came to me, to inform me that the Bishop desired to speak to me. I found myself in a very awkward situation, as being about to do penance in public. I was ushered up the room by the good Archdeacon in great form, and was placed in his seat, and he took his station, standing behind his Lordship's chair whilst I received a severe lecture; to which all ears were open. His Lordship at first received me kindly; and said he was glad to see me so readily return to my duty. I replied that, "I deemed it my duty to attend his Lordship's visitation, and bad taken a long journey to do it," he immediately rejoined, "And your parochial duty also." I assured his Lordship that, "I had taken particular care in respect to that matter; and had entrusted my cure, during my absence, to a relation and friend, who was much more competent than myself." "But you have two benefices," his Lordship said, "and I am informed good ones; and I shall insist that you reside on one of them. The excuses you make for not doing it, I cannot admit of; and that of overlooking the education of a young man at college is the most futile; for it is not so long that I left Cambridge myself but that I know how lax the discipline of that University now is, and that the young men do as they please, and that your residing two miles from the place can be no check to the young person you allude to; and I do insist on your returning to my diocese immediately."

I informed his Lordship that I had left his diocese before he became the diocesan, that I had taken a house at Trumpington on a lease for three years, that I had a family in it, and could not remove them until my lease expired without sustaining much damage and great inconvenience. "You are resolved then," says his Lordship, "not to reside in my diocese?" "I am, my Lord, at this present

"It is,

time." "That is your final resolution?" my Lord." Then," says he, " you must abide the consequence;" and I immediately got up, made obeisance, and walked down to my seat at the bottom of the room, when for a few minutes there was a total silence; and then his Lordship, accompanied by the Archdeacon, the Chaplain, and other attendants, left the room, the remainder of the company ceremoniously standing up until the door was closed. They then took their seats, put about the bottle, drank many loyal toasts, and we spent, between twenty and thirty of us, as cheerful an afternoon as I ever passed in my life. The Bishop's assertion respecting the laxity of discipline at Cambridge soon reached that University, by what means I know not, but it gave umbrage to the Heads of many Colleges, and was a subject of converse for some time.

3

For the three years that I resided at Trumpington, I was not so idle and neglectful of my professional duties as Bishop Pelham deemed me to be; for very few Sundays passed but I lent my assistance to some one or other of the clergymen of the neighbourhood, not only in performing the service of the Church on that day, but often the weekly duty also, particularly to the worthy Vicar of Trumpington, Mr. Heckford, who had two Churches of his own, and was very frequently engaged as preacher at Great St. Mary's Church, Cambridge*. This is well known to our good Bishop of Bristol, Dr. Mansell, who has always been very kind and indulgent to me.

Some few years before I retired to Trumpington, his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales occupied Mr. Sturt's superb mansion and large domains at Critchill, about three miles from Chettle. I was

The Rev. Thomas Heckford, of Trinity-college, B. A. 1776, being the eighth Senior Optime of that year; M. A. 1779. He is still living.

introduced to his Royal Highness's notice by Mr. Churchill of Hanbury, a confidant of his Royal Highness, and I believe chief manager of his Household at Critchill; and I was recommended by him as a proper person to execute a commission for his Royal Highness, no way political, but merely relative to fox-hunting. His Royal Highness wished to extend his hunting country, but was unwilling to do so without the consent of some gentlemen, who were confederates in keeping another pack of fox-hounds, and hunted in the country which his Royal Highness wished to add to the Critchill Hunt. I was honoured and entrusted by his Royal Highness with a commission to negotiate this important business, in which I used my best endeavours, but I had persons to deal with of tempers not very compliant; and, although they were all intimate acquaintances, I could not prevail upon them to grant my suit in full. During this negotiation, which lasted some time, I had several private conferences with his Royal Highness; and when he was absent from Critchill for a short time he condescended to write several letters to me on the subject; and, although I could not succeed so well in my embassy as I wished, and the Prince expected, yet he never laid any blame on me, but I was taken more into favour than before, and was invited to attend his Royal Highness in his field sports, both in hunting and shooting; and to enable me to attend him in the former, he made me a present of a very fine hunter. At that time, Mr. Napier, whom I have before mentioned, was taken much notice of by his Royal Highness. He was a spirited lad, and rode a very fleet poney of his own, of the New Forest breed, which cost him four guineas; and he was in at the death of many foxes after fine runs with the Prince's hounds.

About this time, a very remarkable circumstance

took place. One morning his Royal Highness called upon me alone, without any attendant, not even one servant, and desired me to take his information for a robbery, and to grant him a search warrant. He insisted on my administering the oath to him, which I reluctantly did; and he informed me, that the head groom of his stables had his trunk broken open in the night, and a watch and many valuable articles stolen and carried away; and that it was suspected that they were concealed in such and such places, and that he chose to come himself, lest an alarm may be given and the goods removed. His Royal Highness sat by my side, while I filled up a search warrant, which his Royal Highness hastened home with, and saw the execution of it himself; the goods were found in the suspected places, a nest of thieves were detected, and all brought to condign punishment. Should his Royal Highness become Sovereign, as by the grace of God he may soon be, what a strange story it will be to tell, that a King of Great Britain did apply to a poor country justice to grant him a search warrant for stolen goods! But this would be a real fact.

A few days before I left Chettle for Trumpington, our good King made his second excursion from Weymouth, to visit Lord Dorchester at his magnificent seat at Milton Abbey, where he spent some days, and took a critical view of all the fine paintings, pictures, and family portraits in the various apartments; and in the library he saw the portraits of all the officers of the Dorsetshire Yeoman Cavalry, painted by Beach *, an old school-fellow of

*Thomas Beach was for many years a well-known portraitpainter at Bath. He was a native of Milton Abbas; and having, from his earliest years, evinced a strong desire to become an artist, was patronized by the family of the Earl of Dorchester, and became a pupil of Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1760. His works are very numerous in the neighbourhood of Bath; but the picture by which he obtained most credit, was one of the domestics of H. H. Coxe, Esq. of Penmore. This was in the possession of

mine at Milton school, and afterward a pupil of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Among them was my portrait as Chaplain to the corps, under his Lordship's command; it was drawn dressed in a canonical form, sitting on an armed chair, leaning one hand on an arm and holding a book in the other. His Majesty took much notice of this portrait; and inquired of Lord Dorchester whether he thought it a good likeness, to which his Lordship answered that he did, and that it was generally deemed to be so; and that it was probable his Majesty may see the original soon, and be a more competent judge. Either on the next day or the day following, his Majesty made a morning visit (which is omitted in Mr. Hutchins's History) to Lord Rivers, at his grand lodge at Rushmore, situate in the centre of his extensive Chase, called Cranbourne Chase. The road to it was the great western turnpike, until they came to a direction post near my house, where a private road branches off leading to the lodge; but my house was in view for near a mile before the carriages came to that spot; and I believe his Majesty had noticed it, and had made some inquiries about it. His Majesty's journey being made known, many persons went out of curiosity to see the cavalcade pass by; and, among others, my two nieces and I were standing near the place where the road turned, when his Majesty's carriage suddenly stopped, and the late Sir J. C. Hippisley, of Stone Easton, An excellent mezzotinto engraving of Dr. Harington is from one of his paintings; as is the portrait of Dr. Cuming, given in volume IX. of the "Literary Anecdotes," p. 589. "To Mr. Beach's professional excellence we must add, that no man ever possessed a more friendly and benevolent disposition. He was a good scholar, and exemplary in the exercises of religion and charity; yet no man more enjoyed the social circle, or more contributed to its mirth:

Happy life's duties with its joys to blend,

Reynolds his master, Henderson his friend.

Beach died at Dorchester, Dec. 17, 1806, aged 68. Gent. Mag. vol. LXXVI. p. 1952.