REGENT COLLEGE PACKER COLLECITON Tl1is /look is on lomr fnuu
/1 t' MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF COLONEL HUTCHINSON, GOVERNOR OF NOTTINGHAM CASTLE AND TOWN, REPRESENTATIVE OF THE COUNTY OF NOTTINGHAM IN THE LONG PARLIAMENT, AND OF THE TOWN OF NOTTI NGHAl\f IN THE FIRST PARLIA.MENT 0 .1!' CHAltLES II, ETC. WJ T H ORIGINAL ANECDOTES OP' MANY OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES, a ~ummarp 1\t\ttt\ll of ~ubltc atratr~: WRITTEN BY HIS WIDOW LUCY, DAUGHTER OF SIR ALLEN APSLEY, LIEUTENANT OF THE TOWER, El'C, NOW FIRST PUBLISHED FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT . By the Rev. JULIUS HUTCHINSON. T O W HI C R J S PREFIXED THE LIFE OF MRS. HUTCHINSON, WRITTEN BY HERSELF, .A FRAGMENT . S ECOND EDIT ION . LONDO N: PRINTED I<OR .{.ONG:.'IlAN, IIU RST, REES, AND ORME, PATER~O S 1'.ER ROW, .DY T. RENSLEY, BOI~T COURT1 FL EE1' S TREET. 1808.
TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS GEORGE, PRINCE OF WALES, THESE MEMOIRS ARE, WITH PERMISSION, HUMBLY DEDICATED, IN TESTIMONY OF RESPECT FOR HIS EXALTED CHARACTER, AND OF GRATITUDE FOR HIS PAST AND PRESENT CONDESCENSIONS, BY HIS MOST OBEDIENT. AND DEVOTED SERVANT, THE EDITOR.
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION. TnE sale of a large impression of this work within a few months, at a period too when the public attention was occupied by events of extreme magnitude and interest, and the warm and distinguished commendations of several highly respectable *reviewers, may serve to evince that, in presenting it to· the public, the editor neither over-rated the curiosity and value of its contents, nor augured too favourably of the taste of his contemporaries. But that a character of such pure and exalted virtue and patriotism, that the writer in her own time " feared few persons could believe, because they " found themselves so short, any other could make so large a progresse in " the race of piety, honour, and vertue," should, in our days, find ready credence; and although exhibited only in her " naked undrest narrative, speak- " ing the simple truth of him," should be generally relished, marks that sound and unvitiated state of the Moral Sense in British Society, which must cause exultation in the breast of every lover of his country, and brings forward the Editor with confidence and alacrity to meet the continued demand with a new edition. He has availed himself of this opportunity to introduce some improvements, which have been suggested partly by obliging communications from friends, and partly by farther researches and inquiries of his own. These the reader will find noticed in their proper places. The Editor begs leave here to discharge a duty which is highly agreeable to him, in returning his warmest acknowledgments to the many individuals . from whom he has received encouragement and assistance. In the first rank must naturally be placed the very respectable, and the reverend personares who, by permitting their names to appear as subscribers, gave their sanction * Censura Literaria, Monthly, Annual, Critical, Oxford, and Eclectic Re\'iews.
Vl to the publication. Thei r number would have been found much greater, had not many names been received at too late a period for insertion. To many persons the Editor feels obliged for suggestions and articles of information; but in many instances not knowing, and in others not being allowed to publish the names, he has it in his power only to notice them in this general manner. Of the hints thus furnished he has, as far as he found it practicable, availed himself. He would gladly have Sttbmitted to any censure, however severe, could he have been enabled by that means to lay the work before the public in an improved state. No attempt has, however, been made at correction except by one reviewer; but his criticism and suggested improvements were marked by so many obvious and glaring inaccuracies, that it was not possible for the Editor to confide in his judgment, or submit to his guidance. The Monthly Reviewer seems to consider the Preface to the first edition as needlessly apologetic; but as the same respectable writer admits that it gives a candid view of the narrative and of the work in general, it has been retained in its original state. The execution of the former edition was generally approved of; equal pains have been taken to render the present no way inferior in what regards the arts; and the labour which the Editor has bestowed upon corrections and additional illustrations, give him reason rather to hope for the increase, than fear the diminution of the Public Patronage.
PREFACE. IT is conceived to be necessary, for the satisfaction of the Public, to prefix to this work some account of the Manuscripts from which it has been printed, and of the manner in which they came into the hands of the Editor; which we shall accordingly do, interweaving therewith such subsequent information as we have been itble to collect respecting the families and descendents of Colonel and Mrs. Hutchinson. The Memoirs of the Life of Col. Hutchinson had been seen by many persons, as well as the editor, in the possession of the late Thomas Hutchinson, Esq. of Owthorpe, in Nottinghamshire, and of Hatfield Woodhall, in Hertfordshire; and he had been frequently solicited to permit them to be published, particularly by the late Mrs . Cathar~ne Maccaulay, but had uniformly refused. This ·gentleman dying without issue, the edi tor, his nephew, inherited some part of his es tates which were left unsold, including his mansionhouse of Hatfield Woodhall. In the library he found the following books, written by Mrs. Lucy Hutchinson. lst. The Life of Col. H utchinson. 2d. A book without a title, but which appears to have been a kind of diary made use of when she came to write the Life of Col. Hutchinsoh. Sd. A Fragment, giving an accolint of the early part of her own Ffe. This book clearly appears to have been Mrs. Hutchinson's first essay at composition, and contains, besides the story of her life and family, several short copies of verses, some finished, some unfinished, many of which are above
11 mediocrity. And, 4th. Two Books treating entirely of religious subjects ; in which, although the fancy may be rather too much indulged, the judgment still maintains the ascendancy, and sentiments of exalted piety, liberality and benevolence are delivered in terms apposite, dignified, and perspicuous. These works had all been read, and marked in several places with his initials, by Julius Hutchinson, Esq. of Owthorpe, the father of the late Thomas Hutchinson, Esq. just mentioned, and son of Charles Hutchinson, Esq. of Owthorpe, only son of Sir Thomas Hutchinson by his second wife, the Lady Catharine Stanhope. Lady Catharine Hutchinson lived to the age of 102, and is reported to have retained her faculties to the end of her life.' Some remarks made by the above-mentioned Julius Hutchinsou, which will be found in their proper places in the body of the work, are declared by him to have been communicated by his grandmother Lady Catharine; and as this lady dwelt in splendor at Nottingham, and had ample means of information; as there is only one instance wherein the veracity of the biographer is at all called in question, and even in this, it does not appear to the editor, and probably may not to the reader, that there was sufficient ground for objection; the opposition and the acquiescence of her grandson and herself seem alike to confirm the authenticity and faithfulness of the narrative. There will be found annexed a pedigree of the family of Hutchinson, taken from a very handsome emblazoned genealogy in the possession of the editor, originally traced by Henry St. George, King of Arms, continued and embellished by Thomas Brand, Esq. his majesty's writer and embellisher of letters to the eastern princess, anno 1712, and brought down to the present day ti·om family records. This pedigree shews that Col. Hutchi'hson left four sons, of which the youngest only, John, left issue two sons; and there is a tradition a The edjtor has a very fine portrait of herJ taken at I he age of go.
lll in the family, that these two last descendants of Col. Hutchinson emigrated, the one to the "\i\1 est Indies or America, the other to Russia; the latter is said to have gone out with the command of a ship of war given by Queen Anne to the Czar Peter, and to have been lost at sea. One of the female descendants of the former the editor once met with by accident at Portsmouth, and she spoke with great warmth of the veneration in which his descendants in the 'new world held the memory of their ancestor Col. Hutchinson. Of the daugh ters little more is known than that Mrs. I-Iutchinson, addre~sing one of her books of devotion to her daughter Mrs. Orgill, ascertains that one of them was married to a gen tleman of that name. The family of Mr. Ge01·ge I-Iutchinson likewise became extinct in the second generation. Charles Hutchinson, only son of Sir Thomas Hutchinson by Lady Catharine Stanhope, married one of the da ughters and coheiresses of Sir Franc is Boteler, of Hatfield Woodhall, Herts; which family being zealous royalists, and he solicitous to gain their favour, (which he did so effectually, as in the end to obtain nearly their whole inheritance), it is probable that he gave small encouragement or assistance to the elder branch of the family while they suffered for t heir republican sentiments; on the contrary, it is certain that he purchased of Mrs. Hutchinson and her son, aft er the death of Col. Hutchinson, their estate at Owthorpe, which joined to what his fa ther had given him, and what he obtained by his marriage, raised him to more opulence than his father had ever possessed; and he seems not to have fall en short of him in popularity, for he represented the towne of Nottingham in parliament from the year 1690, (being the first general election after the accession of King William),. till his death. His son J ulius returned into that line of conduct and connections which was most natural for one of his descent, for he married Betty, daughter of Col. Norton, of Wellow, of the well-known pa triotic fah
IV mily of that name in Hampshire, and whose mother was a :Fiennes. He seems to haYc bestowed a very rational and well-deserved atten· tion upon the writings of Mrs. Hutchinson, and there is a tradition in the family, that although he had many children of his own, he treated with kindness and liberality the last descet\dants of his uncle, and ass isted them with money to fit them out for their emigration. The editor has seen a written memorandum of his, expressing his .regret -at hearing no more of them after their departure. From the circumstance of these, the only grandchildreJl of Col. I-Iutchinson, stand ing in need of tl\is pecuniary assistance, from the mention Mrs. I-Iutchinson makes of her husband's debts, and from an expression contained in that book which she addresses to her daughter Mrs. Orgill, desiring her not to despise her advice though she sees her in adversity, it is highly probable that, even after selling her husband's estates, the sum to be divided left each member of the family in strait c ircumstances. The affection and well-merited esteem with which Mrs. 1-Iutchinson speaks of her brother Sir Alien Apsley, will excite an interest in the reader to know what became of him and his posterity; the short pedigree subjoined will shew, that by two marriages, and by the death of his grandson in his minority, the family of Apsley entirely merged in the noble family of Bathurst, who have adopted the name Apsley as their second title; there are five or six of the family of Apsley entombed in Westminster Abbey, near to the entrance of Henry the Seventh's Chapel. Having traced the manuscript from the hands of the writer to thc•Se of t he editor, in such a manner as to establish its authenticity bejond all doubt; the next, and that not a less important point, is to remove those objections which may be~ raised against the tendency of a work of this nature, and to shew that the assumption of any evil tendency is groundless. That avowed predilection for a republican government, which is
V conspicuous in this history, as it was in the lives of the persons who are the principal subjects of it, may perhaps give a momentary alarum; but a little reflection . will dissipate it. At the time when Col. Hutchinson first entered on the great theatre of life, the contest was just begun between the parti~ans of the divine right of the sovereign, ·and the indispensible obligation of the subject to passive obedience and nonresistance, on one side; and the assertors of the claims of the people to command, through their representatives, the public purse, the freedom of debate in parliament, and the responsibility of ministers, on the other. vVhen the sword, the Ratio Ultima Regum, the last appeal of kings, was resorted to by the former, and the latter gained the victory, they very naturally adopted the repnblican system, as concluding, that persons holding such opinions as the princes of the House of Stuart and their adherents did, would never concede to them their franchises, but with a full intention to resume them, whenever they should recover power enough to attempt it with success. The event fully justified tl1is ,·conclusion, and it is now evident to all, that the only thing which could ever give this nation permanent tranquillity, and put an end to those heartburnings which either openly or covertly had existed even from the time of the Norman conquest, was an explicit compact between king and people, which took its elate indeed. from the revolution in 1688, but obtained its consummation at the fortunate accession of the house of Brunswick, when the title of th~ monarch, and the rights of the people, became identified and established on one common basis. Of this truly may be said, . Quod optanti Divum permittere nemo Auderet, voltenda dies en attulit ult1·o. What to his vot'ry not a God dared promise, Revolving years spontaneously p.roduc'd. ' In the reigns of Charles IL and Jamcs IT,
VI. No one will pretend that such an occasion was within the reach of human foresight; of course the only remedy then atta inable was applied· to the disorder of the state. Upon a fair review of the contest it will be seen that what the Tory and the Courtier of the present day, the fri end or even the flatterer of kingly power, admits as axioms, were the grand desiderata of the "Whig and the Patriot of those times, and that what were then cried out upon as da ring encroachments now pass as the most moderate and unquestioned claims. Not to deceive ourselves then with words, nor at tach our minds to names instead of things, although the government under which we prosper be termed Imperial; yet the greater part of the legislative power resting with the people, and the executive being vested in a chief magistrate, who is under so many limitations that he seems placed in that situation very much more for the common weal, the public benefi t, than his own ease or advantage, it must be allowed to come up to Col. Hutchinson's favourite idea of a republic for all beneficial purposes, and would assuredly be not less acceptable to him, for that the hereditary succession would be found to repress that effervescence of individual ambition which it was the study and the labour of his life to keep down. Possessing himself, but ·finding not in others, the virtue worthy of and essential to a republic, he would gladly have taken shel ter under a well-limited monarchy, and of such a one he would unquestionably have been a loyal subject, a vigorous assertor. The Puritani sm which appears in the story, and actuated the conduct of Col. 1-Iutchinson all through life, may be accounted for on almost a similar ground with his predilection for a republic. The puritanic turn of thought and stile of expression had been adopted by the vindicators of religious freedom and right of enquiry, with whom the champions of civil liberty natui·ally made common cause. Divinity as a science was a study then in vogne, and seems to have tinctured the conversation and writings of the greater part
vii of society.' In this Mr. Hutchinson had been encouraged by his father, whose library subsisted at his family seat of Owthorpe till about the year 1775, and contained a vast number of folio volumes of polemical divinity. A study environed with many dangers! and which led Col. Hutchinson into whatever errors he was guilty of. On another hand the ministers of the established church in those times preached up the prerogative in all its extravagance, apd en, - deavoured to establish jointly and inseparably implicit faith in, and unqualified obedience to, the church and king (still giving the church the precedency); whilst the laymen of their party practised, and even professed, a total dissoluteness of life: so that those who were slaves in principle were libertines in practice; while those who were deemed rebels by the court, and latitudinarians by the hierarchy, were rigorists in religion and morality. This contrariety produced a constant and incessant opposition, augmented the vehemence of antipathy, fortified prejudice, and seemed almost to justify bigotry.' But from this (bigotry) we are bound to exculpate Col. Hutchinson. The Independents, to whose party, if a man of so much candour and liberality can be said to be of any party, he belonged, proceeded upon that principle, which, however general soever it ought to be, is however unfortunately very uncommon, of allowing to all that liberty of conscience they demanded for themselves. Accordingly they began by desiring only an act 'to be passed " for taking away all coercive power, authority, c From the practice of dragging religion or re1igious phraseology into the service of politics none, not even the king, was exempt, who, making a speech to his small army in the year 1642, to animate them, tells them they will have none to encounter but rebels, most of them Brownists, Anabaptists, and Atheists! who would destroy both church and commonwealth. d The flower of the French democrates avoided all such inconsistency and paradox by di scarding at once their king, their God, and their morality. e Articles of the army, Rush worth, vol. vii. p. 731.
viii "and jurisuiction, from bishops, extending to civil penalties, &c." It was not till after they saw the extreme pertinaciousness of the king to retain the bishops as instruments at a future opportunity for remounting his system of arbitrary sway, and that " the prelatical " party about him prevailed with him to refuse an accommodation, "and hazard 'his crown and life, rather than diminish their great- " ness and power to persecute others," that they insisted on the abolition of the order.' 1L was quite a different party, that of the rigid Presbyterians, and peculiarly their ministers, "who cried ou~ " against the tyranny of the bishops on ly that they might get the " power into their own hands, and, without the name, might exer- " cise the authority ' of popes." That, i'nstead of this power being irrevocably and immoveably established over us, we are now governed by the mildest chmch discipline in the universe, we owe to these Independents!· Col. I-Iutchinson in particular, if he had lived in times like ours, " when bishops anu ministers desire only to. " be helpers,' not lords over the consciences of God's people," would either have been a conforming member of the church of England, or at most have on ly dissented from it in few things, and that with modesty and moderation. For it is well worthy of notice that, after having suffered provocation and persecution from cathol ic, episcopalian, and presbyterian, when power came into his own hands, he treated all with lenity, and to the worthy persons of all sects and parties extended his protection. "\Ve have next to consider a part of the conduct of Col. Hutchinson wh ich will be the most generally blamed, and is the least capable of defence, the condemnation of Charles the Firs t. To r The words of \Vbitelock, p. 340, where he regrets that the king's chaplains pre- ~ailed with him beyond the parliament's commissioners or his own judgment. g Vide Letter of lrving laird of Drum, and his appeal to Col. Overton; Whitelock, p. 526. "' Words of Cromwe1l in his letter to Scots ministers,_Whitelock, p. 473.
speak of the justice of such a measure in a Jegal point of view would be a mockery; nothing but the breaking up of the very foundations of the state, and a war of its elements, could let in the possibility of such a procedure. Amidst the tempest and darkness which then involved the whole political horizon, it savours of presumption to decide what measures were right, expedient, or even necessary: this much alone may safely be asserted, that the lking and his friends during the contest, and still more after it was virtually ended by the batlle of Naseby, maintained such a conduct as rendered his destruction inevitable: but the remark of Whitelock, p . 363, seems no less · just _than ingenious; "that such an irregular and unheard of business " should have been left to that irregular set of men, the army, who " urged it on." They however were determined to throw the odium on others, or at least drawn others in to share it. ne it as it may, though some may blame, many more will 'pity, a man such as Col. Hutchinson, who found or conceived himself reduced to the cruel alternative of permitting all that system of liberty, civil and religions, to the establishment of which he had devoted all his faculties, and was ready to sacrifice his existence, to be risqucd upon the good faith of a man whose misfortune it was (to say no worse) to be environed by des igning and ambitious persons, who rendered all his virtues abortive, and made all afraid to trust him, or of signing a sentence which has since been called a murder, and the undergo ing it a martyrdom! At any rate it would be highly ungracious and nngrateful in us, while we enjoy in our well-balanced constitution the benefits deri1'ed to us from the virtue, the energy, the sufferings, and even the faults of our ances.tors, to pass a severe censure on their conduct: for it will hardly be denied that the remembrance of his father's fate influenced James the Second to yield so easy and bloodless a victory to his opponents, and leave them to se ttle the constitution arhidst calm and sober councils. On the contrary, we are bound to ascribe many of the
X oversights of those first founders of our liberties to a prec1p1tancy forced on them by urgent circumstances, to cast a vei l over their imperfections, and cherish their memory with thankfulness. So much having been said for the purpose of obviating misapprehension as to the effect of this work, it may be further expected that some merit or utility should be shewn, to justify the Editor in. presenting it to the public notice. Being not the child of his brain . and fancy, but of his adoption and judgmen t, he may be supposed to view it with so much the less partiality, and allowed to speak of it with so much the more freedom . 'l'he only ends for which any book can reasonably be published are to inform, to amuse, or to improve: but unless many persons of highly reputed judgment are mistaken as well .as ourselves, this work will be found to attain all three of them. In point of amusement, perhaps novelty or curiosity holds the foremost rank; and surely we risque little in saying that a history of a period the most remarkable in the British annals, written one hundred and fifty years ago by a lady of elevated birth, of a most comprehensive and highly cultivated mind, herself a witness of many of the scenes she describes, and active in several of them, is a literary curiosity of no mean sort. As to information, although there are many histories of the same period, there is not one that is generally considered satisfactory; most of them carry evident marks of prejudice or partiality; norwere any of those which are now read written at or near the time, or by persons who had an opportunity of being well acquainted with what was •passing, except that of Clarendon. Bu t any one who should take the pains, which the Editor has done, to examine Clarendon's State Papers, would find therein documents much better calculated to support Mrs. Hutchinson's representation of affairs than that which he himself has given. Mrs. Hutchinson writing from a motive which will very seldom be found to induce any one
XI to take so much trouble, that of giving her children, and especially her eldest son, then about · to enter on the stage of life, a true notion of those eventful scenes which had just been passing before her eyes, and which she well judged must be followed by others not less interesting to the same cause and persons, will surely be thought .to have possessed both the means and the inClination to paint with truth and correctness: in effect she will be seen to exhibit such a faithful, natural, and lively picture, of the public mind and manners, taken sometimes in larger, sometimes in smaller groupes, as will give a more satisfactory idea to an observant reader than he will any where else discover. He will be further pleased to see avoided the most common error of historians, that of displaying the paradoxical a11d the marvellous, both in persons and things. But surely the use of history being to instruct the present and future ages by the experience of the past, nothing can be more absurd than a wish to excite and leave the reader in astonishment, which instead of assisting, can only confound his judgment. Mrs. Hutchinson, on the contrary, has made it her business, and that very successfully, to account by common and easy causes for many of those actions and effects which others have left unaccounted for, and only to be gazed at in unmeaning wonder; or, in attempting to account for them, have employed vain subtility or groundless conjecture. She has likewise not merely described the parties in the state by their general characte1:, but delirteated them in their minute 1'amifications, and thus enabled us to trace the springs, and discover the reasonableness, of many of those proceedings which had hitl;!erto seemed incongruous and inconsistent. . Many of these instances will be pointed out in the notes as the passages arise: at present we will only observe that some very signal ones will be found, pages ·57, 66, 72, 81, 131, 142, 200, 203, 206, 252, 265, 268-9, 270, 275, 277, 288, 303, 307, 313, 315, 326, 328, 333,346,348,355,360,362. c
Xll But the greater merit shall appear in this work as a history, the greater will be the regret that the writer did not dedicate more of her attention to render it complete and full, instead of summary. However, the most numerous class of readers are the lovers of biography, and to these it has of late been the practice of historians to address themselves, as Lyttleton in his Life of Henry the Second, Robinson of Charles the Fifth, Roscoe of Leo the Tenth, and many minor writers. Perhaps the prevalence of this predilection may be traced to the circumstance of the reader's thus feeling ioimself to be, as it were, a party in the transactions which are recounted. A person of this taste will, it is hoped, here have his wishes completely gratified; for he will, in fancy, have lived in times, and witnessed scenes the most interesting that can be imagined to the human mind, especially the mind of an Englishman; he will have converst with persons the most celebrated and extraordinary, who~ one party represent as heroes and demigods, the other as demons, but whom, having had opportunity to view close at hand, he will judge to have been truly great men, and to have carried at. once to a high degree of perfection the characters of the warrior, the politician, the legislator, and the philosopher; yet to have had their great qualifications alloyed by such failings, and principally the want of moderation, as defeated their grand designs. He will have accompanied the Hero of the Tale, not only through all the ages of life, but through almost every situation in society, from the lowest that can become noticeable, which Mrs. Hutc)oinson calls the even ground of a gentleman; · to the highest which his principles permitted him to aspire to, that of a counsellor of state, in a large and flourishing republic; he will have seen him mark each with the exercise of its appropriate grace or virtue, and so completely to have adapted himseif to each department, as to appear always to move in the sphere most natural to.him: and, finally, to have maintained so
XIll steady a course through all the vicissitudes of prosperity and adversity, as enabled him, though he could neither control the conduct· of his coadjutors, nor stem the fluctuating tides of fortune or popular opinion, yet to preserve for himself not only the great and inexhaustible resource of a good conscience, but eyen the unanimous esteem of the Great Assembly of the Nation, when they agreed in no other thing: he will no doubt be sensible that such a character is rare, but he will perceive such a consistency and harmony of parts as to make him deem the whole easy of belief, and conclude that such an one would be even more difficult to feign than to find: he will hence be lt;d to concur with us in asserting, that it is much more efficacious and conducive to improvement and to the advancement of morality thus to hold forth a great example in real life, and to elicit principle from practice, than first to feign a sentiment, and then actions and events to st1pport it, as has been done both by ancients and moderns, from the Hercules of Prodicus to the Grandison of Richardson. Nor has the ski ll and attention of our author been confined to the pourtraying of her principal character, she has equally succeeded in the delineation of the subordinate ones; · so that whenever their speeches or actions are brought afi·esh before our view, we need not that they should be named in order to recognize the personage ; and both in this department, and in that of the development of the intrigues which she occasionally lays open to us, we shall acknowledge the advantage of her adding to the vigour of a masculine understanding, the nice feeling and discrimination, the delicate touch of the pencil of a female. As to the stile and phraseology, thete are so few prose w1·itings of a prior or coeval date now read, that we should be at a loss to point out any which could have served her for models, or us for a standard of comparison; nor does it so much appear to us to bear the stamp of any particular age, as by its simplicity, significancy, and propriety, to be worthy of imitation in all times. Some ex-
XIV pressions will be found that are uncommon, or used in an uncoillmon sense, but they are such as are justified by classical propriety, and, had her book been published, would probably have been adopted and brought into 'general use. The orthography was in Mrs. Hutchinson's time in a most unsettled state, and she herself varies it so frequently, that it many times differs within the same page, and even the same sentence, we have cont~nted ourselves with following her in it literally. We conclude with expressing a confident hope that the public will find this memoir to be such as we first announced it, a faithful image of the mode of thinking in those days of which it treats, an interesting and new specimen of private and public character, of general and individual biography, and that recommended as it comes by clearness of discernment, strength and candour of judgment, simplicity, and perspicuity of narrative, pure, amiable, and 'christian morality, sentiments at once tender and elevated, conveyed in language elegant, expressive, and classical, occasionally embellished with apposite, impressive, and well supported figures, it will be found to afford pleasure and instruction to every class of readers. The ladies will feel that it carries with it all the interest of a novel , strengthened with the authenticity of real history; they will no doubt feel an additional satisfaction in learning, that though the author added to the erudition of th~ scholar, the research of the philosopher, the politician, and even the divine; the zeal and magnanimity of a patriot; yet she descended from all these elevations to perform, in the most exemplary manner, the functions of a wife, a mother, and mistress of a family.
TII£ LIFE OF MRS. LUCY HUTCHINSON, WRTTTEN llY HERSELF. .A FR.AGJ\1.ENT. THE Almighty Author of all beings, • in his various provide.nces, whereby he conducts the lives of men from the cradle to the tomb, exercises no !esse wisdome and goodnesse then he ma~ifests power and greatnesse in their creation, but such is the stupidity of blind mortalls that insteed of employing their studies in these admirable bookes of providence, wherein God dayly exhibitts to us glorious characters of his love, kindnesse, wisdome, and iustice, they ungratefully regard them not, and call the most wonderful! operations of the greate God the common accidents of humane life, sprycially if they be such as are usual!, and exercised towards them in ages wherein they are not very capable of observation, and whereon they se!dome employ any reflexion; for in things greate and extraordinary a That noble turn of thought which led Mrs. Hutchinson to open her work with th;:mks to he r Maker, instead of apologies to the readers, besides the claim it has to their respect instead of t1 1eir indulgence, will probably, by its originality, recommend itself, and prevent the d istaste which the air of religion, it wears, might give to many, in t imes when it is so little in fashion. It should be born in mind that the usage of the times in which it \V(I.s written was so very different from the present, that those who wi sh to read with pleasure the works then written, will do well to set their taste according to that standard. Through the whole of both these works moral and religious reflections will be seen to a.bound, but so as neither to confuse nor fetter, but rather elevate the mind. B
some perhaps will take notice of God's working, who either forgett or believe not that he takes as well a care and account of thei r smallest concernmenl8, even the haires of their heads . Finding myselfe in some kind gnilty of this generall neglect, I thought it might be a mcanes to stirre up my tha.nkefulnesse for things past, and to encourage my faith for the future, if I recollected, as much as I have heard or can remember, of the passages of my youth, and the genera]] and particular proviclcnccs exercis'd to me, both in the entrance and progress of my life. Il crein 1 meete with so many speciall indulgences as require a distinct consideration, they · beinp; all of them to be regarJed as talents in trusted to my emproovement for God's glory. Tbc parents by whom I rcceiv'd my life, the places where I began and continued it, the time when I was brought forth to be a witnesse of God's wonderfull workings in the earth, the rank that was given me in my generation, and the advantages I receiv'cl in my person, each of them carries aiJong with it many mercies which are above my utterance, and as they give me infinite cause of glori(ying God's goodnesse, so I cannot reflect on them without deepe humiliation for the small emproovement I have made of so rich a stock; which that I may yet by God's grace better employ, I shall recall and seriously ponder: and first, as farre as I have since learnt, sett downe the condition of things in the place of my nativity a t that time when I was sen t into the world . It was on the 29' ' day of January, in the yeare of our Lo rd 16 ~{ that in the Tower of London, the principall citie of the Engl ish Isle; I was about 4 of the clock in the morning brought forth to behold the ensuing light. My father was Sr. Alien Apslcy, lieftenani of the Tower of London; my mother, his third wife, was Lt1cy, the youngest daughter of Sr. John St. J ohn, of Lidiard Tregoz, in Wil tshire, by his second wife. lVIy father haJ then living a. sonne and a daughter by his former wives, and by my mother three sons, I being her eldest daughter. The land was then att peace, (it being towards the·
latter end of the reigne of king James) if that q uietnesse may be call'd a peace, which was rather like the calme and smooth surface of the sea, whose darke womb is all ready impregnated of a horrid : tempest. Whoever considers England, ' will find ill no .small fiwour of God to have bene made one of its natives, both upon sp iritual! and outward accounts . The happinesse of the soy le and ayre contribute all things that arc necessary to the use or delight of man's life. The celebrated glory of this isle's inhabitants, ever since they receiv'd a niention in history, confers some honor upon every one of her chil· dren, and with it an obligation to continue in that magnanimitie ana virtne, IV hi ch bath fam' cJ this island, and rays'd her head in glory, higher then the greate kingdomes of the neighbouring conti- . nent. Brittaine hath bene as a garden enclosed, wherein all things that m_an can wish, to make a pleasant life, are planted and grow in her owne soyle, and whatsoever forreigne countries yield to encrease admiration and delight, are brought in by her fleetes. The p eople, by the plenty of their country, not being forc'd to toyle for bread, have ever addicted themselves to more generous employments, and bene reckoned, allmost in all ages, as valliant warriours as any part of the world sent forth : insomuch that the greatest Homan captaines thought it not unworthy of their expeditions, and tooke greate glory in triumphs for unperfect conquests. Lucan upbraids Julius Cresar for returning hence with a repulse, and 'twas 200 -yeares before the land could be reduc'd into a Homan province, which att length was clone, and suc.:h of the nation, then call' cl Pict.s, as scorn'd servitude, were dri1·en into the barren country of Scotland, where they have ever since remain' cl a perpetual! trouble to the successive inhabib If Mrs. Hu tchinson in. descan ting upon the advantages of her native country, and gi ving almost an epitome of its hi story, should seem to digress a little too much, it is hoped the reader will find beauty and singularity in her sketch sufficient to cxcme it.
4 tants of this .place. The Brittaines that thought it better to worke for their conquerors in a good land, then to have the freedom "to sterve in a cold and barren quarter, were by degrees fetcht away, and wasted in the civill broyles of these Roman lords, till the land, allmost depopulated, lay open to the incursions of every borderer, and were forc 'd to call a stout warlike people, the Saxons, out of Germany, to their assistance. These willingly came at their call, but were not so easily sent out againe, nor perswaded to lett their hosts inhabite with them, for they drove the Brittaines into the mountaines of "Vales, and seated themselves in those pleasant countries which from the ne 11• masters receiv'd a new name, and ever since retain'd it, being call'd England; on which the warlike Dane made many attempts, with various successe, but after about 2 or 300 yeares vaine contest, they were for ever driven out, with shame and losse, and the Saxon Heptarchie melted into a monarchie, which continued till the superstitious prince, who was sainted for his ungodly chastitie, left an emptie throne to him that could seize it. He who first set up his standard in it, could not hold it, but with his life left it againe for the Norman usurper, who partly by violence, partly by falshood, layd here the foundation of his monarchie, in the people's blood, in which it hath sworn about 500 ycares, till the flood that bore it was plow'd into such deepe furrows as had alhnost sunke the proud vessel!. Of those Saxons that remain'd subjects to the Norman conqueror, my father's famely descended; of those Normans that came in with him, my mother's was derived; both of them, as all the rest in England, contracting such affinity, by mutuall marriages, that the distinction remain'd but a short space; Normans and Saxons becoming one people, who by their vallom grewe terrible to all the neighbouring princes, and have not only bravely quitted themselves in their owne defence, but have shew'd abroad, how easily they could subdue the world; if they did not preferre the quiett enioyment of their owne part above the conquest of the whole.
5 Better lawes and a happier constitution of government no nation ever enioy'd, it being a mixture of monarchy, aristocratie, and · democracy, with suflkieut fences against the pest of every one of those formes, tiranny, faction, and confusion; yett is it nott possible for man to devizc such iust and excellent bounds, as will keepe in wild amb ition, when prince's flatterers encou rage that beast to breake his fence, which it hath often done, with miserable consequences both to the prince and people: but could never in any age so t!'ead downe popular liberty, but that it rose againe with renewed vigor, till at length it trod on those that trampled it before. And in the iust bounds wherein our kings were so well hcdg'd in, the surround-. ing princes have with terrol' sene the reproofe of their usurpations over thei r free brethren, whom they rule rather as slaves then subiects, and are only serv'd for fcare, but not for love; whereas this people have ever bene as afectionate to good as unpliable to bad soveraigncs. Nor is it only vallour and generosity that renowne this nation; in arts wee have advanc'd equall to our neighbors, and in those that are most excel lent, exceeded them. The world bath not yielded men more famous in navigation, nor ships better built or furnisht. Agricul ture is as ingeniously practis'd: the English archery were the terror of Ciui;tenrlome, and their clothf's the ornament: but these low things bounded not their greate spiritts, in all ages it bath yielded men as famous in all kinds of lea rning, as Greece or Ita!y can boast of. And to compl eate the crowne of all their glorie, reflected from the lustre of their ingt~nuity, vallour, witt, learning, iustice, wealth, aod bounty, their pielie and devotion to God, and his worship, hath made them one of the most truly noble nations in the Christian world. God baYing as it were enclosed a people here, out of the wast common of the world, to serve him with a pure and undefiled worship. Lncius the Bri ttish king was one of the first monarchs. of
6 the earth that receiv'd the faith of Christ into his heart and kingdome: I-Ienrie the eighth, the first prince that broke the antichristian yoake of fi·om his owne and his subiccts necks. Here it was that the first Christian emperor, receiv 'd his crowne: Here began the early dawn~ of gospel! light, by vVickliffe and other faithful wittnesses, whom God rays'd up after the black and horrid midnight of antichristianisme, and a more plcntifull harves t of devout confessors, constant martirs, and holy worshippers of God, bath not growne in any field of the church, throughout all ages, then those whom God hath here glorified his name and gospel! by. Yett harh not this whcate bene without its tares, God in comparison with other countries bath made this as a paradice, so, to compleate the parallel!, the serpent hath in all times bene busy to seduce, and not unsucccssfull, ever stirring up opposers to the infant truths of Christ. No sooner was the faith of Christ embrac'd in this nation, but the neighbouring heathens invaded the innocent Christians, and slanghter'd multitudes of them; and when, by the mercy of God, the conquering Pagans were afterwards converted, and that there were none left to opose the name of Christ with open hostillity; then the subtile serpent putt of his owne horrid nppearance, and comes out in a Christian dresse, to persecute Ch rist in his poore prophetts, that bore witnesse against the corrup tion of the times. This intestine quarrell hath bene more successeful to the dev il!, and more afiictive to the church then all open warres, and I feare, will never happily be decided, till the Prince of Peace come to conclude the controversie, which att the time of my birth was working up into that tempest, wherein I have shar'd many perill s, many feares, and many sorrows, and many more mercies, consolations and preservations, which I shall have occasion to mention in other places. From the place of my birth I shall only desire to remember the goodnesse of the Lord who hath caused my lott to fall in a good ground, who hath fed m'" in a pleasant pasture where the well-
7 springs of life flow to all that desire to drinke of them. And this is no small favour, if I consider how many poore people perish among the hea then, where they never heare the name of Christ; how many poore Christians spring up in countries enslav'd by Turkish and anticlni stian tirants, whose soulcs and bodies languish under miserable slavery. None knowes what mercy 'tis to live under a good and whol esome Jaw, that have not consider'd the sad condition of being subject to the wi ll of an unlimited man, and surely 'tis too universal! a sin in this nation, that the common mercies of God to the whole land, are so slightly regarded and so unconsiderately past over; certa inly these are circumstances which much magnifie God's lovingkindnesse and his special] f;1vor to all tha t are of English birth, and call for a greater returne of duty from us then from all other p eople of the world. Nor is the place only, but the time of my comming into the world. a COI1Siclerable mercy to me. It was not in the midnight of poperie, nor in the clawne of the gospell 's restored day, when light and shades were blended and almost undistinguisht, but when the Sun of t ruth was exalted in his progresse and has tening towards a meridian glory. It was indeed ea rly in the morning, God being pleased to allow me the privilledge of beholding the admirable g rowth of gospell light in my dayes : and oh! that my soule may never f(Jrgett to bl esse and prayse hi s name for the wonders of power and goodnesse, wisdome and truth, whi ch have bene manifested in this my. time. The next blessing I have to consider in my nativity is my parents, both of them pious and vertuous in their owne conversation, and carefull instructors of my youth, not only by precept but example. Which if I had leizure and al:lillity, I should ha~e transmitted to my posterity, both to give them vhe honor due from me in such _a gratefu l! memoriall, and to encrease my children's em-. proovement of the patterns they sett them;. bnt since I shall detract
8 from those I would celebrate, by my imperfect commemorations, I shall con tent myselfe to summe up some few things for my owne use, and let the rest alone, which I either knew not, or have forgo tten, or cannot worthyly expresse. My grandfather by t he father's side was a gentleman of a competent estate, about 7 or 8001. a ycare, in Sussex. He being descended of a younger house, had his residence att a place called Pulborough; the famcly out of which he came was an Apsley of Apsley, a townc ";here they had bene seated before the conquest, and ever since con tinued, till of late the las t !wire male of that eldest house, being the sonne of Sr. Edward Apsley, is dead without issue, and his estate gone with his sister's daughters into other iamelies. Particularities concerning my father's kinch·cd or country, I never knew much of, by reason of my youth, at the time of his -death, and my educat ion in farre distant places, only in generall I have heard, that my grandf>1ther was a man well reputed and be~ loved in his country, and that it had bene such a continued custome for my ancestors to take wives att home, tha t there was scarce a famely of any note in Sussex, to which they were not by inter marriages neerely related; but I was myselfe a stranger to them all, except my Lord Goring, who living att court, I have sene with my father, and heard of him, because he was appoy nted one of my father's executors, though he declin'd the trou ble. l\·fy grandfather had seven sonns, of which my father was the youngest: to the eldest he gave his whole estate, and to the rest, according to the custome of those times, slight annuities. The eldes t brother married to a gentlewoman of a good famely, and by her had only one sonne, whose mother dying, my uncle married himselfe aga ine to one of his own maides, and by her had three more sons, whom, with their mother, my cousin William Apsley, the sonne of the first wife, held in such contempt, that a greale while after, dying without , children, he gave his estate of inheritance to my father, and two of
9 my brothers, except about lOO!. a yeare to the eldest of his halfe • brothers, and annuities of SOl. a piece to the S for their lives. He died before I was borne, but I have heard very honorable mention of him in our famely; the rest of my father's brothers went into the warres in Ireland and the Low Countries, and there remain'd none of them, nor their issues when I was born, but only three daughters who bestowed themselves meanely, and their generations are worne out except two or three unregarded children. My father att the death of my grandfather being but a youth att schoole had not patience to stay the perfecting of his studies, but putt himselfe into present action, sold his annuitie, bought himselfe good clothes, put some mony in his purse, and came to London; and by meanes of a relation at court, got a place in the household of Queene Elizabeth, where he behav'd himselfe so that he won the love of many of the court; but being young tooke an affection to gaming, and spent most of the mony he had in his purse. About that time the Em·le of Essex wa" setting forth for Cales voyage, and my father, that had a mind to quitt his idle court life, procur'd an employment from the Victuallar of the Navie, to goe allong with that fleete. In which vojage he demean'd himselfe with so much courage and prudence, that after his returne he was honor'd with a very noble and profitable employment in Ireland. There a rich widow that had many children cast her affections upon him, and he married her; "but she not living many yeares with him, and having no children by him; •after her death he distributed all her estate among her children, for whom he ever preserv'd a fatherly kindnesse, and some of her grandchildren were brought up in his house after I was borne. He, by God's blessing, and his fidellity and industry, growing in estate and honor, receiv'd a knighthood from King James soone after his coming to the crowne, for some eminent service done to him in Ireland, which having only heard in my childhood, I cannot perfectly sett downe. After that growing into a familiarity with c
10 Sr. George Carew, made now by the King Earl of 'l'otnesse, a niece of this earls, the daughter of Sr. Peter Carew, who liv'd a young widow in her uncle's house, fell in love with him, which her uncle perceiving, procur'd a marriage betweene them. ·She had divers children by my father, but only two of them, a sonne and daughter, surv iv'd her, who died whilst my father was absent from her in Ireland. He led all the time of his widdowhood a very disconsolate li fe, care ful! for nothing in the world but to ed ucate and advance the sonne and daughter, the deare pledges she had left him, for whose sake he quitted himselfe of his employments abroad, and procur'd himselfc the office of Victualler of the Navie, a place then both of cred it and greate revenue. His friends, considering his solitude, had procur'd him a match of a very rich widdow, who was a lady of as much discretion as wealth; but while he was upon this . designe he chanc'd to see my 1nother, a tt the house of Sr. William St. John, who had married her eldest sister, and though he went on his iourney , yelt something in her person and behaviour, he carried allong with 1'1im, which would not lett .him accomplish it, but brought him back to my mother. She was or' a nobl e famely, being the youngest daughter of Sr. John St. John, of Lidiar 'l'regoz, in the county of W'iltz; her father and mother died when she was not above five yea res of age, and yet at her nurses, from whence she was carried to be brought up in the house of the Lord Grandison, her father's younger brother, an honorable and excellent person, but married to a lady so iealous of him, and so illnatured in her iealous fitts, to any thing that was related to him, that her cruelti es to my mother exceeded the stories of stepmothers: the rest of my aunts, my mother's sisters, were disperst to sel'erall places, where they grew up till my uncle Sr. John St. John being married to the daughter of Sr. Thomas Laten, they were all againe brought home to their brother's house. There were not in those days so many beautiful! women found in any famelj as these, but my mother was by the mcst indgemcuts prcferr'd before all her elder sisters, who, some-
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