The nest of the Vivian family was Truro; here our hero was born, and here resided his father, John Vivian, who may be called the founder of the copper trade in Cornwall, and who subsequently became Vice-Warden of the Stannaries: but the present seat of the Vivians is Glynn, the ancient residence of the Glynn family, from which place the subject of the following remarks, Richard Hussey, first Baron Vivian of Glynn and Truro, derived the former of his titles. He derived his second name from his grandmother, who was a Miss Hussey, of Okehampton; his grandfather was the Rev. Thomas Vivian, of Comprigney, Kenwyn; he was vicar of Cornwood, Devon, and was a man of some literary ability.
Well do I remember, when I was quite a youngster, an autumnal visit in 1842 to the well-wooded valley which Glynn overlooks, and through which rushes the Fowey, a lovely trout-stream, when the 'fiery finger' had been laid upon the leaves of the myriad-tinted oaks in its glades; and when Death had just claimed the owner of that noble mansion. On the grand staircase hung the great picture by Shee,[156] representing the lithe figure of the tall, bronzed hero advancing in his hussar uniform, dismounted and bareheaded, fresh from the 'rapture of the fray;' whilst in the background was a servant holding a spirited white charger. I thought then, and think so still, that I had never seen a more goodly presence.
Vivian's mother was as much distinguished for her beauty and vivacity as his father was as an upright man of business, and able administrator of the Stannary laws. She was a daughter of the Rev. Richard Cranch, vicar of St. Clement's, near Truro, an early friend and patron of Sir Joshua Reynolds; and, accepting her own admission, must have had a sufficiency of admirers. 'What a fine creature she was!' said Dr. Wolcot ('Peter Pindar'). 'I once told her in jest that she must be my wife, for I had never been so deeply in love before.' 'It is out of the question, my dear doctor,' she replied; 'it is impossible. I am five deep already!' The charming buxom profile of the good old lady, who died in 1816, might until recently have been seen on her cenotaph at St. Mary's Church, Truro;[157] as well as a medallion portrait, on his marble tomb (with an epitaph), of her eldest and illustrious son, the subject of this notice.
He was born at Truro—probably at the house to which reference has just been made—on 28th July, 1775; and when about eight years old was sent to the Truro Grammar School under Dr. Cardew. Here, however, he did not long remain, as we find him from 1784 to 1787 at school at Lostwithiel, from which place he went direct to Harrow.
Another three years of his life were passed there; and in 1790 he entered at the old West-Country College—'Exeter'—at Oxford; but he only kept two terms. His education seems to have been completed by a visit to France in 1792.
The time had now come for Vivian to choose a profession; and in this important matter one hardly knows whether to admire more the liberality of the father, or the instinctive sagacity of the son. Mr. Vivian wished his heir to follow a pursuit in which distinction had been gained both by himself and by other members of the family, and an attempt was made in this direction. Our hero was accordingly articled to a Mr. Jonathan Elford, a solicitor, of Devonport, with a view to Vivian's becoming a 'counsellor, learned in the law;' but the attractions presented by the lives and the uniforms of the officers of a garrison town were an all-powerful opposing force; and, besides, Vivian could urge family precedents for a military career; for was not his great-uncle, Colonel Hussey, amongst the heroes who fell with Wolfe on the heights of Abraham?[158]
Accordingly, an ensign's commission in the 20th Regiment of Infantry was procured for him on 31st July, 1793. In the following year he got a captaincy in the 28th, and was present in all the affairs of that time between the French and British armies in the Low Countries; his regiment suffering severe losses at Geldermalsem. In 1795 he returned to England; and shortly afterwards made an attempt—the second unsuccessful one—to get with his regiment to the West Indies. But the war god had other and higher services in store for Vivian; and the winds and the waves drove back the transports to the British shore.
For the next two years (1796-98) Vivian was doing garrison duty at Gibraltar. This sort of pursuit must have fretted so high a spirit as his, and probably led to his exchanging into a cavalry regiment, the 7th Light Dragoons, or 'Queen's Own' Hussars;—now, at least, he thought he should be sure to see service. Nor was he disappointed; for in 1799 he took part in the unfortunate Texel Expedition, under Sir Ralph Abercombie, one result of which, however, was the capture of Helder on the 28th August in that year.
To Vivian the piping times of peace during the next four or five years gave an opportunity for turning his thoughts from war to love; and in 1804 he married his first wife, Eliza, daughter of Philip Champion De Crespigny, of Aldborough (with whom, so the story goes, he ran off from a boarding-school). She was descended from an old French family, refugees from the Edict of Nantes; and the fruit of this marriage was two sons and three daughters.