Of the fourth baronet it will suffice to record that, having taken the degree of M.A. at Oriel College, Oxon, in 1747, he became a member for Cornwall in 1761, and continued to sit for the county for eleven years. His monument in Clowance Church sums up, sufficiently for our purpose, his character and his career:
'To the memory of Sir John St. Aubyn, Baronet, who, by his descent from a long line of worthy ancestors, and a father distinguished by honest zeal and prudent moderation, was recommended to the important trust of representing in Parliament the county of Cornwall; and justified the confidence of his electors by unshaken constancy of principle, uniting with the dignity of his public character the domestic virtues of tenderness and friendship. This monument was erected by his disconsolate widow. He was born the 12th of Nov., 1726. He died 12th Oct., 1772.'
But the fifth baronet of the same familiar name will demand somewhat more of our time and attention. He was the son of the last-mentioned Sir John St. Aubyn, was born on the 17th May, 1758, and was educated at Westminster; where, when a lad of seventeen, he had an amusing escapade. He and another hopeful young gentleman, his schoolfellow, joined in a bond for raising money to enable them to obtain the delights and luxuries which the discipline of the school and the extent of their pocket-money denied. The inevitable day came for repayment of the moneys advanced. It was in vain that 'infancy' was pleaded against the suit of the London money-lender; the precocious financier was ordered to pay back the sums he had borrowed, and interest at four per cent. A lad of so much enterprise was evidently designed to make some figure in the world, and we accordingly find him, when only twenty-six years old, contesting the county in 1784. He made another unsuccessful attempt six years afterwards; but, nothing daunted, once more essayed to obtain a seat in Parliament, and on this occasion succeeded in securing his election for Penryn. He afterwards sat for Helston from 1807 to 1812.
But it does not appear that he took any very prominent part in political life, his tastes leading him rather to the pursuit of the arts and sciences; and accordingly we find that he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, of the Society of Antiquaries, and of the Linnæan Society. In 1804, in conjunction with others, he proposed to establish, at the Royal Institution, at a cost of £4,000, a mineralogical collection and an Assay Office, on a large scale, for the improvement of the study of mineralogy and metallurgy; but the scheme failed for want of funds, although Sir Humphry Davy, Lord Dartmouth, and one or two more took great interest in the matter, and contributed valuable collections of minerals, etc. Here it may be mentioned that Dr. Wm. Babington dedicated to Sir John[140] his 'New System of Mineralogy.' It was, in fact, a catalogue of the Baronet's own collection, much of which had previously belonged to the Earl of Bute.
As evidencing his fondness for art, it may be observed that he was from first to last the discriminating friend and patron of his fellow-countyman, John Opie, R.A.; and it may be added that he was one of the pall-bearers at the artist's funeral. To Opie he entrusted the painting of his portrait (mezzotinted by W. Barney), which now hangs in the Town Hall of Devonport. In this town the family of St. Aubyn has long held large possessions, the value of which the fifth baronet is said to have increased three or fourfold, although he is said to have embarrassed the family estates for many years by the singular provisions of his will. When Sir John's collection of engravings and etchings were sold at Phillips's Auction Rooms, in April, 1840, the sale attracted the presence of most of the principal connoisseurs in the kingdom; and to give some idea of the vastness of the collection, it may be added that the sale lasted for seventeen days.
It is not surprising to find that, with such tastes as his, Sir John St. Aubyn found London a more congenial place of abode than Cornwall. In the metropolis, therefore—at 63, Portland Place—or in its vicinity—as at Short Grove, Saffron Walden, or at Woolmers, Hertford—he lived; and, close to London he died—at Putney, on the 10th August 1839—at the good old age of eighty-one. He was noted for his beneficence, and for his refined and courteous manners; and these virtues and graces are suitably recorded on his monument at Crowan. On the occasion of his funeral, advantage was taken of his popularity (especially amongst the Freemasons, of which body he was a prominent member) for his body to 'lie in state' at St. Austell, Truro and Clowance; and his remains were followed to the grave by between 20,000 and 30,000 persons—a multitude as numerous as their sorrow was sincere.
It has not been my practice to refer to any of the living representatives of the families whose histories I am endeavouring to sketch, but it can hardly be out of place on this occasion to observe that Sir John St. Aubyn, the present baronet, has also been for more than a quarter of a century a Member of Parliament for Cornwall; and that, to say the least, he is not likely to tarnish the lustre which surrounds the names of the past St. Aubyns of Clowance and the Mount.
