Bolingbroke or Bullingbroke, a town of great antiquity in Lincolnshire, gave the title of Viscount to the St. Johns of Battersea. In 1700, Sir Walter St. John founded and endowed a free school for twenty boys, and both he and his lady afterwards left further sums for apprenticing some of the number. It was re-built in 1859. Over the gateway in the High Street, are carved the Arms of St. John, and underneath them is inscribed the motto, "Rather Deathe than false of Faythe." As we gazed upon the above motto we were reminded of other lines which we have seen and read elsewhere. Sir Walter St. John died 3rd July, 1808, aged 87; his portrait is in the school. He built a gallery at the west end of the Old Church.
"Dare to be right, dare to be true;
Other men's failures can never save you;
Stand by your conscience, your honour, your faith;
Stand like a hero, and battle till death.
Dare to be right, dare to be true;
Keep the great judgment day always in view,
Look at your work, as you'll look at it then,
Scanned by Jehovah, and Angels and men.
Dare to be right, dare to be true;
God who created you, cares for you too,
Wipe off the tears that His striving ones shed,
Counts and protects every hair of your head.
Dare to be right, dare to be true;
Cannot Omnipotence carry you through?
City, and Mansion, and throne all in view,
Cannot you dare to be right and be true?
Dare to be right, dare to be true;
Prayerfully, lovingly, firmly pursue
The pathway by Saints, and by Seraphim trod
The pathway which leads to the City of God."
Bolingbroke (Henry St. John) Lord Viscount, descended from an ancient and noble family as we have already seen. His Mother was Mary, daughter of Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick. He received a liberal education at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford, and when he left the University was considered to possess uncommon qualifications, but with great parts he had strong passions, which as usually happens, hurried him into many follies and indiscretions. Contrary to the inclinations of his family he cultivated Tory connections, and gained such influence in the House of Commons, that in 1704 he was appointed Secretary of War and of the Marines. He was closely united in all political measures with Mr. Harley; when therefore that gentleman was removed from the seals in 1707, Mr. St. John resigned his office; and in 1710, when Mr. Harley was made Chancellor of the Exchequer, the post of Secretary of State was given to Mr. St. John. In 1712, he was created Baron St. John of Lediard Tregose in Wiltshire, and Viscount Bolingbroke. But being overlooked in the bestowal of vacant ribands of the Order of the Garter, it is said he resented the affront and renounced the friendship of Harley, then Earl of Oxford, and made his court to the Whigs; nevertheless, on the accession of George 1st, the seals were taken from him. Having been informed that a resolution was taken to pursue him to the scaffold for his conduct regarding the treaty of Utrecht, Signed 11th of April, 1713, he withdrew into France and joined the Pretender's[1] service and accepted the seals as his Secretary. But he was as unfortunate in his new connection as those he had renounced, for the year 1715 was scarcely expired, while being attainted of high treason at home, he was accused by the Pretender of neglect, incapacity and treachery, and had the papers and seals of Foreign Secretary's Office taken away. Such a complication of distressful events threw him into a state of reflection that produced by way of relief "a consolatio philosophica," which he wrote the same year under the title of "Reflection upon Exile." The next year he drew up a vindication of his conduct with respect to the Tories in the form of a letter to Sir William Wyndham. In 1718 his first wife died; in 1720 he married a niece of the famous Madam Maintenon and widow of the Marquis de Villette,[2] with whom he had a very large fortune. In 1723, after being in exile seven years, the King was prevailed upon to grant him a free pardon, and he returned in consequence to England. But his spirit was not satisfied within while he remained a mere titular Lord, and excluded from the House of Peers. His recall had been assented to by Sir Robert Walpole, but he cherished a secret dislike to Walpole and regarded him as the cause of his not receiving the full extent of the King's clemency. Walpole invited Bolingbroke to dine with him at Chelsea, but it appeared to Bolingbroke rather to shew his power and prosperity than for any other reason. Horace Walpole, the celebrated son of the Minister, says in his "Reminiscences" "Whether tortured at witnessing Sir Robert's serene frankness and felicity, or suffocated with indignation and confusion at being forced to be obliged to one whom he hated and envied, the first morsel he put into his mouth was near choking him, and he was reduced to rise from the table and leave the room for some minutes. I never heard of their meeting more." He distinguished himself by a multitude of political writings till the year 1735, when being thoroughly convinced that the door was shut against him, he returned once more to France. In this foreign retreat he began his course of letters on the Study and Use of History for Lord Combury, to whom they are addressed. Lord Bolingbroke was born and died in the family Mansion at Battersea. The house was very large, with forty rooms on a floor; but with the exception of a wing,[3] it has long since been taken down and otherwise appropriated.[4] Dives' Flour Mills cover a portion of the site where once stood this venerable mansion. Upon the death of his father, who lived to be extremely old, Lord Bolingbroke settled at Battersea, where he passed the remaining nine years of his life in philosophical dignity. Pope and Swift, one a great poet, the other a great wit of that time, almost adored him. Arbuthnot, Thompson, Mallet, and other contemporary men of genius were his frequent visitors. Mr. Timbs says "here took place the memorable destruction of one of Bolingbroke's most celebrated works, his 'Essay on a Patriotic King,' of which the noble author had printed only six copies, which he gave to Lord Chesterfield, Sir William Wyndham, Lyttelton, Pope, Lord Marchmont, and Lord Combury, at whose instance Bolingbroke wrote the essay. Pope lent his copy to Mr. Allen, of Bath, who was so delighted with it that he had five hundred copies printed, but locked them up in a warehouse, not to see light until Lord Bolingbroke's permission could be obtained. On the discovery, Lord Marchmont (then living at Lord Bolingbroke's house at Battersea), sent Mr. Gravenkop for the whole cargo, and he had the books carried out on a waggon and burnt on a lawn in the presence of Lord Bolingbroke." Pope, when visiting his friend Lord Bolingbroke, usually selected as his study a parlour (the grate and ornaments were of the age of George 1st) wainscoted with cedar, and overlooking the Thames, in which he is said to have composed some of his celebrated works. It is well known that he received from him the materials for his famous poem the "Essay on Man."
[1] Pretenders, a name given to the son and grandsons of James II. of England. The Old Pretender, James Francis Edward Stuart, Chevalier de St. George, born 10th June, 1688, was acknowledged by Louis XIV. as James III. of England, in 1701 proclaimed and his standard set up, at Braemar and Castletown, in Scotland, landed at Peterhead in Aberdeenshire from France to encourage the rebellion that the Earl of Mar and his adherents had promoted, 25th December, 1715. This rebellion having been soon suppressed, the Pretender escaped to Montrose (from whence he proceeded to Gravelines) 4th February 1716. Died at Rome, 30th December, 1765. The Young Pretender, Charles Edward, was born in 1720, landed in Scotland and proclaimed his father King 25th July, 1745; gained the battle of Preston-Pans, 21st September, 1745, and of Falkirk, 27th January, 1746; defeated at Culloden, and sought safety by flight 16th April, 1746. He continued wandering among the wilds of Scotland for nearly six months, and as £30,000 were offered for taking him, he was constantly pursued by the British troops, often hemmed round by his enemies, but still rescued by some lucky incident, and at length escaped from the Ulst Morilaix in September. He died 31st January, 1788. His natural daughter assumed the title of Duchess of Albany; died in 1789. His brother, the Cardinal York, calling himself Henry IX. of England, born March, 1725, died at Rome in August, 1807.
[2] When he was about twenty-six years of age he was married to the daughter and co-heiress of Sir Henry Winchescomb, of Bucklebury, in Berkshire, Bart., and the same year, 1700, he entered the House of Commons, being elected for the Borough of Wotton-Basset in Wiltshire, by a family interest, his father having served several times for the same place.
[3] The ceilings of three of the chambers upstairs are ornamented with stucco-work, and have in their centres oval-shaped oil paintings on allegorical subjects.
[4] Bolingbroke House was pulled down about the year 1775. The pictures were sold by auction.
Lord Bolingbroke was born about the year 1672, or as some think, in 1678; he was baptized October 10, 1678; died December 12, 1751, and left the care and benefit of his M.S.S. to Mr. Mallet, who published them together with his former printed works in five vols. 4to.; they are also printed in 8vo.
Lord Bolingbroke sank under a dreadful malady beneath which he had long lingered—a cancer in the face—which he bore with exemplary fortitude. "A fortitude," says Lord Brougham "drawn from the natural resources of his mind, and unhappily not aided by the consolation of any religion; for having cast off the belief in revelation, he had substituted in its stead a dark and gloomy naturalism, which even rejected those glimmerings of hope as to futurity not untasted by the wiser of the heathen." He used to ride out in his chariot every day, and had a black patch on his cheek, with a large wart over one of his eyebrows. He was thought to be essentially selfish; he spent little in the place and gave little away, so that he was not regarded much by the people of Battersea.
A popular writer states that "Bolingbroke's talents were brilliant and versatile; his style of writing was polished and eloquent; but the fatal lack of sincerity and honest purpose which characterised him, and the low and unscrupulous ambition which made him scramble for power with a selfish indifference to national security hindered him from looking wisely and deeply into any question. His philosophical theories are not profound, nor his conclusions solid, while his criticism of passing history is worthless in the extreme. He was one of those clever unscrupulous men, unhappily too common, who forget that God has something to do with the government of this world as well as themselves, and who in spite of their ability, can never see that swift destruction treads like Nemesis on the heels of those who dare to trifle with the interests and destinies of a great people."