Among Mr. Cobbett’s friends was one who had become peculiarly bound up in his affairs, through circumstances which must now be noticed.
Mr. John Swann, of Wolvercot and Ensham, in Oxfordshire, was an eminent paper-maker of that day; his mills being the chief sources of supply for the University of Oxford. He had supplied also the paper for the Register from a very early period; and it would appear that a strong attachment existed between him and the Cobbetts. As far back as September, 1805, when purchases of land were being made in Hampshire, somewhat beyond Mr. Cobbett’s command of ready money, Mr. Swann had assisted him by discounting accommodation bills. At the death of the latter, in January, 1807, his brother James succeeded both to the paper-mills and to the accommodation paper; and to the friendship thus continued into another family, we are indebted to some further glimpses of Cobbett’s happy domestic life. Mr. Swann is initiated into the mysteries of planting: eels from the sluggish Oxford streams grace the table at Botley, and game from Hampshire that of Ensham. And, as time fled on, the perilous accumulation of “credit” seemed only to add new links of love.
The following selection from correspondence belongs to the later months of 1808:—
James Swann to John Wright.
“I am not at all surprised at the increased sale of the Register; every one who reads it is astonished at the wonderful extent of Mr. Cobbett’s abilities. God grant him a long life, for the country’s sake!… Mr. Barwis has lately been with Mr. and Mrs. Cobbett at Botley; they have kindly promised to be sponsors to a son Mrs. Swann presented me with a fortnight ago, whom I shall have named William.”
Wm. C. to J. S.
“Mr. Barwis has communicated to me your wish respecting my being godfather to your son, and I assure you, with perfect sincerity, that I shall look upon it as doing me honour. I never was yet a godfather to any child but one of my own, who was born in a heathen country; and there are very few persons, to a child of whom I would stand godfather; but one of yours I shall with great pleasure. I hear it is to be after Christmas, which will suit me best, as I have a great deal to do here before, in the planting way, which I cannot possibly trust in any hands but my own.…
“I have now a favour, in the sporting way, to ask of you. I have had most lamentable luck with dogs, having lost almost the whole of a fine and rare collection of spaniel and greyhound puppies. Of the latter I shall not take much pains to get any more, the places for coursing being at such a great distance from me; but of the former I want many, because we live amongst such covers as nothing can be moved out of without a plenty of good spaniels. The sort we want is the short-legged, rather coarse-haired, long-eared, and feathered down the legs to the very tips of the nails. This is the most strong, true, and resolute race. None other will do in endless covers like ours, where the stuff is so very thick, and there are such quantities of matted thorns as sharp as pins. Now, if you should happen to know of a famous breed—some gentleman whose breed is famous all over the country—I should like to have a brace; which may, perhaps, be obtained by speaking time enough beforehand. But there is another condition (for, when one is begging, one may as well go the whole length), I wish not to have them till they are at least four months old. Young puppies, if of a high breed, will not live.…