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remained neutral, in order to please his Bristol friends, who were afraid that, if he offended the castle, they should get no more funds thence for future contests. At Coleford, where the cowardly outrage was committed, as well as in Newnham, port, sherry, cider, and beer were so profusely handed about in cans, that he had seen not only men, but children, lying by the wayside in the gutters in a state of drunken helplessness."

In another part of the book Mr. Grantley Berkeley says that on this occasion his brother Henry had very little assistance from Lord Fitzhardinge for his election at Bristol. He estimates, perhaps with exaggeration, the total expense for Lord Fitzhardinge of his unsuccessful effort in West Gloucestershire at thirty thousand pounds; while the expenses on Mr. Grantley Berkeley's side, which were subscribed for by his supporters, are said by him to have been under eighteen hundred pounds.

One separate means of coercion used by Lord Fitzhardinge, as unsuccessfully as all the rest, yet remains to be told, and is thus related by Mr. Grantley Berkeley :

"From the time that I came forward at his request in 1831-2, Lord Fitzhardinge had put my name down to all subscription lists and clubs that he pleased; he asked my permission to do so under the promise that for every expense so incurred he would be answerable. I also, at his request, commanded his squadron of yeomanry on the same understanding. For some time, however, and evidently with the design of crushing me, he had left accounts in arrear, all standing in my name, while at the same time the receipts for part payments were in his hands.

"Soon after he had ordered me to give up the representation of the division, he desired me to quit the yeomanry, again giving out that it was my personal unpopularity that necessitated my retirement. That falsehood having been sufficiently exposed, I refused to obey, every man of the squadron swearing to stand by me, their captain. The Lord-Lieutenant once more found himself in an awkward fix, but he ventured to send his agent, Mr. Joyner Ellis, to the non-commissioned officers of the squadron, some of whom were his powerful tenants, with a sort of round-robin, to which he thus desired them to put their names, stating in writing that they wished to retire from the troop because they did not like me, their commanding officer, I had become so overbearing and unpopular-or words to that effect. Mr. Ellis called some of the noncommissioned officers together, set this document before them, and ordered them to

Willis's Elm, as spokesman for himself and his comrades, held out his right arm, and said, "There, Mr. Ellis; I'd sooner chop that off than set my name to such a lie.'

"This attempt, therefore, failed; still he went on, and caused the same agent to let his tenants know that those who retained their service under me would inevitably lose their farms. This menace brought me and my men together. I was far from desirous that they should act to their own disadvantage, but they were ready to dare everything rather than fail me in my need. We came to a resolution that all who feared to lose their farms should resign with my leave, but not until they had procured a friend to fill their saddles, while the more opulent tenants, who did not care for threats, were to continue to serve. After the election had terminated, I informed them that I should decline to serve in the yeomanry any longer, and suggested that we might retire together. This arrangement was carried out to the full.

"Lord Fitzhardinge felt himself foiled, for my drills were attended by my usual number of men, and he saw that, unless by some still more desperate move, he could not prevent the usual muster under me for permanent duty in Stokes Croft, at Bristol. On this he went to the colonel of the regiment, the Duke of Beaufort. . . . The upshot of it was that, after close communication with Lord Fitzhardinge, I received an order from the duke to pay up years of arrears of my mess-bills and troop expenses, all of which Lord Fitzhardinge had undertaken to pay, and of which I had previously known nothing, and that, unless I immediately did so, I was not to attend the muster of the regiment.

"These were hard lines to me. I did not know that anything was owing on my account, and upon inquiry I found that there was an arrear of a considerable sum. My finances had so rapidly diminished that, like Walter, surnamed the Penniless,' in the Crusades, I knew myself to be a good general, and to have a large following, but I had not of my own a 'stiver to pay my troops.' A friend started up, a Mr. Clayton, who offered to advance me some money on a note of hand. He did so ; and, paying the arrears thus purposely left to assist in my ruin, I laughed in the face of Duke and Lord-Lieutenant, and marched to Bristol with my squadron for the muster of the regiment.

"My way to the parade lay through Thornbury, and the town turned out to welcome the squadron as it passed; to the compliment so conveyed of course I carried swords; and, placing themselves by my side at the head of the squadron, Mr. Townsend, the Vicar of Thornbury, and his two daughters, rode with me some miles on my way. Along the fourteen miles of road, and at Bristol, a welcome to the " Berkeley squadron hung out from many a window, and I was considerably amused at seeing my commander, the to me hostile duke, studying their devices

was

fulfilled-it has produced a vast effect upon social life; but it has certainly neither tended to prolong youth nor to retard old age.

These early alchemists, indeed, do not appear to have foreseen the usage of their newly-discovered spirit as an exciting and intoxicating drink, nor does it appear to have been employed for this purpose to much extent before the sixteenth century. It was considered as a medicinal potion, and, perhaps, in course of time, it began to be taken as a cordial " on the sly." It was probably very expensive, and no doubt a great mystery was made about it; but people who could possess it, and were persuaded that it would preserve youth and keep off old age, would be frequently tempted to take a dose, when they might not in outward appearance be in want of it. The use of aqua vitæ as a drink appears to have increased rapidly during the sixteenth century, until the regular consumption must have become very considerable. It is spoken of as a thing in common use in the plays of Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and Beaumont and Fletcher; and the 66 aqua-vitæ man," who carried it about for sale, is introduced as a common character. In the comedy of the "Beggar's Bush," by the two last-mentioned dramatists, the aqua-vitæ man calls his merchandize "brand wine," which (meaning simply burnt wine) was the name by which it was known in Dutch, and was the origin of its modern name, brandy. The earliest large manufacture of brandy, in fact, was seated in the Low Countries and Germany. At the close of the seventeenth and the commencement of the eighteenth centuries Strasburg and Nantes were celebrated for this manufacture, at least, it was from those two cities that the best brandies were brought to England.

In Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," Sir Toby Belch talks of brandy as a favourite drink with midwives; and from that time forwards we may trace among female society in all ranks a gentle leaning towards the exhilarating

conceal the true character of the liquor they were drinking under disguises, and an immense quantity of brandy was consumed indirectly in making what were usually termed "cordial waters," because they were supposed to be taken for medicinal purposes, though some people were plain enough to call them strong waters. It must be remembered that one of the greatest accomplishments of the lady of the house in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was skill in the art of distilling, and that every well-ordered household of any respectability possessed its alembic or still, until the exciseman came to suppress the practice. In that curious book for the illustration of social manners, the "Ladies' Dictionary," published by John Dunton, the bookseller, at the close of the seventeenth century, we are told, under the head of "Distillation," that "Every young gentlewoman. "is to be furnish'd with very good stills, "for the distillations of all kinds of "waters-which stills must be either of

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tin, or sweet earth; and in them she "shall distil all manner of waters meet "for the health of her household." The essential of these waters always consisted of brandy; but it was disguised and flavoured by a great variety of ingredients, consisting, however, chiefly of herbs. We know tolerably well the composition of most of these cordials, from the receipts for making them, which were soon collected and printed in small books-a continuous series of which exist, beginning with the sixteenth century. These books appear under rather quaint names. One of the earliest I know, printed in 1595, is entitled, "The Widdowes Treasure." The "waters" it contains are called by Latin names rosa solis, aqua composita, and aqua rosæ solis. The title of another similar book, printed in the year following, is "The Good Huswifes Jewell," and its cordials are, rosemary water, water imperiall, cinnamon water, Dr. Stephens's water, aqua composita, and water of life-this latter stated to be a great cordial, good especially "for to quicken the memory of man.'

The Berkeleys: A Political Lesson.

remained neutral, in order to please his Bristol friends, who were afraid that, if he offended the castle, they should get no more funds thence for future contests. At Coleford, where the cowardly outrage was committed, as well as in Newnham, port, sherry, cider, and beer were so profusely handed about in cans, that he had seen not only men, but children, lying by the wayside in the gutters in a state of drunken helplessness."

In another part of the book Mr. Grantley Berkeley says that on this occasion his brother Henry had very little assistance from Lord Fitzhardinge for his election at Bristol. He estimates, perhaps with exaggeration, the total expense for Lord Fitzhardinge of his unsuccessful effort in West Gloucestershire at thirty thousand pounds; while the expenses on Mr. Grantley Berkeley's side, which were subscribed for by his supporters, are said by him to have been under eighteen hundred pounds.

One separate means of coercion used by Lord Fitzhardinge, as unsuccessfully as all the rest, yet remains to be told, and is thus related by Mr. Grantley Berkeley :

"From the time that I came forward at his request in 1831-2, Lord Fitzhardinge had put my name down to all subscription lists and clubs that he pleased; he asked my permission to do so under the promise that for every expense so incurred he would be answerable. I also, at his request, commanded his squadron of yeomanry on the same understanding. For some time, however, and evidently with the design of crushing me, he had left accounts in arrear, all standing in my name, while at the same time the receipts for part payments were in his hands.

"Soon after he had ordered me to give up the representation of the division, he desired me to quit the yeomanry, again giving out that it was my personal unpopularity that necessitated my retirement. That falsehood having been sufficiently exposed, I refused to obey, every man of the squadron swearing to stand by me, their captain. The Lord-Lieutenant once more found himself in an awkward fix, but he ventured to send his agent, Mr. Joyner Ellis, to the non-commissioned officers of the squadron, some of whom were his powerful tenants, with a sort of round-robin, to which he thus desired them to put their names, stating in writing that they wished to retire from the troop because they did not like me, their commanding officer, I had become so overbearing and unpopular or words to that effect. Mr. Ellis called some of the noncommissioned officers together, set this document

before them, and ordered them to attach their names; when Sergeant Jones, of

Willis's Elm, as spokesman for himself and his comrades, held out his right arm, and said, "There, Mr. Ellis; I'd sooner chop that off than set my name to such a lie.'

66

"This attempt, therefore, failed; still he went on, and caused the same agent to let his tenants know that those who retained their service under me would inevitably lose their farms. This menace brought me and my men together. I was far from desirous that they should act to their own disadvantage, but they were ready to dare everything rather than fail me in my need. We came to a resolution that all who feared to lose their farms should resign with my leave, but not until they had procured a friend to fill their saddles, while the more opulent tenants, who did not care for threats, were to continue to serve. After the election had terminated, I informed them that I should decline to serve in the yeomanry any longer, and suggested that we might retire together. This arrangement was carried out to the full.

'Lord Fitzhardinge felt himself foiled, for my drills were attended by my usual number of men, and he saw that, unless by some still more desperate move, he could not prevent the usual muster under me for permanent duty in Stokes Croft, at Bristol. On this he went to the colonel of the regiment, the Duke of Beaufort. . . . The upshot of it was that, after close communication with Lord Fitzhardinge, I received an order from the duke to pay up years of arrears of my mess-bills and troop expenses, all of which Lord Fitzhardinge had undertaken to pay, and of which I had previously known nothing, and that, unless I immediately did so, I was not to attend the muster of the regiment.

"These were hard lines to me. I did not know that anything was owing on my account, and upon inquiry I found that there was an arrear of a considerable sum. My finances had so rapidly diminished that, like Walter, surnamed the Penniless,' in the Crusades, I knew myself to be a good general, and to have a large following, but I had not of my own a 'stiver to pay my troops.' A friend started up, a Mr. Clayton, who offered to advance me some money on a note of hand. He did so ; and, paying the arrears thus purposely left to assist in my ruin, I laughed in the face of Duke and Lord-Lieutenant, and marched to Bristol with my squadron for the muster of the regiment.

66

My way to the parade lay through Thornbury, and the town turned out to welcome the squadron as it passed; to the compliment so conveyed of course I carried swords; and, placing themselves by my side at the head of the squadron, Mr. Townsend, the Vicar of Thornbury, and his two daughters, rode with me some miles on my way. Along the fourteen miles of road, and at Bristol, a welcome to the "Berkeley squadron" was hung out from many a window, and I was considerably amused at seeing my commander, the to me hostile duke, studying their devices as they waved above his head.

"As soon as the duty was over, I broke my sword, when I for the last time dismissed my men, across the pommel of my saddle, much to my old charger's astonishment, and told them that I would never again serve under any man who had lent himself, as the duke had done, to acts of undeserved oppression. Thus ended my yeomanry service."

It was

Soon after the assembling of the new parliament, a petition signed by a number of electors was presented to the House of Commons, praying for inquiry into the conduct of Earl Fitzhardinge, a peer and the Lord-Lieutenant of the County, with reference to the West Gloucestershire election; and on December 14th, 1847, Mr. Wakley moved for the appointment of a Select Committee to inquire into and report upon the allegations of the petition. The petition contained many serious charges, and was sufficiently specific. The coercion by Lord Fitzhardinge of his tenants, to make them resign their service in the yeomanry under his brother, was charged in the petition. alleged that he had on two occasions offered large sums of money to Mr. Grantley Berkeley to induce him to withdraw from the contest. The petition stated that "Earl Fitzhardinge, "during and about the time of the said "election, paid, or caused to be paid, "large sums of money for the purchase "of votes, and for treating voters, and "for the instigation of violence, by "which an extensive and organized system of personal violence, gross immorality, bribery, corruption, and in"timidation was carried on at the said "election." Such were the statements of the petition; and the incidents of the contest and the election were notorious, having for a period of many months engaged the attention of the public. It would have been expected that the House of Commons would be impatiently eager to investigate the charges against Lord Fitzhardinge, for there are orders of the House of Commons, formally renewed at the beginning of every session, that a peer cannot even vote in an election, and that "it " is a high infringement of the liberties "and privileges of the Commons of the

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66

"Parliament, &c. to concern himself in "the election of members to serve for "the Commons in Parliament, or for any lord-lieutenant or governor of any

66

county to avail himself of any autho"rity derived from his commission to "influence the election of any member "to serve in the Commons in Parlia"ment." Here the accused was lordlieutenant as well as peer. It is impossible to read the speeches of the Attorney-General (Sir J. Jervis, afterwards Chief Justice of the Common Pleas), Lord John Russell, who was Prime Minister, and Sir George Grey, the Home Secretary, in the debate on Mr. Wakley's motion, without perceiving that there was a desire to avoid the inquiry and screen Lord Fitzhardinge. But the impetuous zeal of Sir F. Thesiger on the Opposition benches for purity and freedom of election obliged the Government to make some concession; and Sir George Grey, after taking a few days to consider, proposed to refer the petition to the "Committee of Privileges," instead of to a Select Committee, as had been proposed by Mr. Wakley. The Committee of Privileges had long since ceased to be a practical institution; it was a mere tradition and name. ingenuity conveniently discovered that similar complaints had in bygone times been referred to the Committee of Privileges; and so a Committee of Privileges was constituted, in accordance with ancient practice, by the appointment of a certain number of members by name, with the wholesale addition of every "gentleman of the long robe" having a seat in the House. Here, then, was a Committee of uncertain and indefinite number, and swamped with lawyers. The result was, as might have been foreseen, and as was probably desired. The accused got off by a technical mode of procedure. Instead of proceeding to hear all evidence that was forthcoming in support of the allegations of the petition, the Committee required the accusers to specify Lord Fitzhardinge's acts of interference as a peer, and by authority derived from his commission as lord-lieutenant. The inquiry fell to

But

remained neutral, in order to please his Bristol friends, who were afraid that, if he offended the castle, they should get no more funds thence for future contests. At Coleford, where the cowardly outrage was committed, as well as in Newnham, port, sherry, cider, and beer were so profusely handed about in cans, that he had seen not only men, but children, lying by the wayside in the gutters in a state of drunken helplessness."

In another part of the book Mr. Grantley Berkeley says that on this occasion his brother Henry had very little assistance from Lord Fitzhardinge for his election at Bristol. He estimates,

perhaps with exaggeration, the total expense for Lord Fitzhardinge of his unsuccessful effort in West Gloucestershire at thirty thousand pounds; while the expenses on Mr. Grantley Berkeley's side, which were subscribed for by his supporters, are said by him to have been under eighteen hundred pounds.

One separate means of coercion used by Lord Fitzhardinge, as unsuccessfully as all the rest, yet remains to be told, and is thus related by Mr. Grantley Berkeley :

"From the time that I came forward at his request in 1831-2, Lord Fitzhardinge had put my name down to all subscription lists and clubs that he pleased; he asked my permission to do so under the promise that for every expense so incurred he would be answerable. I also, at his request, commanded his squadron of yeomanry on the same understanding. For some time, however, and evidently with the design of crushing me, he had left accounts in arrear, all standing in my name, while at the same time the receipts for part payments were in his hands.

"Soon after he had ordered me to give up the representation of the division, he desired me to quit the yeomanry, again giving out that it was my personal unpopularity that necessitated my retirement. That falsehood having been sufficiently exposed, I refused to obey, every man of the squadron swearing to stand by me, their captain. The Lord-Lieutenant once more found himself in an awkward fix, but he ventured to send his agent, Mr. Joyner Ellis, to the non-commissioned officers of the squadron, some of whom were his powerful tenants, with a sort of round-robin, to which he thus desired them to put their names, stating in writing that they wished to retire from the troop because they did not like me, their commanding officer, I had become so overbearing and unpopular-or words to that effect. Mr. Ellis called some of the noncommissioned officers together, set this document before them, and ordered them to

Willis's Elm, as spokesman for himself and his comrades, held out his right arm, and said, 'There, Mr. Ellis; I'd sooner chop that off than set my name to such a lie.'

"This attempt, therefore, failed; still he went on, and caused the same agent to let his tenants know that those who retained their service under me would inevitably lose their farms. This menace brought me and my men together. I was far from desirous that they should act to their own disadvantage, but they were ready to dare everything rather than fail me in my need. We came to a resolution that all who feared to lose their farms should resign with my leave, but not until they had procured a friend to fill their saddles, while the more opulent tenants, who did not care for threats, were to continue to serve. After the election had terminated, I informed them that I should decline to serve in the yeomanry any longer, and suggested that we might retire together. This arrangement was carried out to the full.

"Lord Fitzhardinge felt himself foiled, for my drills were attended by my usual number of men, and he saw that, unless by some still more desperate move, he could not prevent the usual muster under me for permanent duty in Stokes Croft, at Bristol. On this he went to the colonel of the regiment, the Duke of Beaufort. . . . The upshot of it was that, after close communication with Lord Fitzhardinge, I received an order from the duke to pay up years of arrears of my mess-bills and troop expenses, all of which Lord Fitzhardinge had undertaken to pay, and of which I had previously known nothing, and that, unless I immediately did so, I was not to attend the muster of the regiment.

"These were hard lines to me. I did not know that anything was owing on my account, and upon inquiry I found that there was an arrear of a considerable sum. My finances had so rapidly diminished that, like Walter, surnamed the Penniless,' in the Crusades, I knew myself to be a good general, and to have a large following, but I had not of my own a 'stiver to pay my troops.' A friend started up, a Mr. Clayton, who offered to advance me some money on a note of hand. He did so ; and, paying the arrears thus purposely left to assist in my ruin, I laughed in the face of Duke and Lord-Lieutenant, and marched to Bristol with my squadron for the muster of the regiment.

My way to the parade lay through Thornbury, and the town turned out to welcome the squadron as it passed; to the compliment so conveyed of course I carried swords; and, placing themselves by my side at the head of the squadron, Mr. Townsend, the Vicar of Thornbury, and his two daughters, rode with me some miles on my way. Along the fourteen miles of road, and at Bristol, a welcome to the "Berkeley squadron" was hung out from many a window, and I was considerably amused at seeing my commander, the to me hostile duke, studying their devices

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