmly believed 
 that they were both fired by Courtenay himself, and he had 
 reason to believe that a person pointed out to him as Catt 
 was killed by the second pistol fired by Courtenay, he being 
 out of the line of the fire of the soldiers ; was able to identify 
 one of the persons dead as having attacked and struck him 
 with a bludgeon : he was able to identify William Wills, 
 Stephen Baker, and Thomas Griggs as being of Courtenay's 
 party, and attacking himself and the men under his com- 
 mand ; the two latter were severely wounded ; he never saw 
 men more furious or madly determined in their attack. 
 
 The Reverend John Poore, of Murston, near Sitting- 
 bourne, county of Kent, said that he, in consequence of 
 riotous proceedings going on occasioned by Courtenay and 
 others; on the 31st of May last, and of their desperate 
 conduct in shooting Nicholas Mears in the execution of 
 his duty, considered that it would be impracticable for the 
 
430 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 civil power to arrest Courtenay and the other persons con- 
 cerned in the death of the constable, or quell the riotous 
 proceedings then going on, and he consequently applied to 
 the commanding officer of the 45th regiment at Canterbury 
 barracks for their co-operation in aiding the civil power ; 
 the military were some time before they arrived ; he went 
 towards Canterbury and met them near the Gate public- 
 house ; he there communicated to Major Armstrong the 
 desperate conduct of Courtenay and his party, and ex- 
 pressed his opinion that the first person who came in 
 contact with them would be shot, and desired that Courte- 
 nay might be taken dead or alive, and the party dispersed, 
 and hoped it might be done without bloodshed ; he then 
 accompanied the troops to the Lion public-house on the 
 turnpike road, where Major Armstrong divided the military 
 into two bodies, one going towards Bossenden with Mr. 
 Knatchbull, and the other with Major Armstrong, down 
 the road leading into Blean Wood ; after going about a 
 mile and a half, which they did in pursuance of information 
 they had received, Major Armstrong halted his men, and 
 asked him if they (meaning his men) should load, and he 
 (Dr. Poore) replied, " certainly." The order was then 
 given to that effect, and they loaded accordingly ; the cart- 
 ridges were tied in bundles, which caused some delay ; be- 
 fore the soldiers were loaded, he saw Courtenay and his 
 men, about forty or fifty in number ; the third man from 
 Courtenay was carrying a white flag, and Courtenay had a 
 pistol in his right hand ; he called out to his men, " Boys, 
 come forward, and do not behave like dastardly cowards," 
 or similar words; at that time Major Handley rode forward, 
 and said to Courtenay and his followers, < Good men, he is 
 deceiving and deluding you; are you open to reason; he 
 is leading you to destruction ;" immediately afterwards he 
 saw Lieutenant Bennett cluse to Courtenay, and he heard 
 the report of a pistol, and the officer instantly fell ; before 
 the soldiers fired, he saw the rnob march forward, and attack 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 431 
 
 the constables and military with bludgeons; Major Arm- 
 strong called out, " Dr. Poore, where are you ?" and he 
 (Dr. Poore) ran towards him, and the troops began to fire, 
 and Courtenay and several of his party were shot, and the 
 rest dispersed or made prisoners; he saw William Wills 
 striking at Major Armstrong with a bludgeon ; after the 
 riot was quelled, he, upon the spot, took the names of the 
 followers of Courtenay, who were either dead, wounded, or 
 taken prisoners. The following persons were killed on the 
 spot : William Courtenay> Edward Wraight, Phineas Har- 
 vey, .George Branchlett, William Burtbrd, William Forster, 
 Geo. Griggs, and William Page. The wounded were 
 Stephen Baker, Henry Hadlow, Alex. Foad, Thomas 
 Griggs, John Spratt, and William Wills. The other pri- 
 soners were Edward Wraight, jun., Edward Curling, and 
 Sarah Culver. 
 
 Thomas Millgate, of Canterbury, coach porter, stated 
 that on the 31st of May last he went towards a wood called 
 Blean Wood, arid saw several gentlemen on horseback, who 
 said it would be as well to watch the movements of the 
 party to prevent their escape ; witness then, accompanied 
 by Robert Little, police constable, went a little way into the 
 wood, and then separated, he taking the extreme left, and 
 having gone about a quarter of a mile, he came immediately 
 over Courtenay's party, about forty in number, who were 
 lying down in a circle, Courtenay being in the centre, and 
 a flag planted near him ; Courtenay seeing him, said, " Up 
 men !" and they rose, Courtenay holding a pistol in his 
 right hand, and said to him, "Millgate, move no further ;" 
 and he, in consequence, returned into the wood, hallooing 
 as loud as he could ; Little and other persons then joined 
 witness, and they remained quiet for some time, expecting 
 the soldiers to come in behind them ; shortly afterwards a 
 party of soldiers came just before them, and drew themselves 
 into a line; Courtenay and his party were then lying down, 
 and when they got up Courtenay said something to his 
 
432 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 men, but he could not hear what it was ; Courtenay and 
 his men then faced the military, and marched singly to- 
 wards the soldiers ; he saw Lieutenant Bennett standing at 
 the extreme left of the soldiers ; as Courtenay advanced 
 with his men, he saw a gentleman on horseback draw 
 near Courtenay, and he said " Desist, and do not lead 
 those poor men on to destruction ;" no reply was made y 
 but Courtenay turned round to his men and said, " Come 
 on, my brave fellows, keep close ; and he again said 
 " Come on, my men ;" Courtenay advanced near to 
 Lieutenant Bennett, and Lieutenant Bennett proceeded 
 towards him ; when within two rods of each other, 
 Courtenay commenced running, and jumped over a stump 
 of a tree, and going close up to the officer with a pistol in 
 his right hand and a bludgeon in his left, he presented the 
 pistol at the officer, and fired : the officer struck at Courte- 
 nay with his sword, and Courtenay staggered, but whether 
 struck or to avoid the blow he could not say ; Courtenay 
 advanced with three or four of his men, armed with blud- 
 geons, and struck at the officer as he was in the act of 
 falling; William Wills was next to Courtenay, and was 
 one of the men last-mentioned, and another man who 
 is dead also advanced with a bludgeon ; witness had 
 a bludgeon in his right hand, given to him by Mr. Pell, 
 with which he struck Courtenay on the head, when he 
 staggered back, but whether he fell or not he could not 
 say, as witness himself was knocked down : he fell on his 
 back, and, looking up, saw Courtenay standing over him, 
 and fighting at Little and the other persons assisting him ; 
 and then the soldiers began to fire, and Courtenay fell close 
 to him, and he did not afterwards see him move ; witness 
 was then struck another blow by one of Courtenay's party ; 
 he got up, and the man ran away ; shortly afterwards the 
 military took several persons into custody. 
 
 Edmund Foreman, of Herne-hill, county of Kent, wheel- 
 wright, said that on the day in question, the. 31st of May 
 
Sill J^IILIAM COUKTENAY, K.M. 433 
 
 last, he saw Courtenay and a body of men, thirty-nine in 
 number, at ten o'clock in the morning, at Waterham, in the 
 parish of Herne-hill, whence they proceeded towards the 
 house of Mr. Francis, of Fairbrook, and remained in front 
 of it about ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, when Mr. 
 Francis and Miss Horn came out of the house to them ; he 
 saw several men drink from a brown jug while Mr. Francis 
 and Miss Horn were in the front, a slight fence 'only sepa- 
 rating the garden from the road ; after Courtenay's party 
 left the front of the house of Mr. Francis, he went up to 
 the railing and saw two large brown jugs with beer and 
 about five or six half-pint mugs; Courtenay drank some 
 of the beer and so did several others who were with him ; 
 he then saw the rioters go towards an osier bed carrying 
 with them oak boughs ; they threw away the boughs and 
 produced bludgeons ; Courtenay came towards him and the 
 person with him and challenged any one to come foot to 
 foot ; the rioters then came up and proceeded into Bossen- 
 den Wood, and witness never lost sight of them until the 
 military arrived, when he- told them where the rioters were ; 
 he saw the affray between the soldiers and the rioters at the 
 time the deceased was killed ; he saw the following persons 
 with Courtenay : W. Wills, W. Rye, carrying a flag, E. 
 Wraight the elder, E. Wraight the younger, T. Mears other- 
 wise Tyler, J. Goodwin, William Foster, Henry Hadlow, 
 Alexander Foad, Phineas Harvey, John Spratt, Stephen 
 Baker, W. Burford, Edward Curling, Samuel Eve, Thomas 
 Griggs, and George Griggs; he saw the following persons with 
 Courtenay on the morning of that day, but did not get 
 with him into the wood Noah Miles, James Miles (but 
 these two persons left the party between twelve and one 
 
 o'clock), John Fuller, and Wraight were with Courtenay 
 
 at the time he entered Bossenden, but left him before the 
 firing commenced ; he is satisfied that Sarah Culver was not , 
 with the rioters before the firing commenced, but he saw 
 19. 3s 
 
434 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 Mrs. Burford, whose object was to get her husband away 
 from Courtenay's party. 
 
 Bartlett Allen Chambers, of Faversham, county of Kent, 
 high constable of the lower half-hundred of Faversham, 
 said he was present on the 31st of May last in Bossenden 
 Wood, when the affray took place, at the time deceased was 
 killed; that he saw him shot by Courtenay, and almost 
 immediately fall ; the deceased struck at Courtenay after he 
 was shot ; he saw John Silk in the wood, and took him into 
 custody, he having taken an active part in the affray ; and 
 at this time he received a gun-shot wound in the lower lip, 
 but by whom the shot was fired he did not know. 
 
 Robert Little, of Ospringe, county of Kent, superinten- 
 dent of police, was in Bossenden Wood on the 31st of May 
 last ; saw Courtenay, with a body of men, with a flag near 
 them in the centre; Sarah Culver was there close to Cour- 
 tenay : apparently speaking to him ; when the military 
 arrived saw the rioters get up and go towards the soldiers, 
 ail with bludgeons, Courtenay heading them, with a pistol 
 in his right hand and a bludgeon in his left ; saw the de- 
 ceased go towards Courtenay, when Courtenay fired at and 
 killed deceased, he striking at Courtenay with his sword as 
 he fell ; Saw Edward Wraight," 4 William Wills (from whom 
 he took a powder-flask, full of powder), John Spratt, and 
 Thomas Mears, acting with great violence during the 
 affray, striking at witness with his bludgeon, as did also 
 Edward Curling and Alexander Foad : some few minutes 
 after this he saw Sarah Culver in custody ; saw William 
 Wills with a pistol in his right hand as he entered the 
 wood in which the affray took place. 
 
 Thomas Andrews, of Canterbury, surgeon, said he had 
 on the previous day examined the body of the deceased 
 assisted by Mr. Ogilvie; he found a gun-shot wound on 
 the right side of the chest, passing through the right lung 
 and then through the heart, making its exit at the corres- 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 435 
 
 ponding part of the opposite side of the body; the injury 
 above described must have instantly caused death. 
 
 John Ogilvie, of Boughton, county of Kent, stated that 
 he yesterday examined the body of H. B. Bennett, with 
 Mr. Thomas Andrews, and that the evidence given by him 
 was perfectly correct. 
 
 Benjamin Jacobs, of Canterbury, general dealer, said that 
 on the 1st June inst. he went into Bossenden Wood, between 
 seven and eight o'clock in the morning, and found a camlet 
 cloak, a blue bag containing a large quantity of matches, a 
 leathern bag containing about one hundred leaden bullets 
 of various sizes, a piece of oilskin, a pair of boots, a Mack- 
 intosh cape, and several other articles. 
 
 William Exton, of the Ville of Dunkirk, county of Kent, 
 labourer, said that on the 1st of June, between six and 
 seven o'clock in the morning, he went into Bossenden Wood, 
 and found a leathern pistol case, a glove, a burning lens, a 
 blue jacket, and other articles, within a few rods of where 
 the affray took place between the military and the mob the 
 previous day. 
 
 In the jury-room was produced a large bag containing 
 various articles of dress, which had been found by the 
 police in the house of Wills. 
 
 The prisoners were then brought, before the jury, in 
 order that they might hear the depositions read which in- 
 dividually -affected them. 
 
 Mr. De la Saux cautioned the prisoners as to the danger 
 which might affect themselves in making any observations 
 before him, and the jury, as it would be his duty to take 
 down whatever they might say. 
 
 When the depositions had been read, four of the prisoners, 
 Spratt, Rye, Culver, and Edes denied being present at the 
 time the aifray took place. 
 
 No further observations were made by them. The 
 prisoners were mostly young men. One of them, Edward 
 Wraight the younger, whose father was shot, and himself 
 
43(5 Till; LI IK AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 wounded in the^hand, was crying bitterly all the time he 
 was in the jury-room. Most of the men shot were old 
 men, and those taken prisoners young men. The woman, 
 Sarah Culver, who was a prisoner, was evidently a person 
 belonging to the respectable class of farmers. Her brother 
 who was pointed out to me in the room, is a man evidently 
 wealthy, and dressed like a gentleman. Wills' brother, 
 who was also in the room, was dressed in the same mariner; 
 Sarah Culver was attired as one belonging to the middle 
 classes, she wore a black bonnet, a large dark shawl with a 
 splendid border, dark muslin gown, neat leather gloves, 
 and summer shoes ; she is a strong, dark, heavy featured, 
 masculine looking woman ; during the entire" day her man- 
 ner was perfectly calm and collected ; she neither looked at 
 her fellow prisoners, nor at the crowds around, and it 
 would seem as if the considered that all around her was a 
 mere dream, or if a reality, that it was one from which, by 
 some miracle, she might be released. It was said by her 
 brother that he did not think her in her senses for the 
 last two years, I have already stated that Courtenay's 
 followers expect that he will rise again on this day (Sun- 
 day). 
 
 When the Coroner was about to address the jury, one of 
 the witnesses (Foreman) said that Culver was not with the 
 men when the affray took place. He saw her going over 
 towards them while the action was going on. 
 . Little, the constable, re-asserted he had seen her with 
 Courtenay before the fight. 
 
 Upon hearing this, Culver raised her eyes to the wit- 
 ness, shook her head, and said as if expressing dissent, 
 'Oh, oh!" 
 
 Little further remarked, that he knew her by her black 
 bonnet. He saw her as plain as he saw the coroner at that 
 moment ; and upon knowing she had been washing Courte- 
 nay's, face he said there was a woman amongst them, and 
 
SIR WILLIAM COU11TENAY, K.M. 437 
 
 not to let her escape. When she was brought before him 
 she had a pail of water in her hand. 
 
 Foreman re-asserted there were not two women but 
 only one woman present. The woman who was there was 
 Mrs. Burford, and what brought her amongst them was to 
 try and get her husband out of the mob. 
 
 The Coroner (Mr. De la Saux) having remarked that it 
 was his duty to take down whatever was said for or against the 
 prisoners, then proceeded to make a few observations on 
 this truly melancholy disaster. In doing so, on the preced- 
 ing day, the jury were kind enough to pay that attention 
 which the nature of so very serious a case required at their 
 hands. He was sorry to say that the same attention was 
 also required from them that day, because they would find, 
 from the evidence which was brought before them, that 
 something like twenty individuals were involved in a dread- 
 ful charge ; of these some were living, who would, in all 
 probability, be put upon their trial for this serious offence; 
 and others were dead, having lost their lives in being misled 
 by a madman. He had told them yesterday, as he told 
 them that day, that it was not necessary for them to inquire 
 if each individual charged with being in the mob had in- 
 flicted death with his own hand, it was quite sufficient for 
 them to know if they were with the person who committed 
 the murder, and were associates of his. In such a case 
 they were the abettors of the crime, and as guilty as the man 
 who committed the murder with his own hand, If five hun- 
 dred persons met to do an illegal act, and one of them 
 committed murder, the other four hundred and ninety nine 
 men were equally guilty with him of the murder. He had read 
 them a case on this point yesterday, to which he should 
 again refer them. He here referred to a case in Archbold, 
 in which it is laid down that if several persons met for a 
 lawful purpose, and one of them committed murder, he 
 alone was answerable for it ; but if they met for an illegal 
 
438 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 purpose, and one committed murder, all taking part in 
 such meeting were equally guilty of murder. He re- 
 gretted to say that the case which was before them that 
 day came completely within the meaning of the words in 
 that case, and if they believed the testimony they had 
 heard, he much feared that the names of all those he 
 should read to them stood in danger of being tried for 
 murder. A discussion had occurred which ought not to 
 have taken place ; but it had at least this effect, that it had 
 elicited circumstances which made in favour of the woman 
 Culver, He could not help saying, in reference to this, 
 whether it was not better that one should escape, though 
 guilty, than that one should suffer if innocent. It was 
 true that one individual had spoken positively to Culver; 
 but there was a possibility that he might be mistaken, and 
 that circumstances might have arisen from what Foreman 
 had stated, that there was actually one woman amongst the 
 rioters whose name was Burford. They were to judge of 
 the fact whether the party was mistaken. The facts the 
 whole facts, were for them, and to be determined by none 
 except themselves. If the jury thought it necessary, he 
 should read over for them the entire evidence ; but he had 
 extracted from it the names of all those who had been 
 clearly identified as being present when the officer and so 
 many others had been sacrificed. It was their duty to re- 
 turn the names not only of the living but of the dead, be- 
 cause it was their duty to return a verdict against the one 
 as well as the other. Two of the unfortunate prisoners, he 
 grieved to say, had died even while the jury were in that 
 room. The names of the persons mentioned by witnesses 
 were Courtenay (dead), Thomas Mears alias Tyler (com- 
 mitted to Maidstone gaol for the murder inquired into on 
 the previous day), James Goodwin, William Wills, William 
 Foster (dead), Henry Adlow (dying), William Spratt, 
 Alexander Foad (committed), Phineas Harvey, John Spratt, 
 Stephen Baker (dead), William Burford (dead), Thomas 
 
Sill WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 439 
 
 Griggs (dead), George Griggs (dead), John Silk, George 
 Blanchard Edes, Curling, and William Rye, William Spratt, 
 Samuel Edward, and Sarah Culver. The coroner con- 
 cluded by requesting the jury to pay strict attention to the 
 case. 
 
 The jury retired for about half an hour, and then re- 
 turned, when, before they delivered in their verdict, 
 
 The witness Foreman addressed them, and said he could 
 not be positive as to William Spratt, whom he had sworn 
 to as being amongst the rioters. He was now sure he did 
 not see him. 
 
 The Coroner asked him, had he a conversation with any 
 one since the jury left the room? Foreman said he had 
 not. 
 
 The Coroner Did any one speak to you ? Witness 
 No. 
 
 The Coroner Let me read over again what you have 
 sworn, and now be cautious in what you say. 
 
 Do you know William Spratt ? Witness I do, I went 
 to school with him. 
 
 Was he in Bossenden Wood on the 3lst of May ? I 
 cannot say. 
 
 What made you be so positive respecting him awhile 
 ago ? I was trembling so, I did not know what to do. 
 
 Did you see Samuel Edes ? 
 
 The prisoner Edes I was not there, sir. 
 
 A Juror Might not Edes have left before the affray ? 
 The witness He might have left before the affray. 
 
 Juror Might he not have left before the firing com- 
 menced ? He might ; but I saw him in the wood with the 
 body of men. 
 
 Coroner Now are you positive that Sarah Culver was 
 not there ? Witness I know she was not. 
 
 Now tell us with whom you have had a conversation since 
 the jury left ? Witness I had no conversation ; Spratt 
 only said to me that I had sworn wrong. 
 
440 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 And he requested you fco say he had not been there ? 
 Witness Yes; when I saw him brought in I knew I was 
 wrong. 
 
 Do you know Sarah Culver's brother ? No. 
 
 Had you a conversation with Sarah Culver's brother ? 
 No. I cannot swear William Spratt was amongst them 
 when the firing commenced. 
 
 The Coroner then recommended the jury to give to the 
 testimony of Foreman such credit as they thought it was 
 entitled to. 
 
 A constable said Foreman had been talking a long time 
 to Spratt, although he had denied it. 
 
 A juror remarked that Foreman's testimony was the only 
 one to convict Edes, and he could not bring in a verdict 
 looking to that alone, and considering his depositions on 
 that and the preceding day. 
 
 The Coroner remarked that they must dismiss from 
 their minds the transactions of the day before. It was the 
 subject for inquiry that day they were to look to, and to 
 consider nothing beyond it. 
 
 The jury then retired for about three-quarters of an 
 hour. On their return, the foreman, addressing the coro- 
 ner, said that he, on behalf of his brother jurors, had to say 
 that they, to the best of their judgment, had discharged 
 their duty to their country and to the satisfaction of their 
 own consciences. Never had a jury endeavoured to act 
 more fairly and impartially in the important situation in 
 which they had been placed. They felt the responsibility 
 that was imposed upon them, and they endeavoured to 
 uphold it. He was very happy to say that in all their 
 decisions they were unanimous. They had examined the 
 evidence most carefully, and where they thought guilt 
 did not lie they were unanimous, and also with respect to 
 those they considered guilty. The names of those guilty 
 of the wilful murder of Lieutenant Bennett were William 
 Courtenay, Edward Wraight the elder, Edward Wraight 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 441 
 
 the younger, Thomas Mears alias Tyler, James Goodwin, 
 William Wills, William Foster, Henry Hadlow, Alex- 
 ander Foad, Phineas Harvey, John Spratt, Stephen Baker, 
 William Burford, Thomas Griggs, John Silk, George 
 Blanchard, Edward Curling, George Griggs and William 
 Rye. 
 
 The foreman of the jury was about to say that they found 
 William Spratt, Samuel Edes, and Sarah Culver not guilty, 
 when 
 
 The Coroner said he could hear nothing as to that point. 
 His court was one to enquire who was concerned in the 
 murder of Lieutenant Bennett, and his province did not ex- 
 tend further. Any merciful notions they might entertain 
 respecting others he had nothing to do with ; and if there 
 should be occasion, they might express their opinions as 
 well as himself, to a superior court concerning any individu- 
 als now in custody, either on suspicion of being concerned 
 in this or other outrages. 
 
 The prisoners capable of being removed were then com- 
 mitted to Maidstone Jail. 
 
 On Monday June 4th, Mr. de la Saux, the Coroner ar- 
 rived at Boughton from Canterbury, and proceeded imme- 
 diately to hold an inquest on the bodies of Sir William 
 Courtenay, and of his deluded followers, who fell in the 
 affray at Bossenden Wood. 
 
 THE FIRST INQUEST WAS ON GEORGE CATT, 
 
 When the following evidence was given : 
 
 Stephen Champ, labourer, was the first witness called : 
 He said that he had been in Bossenden Wood on the 31st 
 of May last, and saw the deceased Catt there, who was act- 
 ing as a constable, and endeavouring to suppress the riotous 
 proceedings of the mob who were assembled together in the 
 wood ; saw Lieutenant Bennett in front of his detachment 
 of soldiers, and going towards Courtenay. who was also 
 19. 3L 
 
442 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 advancing towards him (Bennett) ; some words were ad- 
 dressed by Lieutenant Bennett to Courtenay, but what they 
 were witness could not hear ; when they were within a stride 
 of each other, he saw Courtenay presenting a pistol at Lieu- 
 tenant Bennett with his right hand ; instantly heard the 
 report, and saw Lieutenant Bennett fall ; witness was go 
 close to the officer, that if he had struck any person before 
 he was shot, he must have seen him ; it was utterly impos- 
 sible to have reached any one of the mob with his sword be- 
 fore he was shot, nor was any one of the rioters near enough 
 to have reached him before he was shot by Courtenay, and 
 Lieutenant Bennett was the first person that fell or was 
 wounded ; Catt was at the right hand of the officer Bennett 
 at the time, and there witness afterwards found him dead, 
 \vith a gun-shot wound in his head ; he is perfectly satisfied 
 Catt was shot by the military in the execution of their duty, 
 and by accident. 
 
 Thomas Millgate, coach porter, stated that he was in 
 Bossenden Wood, on the 31st of May, and saw the soldiers 
 and the mob before the firing or the attack from either 
 party commenced; he saw Courtenay and Bennett advanc- 
 ing towards each other ; when within two or three rods, 
 Courtenay commenced running, and when within a stride or 
 two presented a pistol at Bennett and fired ; the lieutenant 
 staggered, struck at Courtenay with his sword, and then 
 fell; Lieutenant Bennett did not strike at or wound any 
 one before he was shot, nor in fact was any one within 
 reach of him ; Courtenay was about half a rod in front of 
 the mob ; he has no hesitation in saying that Catt was 
 accidentally shot by the soldiery whilst in the execution 
 of their duty ; witness, also remarked that if any person 
 had stated that Bennett had thrust his sword through 
 the body of one of the mob, either before or after he was 
 shot, he would state that it was not only untrue, but it was 
 totally impossible to take place ; he did not hear the report 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 443 
 
 of but one pistol from the mob, and that was discharged by 
 Courtenay. 
 
 Surgeon Ogil vie 'stated, that he, in company with Sur- 
 geon Andrews, had examined the body of George Catt, 
 and found upon him a gunshot wound, which had entered 
 the right cheek, passed through the mouth into the lower 
 part of the brain, and made its exit at the posterior and 
 lower part of the bone on the left side of the head ; he is 
 satisfied that Catt was shot by a musket ball, and not by 
 one which had been discharged from a pistol; and he is led 
 to this conclusion, in consequence of the injuries received 
 by Nicholas Mears and Lieutenant Bennett being much 
 smaller in extent ; the injuries received caused the death 
 of the deceased. 
 
 Surgeon Andrews corroborated the testimony of the pre- 
 ceding witness. 
 
 Mr, Henry Ashbee, of Boughton, yeoman, stated that 
 he was in Bossenden Wood on Thursday last, and saw the 
 commencement of the affray between the military and the 
 mob, headed by Courtenay ; he saw Lieutenant Bennett 
 leading a detachment of infantry ; Lieutenant Bennett 
 advanced towards the mob, and Courtenay came from them 
 towards Bennett, at the same time saying to his followers, 
 * e Come on my men, don't prove yourselves cowards." 
 Shortly after Courtenay and Bennett approached close to- 
 gether, and in that position Courtenay appeared to have a 
 pistol in his left hand, and a light-coloured club in his right 
 hand ; Bennett was shot before he struck Courtenay ; 
 Bennett did not thrust his sword through or at any person, 
 nor was any one near enough to be reached by him with 
 his sword. 
 
 The Jury returned a verdict, " That the deceased was 
 shot by accident by the military while in the execution of 
 their duty." 
 
 INQUEST ON WILLIAM BURFORDc 
 
 This was the first case of the rioters proceeded with by 
 
444 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 the coroner. The evidence of Mr. Knatchbull in this case 
 is applicable to all the rest of the cases of the rioters. 
 
 Norton Joseph Knatchbull, Esq., a magistrate of the 
 county of Kent, stated that he was present in Bossenden 
 Wood on the 31st of May, before the affray between the 
 military and the mob took place. Lieutenant Bennett was 
 killed by Courtenay, who was the leader of the mob ; be- 
 fore the soldiers fired the mob acted very violently, and 
 had their bludgeons raised to attack them ; their lives were 
 thus placed in danger, so that it was necessary, in their 
 own defence, for the soldiers to fire on the mob. Dr. 
 Poore was present, and the soldiers were acting under his 
 direction. 
 
 Surgeon Andrews stated that he had examined the body 
 of the deceased, who had received a gun-shot wound be- 
 hind his left ear; the ball had penetrated the skull, and 
 made its exit about two inches from its entrance at the 
 back part of the skull. There was a bayonet wound on 
 the left eye, but the first injury he received was the cause 
 of his death ; there was no gun-shot or bayonet wound on 
 the intestines, or body of the deceased. 
 
 Mr. Ogilvie corroborated the testimony of this witness. 
 
 Verdict " Justifiable homicide." 
 
 INQUEST ON SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, ALIAS JOHN TOM. 
 
 Surgeon Andrews stated that he had examined the body 
 of Courtenay, and found that a gun-shot wound had* en- 
 tered ^elow the clavicle, fracturing in its passage the first 
 rib, passing through the body of the second dorsal verte- 
 brae, making its exit behind the right shoulder. There 
 was also a contused wound on the scalp, but the first- 
 described injury caused his death. Verdict "Justifiable 
 homicide." 
 
 INQUEST ON GEORGE GRIGGS. 
 
 Surgeon Ogilvie stated that the deceased received a gun- 
 shot wound, which entered at the eighth rib on the right 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K-M. 445 
 
 side, passed through the liver and spleen, and made its 
 exit at the eighth rib on the opposite side, which caused 
 his death. Verdict " Justifiable homicide." 
 
 INQUEST ON STEPHEN BAKER. 
 
 Surgeon Ogilvie stated that he attended the deceased on 
 the 31st of May last, and found a wound by a gun-shot, 
 which had entered the left groin about an inch and a half 
 below the anterior spinous process of the illim, passed the 
 pelvis, and made its exit on the left side at the second lum- 
 bar vertebrae, and which caused his death by producing 
 mortification. He died on the 2nd of June. Verdict 
 " Justifiable homicide." 
 
 INQUEST ON GEORGE BRANCHETT. 
 
 Surgeon Andrews stated that he had examined the body 
 of Branchett on the 2nd of June, and found a gun-shot 
 wound on the left side of the breast-bone, and another in 
 the lower papt ot the left blade-bone, caused by the same 
 shot; this day (4th of June) he, accompanied by Mr. 
 Church, examined again the body, and found an incision, 
 made apparently by a sword or some sharp instrument 
 such a wound as might, in his opinion, have been inflicted 
 by a bayonet ; it. was the gun-shot wound which caused his 
 death ; the last wound described was three eighths of an 
 inch in length and a quarter of an inch in breadth, but the 
 depth he could not depose to. Verdict " Justifiable ho- 
 micide." 
 
 INQUEST ON WILLIAM FOSTER. 
 
 Surgeon Andrews stated that he found on the body of 
 Fosteia gun-shot wound penetrating at the sixth rib on the 
 right side of the body, and passing through the viscera of 
 the chest and out at the back near the third rib ; the above 
 injury caused death. Verdict " Justifiable homicide." 
 
 INQUEST ON PHINEAS HARVEY. 
 
 Surgeon Andrews stated that he found on the body of 
 
446 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 the deceased a gun-shot wound entering about the left 
 clavicle, and fracturing the cervicle vertebrae, which was 
 the cause of death. Verdict " Justifiable homicide." 
 
 INQUEST ON EDWARD WRAIGHT. 
 
 Surgeon Andrews stated that he found a gun-shot wound 
 upon the deceased, the ball entered at the eighth left rib ; 
 there was a second wound at the posterior part of the right 
 scapula, and a bayonet wound in the right axilla, and either 
 of which would cause death. Verdict "Justifiable ho- 
 micide." 
 
 INQUEST ON WILLIAM RYE. 
 
 Surgon Andrews stated that he found on the deceased a 
 gun-shot wound ; the ball had entered the right hip, and 
 made its excit at the right hypochondrium. The above in- 
 jury caused his death. Verdict " Justifiable homicide." 
 
 On Monday night several persons, including young 
 woman, assembled at the Lion public-house, at Boughton. 
 Some of these held small pieces of oak bark in their hands, 
 which they gravely, and with tears in their eyes, informed 
 visitors were stripped from the tree against which " Sir 
 William" fell. On the arrival of the Union night-coach, 
 the passengers alighted, and were introduced by the land- 
 lord to the room in which the body lay, and the sawdust 
 being removed which covered the winding-sheet, exposed 
 the face of the murderer, which, from having been hacked 
 by the surgeons, exhibited a ghastly appearance. The coffin 
 was then screwed down ; but, the following morning, Mr. 
 Shepherd, the clerk of the Magistrates in the district, 
 desired that it should be unscrewed and then fastened down 
 again in presence of the reporters, in order that they might 
 publish to the world that they had seen with their own eyes 
 this poor maniac in his coffin, and that coffin afterwards 
 deposited and covered up in the earth. Decomposition 
 had commenced, and it now presented a loathsome picture 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 447 
 
 of decay. There was a livid greenness on the countenance, 
 and a sinking in of some of the features, which had com- 
 pletely altered their expression, and though his eyes were 
 now closed, his aspect was infinitely more horrible, and any 
 placidity that might before be imagined to remain about his 
 mouth was entirely destroyed. His legs and feet were very 
 symmetrically formed ; but he had either not deemed it 
 necessary to imprint any nail-marks on the skin of his feet, 
 or, if he had done so, they had been obliterated in laying 
 out his corpse. Mr. Fairman, a Magistrate of the district, 
 arrived, and Mr. Shepherd then ordered the undertakers 
 to screw the coffin down, and to remove it into a van which 
 was ready at the door for its reception. Whilst they were 
 inserting the screws, a lady forced her way into the room, 
 and in great agitation requested Mr. Shepherd to let the 
 coffin be re-opened, in order that she too might have a last 
 glance of this soi-disant divinity. Two other women made 
 the same request ; but whether their object was to indulge 
 their curiosity or their fanaticism, it was not accomplished. 
 The coffin was of the plainest description, without any 
 ornamental nails or lackering. It had not even a plate or 
 a letter on it to denote whose bones it contained, and it was 
 placed without either pall or covering into the van which 
 had been used to convey the deluded rioters to Faversham 
 and Maidstone gaols. The undertaker was asked why he 
 had not put a name upon the coffin, and he replied " 'Cause 
 Sir, I don't know his name; what would you have me call 
 him ?" Tom, in his coffin, measured six feet one inch, but 
 when alive he did not stand more than five feet eleven 
 Before the van moved off six special constables were placed 
 in it, and two sat on the box to drive it. It had been sug- 
 gested by the Home Secretary to the Magistrates, as a 
 matter worthy of consideration, whether Tom should be 
 buried publicly in the neighbourhood of the spot where he 
 had been living, or privately at dead of night at a consider- 
 able distance from it. The Rev. Mr. Hanley, the clergy- 
 
448 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 man, and Mr. Shepherd, who is a considerable landed 
 proprietor in the parish, both in&isted on the expediency 
 and propriety of burying him, in open day in the churchyard 
 of the parish which he had so frightfully agitated, lest it 
 should be supposed by some of his ignorant admirers that 
 Tom had suddenly disappeared in the night, and might be 
 expected again from heaven to revisit earth. They submit- 
 ted that no excitement in Tom's favour would be exhibited 
 in consequence of his public funeral, as, from the suffering 
 which he had occasioned to every family in the parish, he 
 was now as much hated as he was previously adored. 
 These arguments prevailed with the magistracy, and it was 
 accordingly determined that he should be buried in Herne- 
 hill churchyard. 
 
 Previous to the burial of Courtenay five graves had been 
 opened, side by side, adjoining his, as if the authorities 
 were prepared to inter all his partners in outrage in one 
 common grave of dishonour, we had meantime learnt in our 
 ramble amongst their neat fields and cottages with Mr. 
 Curling, many interesting particulars creditable and honor- 
 able to each of the fallen ; and, indeed, ere our return, 
 found our sympathies so much engaged in their behalf 
 that we contemplated with sorrow the obligation we lay 
 under to witness their remains thus disgraced by a jus fer- 
 vidum calculated only to inflict pain on the innocent. We 
 were, however, agreeably disappointed, for at half-past four 
 we found the graves in the vicinity of " Mad Tom" filled 
 up, and by the especial grace and free will of the clergyman 
 and magistrates, others opened in the several places indi- 
 cated by the soothed and gratified feelings of the survivors. 
 It was a truly Christian triumph over the less worthy feel- 
 ings of humanity which so often lurk in the breasts of those 
 " clothed with a little brief ^authority" in the shape of love 
 of justice, respect for the laws, determination to set an 
 example, resolution, firmness, and other such plausible 
 and too often successful self-deceptions. We were sure 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 449 
 
 they will never repent it, and we are not less certain 
 they would have repented all their lives, if they had added 
 an additional and gratuitous pang to the mass of misery 
 apparent in the course of the awfully-multiplied ceremonial 
 that ensued. We found that the bodies of William Burford, 
 Branchett, and Griggs, were to be committed to the earth 
 in addition to the five already mentioned, and that eight 
 were opened for their reception, adjoining those where their 
 relatives and friends lay at rest. The graves were not dis- 
 tant, for all were neighbours and friends, and some might 
 have exchanged their place of final rest without a violation 
 of the claims of kindred, for strange to say, nearly all con- 
 cerned, dead and alive, were related either by blood or in- 
 ter-marriage. 
 
 The van having received its burden, proceeded at a fail- 
 pace to that spot, which is one of the most lovely situations 
 in the county of Kent. It is seated on an eminence, over- 
 looking in one direction the bay of Whitestable, and in 
 another a well-wooded extensive plain, of which Nash 
 Court, the village of Boughton, and Lord Sondes' mansion 
 and estate, are the most conspicuous ornaments. When 
 the van first started, there were besides Mr. Fairman, Mr. 
 Shepherd and Mr. Curling, about twenty persons, three of 
 them women, acccompanying it. At it turned down Bough- 
 ton-hill into the road to Staple street, there were about ten 
 women on the ridge, carefully observing its progress. About 
 ten o'clock it reached the church ; but not a bell was tolled 
 to announce its approach. The coffin was then taken out 
 of the van, and was placed, without pall or covering, on the 
 bier. As it entered the churchyard, the Rev. Mr. Hanley 
 met it, reading, " I am the resurrection and the life ;" but 
 instead of preceding it into the church, he led the way 
 directly to the grave. There he merely read such parts of 
 the burial service over the corpse as the law deems neces- 
 sary at the funerals of all person, buried in consecrated 
 19. ;3 M 
 
450 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 ground ; and as soon as he had concluded, the earth was 
 shovelled into the grave, which was only four feet deep, 
 without leaving even a mound to tell where this maniac 
 rests. There was no child, no wife, no relative, no mourner 
 to witness his last rites ; but he was committed unwept and 
 unhonoured to his kindred dust. There were about one 
 hundred and twenty persons in the church- yard during his 
 interment, and amongst them two of the prisoners who'had 
 been liberated on their own recognizances. There were 
 about eighteen women also in the group. When the first 
 clods were thrown upon his coffin, there was a cry of sc Cover 
 him up quickly. 'Tis a good job for the country that he is 
 here. Let us have no more of him" exclamations which 
 would lead to the conclusion that, except in a few insulated 
 cases, his influence and his delusions were at an end. Mr. 
 Curling, of Craddock Farm, placed a watch nightly over his 
 grave to prevent any of his disciples, if any such still re- 
 mained from exhuming his body, either for superstitious or 
 for mischievous purposes. At half-past ten o'clock, the cere- 
 mony was concluded, and the churchyard deserted. 
 
 The bodies of six of his misguided victims were lying at 
 the Red Lion when Tom's body left it. As they were all 
 inhabitants of the parish, it was resolved to bury them in 
 its church-yard and at one time, it was intended to bury them 
 all of a row by the side of Tom. But this idea was given 
 up by the Magistracy, as they believed that the deceased 
 persons were influenced more by a heated spirit of fanaticism, 
 than by a deliberate spirit of violence and murder. In 
 walking through the village, the voice of wailing was heard 
 in almost every house ; for the inhabitants of it intermarry 
 so much with each other, that they are all more or less 
 related. One poor young woman, whose brother had been 
 committed to Maidstone Gaol for wilful murder, was sitting 
 at a door, pale and seemingly exhausted, and stupified by 
 grief. Another woman was singing most dolefully to a 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAV, K.M. 451 
 
 young child she held in her arms, and ever and anon break- 
 ing off to bewail her dear, dear husband. 
 
 At four o'clock the tolling of the parish bell announced 
 that the body of Stephen Baker, aged twenty-three, was 
 approaching its final resting-place. It was attended by 
 eight mourners, among whom were his wife and father 
 sobbing as if their hearts were breaking. The body was 
 met by the Rev. Mr. Handley at the church gate, and was 
 preceded by him with the usual solemnities into the church. 
 Baker bore a most excellent character. Then came the 
 body of Williams, aged thirty-two, followed by the same 
 number of mourners, equally afflicted. Then came that of 
 William Rye, aged forty-six. There were five young 
 women in his train, two of them his children, one of them 
 his sister. Her affliction was excessive. Then came the 
 body of Edward Wraight, aged sixty. His widow followed 
 her husband's body, and excited deep and general com- 
 miseration for her wretched condition. She has lost her 
 husband by death, her son is committed on a charge of 
 murder to prison, as is also her daughter's husband. Then 
 came the body of Phineas Harvey, aged twenty-seven. He 
 was unmarried. His father, who was erroneously stated to 
 have been found wounded in the wood on Saturday night, 
 attended in an agony of grief. Then came W. Burford, 
 aged thirty-two, whose wife was discharged the previous 
 day at Faversham in consequence of the efforts she made 
 to withdraw her husband from the influence of this imposter. 
 Her grief was not so boisterous as formerly, but still she 
 appeared deeply affected. Upon an average, each body was 
 attended by eight or ten persons, habited in decent and 
 respectable mourning. The clergyman met each corpse 
 separately at the church gate, and the bell continued to 
 toll until every coffin was in the church. They were all of 
 oak, well studded with black nails, and generally had black 
 coffin plates. The coffin of Phineas Harvey had a silvered 
 coffin plate and silvered ornaments ; and as a proof that 
 
45*2 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 poverty had no share in producing these disturbances, every 
 one of the deceased was buried at his own expense. When 
 all the coffins had been ranged in the church, and the 
 mourners, and spectators,, who were not many, had settled 
 themselves in convenient seats, Mr. Handley ascended the 
 reading-desk, but was so overcome by his feelings as to be 
 obliged to envelope his face for a considerable time in his 
 gown to hide his tears, He read the service in a faltering 
 voice, but laid peculiar emphasis on the text contained in 
 the lesson taken from the fifteenth chapter of St. Paul's 
 Epistle to the Corinthians, where the Apostle gives the 
 awful warning, " Be not deceived evil communications 
 corrupt good manners awake to righteousness and sin not 
 for some have not the knowledge of God. I speak this 
 to your shame." At that portion of the burial service when 
 the body is carried from the church to the grave, he de- 
 scended from the desk, and preceded each coffin separately 
 to its final resting-place. They were, however, taken to 
 the grave in the reverse order in which they entered the 
 church, the funeral rites at the grave being performed on 
 Burford first and Baker last. It affected the clergyman so 
 deeply that he was obliged to stop several times during the 
 reading of the remaining prayers over the grave. Every 
 person present was deeply moved, and there were tears in 
 the eyes even of those who attended from mere curiosity. 
 The female mourners severally bore up with comparative 
 fortitude till the clay had closed up the grave, and then, 
 left to themselves, presented sad spectacles of trembling 
 and wretchedness. Many sought consolation in the sym- 
 pathy oi fellow-mourners in other bands, but their sorrow 
 was so infectious that even old and hardened men com- 
 pletely gave way under it, and retired from the scene with 
 eyes red with weeping. We could not remain to see it out, 
 and departed, praying that we might never suffer such a 
 sight again. 
 
 Mr. Curling, who was a most determined opponent to 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 453 
 
 these unhappy men whilst Torn was in all his power and 
 glory, led Mrs. Wraight out of the church-yard, and attended 
 her with great kindness to her home. The performance of 
 the funeral service, reckoning from the time when Baker's 
 body entered the churchyard to the time it was finally 
 interred, lasted two hours. A short time before it was 
 concluded, directions were received to dig a grave for 
 Branchett, aged forty-one, at Herne Hill. Another of the 
 enthusiasts, G. Griggs, was buried at Boughton. 
 
 We cannot close the account of these funerals without 
 once more referring to the anxiety exhibited by all classes 
 to obtain a view of Tom. It is calculated that at least 
 twenty thousand persons saw him whilst lying dead at the 
 Red Lion, and apprehensions existed at one time that 
 there would be a riot, but, fortunately, peace and order 
 were soon restored. 
 
 In expectation that the clergymen of the parishes 
 of Boughton and of Herne Hill would avail themselves of 
 the opportunity which the Sabbath afforded to read their 
 parishioners a great moral and religious lesson out of the 
 melancholy events which have recently occurred among 
 them, we started at an early hour for the two villages which 
 have been most deeply inoculated with the fanaticism which 
 the so-called Courtenay has excited, and which were then 
 suffering most acutely under the punishment which their 
 credulity had brought upon them. The service at Boughton 
 Church was in the morning, and at Herne Hill in the 
 afternoon. We went to both in their turn. At Boughton, 
 were the inhabitants were less implicated in the late riots 
 than [the inhabitants, of Herne Hill, we saw very little 
 of that anguish and tribulation which struck us so forcibly 
 on our last visit to Herne Hill Church. Still there was a 
 gloom on the faces of a larger portion of the labouring 
 classes, which denoted that all was not as it had been, and 
 that there were some of their friends wanting, whose places 
 would know them no more. There were some verses in 
 
454 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 the Psalms read in the morning gervice, which they could 
 scarcely hear without being affected by them as for in- 
 stance, in the 57th Psalm, " God shall send forth his mercy 
 and truth my soul is among lions. And I lie even among 
 the children of men that are set on fire ; whose teeth are 
 spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. They 
 have laid a net for my feet, and pressed down my soul. 
 They have digged a pit before me, and are fallen into the 
 midst of it themselves." In general, however, the services 
 contained no passages which could fairly be considered as 
 having reference to the calamitous events which have so 
 much agitated the heart of the neighbourhood. The 
 clergyman made no allusion to them in his sermon, proba- 
 bly because he deemed it likely to disturb that equanimity 
 of temper which is so necessary to be observed by all per- 
 sons about to receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, 
 which he had previously given notice that he should that 
 day administer to all, who were devoutly and religiously in- 
 clined. In the afternoon we went to Heriie Hill Church, 
 and there the spectacle was very different from that which 
 we had witnessed at Bough ton Church. About half an 
 hour before the commencement of the afternoon service, a 
 number of labouring men were collected in the church-yard 
 around the porch of the church. More than half of 
 them had crape on their hats, and bore other marks of 
 mourning about their persons. Singularly enough, a ma- 
 jority of them were standing on the exact spot where the 
 bones of Tom repose,' and were evidently thinking of any 
 thing but his promised resurrection. It is almost a uni- 
 versal impulse of our nature to be reluctant to tread on the 
 ashes of those whom we either love or respect; and we 
 cannot help thinking that a stronger proof of the repulsion 
 of feeling which has taken place in this parish within the 
 last ten days, cannot be given than the restlessness with 
 which men adored him but lately as a god, and then trampled 
 upon his inanimate remains. They knew where they 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 455 
 
 rested, and yet no compunctious visitings of humanity pre- 
 vented them from exhibiting their deep abhorrence and de- 
 testation of the wretched maniac who lay beneath their feet, 
 and had so cruelly misled so many of their friends. The 
 ringing of the bells brought by degrees the rest of the 
 parish to the spot. A great number of strangers from 
 Canterbury and the adjacent parishes attended, and thus, 
 when the Rev. Mr. Handley entered the church, every pew 
 in it was nearly filled. We never saw the House of God 
 converted so completely into a house of mourning, except 
 on the occurrence of some great national calamity. We 
 should conjecture that of the male labouring population 
 two thirds were in mourning of some description or other. 
 In five large pews in the centre aisle of the church we 
 counted sixty women ; of these thirty-six were dressed in 
 deep mourning, and were we believe, all nearly related to 
 the victims of Tom's delusions. Some of them were weep-- 
 ping bitterly ; but the grief of all of them was much sobered 
 down since we saw the agonising exhibition of it on Monday 
 last. There were parts of the evening service by which the 
 congregation were deeply moved. The service proceeded 
 as usual until the clergyman had finished the prayers which 
 the rubric orders him to read in the afternoon. But then 
 occurred a difference peculiarly striking. There was no 
 psalmody attempted. Not even a hymn was given out. 
 The great body of the rustic choir was either among the 
 dead or among the captives in Maidstone Goal. Wills the 
 flute player, whose flute was among the spoils last found 
 in the wood, was absent ; and along with him who played, 
 nearly all those who are still living, and who usually sang 
 to his music, were bewailing in prison the wretched con- 
 dition into which their credulity had plunged them. Those 
 who had not shared in the fanaticism of their neighbours 
 could not raise " a song and a melody in their heaviness." 
 After a solemn silence of two or three minutes, which spake 
 more forcibly to the heart than any dirge, however dismal, 
 
456 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 could have done, the clergyman ascended the pulpit, and in 
 a clear, slow and impressive tone, proceeded to address his 
 congregation. Whilst he was addressing them, the most 
 profound attention was paid to the doctrines which he 
 taught, and the only interuptions which he received were 
 from the tears and sobs and lamentations which followed 
 his words, when he directed his consolations and exhorta- 
 tions more pointedly to those who had lost their friends 
 and relations either by death or captivity. We will not at- 
 tempt to portray their grief further than by saying that it 
 was heart-rending. 
 
 As soon as the service was over the congregation by de- 
 grees quitted the church : but numbers lingered for some 
 time in the church-yard, some influenced by curiosity to see 
 the graves of the dead, and others by a natural and not un- 
 praise-worthy desire to shed another tear over the remains 
 of their relatives. 
 
 If we consult the records of history, since the light of 
 truth has dawned upon the human mind, and the conditions 
 of human society been ameliorated by the mild and benefi- 
 cial doctrines of Christianity, we cannot point to a single event 
 in which the effects of fanaticism and superstition have been 
 more strikingly displayed, than in the short but memorable 
 career of John Tom. The tempests of nature have their 
 uses, although accompanied by partial destruction, and in the 
 moral world, a violent convulsion may take place, threatening 
 to break asunder the bonds of social life, but which, neverthe- 
 less are accompanied by positive and permanent good. It is to 
 be hoped that the riots of Canterbury will rouse the clergy of 
 that city and its vicinity from their lethargy, and that they will 
 henceforth be stimulated to diffuse the blessings of educa- 
 tion more profusely around them, and thereby contribute to 
 the permanent welfare and happiness of those, who are in- 
 trusted to their spiritual care. 
 
 We shall now close our history with an account of the trial 
 of the rioters, which were taken prisoners atBossenden Wood- 
 
*. .- -: 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY. K.M. 457 
 
 THE 
 
 TRIAL 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CANTERBURY RIOTERS 
 
 THE assizes for the county of Kent commenced at Maidstone 
 on Tuesday August 7th, when Lord Denman in his address to 
 the Grand Jury, made the following remarks in allusion to the 
 Canterbury rioters, who were on the following day to take their 
 trial for the murder of Lieutenant Bennett, and Mears the con- 
 stable. ' 
 
 On Thursday, his Lordship after some preliminary comments 
 usual on such occasions, Lord Deninan proceeded to remark, 
 " You will naturally expect from me some remarks in reference 
 to cases with which you are yourselves acquainted, which appear 
 to have grown out of a series of circumstances, as extraordinary, 
 on the one hand, as on the other they have been unfortunate in 
 their results, and being too as they are, without precedent or 
 record. It appears that towards the close of May, a large body 
 of men were parading certain districts of this county, under the 
 guidance of an individual of a wild and desperate character, who 
 had obtained an influence of a strange nature over their minds, 
 all armed, some of them with fatal weapons, and others with 
 dangerous instruments to the peril of the lives of individuals, 
 and the disturbance of the public peace ; that they continued for 
 some days banded together before an opportunity was afforded 
 to the magistrates to act with a view of arresting their progress, 
 and then that they proceeded, threatening acts of violence of the 
 most dangerous description. It appears then, that the magis- 
 trates having been duly informed of their proceedings, most 
 20 SN 
 
458 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 properly sent out warrants for the apprehension of the principals 
 in the riot, that when the person who was intrusted with that 
 instrument attempted to take the ringleader into custody, that 
 individual instantly shot him and he died. It seems that after 
 this proceeding, another course, which under the circumstances 
 was itself undoubtedly the most humane that could have been 
 adopted, were pursued, a large body of the military were called 
 into requisition, a force which from its number was the best 
 calculated at once to overcome all resistance, and put an end to 
 the scene, which was going on, which was sent to meet the band 
 of the rioters. On the arrival of the force one of the officers 
 advanced, as he had a right to do, in front of the rest, when the 
 same ringleader shot him through the heart. In this instance it. 
 happened that besides several of those charged with a breach of 
 the peace, some of those who were engaged in endeavouring to 
 maintain the peace lost their lives, and the investigation into 
 which the Grand Jury would have to enter arose out of the death 
 of those persons. The law in such cases was clearly laid down 
 by Lord Coke. His words were " If any Magistrate or Minis- 
 ter of Justice in keeping the peace, according to the duty of his 
 office, be killed, it is murder, for their disobedience of the King 
 and his laws ; and if any justice of the peace or constable acting 
 in his office be killed, it is murder for the crime aforesaid ; for 
 when the officer requires the breakers of the peace to keep the 
 peace in the King's name, and they, notwithstanding, disobey 
 the command and kill the officer, reason requires that this kill- 
 ing shall be an offence of the highest degree of any offence of 
 this nature, and that it is voluntary, felonious, and murder of 
 malice prepense." How far this description of the offence was 
 applicable to the prisoners, it would be for the Grand Jury to 
 determine. He understood there was some reason to suppose 
 that the individual who was mainly instrumental in producing 
 the affray, in which he himself lost his life, at the period when 
 those tragical events occured, was in such a state of mind that he 
 could not be considered as legally accountable for his own acts. 
 It was quite possible, nevertheless, that those who accompanied 
 him might have taken such a part in the proceedings as ren- 
 dered them liable for the consequences of the acts of the insane 
 person. It was also very possible that persons who had not 
 actually, with their own hands, committed the murders charged, 
 might have been in law, as in reason, guilty of the crime. The 
 law on this subject was very clearly laid down by Mr Serjeant 
 Hawkins, in his work on the Pleas of the Crown ; in which it 
 is stated, that " where divers persons resolve generally to resist 
 all opposers in the commission of any breach of the peace, and 
 
SIR WILLIAM COUIITENAY K. M. 459 
 
 prosecute it in such a manner as naturally tends to raise tumults 
 and frays, and in so doing" happen to kill a man, they are all 
 guilty of murder ; for they must at their peril abide the event of 
 their actions, who wilfully engage in such bold disturbances of 
 the public peace ; but, in such case, the fact must appear to 
 have been committed strictly in prosecution of the purpose for 
 which the party were assembled." This was the law ; but it 
 was for the Grand Jury to say, in the first instance, how far it 
 applied to the case of the prisoners, which they would have much 
 better means of judging than he (Lord Denman) possessed, as 
 his information was only derived from reading the depositions, 
 whilst the Grand Jury would have the witnesses themselves to 
 examine. 
 
 On Thursday the anxiety manifested to hear the trials of the 
 unfortunate men, surpassed any thing of the kind ever witnessed 
 at Maidstone. An arrangement having previously been made 
 by the Sheriff, which had the effect of very much diminishing 
 the pressure which otherwise must have ensued. Tickets were 
 issued, so that on our entrance into the Court it presented a 
 lively appearance, from the assemblage of gaily and elegantly- 
 dressed ladies who had already taken their seats. 
 
 The trial of the persons charged with the murders perpetrated 
 by the singular individual who assumed the .title of Sir William 
 Courtenay and his deluded followers was fixed for this morning, 
 and excited an interest proportioned to the extraordinary nature 
 of the circumstances, and the tragical catastrophe which formed 
 the principal subject of the investigation. All the avenues lead- 
 ing to trie court-house were crowded from an early hour, and be- 
 fore the time at which business commenced as many persons were 
 admitted as could be conveniently acommodated. A considerable 
 number of ladies had seats on tbe bench and in the galleries 
 and there was an unusually large attendance of the county 
 magistrates. 
 
 Lord Denman took his seat at nine o'clock precisely, and the 
 prisoners Thomas Price, and William Mears, otherwise Tyler, 
 were immediately placed at the bar, and the indictment read over 
 to them, in which they were charged, on the coroner's inquisition 
 (together with one John Tom, alias John Nichols Tom, alias 
 William Courtenay. now deceased), with the wilful murder of 
 Nicholas Mears, at 'the ville of Dunkirk, on Thursday the 31st of 
 May last. 
 
 The prisoner Tyler, who is described in the calender as twenty- 
 nine years of age, appeared rather younger. He was dressed in a 
 sailor's jacket, blue waistcoat, and dark trousers. He is a man 
 with a lair complexion, auburn hair, light whiskers, blue eyes, a 
 light and graceful figure, and features which, though irregular 
 
460 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 are not unprepossessing His countenance is expressive of de- 
 cision and of susceptibility of feeling which one may readily asso- 
 ciate with enthusiasm and religious fanaticism ; but there is 
 nothing in his face that indicates a cruel or sanguinary dispo- 
 sition. The other prisoner, Price, was habited in a working 
 dress. His age was stated in the calender at thirty, but he seemed 
 much, older. He is a hard-featured person, but though coarser 
 and more common-place looking than his fellow- prisoner, there 
 was nothing in his appearance or demeanour that would lead a 
 bystander to ascribe to him any particular ferocity of character. 
 
 The Hon. Mr. LAW, Mr. Sergeant ANDREWS, Mr. BODKIN, and 
 M. CHANNELL conducted the case for the prosecution, and Mr. 
 SHEE and Mr. DEEDES appeared for the prisoners. 
 
 The jury having been sworn, and the prisoners given in 
 charge. 
 
 The Hon. Mr. LAW stated the case at great length in a clear 
 and dispassionate address, of which we can only give an abstract. 
 He began by saying that he should be obliged to direct their 
 minds to the scene of the murder of Mears. He did not think 
 there would be the slightest difficulty as to the law. The only 
 question was, whether the prisoners were aiding Tom, for he 
 should prove clearly that the intention of Tom was a violent re- 
 sistance of the law. The learned gentleman then entered into a 
 history of the transactions in which Courtenay was engaged, all 
 of which are familiar to our readers. The means which this 
 person Courtenay employed were calculated to work on the sordid 
 feelings of his followers, and whatever the state of mind of this 
 person was, the steps he took were well calculated to attain his 
 object. His addresses all favored the intended object of his re- 
 sistance to the authorities. They were always of this nature 
 " Come on men, no harm shall attend you." It would be for the 
 jury to consider whether this latter observation intended to convey 
 that a general impunity would attend their acts, or that nothing 
 would happen to them on the day when this address was made. 
 When these large bodies of men were traversing tho country, it 
 became necessary for the authorities to interfere. Courtenay, a 
 man of a fine and imposing figure, led this band of men armed 
 with pistols, and having a banner with the picture of a lion, which 
 he used for the purpose of strengthening the minds of his followers 
 whose passions he excited by telling them that " the day was now 
 come when the blow must be struck, and the rights of the poor, 
 so long in abeyance, vindicated." These speeches were generally 
 made to about forty persons ; and a secluded house, belonging to 
 a person named Culvers, was selected as the place where his fol- 
 lowers met, and where he delivered his harangues. He would call 
 before them witnesses to prove that the prisoners were present and 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 461 
 
 assisting on many clays previous to the murder of Mears. In order 
 to show the motive of Courtenay, he declared, on being told that a 
 constable would take him, that he was ready for such an attempt 
 that he would try his arm with him, and mow him down like the 
 grass. A very important announcement was made by Courtenay 
 on the Monday previous to the Thursday, namely that nothing 
 should be done on that or the two following days, but that on 
 Thursday the blow should be struck that Thursday being the day 
 on which the murder took place. Soon after six o'clock when the 
 constable appeared with warrants (issued on the representations of 
 Courtenay's proceedings), at the house of a person named 
 Culvers, where Courtenay's followers were assembled about the 
 house, one of the prisoners, Price, on being accosted said, '' Here 
 come the constables ;'' and the other (Tyler) went to the 
 window, and announced to Courtenay the constables were come. 
 Courtenay said, "Are they here ?" The reply was, " Yes, they 
 are." Courtenay came out armed, and Tyler said to the constable, 
 " Step forward." Mears having been asked by Courtenay 
 whether he was the constable, and having answered that he was, 
 was instantly shot. Courtenay then drew his sword, and ran in 
 pursuit of the high constable ; but having been tripped he re- 
 turned to the wounded man, and again shot him, when he 
 directed the two prisoners to throw him in a ditch, which they 
 did. All these acts of outrage were perpetrated by the prisoners, 
 as the servants of Courtenay. One of the most revolting circum- 
 stances attending this case was, that after having committed this, 
 barbarous murder the whole party returned into the house and 
 had breakfast. Having- minutely dwelt upon all the circum- 
 stances attending Mears's death, the learned counsel proceeded 
 to observe : it is quite possible this person Courtenay may have 
 been partially deranged, but if he had sense enough to adopt 
 such means to an end as were calculated to effect a nefarious 
 purpose, he was clearly amenable to the law. If in your judg- 
 ment such acts were proved as showed a consciousness of the 
 distinction between right and wrong, and that he was capable of 
 adopting means to the prosecution of a criminal object, it is not 
 any degree of insanity it is not even a great degree of insanity 
 which would relieve him from conviction if he were this day on 
 his trial for murder. The law, in its salutary strictness, knows 
 no degree of insanity which is sufficient to exempt a person guilty 
 of criminal acts from punishment, except it amounts to a want 
 of power to distinguish right from wrong. It is not in these 
 nice and golden scales that the law tests unsoundness; for a 
 lunatic is accountable for the acts which he commits in a lucid 
 interval. The person Courtenay might have been tainted with 
 insanity, and yet not be deprived of the sense which should dis- 
 
462 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 suade him from committing 1 an immoral and guilty act. If, 
 therefore, he were now before you he would, in my humble 
 judgment, be responsible for what has been charged against 
 him as his act. But, for the purpose of argument, suppose that 
 he was not amenable to the law, yet if, as a physical agent, the 
 prisoners communicated and co-operated with him if they 
 stimulated and encouraged a madman they are answerable for 
 the deeds which he commits. 1C, knowing that a murder was to 
 be perpetrated, or a violation of the peace to be committed, the 
 end of which might be the loss of life, a party submit himself to 
 the dictation of a person of unsound mind, or countenanced or 
 encouraged such an individual, he becomes a principal in the 
 crime of which he may be guilty. If you went the length of 
 reducing this alleged insane person to the insensible character of 
 a mere instrument, they who employ it are accountable for its 
 use. I have felt it my duty to lay the state of the law before you, 
 because the most mischievous consequences may follow from its 
 misapprehension. There is another view of the case which may, 
 to a certain extent, be supposed favourable to the prisoners, and 
 that is, that the acts of this person were so extravagent as to 
 produce an impression that he had no settled purpose ; but here 
 the question immediately arises, if they thought him insane why 
 should they identify themselves with his acts and place them- 
 selves under his direction ? If you disbelieve the facts if you 
 distrust the witnesses if on the general aspect and complexion 
 of this affair there arise a just and reasonable doubt as to the 
 guilt of the prisoners it will not only be your pleasing, but a 
 bounden duty to give them the benefit of it, The case I have 
 laid before you is of an importance to demand the closest atten- 
 tion at your hands. The consequences in which your possible 
 decision will involve the prisoners, call for exercise of the utmost 
 caution. On the one hand you must stand between them and 
 the charge, as far as your conscience will permit; on the other 
 hand, if you are convinced they are guilty, you will, [ am sure, 
 firmly and faithfully discharge your duty to the public. One 
 word before I sit down as to the conduct of the prosecutor. 
 Mr. Curling was bound over by the coroner to prosecute, but the 
 importance of the case was such that he felt bound to communi- 
 cate vvith the Home-office, and to put the first law officer of the 
 government, the Attorney-General, in possession of the facts. 
 In consequence of the information which that learned gentleman 
 obtained, and of an application to the Secretary of State, it was 
 felt by the government that, if they did not send their own officers, 
 the burden of this prosecution ought riot to be thrown on the 
 parish where the alleged murder occurred, but defrayed out of 
 the public funds. I thought it right make this statement, lest I 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 463 
 
 should be considered uncandid in appearing to act for one party, 
 whilst another was in fact my client. This is the plain truth. 
 Those who have been instructed to prosecute have nothing to 
 conceal, and the government have only done their bounden 
 duty in seeing that this underwent a full and strict inquiry. 
 
 The first witness was James Gorham : Was a constable at 
 Boughton. Knew the prisoners. Saw them on Sunday previous 
 to the murder in Boughton Street. Courtenay was leading his 
 horse, which was covered with an animal's skin. Saw him again 
 about seven o'clock, as if coming from Herne Hill, and Tyler and 
 William Wills were with him. They crossed as if towards the 
 cottage of a person named Kennett. In going to the Red Lion, 
 which is in Bossentlen Lane, he passed Kennett's house, where a 
 large number of people, consisting of over one hundred persons, 
 were assembled. He heard Courtenay addressing those persons, 
 and saying that they might go to their work on Monday, but that 
 Tuesday they could not. The people were very attentive. He 
 again saw Courtenay passing the Red Lion, with twenty or thirty 
 persons, towards Bossenden House, owned by Culvers. He spoke 
 of what he saw to Colonel Jones. He saw Courtenay again on 
 foot, and a person named Brown leading his horse. He went 
 again on Tuesday, at about eleven o'clock, to Bossenden House, 
 where he remained for the night. At one o'clock in the morning 
 he saw Courtenay walking, about as if for air with a sword in his 
 hand. He saw him again at a little past two o'clock, and had 
 changed his dress to what he called a shepherd's dress, consisting 
 of a belt gabardine. He had from thirty to forty men, with him, 
 who appeared to him to come out of a yard. When they came to 
 the house of a person named Blanchard they knocked quietly at 
 his shutters. They halloed out " Hallo, Blanchard, did you see it 
 smoke T He saw no more of Courtenay until ten o'clock on 
 Thursday morning, at Dargate Common, about two miles from 
 Culver's house. On the Thursday he was not near enough to re- 
 cognise him. One of the prisoners (Tyler) was leading Courte- 
 nay's horse on Wednesday. 
 
 Cross-examined by Mr. SHEA : Did not think that he had been 
 for six weeks previous to the murder parading the country. He 
 never saw Courtenay with his hat off, except on the 27th of May. 
 He had large mustachios and beard, but did not observe that his 
 hair was parted over his head and hanging down over his 
 shoulders at great length. Nicholas Mears, and Charles Tyler 
 were on intimate terms. 
 
 Re-examined : Before the Sunday previous to the murder he 
 had not seen Courtenay frequently. 
 
 By the JUDGE : William Netting told him that Mears was shot, 
 and he took him into custody. 
 
464 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 Elizabeth Brunsdame, a married woman ; She heard a report 
 that Sir William was going to make speeches on Sunday at Ken- 
 nett's house, where she went to hear him, and saw aJiundred 
 people assembled. He proposed a toast, what it was she did not 
 know. Staid about a quarter of an hour and then came away. 
 
 Cross-examined : Saw Courtenay first in the winter time. His 
 appearance was not extraordinary, but he had a larger beard than 
 any of her acquaintances. Never heard him address the people 
 before. 
 
 William Blanchard ; Was at Boughton Street. Was standing 
 at his door at about eight o'clock on Tuesday in the horse-road. 
 Four men were with him. Courtenay asked him whether he 
 would go with him, and he did. Thomas Brown had charge of 
 Courtenay's horse. Passed the house of Mrs. Palmer, where 
 Courtenay got some change. Courtenay purchased two loaves at 
 another shop. Knows William Wills's house at Faiibrook, where 
 the party went in. Saw Thomas Tyler (prisoner) before they 
 came to the house. He thought there were from fifteen to twenty 
 people in the house. Tyler fetched some beer by Courtenay's 
 direction. Saw the other prisoner come to Wills after he 
 arrived there. Stopped at this house an hour. Courtenay was 
 dressed in a velvet coat and a pair of plaid trousers. After having 
 been some time at Wills's, heard Courtenay give directions, but 
 could not say whether Tyler was inside the house or not. Tyler 
 carried a flag with a print, and Price a loaf of bread on a pole. 
 The prisoners were near enough (about three yards) to hear a 
 person who said, " Here is bread before us ; we have nothing to 
 do but to follow that, and you shall have more of it." On the 29th 
 of May, Courtenay said, " I am going for a jubilee ; any of you 
 men that have nothing to do I shall fill your bellies with victuals, 
 and nothing shall happen to you." When he came out of the 
 house he had changed his dress to a gabardine, carried two bags 
 and a sword by his side, a string round his neck with a bugle, and 
 a cap. He went with the party towards Faversham, with a flag 
 and the pole with the loaf of bread. The bugle was blown at 
 Wills's house. Tyler had Courtenay's horse. Passed the Horse- 
 shoe public house. Courtenay said to Tyler, ' Tommy, go to 
 Gravening church and wait for me." Courtenay went with all 
 the party across the ploughed field ; and four persons, amongst 
 whom was Price, then separated from the rest, and returned some 
 time after. ' Saw Courtenay then discharge a pistol, and load it 
 again. The party then went to Waterham to Handlaw's house. 
 Reached there between twelve and one, and more were there than 
 when they first started. Tyler, Price being present, said, " Wil- 
 liam, I heard the other night a man say you are a fool and a 
 madman. If any one comes to take me now, I am at leisure, but if 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 465 
 
 they should I shall try my arm. I have done nothing- wrong 
 I only come for a day's pleasure to give these men that have no 
 employ, food, and drink." He drew a pistol from his case and 
 said, " I have no hurt nor intend it, but if they come I shall cut 
 them down like grass I'd venture I could blow the snuff of the 
 candle out as far as the pistol would allow," 
 
 Cross-examined: When Courtenay passed him in Boughton 
 Street he asked, " Do you want some bread V Witness replied, 
 " Yes." " Then," said he, " come on, and I'll give you some." 
 Heard him enter into a religious discourse. Heard him say that 
 men did not gain anything by swearing and advised them not to 
 swear, as he only meant to do what was right. Never heard 
 Courtenay say he was the shepherd, and his followers the lambs. 
 A hymn was sung three times on that day, which he had heard 
 sung at the Wesleyan chapel at Boughton, The words were, 
 " The shepherd guards his sheep by night and day." Courtenay 
 asked his party whether they liked that? They said they did, 
 and he said he meant nothing but what was right. He could not 
 read or write wished he could. Was in the habit of attending 
 chapel and ^church. -It appeared to him that Courtenay and his 
 clergy had read the same religious books. He thought Courtenay 
 had a good understanding of learning. Thought the people con- 
 sidered more the acts of religion which Courtenay spoke of than 
 the person himself. He did not us.e any gesture, but spoke very 
 easily and fluently. Lived in this parish thirteen years. Mr. 
 Wright was the clergyman, and was resident. When he was a 
 lad there .was no school to receive instruction, and he was put to 
 work as soon as he could do any. He had several children, the 
 eldest thirteen, and they were instructed in the chapel school in 
 the bible and other books. 
 
 Alfred Payne: In consequence of a direction Gorham gave 
 him, he watched Courtenay in Boughton. He went to Willis's 
 house, where he saw Courtenay take Tyler aside. Courtenay 
 asked witness to sit down, and said that this was the glorious 29th 
 of May, and they should have greater cause to remember it better 
 than King Charles's death. He said he was not an earthly man, 
 but could slay ten thousand men by striking his right hand on 
 the muscle of his left arm, and should then vanish. He then said, 
 "Here is bread and cheese," and then gave a toast, "Here is a 
 health to the poor." Heard Mrs. Wills say of a person named 
 Francis passing through a com field, " There goes one that ought 
 to be stopped ; he is afraid to come here ; he wants to know who 
 wrote some papers; he will know, but shall not live long to tell 
 the tale." Afterwards Courtesay sounded his trumpet, and said 
 that the sound was heard at Jerusalem, where 10,000 were ready 
 20. 3o 
 
466 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 to obey his command. When he came to a stile he told Tyler to 
 fro to Gavening Church, and tell tiie people that he met their 
 shepherd was coming. Courtenay said of a person in Wills's 
 house that he should have him as a general over his men. Courte- 
 nay said, "I am going to strike the bloody blow; the streets shall 
 flow of blood as they have with water, and the rich and poor that 
 did not follow him should share the fate of it." On the following 
 morning at four o'clock saw Courtenay and his followers with 
 peeled bludgeons [one of which was produced]. In consequence 
 of what he had seen he gave information to the magistrates 
 [Courtenay's sword, pistol cases, and cloak were here produced.] 
 When a gentleman was passing he (Courtenay) took his cloak, as 
 it struck him, to conceal his arms. 
 
 W. Stephens : Is a labouring man. Saw Courtenay at Wills's 
 house at nine o'clock in the morning. Both prisoners with him. 
 Heard Courtenay tell Tyler to go with his horse to Gravening 
 church, and wait until he came. They left Wills's house, I went 
 towards Fairbrook. Nothing was said about Thursday. 
 
 John Mears: Is high-constable of Boughton. On Wednesday, 
 May 30th, got the warrants now produced. Went on Thursday 
 to execute them, Took with him Nicholas Mears (his brother) 
 and Daniel Edwards. W T ent to Culvers' house, called Bossenden 
 House. The first person I saw as I got near the house was Wm. 
 Price, the prisoner, who appeared to be talking to some person. 
 Tyler was also there. Tyler had a large club in his hand. He 
 spoke to Price. He asked him if Courtenay was there"? He 
 answered something, but he did not hear what. Price then 
 pushed before him to the front of the house. He heard a voice, 
 " Is that them T He was sure that both prisoners had a stick at 
 this time. When he came within a stride or so of the prisoners 
 Courtenay met them, and asked " Are you the constables V His 
 brother said " Yes." There seemed to be about thirty people a 
 little to the right. His brother was then fired at by Courtenay, 
 and wheeled against a fence. He then made a blow at the 
 witness, saying "And you are the other/' Witness ran, and 
 Courtenay, in following, stumbled. Went to Faversham imme- 
 diately, to the magistrates' office. 
 
 Cross-examined : Believed that Tyler and his brother Mears 
 were not on good terms at the time this occurrence took place. 
 
 Daniel Edwards: Is petty constable of Boughton. Got to 
 Bossenden House at about half-past six, where the prisoners and 
 a person named Bin-ford, since dead, were standing at the side of 
 the house. Observed Tyler speak to Price, and then saw Courte- 
 nay, who asked " Who was the constable ?" Courtenay then held 
 out his pistol, and shot Nicholas Mears, There was a window in 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 467 
 
 the front of the house, from which the prisoners were distant a 
 rod or two. He remained until Courtenay came hack from 
 pursuing the last witness. Nicholas Mears said, " Oh, dear, what 
 shall I do T Courtenay said, " Do the best you can," and cut the 
 wounded man three times with his sword. Witness then ran 
 away, but Courtenay did not take any notice of him. 
 
 Cross-examined. Tyler gave him a sign, when Courtenay was 
 pursuing Mears, which he believed was meant to facilitate his 
 escape. 
 
 George Hawkins : Is a labourer. Was present at a supper at 
 Culvers' on the 29th. We lay on straw, and being called up at 
 three, went to Sittingbourne, and returned to Bossenden. Perhaps 
 seven or eight joined them on their route, the number originally 
 consisting of about thirty. We rose between six and seven on 
 the Thursday morning. Half an hour after they were up, they 
 saw the constables' party. Soon afterwards saw a man fall near 
 the palings, and another running away. Courtenay slipped in 
 following him, When Courtenay returned he went into the 
 house, came out again soon after, and heard another pistol fired. 
 Saw some men moving the body, but can't say how many. The 
 body seemed to be laid down easily. The prisoners and the rest 
 then breakfasted. 
 
 Cross-examined: Never heard Courtenay say that his horse 
 was the horse mentioned in the Apocalypse or the Revelations, 
 but did hear him say that he was the Christ who had been cruci- 
 fied. Heard persons say in the prisoners' presence that Courte- 
 nay had the marks of the nails of the cross in his hands. Has 
 not the Bible, but has the Testament. Heard him say that 
 he was the resurrection body of Gideon. Heard him say that 
 Sampson was a great man, but how did he know whether there 
 was not greater than he. Heard him say, " I am your blessed 
 Lord and Saviour; you are safer when with me than when at 
 home in your beds." There were very nearly sixty present when 
 he said this. Was present when a man fell down before him, 
 burst into tears, and asked whether he should follow him with his 
 heart or his feet, The same number of men were then present. 
 Heard him say "God has chosen him a body at the foundation of 
 the world, wherein he, God himself might maintain his own truth 
 and execute justice towards the sons of men.' Heard him speak 
 of a man named Moore. Heard him say of Nicholas Mears, be- 
 fore they sat down to breakfast, " Though I have killed the body 
 I have saved the soul." After killing Mears he said that nobody 
 should live who ran away. Did not know whose woods they were 
 near Bossenden House. 
 
 Thomas Harris : Is a labourer. Heard Tyler's voice on Thurs- 
 day morning at the window of Bossenden House, saying " The 
 
468 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 constables are coming. Tyler then looked round the corner of 
 the house, and said, "The constables are here." Courtenay said 
 "Where are the constables'?" Tyler said, "Step forward " and 
 Nicholas Hears came towards him. Mears answered, but cannot 
 tell what he said ; and then Courtenay fired and shot him. lyler 
 was close at Courtenay's elbow. Could riot speak to any more 
 than Tyler of those who were with Courtenay. 
 
 William Stephens recalled. Remembered the constables coming. 
 He was at the corner next to the footpath, so that he could see 
 them coming up, and Courtenay in the window of the house, 
 Saw Price there, but he was a good way off. Tyler went to the 
 window to call Courtenay, and said, <; Here come the constables." 
 Sir William said, " I am ready for them ;" and then came out to 
 the place where he was. Tyler was there also. Courtenay had a 
 pistol in his hand. Price was there also on the spot. Saw four 
 persons, two of whom were the prisoners, take Mear's body to the 
 ditch. 
 
 Cross-examined : The reason why he had not left the house on 
 Wednesday night was because he was afraid ; and he stopped in 
 the morning because he got some victuals. 
 
 William Knight, one of the labourers who supped at Bossen- 
 den House on the Wednesday night, confirmed the evidence of 
 the other witnesses as to Courtenay's conduct on the Thursday 
 morning. 
 
 Cross-examined : Heard Courtenay say, in the presence of thirty 
 persons, that his horse was the horse mentioned in the Revelations. 
 He knew nothing about the horse of the Revelations, for he had 
 never read the Scriptures. 
 
 Stephen Gorham examined ; I was present at Bossenden Wood 
 on Thursday, May 31st [here witness described the situation of 
 the party at the house and garden]. I remember seeing Edwards, 
 Nicholas Mears, and John Mears, come to the wicket ; then I saw 
 Courtenay, who came from the house, and said to Nicholas Mears, 
 " Are you the constable ?" I did not hear the answer. He then 
 shot the constable, and then ran with his sword some rods after 
 Nicholas Mears, but stumbled. The wounded man then got 
 away a little. I heard Courtenay say to the wounded man, ' You 
 said you were the constable." He then struck him more than six 
 blows with his broad sword, as he lay on the ground, and then 
 fired the other pistol at him. Four of Courtenay's men then 
 carried the murdered body, by his command, face downward, to 
 the dry ditch, and then came back to Courtenay. Courtenay 
 then extended his sword, and told them he was the only saviour 
 of all the world the only shepherd of them all; never to 
 mind, that he would bring them through it, for they were all his 
 lambs 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K,M. 469 
 
 Cross-examined ; I thought by the way he went on and struck 
 the hody that he was a frantic, crazy madman. 
 
 Re-examined; All the men might have left him if they 
 wished. 
 
 John Field examined ; I am a servant in Bossenden House. 
 I recollect looking out of the window on the path, along which 
 the constable came with two men to where Price (the man in the 
 dock) was standing. Nicholas Hears said, "Good morning is 
 Sir William Courtenay here '?" Somebody said, " Good morning" 
 in reply. I then went away, and heard the report of a pistol, and 
 saw Sir William Courtenay with a sword pursuing Nicholas 
 Mears. (Witness corroborated the previous evidence respecting 
 the shooting and striking of the constable.) I left the place as 
 soon as the murder was done, and afterwards saw the body in the 
 ditch, and Courtenay and others looking on. I could not see who 
 the men were, but I heard Courtenay say, " Let him lie and suf- 
 fer," Afterwards I approached the body when it was left alone, 
 and saw Mears lift up his head and groan. 
 
 Cross-examined : I was [afraid to interfere lest he should kill 
 me. After he came back he said, " I am the saviour of the world 
 you are my true lambs every one of you." He seemed quite 
 frantic, and shook his sword over his head looking quite wild. 
 There were fifteen or twenty men there, but none interfered to 
 prevent the mischief. 
 
 Renjamin Jacob examined ; Produced a camlet cloak and bag 
 found in Bossenden Wood by him on the 1st of June. It con- 
 tained one hundred bundles of matches, and one hundred bullets of 
 different sizes. 
 
 Edward Amos examined; Produced a sword, pistol-case, a 
 leather haversack, hatchet, bible, loaded pistol, ball of twine, 
 butcher's knife recently sharpened, and bag containing a flute, all 
 found by him in Bossenden Wood. 
 
 Ogilvie, surgeon, residing in Boughton, examined ; I ex- 
 amined the body of Nicholas Mears ; found two gun-shot wounds 
 that would each be mortal, and a severe wound by a sharp instru- 
 ment on the left shoulder. There was also a cut on the arm. 
 
 Here the prosecution closed, and the court retired for a few 
 minutes, after which 
 
 Mr. SHEA addressed the jury for the defence, in a powerful 
 speech, of which we regret that want of space will only allow us 
 to present our readers with a sketch. Although (he said) this 
 prosecution had not been brought by the government of the 
 country, yet every thing that the resources of the government 
 could afford had been arrayed in its support, and he deeply felt 
 the responsibility attaching to the part that had devolved on him, 
 He owned, however, that the government was, in a manner, bound 
 
470 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 f,o make every exertion to bring home justice to the door of the 
 delinquents, in a transaction which had *so deeply disgraced the 
 country. At the same time he sincerely regretted, on his poor 
 and innocent clients' part, that they had not been favoured with 
 any facilities for their defence, and which they stood so very much 
 in need of. He coincided almost entirely in the law of the case 
 as it had been laid clown to them by his learned friend Mr. Law, 
 and the ^responsibility attaching to all concerned in the infliction 
 of death, however compassed ; but he thought he had reason to 
 complain that a prosecution so supported had afforded them no 
 assistance in arriving at the facts of the case, for the benefit of 
 his unfortunate clients. He then adverted to the law relating to 
 murder, as stated by Lord Coke, by Sergeant Hawkins, Sir Edward 
 Hall, &c., and contended that the essential characteristic of mur- 
 der the malicious intention was altogether wanting. His 
 learned friend had indulged much in vague declamation respect- 
 ing some " unlawful purpose" which Courtenay and his associates 
 had in view, but though he listened with all attention, he could not 
 hear what unlawful purpose was imputed to them ; in truth, the 
 establishment of that great and necessary point was altogether left 
 out of the argument, and properly so, for it had no existence in 
 reality ; and without it he felt warranted in insisting that the 
 crime of murder could not fairly be imputed or legally established. 
 He quoted a decision which had been arrived at in the Court of 
 King's Bench respecting a riot in Sittingbourne, in which resist- 
 ance had been made to a constable who came to arrest the party, 
 whereupon the constable fled, and a party of the rioters pursued 
 and killed him. In the trial which ensued it was held that all 
 those who pursued the constable^ with intent to kill were guilty of 
 murder, but that those of the rioters who did not take part in the 
 pursuit were not guilty of murder. He quoted from Tressel a 
 case in which three soldiers went to rob an orchard. Two 
 climbed up a tree, while the third stood at the gate with a drawn 
 sword, and on being challenged by the owner's son stabbed and killed 
 him. The parties were tried for the murder, but those who had been 
 up in the tree at the time were acquitted ; for although they were 
 in the commission of an unlawful act, it was a minor offence, and they 
 were not engaged in or consenting to the murder. He also quoted a case 
 from Hawkins, where a servant went, but with his master, attend- 
 ing him, and seeing his master engaged in a murderous encounter, 
 assisted him, and slew a man. Both were tried, and though the 
 master was found guilty of murder, the servant (who had only 
 followed him in the execution of his duty), was only found guilty 
 of manslaughter. Here was, therefore, a distinction to be made 
 as to purpose and assistance, still more so in the case of a mad- 
 man like Courtenay, whose unaccountable insanity could not pos- 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 471 
 
 sibly be warped into "unlawful purpose" and if he were now 
 alive, even after all this melancholy loss of life, they could not 
 find him guilty of murder [sensation]. He complained seriously 
 of the withholding of the certificate descriptive of Courtenay's 
 state of mind on his discharge from the lunatic assylum an act 
 which he characterized as unjust, cruel, and wicked in the extreme, 
 as effecting his clients ; and which, considering the power 
 brought to bear on this prosecution, was evidently intentional on 
 the part of the government. This he entreated the jury to mark ; 
 for they had a right to have that certificate, and a right to learn, 
 by direct examination and cross-examination, why he had been 
 suffered to go at large after he had been confined as a lunatic, in- 
 stead of being punished as a criminal, for his conduct at Canter- 
 bury. He complained especially that Mr. Francis (who could 
 give such important testimony) was not brought forward. The 
 learned counsel then took a lengthened review of the absurdities 
 exhibited by Courtenay, as stated in the evidence which they had 
 just heard, dwelling particularly on the quotations and misapplica- 
 tion of Scripture, inferring from each and all the superstitious 
 insanity of Courtenay, and contending that the statements of his 
 learned friend respecting the intentions of Courtenay to stir up 
 the poor against the rich were quite unsupported by evidence. 
 He pointed out the numerous pacific and benevolent injunctions 
 of Courtenay to his followers, the example of prayer and praise, 
 and thanksgiving, and practical piety which he set to the inno- 
 cent crowds which followed him in his perambulation, and 
 contended that a simple, credulous people might paiticipate in 
 his movements and follow his example without the slightest evil 
 design or malicious intention, or. suspicion of mischief to arise 
 from the indulgence of their curiosity, or listening to his praying 
 and preaching. He anylized the scene which took place on the 
 death of Meais, and argued that there was no evil intention on 
 the part of -his clients, who might, if they were maliciously dis- 
 posed, have joined in the pursuit of the constable who escaped. 
 They did not stir a step to injure either him or the man who was 
 murdered. They were at the most merely looking on while an 
 unlawful act was done by a frantic man. He then went into the 
 history of religious insanity in England, from the times of the 
 Puritans and Quaker enthusiasts to those of Brothers and Johanna 
 Southcote, and argued that nothing was more natural and ordi- 
 nary than that (with such supernatural power as Courtenay 
 pretended to, and such natural abilities and knowledge of the 
 Scriptures as he possessed for the persuasion of an untaught 
 multitude) he should succeed to a very great extent in drawing 
 them after him. Such confidence in a religious teacher who laid 
 claim to inspiration and superhuman power, who happened to 
 
472 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 possess, or was believed to possess, an extraordinary likeness to 
 our Saviour, and who really laid claim to that character with all 
 the apparent earnestness of a sincere conviction such confidence 
 was most likely to urge them with equal sincerity to believe and 
 follow and obey implicitly the individual so leading, and teaching, 
 and influencing them, without in any degree involving on their 
 part the guilt of malice prepense. The learned counsel con- 
 cluded an eloquent and feeling appeal to the jury by conjuring 
 them that they might regard his hapless clients as ignorant, as 
 misguided, as foolish in the extreme, to have allowed themselves 
 to be led by a lunatic, but to discriminate between ignorance and 
 evil intention to do them simple justice, and to relieve them 
 from the imputed guilt of wilful murder. 
 
 His LORDSHIP then summed up. He commenced by reading 
 the indictment. It is cprtainly true, said he, that in order to 
 make out the malicious intention imputed in the indictment to 
 the act of William Courtenay the agent must be possessed of 
 reason. It seems to me, on the whole of the evidence, that 
 Courtenay was not a person of sound mind when he committed 
 the act in question, and therefore the prisoners cannot be guilty 
 as accessories, for there is no foundation on which their crime can 
 rest. Now, it is one of the most difficult subjects that can be 
 submitted to the mind of man, and requires the minutest exami- 
 nation to determine what constitutes insanity, and it must be a 
 paiticularly painful one when the result of the inquiry may be 
 attended with the most important consequences to their fellow- 
 creatures ; and I must own that the impression on my own 
 mind is that he was a man of insane mind, and it is exceedingly 
 doubtful that he was possessed of any sound reason at all. I 
 think, too, if he were now before us, that you could not safely 
 say that he was in a condition to be answerable for his act. This 
 is not an opinion which I mean to lay down as a rule of law to 
 be applicable to all cases ; but there was in this instance so 
 much religious fanaticism, such excitement of mind, such 
 absurdity and extreme folly, that if he were now on his trial 
 it could be hardly said, from the evidence, that he ought to 
 be catted on to answer for his criminal act. Now, gen- 
 tlemen, if that is your impression it will simplify the con- 
 sideration which you will have to bestow on the second 
 charge. On the second count, then, these pet sons are charged 
 not only with being accessories, but are themselves charged 
 as having committed the offence ; and if they were aware of 
 the malignant purpose, and shared in that purpose, and were 
 present aiding, abetting, and assisting in the commission of 
 acts fatal to life in the course of this purpose, then no 
 doubt they are guilty as principals on the second count. 
 
SIR WILLIAM COUIITENAY, K.M. 473 
 
 You have been properly referred to the authorities laid clown in 
 the books. I will read to you a rule as laid down by a high 
 authority, and you will have to consider whether, the conduct of 
 the prisoners falls within it or not. Sergeant Hawkins, quoting 
 the still more ancient and perfectly consistent authorities of the 
 law of England, says, "Where divers persons resolve generally 
 to resist all opposers and to execute their purpose in such a 
 manner as to be naturally attended with tumults and affrays, 
 and in so doing it should happen that a life is lost, all are guilty 
 of murder, for they must at their peril abide the event of an act 
 which is in violation of the public peace, and in open opposition 
 to the authorities of the country ; but in this case, the fact must 
 appear to have been committed strictly in prosecution of the 
 purpose for which the party assembled." Now as it is abso- 
 lutely necessary to make out the latter part of the proposition, it 
 has been argued very ingeniously that as Couitenay and his fol- 
 lowers had no definite and distinct object, there could be no 
 combination. But I must own that 1 think the evidence will 
 lead you to pause a good deal before you come to that conclu- 
 sion, ft seems to me to be wholly unimportant whether, the 
 parties had a well-defined and particular mischief to bring about, 
 as the result of their combination ; because I think if their object 
 was, in the language of this extract, to resist all laws generally, 
 and that the parties armed themselves with dangerous weapons 
 for the purpose of committing a violation ot justice, and taking 
 for this purpose the means of executing their object, the whole 
 of the assembly so convened, however blank the mind of Courte- 
 nay might be as to ulterior purposes, or however his followers 
 might be undetermined as to the result, still, if they contemplate 
 resistance to the lawful authorities, their case is that of men 
 banded together for a common purpose to a sufficient degree to 
 make them answerable for all that was done in execution of it. 
 And then it will he highly important for you to look to the means 
 with which they furnished themselves, and the instruments they 
 employed, in order to fulfil their object. I may just observe, 
 in passing, that the mere irresponsibility of the principal, whether 
 he be a physical or moral agent, cannot relieve the parties who 
 make use of him from answering for the consequences of his 
 acts. If it appear that those engaged in an illegal act aid and 
 abet the principal or agent in the means which he takes for its 
 perpetration, no doubt they are liable for any consequences which 
 may ensue. After going over the whole of the evidence, he con- 
 cluded by saying that he thought it too much to suppose that, 
 however superstitious these persons were, they were completely 
 bewildered and deprived of their reason while, Courtenay was 
 20. 3p 
 
474 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 leading them. He impressed upon the jury that any personal 
 apprehension which the prisoners might have entertained from 
 Courtenay's acts was no justification for joining 1 in a criminal 
 outrage. He left it to the jury to say whether or not the pris- 
 oners were aware that they were engaged in an unlawful outrage 
 upon the laws of the country, however wild and indefinite might 
 be the plans of their leader or themselves. They were guilty of 
 murder if they deliberately concurred in that resistance to lawful 
 authority, from which it might be naturally supposed that the 
 consequence which had taken place would follow. 
 
 The jury were then given in charge, and retired at five o'clock, 
 apparently without an effort at agreement. The court still remained 
 crowded to the utmost with spectators, and the prisoners, who had 
 borne themselves tolerably well during the trial and the charge, 
 now laid down their heads on the bar, and appeared to be pain- 
 fully agitated. William Price was violently affected. He had for 
 some time been an invalid, and was, we understand, suffering under 
 an attack of palsy. A doctor attended him within the bar. 
 Willam (Mears) Tyler, presented a very extraordinary appearance 
 thoughout the day as he stood in the dock, tall thin, and erect, 
 dressed in a sailor's jacket, his neck bare and brown, his small 
 restless eyes thrown^up to heaven whenever his name was men- 
 tioned in evidence. He was decidedly an enthusiast. 
 
 After half an hour's absence, the jury returned and delivered 
 their verdict. They declared both prisoners Not Guilty of the 
 first count, and Guilty of the second ; but strongly recommended 
 them to mercy, " in consequence of the infatuated manner 
 in which they were led away by the unfortunate maniac Courte- 
 nay,'' 
 
 The prisoners were then (with some difficulty) brought forward 
 and placed at the bar. William Price required the aid of a 
 couple of assistants to support him ; to such a pitch had his 
 nervousness increased. 
 
 The Judge then proceeded to pass sentence of death in the 
 usual form on both prisoners, amid stifled outcries from the 
 female spectators. His lordship then addressed them : " I 
 pass this sentence immediately, that I may have the opportunity 
 of adding that it will not be carried into effect, and of assuring 
 you that your lives will be spared in consequence of the merciful 
 recommendation of the jury." 
 
 The prisoners again sank exhausted, and were speedily removed 
 from the dock. Of the sixteen prisoners, nine only are likely to 
 be brought forward for the trial. Two of these only had yet 
 been placed at the bar; but only one is considered as finally 
 disposed of. Eight trials were yet to take place. We were assured 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K.M. 475 
 
 that double the number of witnesses who appeared to-day will 
 be brought forward to-morrow. The remaining prisoners ob- 
 viously await the issue in fear and trembling'. When called 
 into the dock, in pursuance of the preliminary arrangement for 
 to-morrow, one of them shook, as if possessed by an ague fit. 
 
 SECOND DAY'S TRIAL. 
 
 William Wills, Thomas Mears, otherwise Edward Wraight, 
 Alexander Foad, Edward Curling, Thomas Griggs, Richard 
 Foreman, Charles Halls^ and William Foad were on the following 
 day placed at the oar charged with the murder of Lieutenant Ben- 
 nett on the 21st of May last. The court did not present the crowded 
 appearance it did yesterday The interest of the trials had evi- 
 dently died away after the conviction and judgment of those who 
 were tried in the first instance. The appearance of the prisoners 
 corresponded with the description given of their characters. They 
 looked "quiet, inoffensive" men. The face of one of the Foads 
 was much disfigured by having the lower lip completely taken 
 away by^a musket shot, which he received from the fire of one of 
 the military. The most remarkable amongst the prisoners were 
 Wraight and Wills. The former is an athletic, muscular man, and 
 his features, though handsomely formed, are expressive of no other 
 quality than that of extreme mildness. Wills has always been 
 fanatically inclined. His countenance is at once dull and melan- 
 choly. He is a tall, thin and rather ill-formed man. His dress 
 and bearing showed that he was in a somewhat better class of life 
 than the other prisoners We have seldom witnessed a more 
 touching scene than that which was presented in the appearance 
 of these poor deluded men when sentence was passing upon them. 
 The humiliation which they felt was palpably exhibited, and most 
 of them shed tears abundantly when undergoing this most trying 
 ordeal. 
 
 The prisoners on being arraigned, all pleaded guilty. 
 
 Mr. CLARKSON, counsel for some of the prisoners, said : 
 After having given the case the moat anxious consideration, 
 my learned friends and myself feel bound after the charge 
 of your lordship yesterday, in which it was distinctly laid 
 down that if these persons were assembled for an unlawful 
 purpose (however indistinct or undefined) they were guilty of 
 any acts which might be committed in violation of the peace 
 to say that we feel we have been aiding the administration of the 
 functions of the law, and advancing the interests of justice, by 
 advising the prisoners to take the course which they have 
 adopted, I may state, as a circumstance which I am sure will 
 
476 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 be considered by your lordship in passing sentence, that eight 
 persons who were engaged in the affray were mortally wounded, 
 that many of those who now stand before you have been 
 grievously injured, and that as many as a hundred persons 
 have been left helpless and destitute in consequence of the 
 confinement of those men who were engaged in this infraction 
 of the law. We were led, too, to adopt this line by another con- 
 sideration, which was this, that it was oar conviction that the 
 jury must have come to the same conclusion in this as in the 
 case tried last night. I am quite satisfied that these deluded 
 persons will find in your lordship a merciful and humane 
 administrator of the law, particularly when I feel that I may 
 safely assert that there is no one now present who is of opinion 
 that Courlenay's followers contemplated the act which that mad- 
 man committed, or that any of the grievous circumstances which 
 occurred would have taken place. I felt that I should not have 
 done my duty if I neglected to state the grounds on which I 
 advised these prisoners to take the step which they have done ; 
 and I am satisfied that this course is consistent with what I 
 owe to them, and tends to maintain and confirm the majesty of 
 the law. 
 
 Mr. SHEA, counsel for the other prisoners, said that he con- 
 sidered it his duty not to struggle with the law as laid down by 
 his lordship yesterday, and he had therefore advised those for 
 whom he was engaged to plead guilty. 
 
 The Hon. Mr. LAW then said : J am sure that every one 
 acquainted with the circumstances of the case must join the 
 learned counsel for the prisoners in their prayer for a merciful 
 sentence. Standing here on behalf of the Crown, for the 
 purpose of prosecuting those parties, I must cordially concur in 
 the wish that has been expressed that the prisoners should be 
 judged with all clemency. But I don't feel, in offering that re- 
 commendation, that I should be doing my duty if, with respect 
 to the prisoners Tyler and Wills, I solicited your lordship to do 
 more than to spare their lives. As to Price, he stands in a very 
 different situation, for he was not engaged in the second violation 
 of the law. The guilt of all the other prisoners is obviously less 
 than that of the two first 1 have mentioned, and I am convinced 
 that they will meet with a corresponding leniency in your lord- 
 ship's sentence. I must say, that I cannot concur in the view 
 which the learned counsel for the prisoners has taken of the 
 second violent transaction, because I do think that after blood 
 had been shed, and the unfortunate man Nicholas Mears had 
 been murdered, the other act of violence which they committed 
 can be considered in no other light than that of an open, undis- 
 guised murder. But I feel also that the reasons urged yesterday 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY, K.M. 477 
 
 by the jury, in accounting- for the conduct of the men whom 
 they convicted, deserve serious consideration, and should have a 
 due deference shown to them. In any observations which I 
 have offered I don't mean in the slightest degree to be 
 supposed to dictate the course which should be taken with re- 
 gard to the prisoners. I am merely acting in the discharge of 
 a public duty ; and I am quite sure that whatever may be the 
 sentence which you, my lord, in your mercy and judgment may 
 be pleased to inflict, the public will have reason to be satisfied 
 with your adjudication of the persons engaged in these violent 
 and outrageous proceedings. 
 
 After several persons had been examined relative to the 
 character of the prisoners. 
 
 His LORDSHIP addressed the prisoners as follows : 
 You (naming the prisoners) have been severally convicted of 
 the crime of murder, and the law requires that I should pass a 
 capital sentence upon you. [His lordship then pronounced sen- 
 tence in the usual form.] Now, having performed the duty which 
 the law imposes on me with regard to pronouncing, sentence, I 
 don't think it right to keep you a moment in doubt as to its 
 being carried into execution, for, having made up my mind on 
 the question, I think it right to state to you that your lives will 
 be spared. The fate which awaited you, and which you have 
 incurred, you have just heard in the sentence which I have 
 pronounced. That is, the sentence which the law enacts for your 
 offence, but it is in the discretion of the court, and perhaps ulti- 
 mately of the government, whether that sentence shall or shall 
 not be carried into execution, I have had very great difficulty 
 in coming to the result that it is possible not'to let the laws 
 take its course. Your offence is of an enormous nature, and I 
 think that, along with the fanaticism and folly which have 
 marked yotir acts, that there has been so much bad feeling, I am 
 sorry to say so suddenly excited there has been so much dis- 
 regard to the happiness and safety of your fellow- men there 
 has been so much recklessness, mischief, and such a determined 
 resolution not to interfere to prevent it, when you all saw how 
 imminent and frightful it was, that I have really felt it to be a 
 very strong act on my part, to come to the resolution that your 
 lives should not be forfeited to the law. Two circumstances 
 have weighed greatly with me in coming to the conclusion 
 which I have done, independently of the recommendation which 
 the jury considered it their duty to give yesterday, in the cases of 
 Thomas Myers and William Price. One of them is that a very 
 great number of your misguided associates actually fell 
 under the execution of those who were called upon to protect 
 the law ; and in point of fact they may be considered as having 
 
478 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 already paid the forfeit of their lives to the law. These men, 
 necessarily and therefore lawfully, put to death in vindication of 
 the legal authority, may be taken as persons whom the law has 
 already sacrificed, and ; made examples to others of the conse- 
 quences of their acts ; because, the firing at these men, which 
 unfortunately became necessary, would itself have been an act 
 amounting to murder, and would have subjected the parties com- 
 mitting it to punishment, if the facts at the time that it took place 
 had not authorised the proceeding, and so the law has been 
 anticipated by the individuals who fired at you. There is an- 
 other circumstance which also greatly weighs with me in sparing 
 your lives, and that is, that the relations and friends of the un- 
 fortunate young man the officer, who was shot by that leader 
 who you thought proper to maintain in violation of all law right, 
 and feeling these relations have stated that it would be the 
 greatest aggravation of their sufferings for the loss of their son if 
 any more blood was to be spilled in consequence of this unhappy 
 affair ; and I do feel that much respect is due to those unfortunate 
 persons, whose dearest relation became the sacrifice to his sense 
 of duty and to his courage in putting down this most attrocious 
 attempt on the part of Courtenay and his followers to resist the 
 law. Now these things hav.e led me to think that it is not im- 
 proper that your lives should be spared ; and I may observe that 
 the course which, on grave consideration and consultation, you 
 have adopted with the sanction of the Crown and without any 
 disapproval on the part of the court I mean pleading guilty to 
 so heinous an offence is not, by any means, without precedent, 
 and has occured on former occasions where the law was perfectly 
 clear, and the facts could be proved by the overwhelming evidence 
 of numerous witnesses of different character. When it was perfectly 
 clear before the trial began what must be the fate which awaited 
 every individual who was charged as we have the means of judg- 
 ing from the depositions, and from what passed yesterday of 
 the real nature of the transaction in which they were engaged 
 it might appear to be a waste of valuable time, and to be dwell- 
 ing on circumstances of a painful nature without necessity, if we 
 should again have to go over all these details I think that the 
 course which has been taken is the most satisfactory, and I have, 
 therefore, to inform you that you are to consider the last punish- 
 ment of the law is not to take effect on you ; but though I came , 
 to that conclusion before any observations were addressed to me 
 this morning, it really is an effort which one ought to be reluctant 
 to make when the effect of it must be to prevent the last example 
 from being given to the ignorant people at large of what they 
 must expect if they encourage courses like these. And it is ab- 
 solutely necessary that the next example in point of severity 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY. K.M. 479 
 
 should be made in the instances of some of those who appear be- 
 fore me. One of you, Thomas Hears, otherwise Tyler, you were 
 not only extremely active in exposing the unfortunate man, your 
 near relation, to the shot which destroyed him ; but after that deed 
 you continued to accompany your fanatic leader, encouraging 
 him during the day in all the violence which you knew he was so 
 capable of committing. With regard, then, to you, Thomas 
 Mears, it is perfectly clear that you cannot remain in this country 
 and that you must be made an example of the severest kind, 
 short only of depriving you of your life. You cannot be per- 
 mitted to return to that society where you have made yourself so 
 unfavorably known, and to set an example in the continuance of 
 that course of life which had before made itself so extremely 
 mischievous. The case of William Wills also has been mentioned 
 to me, and I am sorry to" say from what came out yesterday, and 
 from what I have observed in the depositions, though he might 
 have been a respectable man previously to this transaction, he has 
 indulged to a great extent in the bad feeling which has been ex- 
 cited by the revolt. I feel therefore that in the case of Wills, 
 particularly when it is reflected that he was a man in a better 
 situation of life than the others, it is impossible not to come to 
 the same conclusion as to that to which I have alluded in Tyler's 
 case. As to all the rest, their cases will be looked at with refer- 
 ence to the facts in which they were respectively engaged, and 
 their t sentences will be apportioned according to their several de- 
 grees" of guilt. But I think 1 ought not not to conclude without 
 observing that many of those who took part in these transactions 
 I believe one- half have not been brought to trial; not that 
 their crimes could not be easily proved, or that they were not de- 
 serving of severe punishment, but because it seemed proper to those 
 who had the conduct of this prosecution not to carry the law 
 into extreme effect, but to make selections humanely, mercifully, 
 and considerately, both for those persons who are to be made 
 the victims of the law themselves and for their families, who 
 must severely suffer in the degree in which punishment is in- 
 flicted on them. Let it not be supposed that it is from any fear 
 to carry the law into full effect that this course has been adopted ; 
 but let it be assumed and known, that a vindication of it having 
 taken place by the dispersion of the rioters, it has not been 
 thought necessary to pursue further the remedies which the law 
 assigns; it has been deemed sufficient that those persons who 
 now stand before rne should undergo the several degrees of 
 punishment, short of death which I shall assign to them before I 
 leave this place ; and it has also been considered the safer 
 course to decline to prosecute some of those who were less 
 prominently guilty, I trust, however, that this will excite no 
 
480 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 feeling of triumph nothing like the notion that the law will not 
 be put fully into effect, if upon any future occasion it shall be at 
 all violated ; and I hope that the course now taken will have 
 the effect of showing that, however persons may be maddened 
 at a particular moment by violence or by a confidence in the 
 power of their own hands, and however they may think they 
 can exercise and indulge their worst feelings by means of the 
 power which they possess, the law is too strong for them ; and 
 that it will be put in force according to the exigency of every 
 case when it is outraged and insulted, in such a manner as is 
 necessary for the protection of all her Majesty's subjects, every 
 one of whom may be at the mercy W an infuriated mob if pro- 
 ceedings like these were not met by the severest punishment and 
 the clearest denunciations of the law, which are absolutely essen- 
 tial to be fully understood, and I trust will be duly con- 
 sidered, not only in this county, but in every part of her 
 Majesty's dominions. Now, with this statement you retire 
 from this bar some of you retiring from it and from 
 your country, \vhich you can see no more ; others of you to be 
 conveyed to distant parts, where for a long period you will be re- 
 moved from your dearest connections and relations ; and r some of 
 you escaping with a less severe punishment (here several of the 
 prisoners cried bitterly). I own it is enough to excite great.. com- 
 passion to perceive that you are carried away by a feeling of the 
 culpable offence for having committed which you are evidently 
 most severely suffering; and you probably never dwelt on the 
 possibility of your being placed in the situation in which you now 
 unfortunately stand. No doubt if you had foreseen your share in 
 this proceeding, you would have abstained from joining in it on 
 that consideration apart from all otheis ; but persons ought to 
 learn that every one is responsible for his own acts, and should 
 take care that he was not betrayed in his conduct, or that his 
 reason was not surrendered to the indulgence of any momentary 
 feelings whatever. You may now retire. ( 
 
 The prisoners then left the dock, several of them bowing re- 
 spectfully to the court. 
 
 With these trials the history of Courtenay and his followers 
 may be considered as brought to a close, and dearly indeed have 
 the latter paid for their folly, or more properly speaking the mad- 
 ness in abetting the wild projects of their lunatic leader. For 
 ourselves, however, we cannot consider our duty as fully accom- 
 plished, without offering some concluding remarks, on certain cir- 
 cumstances connected with those trials, snd to which our atten- 
 tion have been principally directed by particular parts of the 
 charge of Lord Chief Justice Denman, especially as his allusion 
 to, and his tacit reproof of the clergy residing in the immediate 
 
SIR WILLIAM COURTENAY K. M. 481 
 
 vicinity of the theatre of Courtenay's exploits. We mean not to 
 impute to Lord Denman an absence of forensic talent, but we 
 have a right to expect something more from the Lord Chief 
 Justice of England, than the mere twaddle of the common 
 pleader, or the simple promulgation of self-evident truths, which 
 every Englishman knows from his cradle, as the basis of our 
 civil and moral laws. We required not from Lord Denman a.n 
 elaborate statement of cases in order to show, that if a magis- 
 trate or officer of justice be killed by a mob, it is murder, and so 
 it would be, if the man so killed were not a magistrate, conse- 
 quently, the value of that information to the jury, was just as 
 great, and just as necessary, as if he had told them that day is 
 day, and night is night. Lord Denman very properly expressed 
 his astonishment at the degree of credulity and ignorance which 
 made the people of Canterbury the dupe of a lunatic, and we 
 have good reason to believe that the good people of Canterbury 
 did not thank him for that expression of his opinion of them 
 But what is to be the cure for that fanaticism and ignorance? 
 certainly not hanging a few of the most notorious of the followers 
 of the madman. What then is to be theotherremedy? education, and 
 yet Lord Denman cunningly remarked, whether education on a na- 
 tional system would not be a machinery for greater credulity, for 
 which remark the clergy certainly owe Lord Denman no thanks. 
 The Lord Chief Justice stated that it is urgently necessary that 
 the country should apply itself to the discovery of some remedy 
 for an evil so great and alarming. How late we are in the history 
 of the world in finding out the necessity of such a discovery, but 
 as his lordship proceeded, he waxed bolder, and he uttered the 
 following well directed attack upon the clergy, by saying, if the 
 minds of these poor men had been properly directed, or if they 
 had enjoyed a higher degree of intelligence, it would to a con- 
 siderable extent, if not entirely, have tended to the defeat of the 
 strange delusion under which they appear at the time to have 
 been labouring. In explanation of the above remark, we can 
 only ask, why should ignorance exist in a district in which the 
 machinery of education is so extended and expensive ? Let 
 the clergy answer that question. In conclusion, we cannot re- 
 frain from remarking, that the close of the trials was beyond 
 anything ridiculous, if we may be allowed to apply a light term 
 to such a terrible case of crime and folly, and such a state of 
 society. Lord Denman tried to get the prisoners off on one point 
 which was very technical and very absurd. The jury on the 
 contrary, got them off, by strongly recommending them to mercy. 
 The farce, the solemn farce proceeded to the dropping of the 
 curtain. On the Lord Chief Justice passing sentence of death 
 20. 3 Q 
 
482 THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF 
 
 upon the prisoners, he stated his reasons in the following words, 
 " I pass sentence of death (immediately) that I may have the op- 
 portunity of stating 1 to you that I have made up my mind, that you 
 shall not be hanged," What a barbarous and savage state of 
 law is this. The judge further declared, " I condemn you to be 
 hanged, merely for the purpose of showing you that you are not to 
 be hanged, I have solemnly invoked the Deity to have mercy on 
 your guilty souls, but I now tell you, that that invocation is very 
 premature, for such mercy will not at present be required." Ought 
 these proceedings to be tolerated in the present enlightened state 
 of society ? ought not this stupidity of the old mechanism of 
 state rule to be abolished as scandalous and offensive ? We try 
 a man on his life, knowing that we do not intend to take that 
 life, and that it would be atrocious so to do. This is not the 
 way to moralize the people. 
 
 To sum up the whole, some of the deluded creatures are 
 doomed to leave their native cpuntry for ever, to undergo a lin- 
 gering death in one of our penal settlements, whilst to the less 
 guilty, their sentence of banishment has been commuted to dif- 
 ferent periods of imprisonment, and in the infliction of that 
 punishment, we consider that the offended laws of the country 
 will be more than amply satisfied. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER. 
 
 Portrait of Courtenay, to face Title Page 
 
 Murder of Hears, the Police officer - - - - - - - 409 
 
 Soldiers entering Bossenden Wood ..-..-- 414 
 
 Representation of the Scene of Action - - - - - 416 
 
 The Red Lion, at which the bodies lay - - - - - - 417 
 
 .View of the Interior of the Stable at the Red Lion - - - 418 
 Sir William Courtenay, as he appeared after the Post Mortem examination - 419 
 Thomas Price, and William Mears, As they appeared at the bar of the Maid- 
 stone Assises ...._-- 457 
 
 M. A'jel, Prinler, 52, Broadtoall, Blackfriars 
 
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