Born: Giovanni Battista
Nani, flower and foliage painter, 1616, Venice; Dr.
David Hartley, moral philosopher, author of
Observations on Man, 1705, Armley, Yorkshire; Johann
Christoph Adelung, grammarian and linguist, 1734,
Spantekow, in Pomerania; Archdeacon William Paley,
author of Natural Theology, Evidences of Christianity,
&c., 1743, Peterborough.
Died: Queen Cleopatra
of Egypt, committed suicide, 30 a. c., Alexandria;
Theodoric the Great, king of the Goths, 526, Ravenna;
Pope Alexander III, 1181; Louis XI, king of France,
1483, Plessis-les-Tours; Sultan Soliman II, the
Magnificent, 1566; Francis Baily, astronomer, 1844,
London; Sir John Ross, Arctic navigator, 1856, London;
Sir Richard Westmacott, sculptor, London; John
Francis, sculptor, 1861, London.
Feast Day: Saints Felix
and Adauctus, martyrs, about 303. St. Pammachius,
confessor, 410. St. Agilus or Aile, abbot of Rebais,
about 650. St. Fiaker, Fiacre, or Fefre, anchoret and
confessor, about 670. St. Rose of Lima, virgin, 1617.
ARCHDEACON PALEY
The character of Dr. Paley is
strikingly illustrative of the province to which he
belonged: strong shrewd sense, great economy, and much
per-severing industry, without the graces of
refinement, are still the prevailing features of the
inhabitants of the north of Yorkshire. Though born at
Peter-borough, where his father was a minor canon, he
was, at the age of one year, carried to Giggleswick,
in Craven, on his mother's lap, she being seated on a
pillion behind her husband. The primitive habits of
the family were strictly kept up by this clever woman,
who taught her son to knit his own stockings, a
practice he continued after he was archdeacon of
Carlisle. His father being the head-master of the
grammar-school of Giggleswick, he received his
education there; and to prevent his being made a
baker, as Mrs. Paley wished, he was carried by his
father to Cambridge, and entered on the books at the
early age of fifteen. His falling from his pony no
less than seven times on the road there, and the
parental carelessness in not even turning his head to
see if his son were hurt, merely remarking: 'Take care
of thy money, lad,' confirm the opening remarks. His
uncouth awkwardness created the greatest mirth among
the under-graduates, who dignified him with the
sobriquet of 'Tommy Potts.' Idle and extravagant
during the first two years, lying in bed until noon,
and frequenting fairs, strolling-players, and
puppet-shows, he was roused from these habits by the
remonstrance of one of his gay companions, who at four
o'clock one morning came to him in bed, and spewed how
much better his talents might be employed.
In consequence of that word
spoken in season, he entirely reformed; began a
practice of rising at five, and in a year came out
senior-wrangler. In 1766, he was elected fellow of
Christ's College, and became one of the tutors, giving
lectures on moral philosophy, the substance of which
he embodied afterwards in his book on that subject.
His friendship with the son of the bishop of Carlisle
procured him the living of Musgrave, worth but eighty
pounds a year, upon which he married: happily,
preferment of various kinds flowed in, and in 1782 he
was made arch-deacon of Carlisle. Soon after he began
his celebrated works; but the first, Principles of
Moral Philosophy, had to wait some time until the
author was rich enough to publish it, no one in the
trade being willing to run the risk: the sale from the
first was so great that Faulder, the publisher, to
whom it had been offered for one hundred pounds, was
willing to give two hundred and fifty. Whilst the
negotiation was pending, another offer came of a
thousand pounds, and Paley's distress lest his friend
should have concluded the bargain for the lesser sum
was sufficiently ludicrous. Hor� Paulinae and some
smaller works followed; but the highest commendations
were reserved for his View of the Evidences of
Christianity, which was greeted by all ranks, from
George III downwards, as an antidote to the
infidelity which then prevailed. He was immediately
made prebend of St. Paul's, and subdean of Lincoln,
with the valuable living of Bishop-Wearmouth, raising
his income to more than two thousand a year. After
eleven years spent in the enjoyment of these good
things, and in the society of the distinguished men of
the day, among whom were Ellenborough and Mackintosh,
he died on the 25th of May 1805.
AN OBSTINATE PRISONER
When the system of
imprisonment for debt was in full force, instances
were frequent in which men were incarcerated for a
long series of years�either because they were too poor
to work out their deliverance, or because they
disputed the justice of the claim under which they had
been captured. A singular case of the latter kind
occurred towards the close of the last century. Mr.
Benjamin Pope, a tanner in Southwark, made �70,000 by
success in trade, and then became a money-lender,
discounter, and mortgagee. When his fortune reached
�100,000, he was familiarly known as 'Plumb Pope.' His
good-fortune gradually deserted him, however. His
grasping disposition led him to offend against the
usury laws, and he was frequently before the courts.
In one serious case he was cast in �10,000 damages. He
never ceased throughout the remainder of his life from
complaining of this sentence; he went to France for a
time, with his property and effects; and when he
returned to England in 1782, he voluntarily went to
prison rather than pay the above-named damages.
In the King's Bench Prison he
remained for the last twelve years of his life. At one
time he might have got off by paying �1000 instead of
�10,000; but this he refused to do, as 'this would be
acknowledging the justice of the debt, which he would
die sooner than do' � and he kept his word.
While in
prison he carried on his avocation of a money-lender,
on a more limited and cautious scale than before.
Always penurious and eccentric, he had become still
more so. A pint of small-beer lasted him two days, and
he always looked at the fulness of the measure before
he paid for it. He would drink strong-beer with any
one who would give it to him; but he never bought any.
If he bought his three-farthing candle at eight to the
pound, he would always select the heaviest of the
eight, to obtain the most tallow he could for his
money. He never had a joint of meat on his table
during the whole twelve years of his voluntary
imprisonment; a fourpenny-plate from a cook's shop
served him for two meals. His friends, though living
at a distance, knowing of his penurious habits, often
sent him articles of food which he refused to buy for
himself. When he died, at the end of August 1794, Mr.
Pope still owed the debt which had embittered so many
years of his strange life.
JOHN CAMDEN NEILD
In the autumn of 1852, general
curiosity was excited by an announcement in the
newspapers that an eccentric gentleman, who had died
on the 30th of August in that year, had bequeathed an
immense legacy to the Queen. This gentleman was John
Camden Neild, whose name had hitherto been all unknown
to the public; but now reports respecting his
eccentricities and the vast amount of his bequest were
everywhere rife, and were eagerly devoured. Many of
these reports, however, were contradictory, and
instead of satisfying, only perplexed and mortified
sober inquirers. Nor has any authentic memoir of Mr.
Neild since been published. It is therefore hoped that
the following biographical sketch, compiled from
credible sources, and containing many unpublished
anecdotes, will be read with interest.
His father, James Neild, was a
native of Knutsford, in Cheshire, and becoming a
goldsmith in London, amassed considerable wealth, and
purchased estates in the counties of Buckingham,
Middlesex, Kent, and Surrey. In these several counties
he held the office of magistrate for many years, and
in 1804, he was appointed high-sheriff of
Buckinghamshire. He was eminently benevolent,
especially in his efforts for the improvement of
prisons, and originated a society for the relief of
Persons imprisoned for small debts. He married
Elizabeth, daughter of John Camden, Esq., of
Battersea, in Surrey, a direct descendant of the
renowned antiquary of the same name. He died in 1814,
and was buried at Chelsea.
John Camden Neild, the only
surviving son of the above, was born in 1780, and
after receiving a good classical and general
education, was entered at Trinity College, Cambridge,
where he took the degree of B.A. in 1801, and M.A. in
1804. He afterwards became a student at Lincoln's Inn,
and in 1808 was called to the bar. Succeeding in 1814
to the whole of his father's property, estimated at
�250,000, it was at first hoped that he would walk in
the paternal footsteps, and prove a benevolent and
public-spirited country gentleman. Soon, however, it
began to appear that avarice was his ruling passion.
His parsimonious spirit increased till he became a
confirmed miser, and for the last thirty years of his
life, it may be said that he was entirely given over
to the accumulation of wealth. His habits and
appearance became very peculiar. He lived in a large
house in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea; but it was meanly and
scantily furnished. At one time, it is said, he slept
on a bare board, but latterly on an old
stump-bedstead, on which he died. His favourite
companion was a large black cat, which was present in
his chamber when he breathed his last. He kept two
female servants, one as housekeeper, whom he placed on
low board-wages when he left home, and it was on such
occasions that he gave the fullest scope to his
penurious inclinations.
He had considerable property
at North Marston, in Buckinghamshire, and here he
often stayed for days together, besides his
half-yearly visits to receive rents. As lessee of the
rectory, it was incumbent on him to repair the chancel
of the church, and this he did in a very original
manner. On one occasion, the leaded roof having become
full of chinks and fissures, he had them covered with
strips of painted calico, to the number of forty,
saying, 'they would last his time.' While these
repairs were in progress, he sat all day on the roof,
to keep the workmen employed, and even ate his dinner
there, which consisted of hard eggs, dry bread, and
butter-milk. It may be remarked that he seldom paid
his workmen or trades-people without disputing their
account, and protesting that they would ruin him with
their high charges.
His dress, which was extremely
old-fashioned and shabby, consisted of a blue
'swallow-tailed' coat, with gilt buttons, brown
trousers, short gaiters, and shoes which were patched
and generally down at the heels. He never allowed his
clothes to be brushed, because, he said, it destroyed
the nap, and made them wear out faster. His stockings
and linen were generally full of holes; but when he
stayed a night at a tenant's, the mistress often
mended them. while he was in bed. On one occasion a
night-shirt, which he accident-ally left at a tenant's
house, was found to be so tattered and rotten, that
the mistress, finding repair impossible, burned it.
His personal appearance was unprepossessing.
He was short and punchy,
scarcely above five feet in height, with a large round
head, and short neck. He always carried with him an
old green cotton umbrella, but never, even in the
coldest or wettest weather, wore a greatcoat,
considering such a luxury far too extravagant for his
slender means. Often has he been seen, in a piercingly
cold winter's evening, entering Aylesbury on the
outside of a coach without the slightest addition to
his ordinary clothing; while a poor labourer, sitting
by his side, appeared warmly clad in a thick
greatcoat. His appearance on such occasions often
excited the compassion of his fellow-travellers, who
mistook him for a decayed gentleman in extreme
poverty.
Just before the introduction
of railway-travelling, he had been visiting some of
his Kentish property, when, as he was returning to
London, the coach stopped at Farningham. It was a
bitterly cold day, and, with the exception of Mr.
Neild, all the outside passengers, though well wrapped
in greatcoats and rugs, entered the inn 'to take
something to warm them.' As they sat in the
comfortable parlour drinking their brandy and water,
they saw with pity their thinly-clad companion still
sitting on the coach. Thinking he only remained there
in the cold because he was ashamed to enter the inn
when he had no money to spend, they subscribed for a
good glass of brandy and water, and sent it to the 'poor gentleman,' who drank
it off, and thanked his
benefactors for their kindness. He often took rather
long journeys on foot, especially in Buckinghamshire,
where he had estates in different parts, which he
could not visit by any public conveyance.
In these walking-journeys he
never scrupled to avail himself of any proffered
'lift,' even in the dirtiest farm-cart, and he has
been known to sit on a load of coal, to enable him to
proceed a little further without expense; though,
after all, he would probably give the driver a penny
or two for the accommodation; for it is a fact that,
miser as he was, he never liked to receive anything
without paying for it, though his ideas of
remuneration were certainly on a very restricted
scale. When he called on the clergymen of the parishes
where his estates lay, he always refused to partake of
a meal or any refreshment; giving his declinature in a
hasty, sharp tone, as if he had been annoyed or
surprised at the invitation. With his tenants,
especially those of a lower grade, the case was
different. With one tenant, whose condition was
scarcely above that of a labourer, he remained some
days, sharing with the family their coarse meals and
lodging. When business required his presence at North
Marston, he used to reside with his tenant on the
rectory-farm. While staying here about the year 1828,
he attempted self-destruction by cutting his throat,
and his life was saved chiefly by the prompt
assistance of his tenant's wife, a Mrs. Neal. This
rash act was supposed to have been caused by a sudden
declension in the stocks, in which he had just made a
large investment.
During the year 1848, an
enclosure was taking place in another parish. in which
he had a farm, and he often visited it to attend
meetings on the subject. On these occasions he
generally slept at Tring, or at the railway station,
but ate his dinner at his tenant's. Before entering
the house, he was often observed to walk up to the
dairy-window, and stand on tip-toe to see what was
within. He would then enter the house, and say to his
tenant's wife: 'Could you let me have a basin of your
nice milk? As he sipped it up, he would keep
repeating: '0 how good, how rich! Have you any eggs?'
'No, sir, but I can easily get some.' 'How do they
sell now?' 'Eighteen for sixpence, sir.' 'Then that
will be three for a penny. Will you get me three?' The
eggs were procured, and he had two boiled very hard,
and began to eat them, asking for another basin of
milk. The third egg he put in his pocket for his
breakfast next morning. Sometimes he used to take out
of his pocket some sandwiches or bread and butter, and
ask leave to place them in a cupboard. Having
deposited them there, he would examine if they were
safe every time he returned to the house after an
absence of even half an hour.
His Sundays he often spent in
walking over the farm with his tenant, who, by Mr.
Neild's desire, used to carry a pickaxe for examining
the quality of the soil at different places. He used
to investigate very minutely the nature of his land,
and the manner of its cultivation, and keep an account
of the number of trees on his estates. He has been
known to walk from twelve to fifteen miles to a small
portion of his property, and, after counting over the
few trees on it, to return the same distance, with no
other apparent object for his journey. An idea of Mr.
Neild's extreme caution in purchasing land, may be
gathered from the following extracts from his letters:
'Lot 3 is described as "exceedingly rich grazing
land." Does the tenant stock it with oxen or with
cows�and if with oxen, are they large or small beasts?
or does he dairy the land, and feed one half and mow
the other half? .... I have never seen the close . . .
. but I feel assured that if Mr. � had an idea that I
was desirous of purchasing it, he would put such a
price upon it as to render all treaty for it nugatory;
and therefore, until I can sec my way a little more in
the matter than I do at present, and until the
mortgagees shall feel themselves under an absolute
necessity of selling the estate, which they have a
power to do, what I have here written should not be
suffered to transpire, but be kept within ourselves. .
. . Six hundred pounds for little more than nine acres
of land, and of land, perhaps, not of first-rate
quality, and subject to a corn-rent of in lieu of
tithes, is a long price; and the offer, suppose you
feel inclined to make it, can only at first be of a
conditional nature, for I must see the close (although
you need not tell Mr. � so) before anything can be
concluded.'
Some misers have occasional
feasts, though, like angels' visits, short and far
between. Such was the case with Mr. Neild. Having some
business with a clergyman (perhaps to his own
advantage), he invited him to dine with him at an inn
where he was staying in Buckinghamshire. On this
occasion, he was both courteous and hospitable, having
provided for their dinner a leg of lamb, a tart,
cheese, beer, and a bottle of sherry. He also once
invited another clergyman, with two or three other
persons connected with his property, to dine with him
at an inn in another Buckinghamshire town, and
provided for the occasion quite a generous
entertainment. But when the same clergymen applied to
him for some charitable assistance for their parishes,
to one he gave a very uncourteous refusal, and to the
other he sent the following characteristic letter:
'CHELSEA, April 24, 1852.
REV. AND DEAR Sir�When you
last saw me, I was very infirm, and that infirmity
has been increasing ever since, and still is upon
the increase, until I am at last arrived at almost
the last stage of decrepitude. I am confined to my
bedroom, and cannot stir from my chair, except in
exquisite pain. Without the summer shall work, I may
say, on me a miraculous change, I do not expect ever
to be at again.
'All that is wanting at ,
and, indeed, in all parishes purely agricultural, is
a Sunday-school. Mr. P____ tried to establish a
daily school there, but did not succeed. I don't
know that you are aware that where a daily school is
established, it generally brings about with it a
heavy pecuniary burden upon the clergyman;
subscriptions, although ample at first, yearly fall
off, are badly paid, and by degrees discontinued,
until the whole charge, or nearly so, falls upon the
minister; and then the school is necessarily
discontinued. Such has been the fate of many of the
parish schools in. Bucks; and such, very recently,
of one in Rent, the rector of the parish declining,
on account of the charge upon him (as by letters he
informs me), to superintend it any longer.
'You may suppose that, in
the state in which I am, I do not see any one except
upon business of a most urgent nature. � Your most
obedient servant,
J. CAMDEN NEILD.'
Mr. Neild's ordinary answer to
all applications for charitable contributions was a
refusal; but in some few instances it was otherwise.
He once, but only once, gave a pound for the
Sunday-school at North Marston; he contributed �5 or
�10 towards building a school at Aton Clinton, Bucks;
he sent �50 to the Culham Training College; he was an
annual subscriber to the London Asylum for the Blind;
and he promised �300 towards the building of an
infirmary for Buckinghamshire, but withheld it from an
objection to the site. Thus it appears that Mr. Neild,
as a miser, did not quite reach the perfection of the
character which we see displayed in Dancer,
Elwes, and
other examples of this deplorable kind of
eccentricity.
Neither was it true of him, as
said in various obituary notices, that his mind had no
intellectuality�that nature had no beauty or
endearments for him�that he was ' a frigid, spiritless
specimen of humanity.' Mr. Neild, in reality,
possessed. considerable knowledge of legal and general
literature; and, despite his narrow-mindedness on the
subject of money, he retained to the last a love for
the ancient classics, and enjoyed poetical pathos and
elegant phraseology, both in ancient and modern
authors.
So late as the year 1849, the
writer of this notice received, from him a letter
containing a Latin inscription, with his own comments
on it, fully evincing his knowledge of the language,
and his taste for refined and elegant diction, and
even pointing out the exquisite tenderness of one
idea, and the well-chosen words used to express it.
Although he might not duly appreciate works of art or
the beauties of nature, yet he was not blind to their
charms, nor altogether devoid of a certain regard for
them. There is one anecdote which, if true, as there
is reason to believe it is, presents a pleasing
contrast to his general character. It is said that,
finding the son of one of his tenants an exceedingly
clever boy, he persuaded his father to bring him up
for one of the learned professions, and paid him-self,
either wholly or in part, the expenses of his school
and college education. That boy is now a distinguished
scholar, and a dignitary in the Church of England.
In February 1850, Mr. Neild
became subject to a very painful disorder, from which
he suffered more or less to the end of his life. After
that event, among those who were aware of his wealth,
his will necessarily came to light, and great was the
sensation which it occasioned. After bequeathing a few
trifling legacies to different persons, he left the
whole of his vast property, estimated at �500,000, to
'Her Most Gracious Majesty, Queen Victoria, begging
Her Majesty's most gracious acceptance of the seine,
for her sole use and benefit, and her heirs, &c.' The
executors were the Keeper of the Privy Purse, for the
time being; Dr. Henry Tattam, archdeacon of Bedford;
and Mr. Stevens, of Willesborough; to each of whom he
bequeathed �100.
He was buried, on 16th
September, according to his own desire, in the chancel
of North Marston Church�in that very chancel which he
had so elaborately repaired with strips of calico. His
will had excited such curiosity that, though his life
had passed almost unnoticed, a large con-course of
persons assembled at Chelsea to witness the removal of
his body, and the church and churchyard at North
Marston were crowded with wondering�not
lamenting�spectators. Among them were many of his
tenants, of his workmen, and of the poor of the parish
in which he possessed so much property; but not a tear
was shed, not a regret uttered, as his body was
committed to its last resting-place. He had done
nothing to excite their gratitude, to win their
sympathy, or to lay them under the slightest
obligation. His property had passed into other hands,
and they felt it was almost impossible they could
suffer by the change. The only remark heard was: 'Poor
creature! had he known so much would have been spent
on his funeral, he would have come down here to die to
save the expense!'
Two caveats were entered
against his will, but subsequently withdrawn, and the
Queen was left to take undisputed possession of his
property. She immediately increased Mr. Neild's
bequest to his executors to �1000 each; she provided
for his old housekeeper, for whom he had made no
provision, though she had lived with him twenty-six
years; and she secured an annuity on Mrs. Neal, who
had frustrated Mr. Neild's attempt at suicide. Her
Majesty has since, in 1855, thoroughly and judiciously
restored the chancel of North Marston Church, and
inserted an east window of beautifully stained glass,
beneath which is a reredos sculptured in Caen stone,
and bearing this inscription:
'This Reredos, and the
stained-glass window above it, were erected by Her
Majesty Victoria (D. G. B. R. F. D.) in the
eighteenth year of her reign, in memory of John
Camden Neild, Esq., of this parish, who died August
30, 1852, aged 72.'
The chancel, which was built
by the offerings made at the shrine of Sir John
Schorne, a sainted rector of the parish in the
thirteenth century, is a fine specimen of the
perpendicular style, at its best period. It contains
sedilia, piscine, niches, &c.�all richly ornamented
with elaborate sculpture, so that now, with these all
carefully restored, and the addition of its elegant
memorial-window, there is perhaps not a more handsome
chancel to be found in any village church. The rest of
the church, however, is of an earlier and a plainer
style of architecture.