We now take our leave of the Lynn Addresses. This and the two former are probably to be classed among the prime productions of our augustan age. Our volume of Extracts contains no more copies of addresses to the throne; which seems to indicate that a great tailing off took place afterwards in their style and composition, so that the succeeding ones were not worth preserving. However that was, these samples have been here inserted upon the supposition that they were some of the best written and most eloquent that any of our sovereigns ever received from this borough: and it is in that view chiefly they are now recommended to the perusal and consideration of the reader.
In 1708, according to one of our MS. accounts of that time, two children were hanged here for felony, one eleven, and the other but seven years of age; which if true, must indicate very early and shocking depravity in the sufferers, as well as unusual and excessive vigour on the part of the magistrates in the infliction of capital punishment. [888a]—In that also and the succeeding year, the wretched state of the harbour appears to have occasioned considerable disquietude and alarm in the town; and the most effectual means that could be thought of were adopted to remedy the growing evil, and tranquillize the minds of the inhabitants. [888b]
At the time now under review, two of the most prominent characters in this town were the elder Pyle and Dr. Hepburne. Of the former some account may be expected hereafter. The latter was a North-Briton, and of the medical profession. At what time he settled here does not very distinctly appear; but it is supposed to have been about the latter part of king William’s reign. Be that as it might, he soon became eminent as a physician, so as to stand at the head of the profession, in all this part of the kingdom, for near half a century. Walpole, with our principal nobility and gentry, held him in high estimation, and his practice became in time so very extensive that he was seldom to be found at home, so that the town was obliged then to have recourse for medical advice solely to Browne and Lidderdale the two other physicians.
On the 3rd. of February 1709, the Hall voted Dr. Hepburne the freedom of the town gratis; and he took up that freedom on the 12th. of the next ensuing August. Browne is supposed to have had the same compliment paid him: so had Lidderdale on the 29th. of August 1737. so also had Tayler on the same day of the same month, ten years after. The last of our physicians, if we are not mistaken, who have been thought worthy of the honour of being made free of this ancient and renowned borough, was the late Dr. Hamilton. He was not, like Paul, free-born, nor did he, like most of his predecessors, become free gratis; but might say with the Roman chief captain, “With a great sum obtained I this freedom,” for it cost him at least 30l. which was a great deal more than it was worth to a mere medical man, fifty years ago. His being obliged to purchase it, and so dearly too, seems a pretty plain indication that a change of disposition towards the physicians had then taken place in the Hall, and that they were actually sinking in the estimation of that worshipful body. That same body is supposed to have been no less determined ever since, even from the commencement of this jubilee reign, against making any more of the physicians free, than his majesty is said to be against making any more of his subjects Dukes, except those of his own family. So remarkable a coincidence between the humour of our corporation and that of their beloved sovereign must, no doubt, be very curious to contemplate. As to the two physicians that are now, and have long been resident here, the present writer positively disavows any knowledge or suspicion of either of them being in the least uneasy in their state of villanage, or at all desirous of obtaining their freedom. On the contrary, he supposes them to be perfectly indifferent about that matter; even as much so as he is himself, who has not the least idea that the freedom of Lynn, or of any other town, would be worth to him a single groat, or what would afford the smallest gratification.
Not only the medical profession, but even the clerical also seems to be in lower estimation here now than what it was a hundred years ago. The heads of both professions were then, and long after, we presume, invariably admitted to their freedom, which is not the case now. The very Lecturer, if we are rightly informed, is at present unfree, as well as the physicians. The Vicar also, as was before noted, had here then a parsonage-house, which he has not now. Nor is his present stipend, or income, any way equal to what it was at that period. Yet for all this seemingly declining credit of these two learned professions among us, it is more than probable, that both physic and divinity are as well understood, and as rightly and judiciously administered here now, as ever they were in the days of Thomas Pyle and George Hepburne.
In 1713 our corporation, in conjunction with some others, engaged in a law-suit about Sir Thomas White’s benefaction, [891] but it does not appear how it terminated.—About the same time, and somewhat earlier, Lynn must have been much agitated by the affair of Walpole, who was one of its parliamentary representatives. Because he would not join with the new ministry, they resolved to be revenged, by accusing him of a breach of trust and corruption. They finally succeeded, though by small majorities, and had him committed to the Tower and expelled the House. Lynn re-elected him, but it was declared null and void: so he was kept out of parliament till after its dissolution, which took place on the 8th. of August 1713. Lynn then again re-elected him, and he sat in the new parliament which met on the 16th. of February 1714. The queen died a few months after, and was succeeded by George I. which opened the way and was the prelude to Walpole’s future elevation and prosperity.
Section V.
State of Lynn under George I.—sketch of his character—attachment and wishes of the people divided between him and the son of James II commonly called the Pretender—our accounts of this town, during this reign, very barren of interesting or memorable incidents—enumeration of some of the most remarkable—the king dies and his son succeeds.
No prince, says Coxe, ever ascended a throne under more critical circumstances, and with less appearances of a quiet reign, than George the First; whether we consider the state of the European powers, the situation of parties in Great Britain, or his own character. As to the latter, he was ill calculated by nature, disposition, and habit to reconcile the then jarring parties, and remove the unfavourable impressions which it was natural for all people to entertain of a foreigner, destined to rule over them. He was already fifty-four years of age, and had been long habituated to a court of a very different description from that of England, and to manners and customs wholly repugnant to those of his new subjects. He was easy and familiar only in his hours of relaxation, and to those alone who formed his usual society; not fond of attracting notice, phlegmatic and grave in his public deportment, hating the splendour of majesty, shunning crowds, and fatigued even with the first acclamations of the multitude. This natural reserve was heightened by his ignorance of the language, of the first principles of the English constitution, and of the spirit and temper of the people.
It was currently reported, before his arrival, that measures were preparing to evade the laws which excluded foreigners from honours and employments. He had several mistresses, of whom two the most favoured were expected to accompany him to England, with a numerous train of Hanoverian followers, eager to share the spoils of the promised land; to set up a court within a court, and an interest opposite to the true interest of England. It was also maliciously circulated that he was indifferent to his own succession, and scarcely willing to stretch out a hand to grasp the crown within his reach. “But, adds the same writer, he had excellent qualities for a sovereign, plainness of manners, simplicity of character, and benignity of temper; great application to business, extreme exactness in distributing his time, the strictest economy in regulating his revenue; and, notwithstanding his military skill and tried valour, a love of peace; virtues, however, which required time before they were appreciated, and not of that specious cast to captivate the multitude, or raise the tide of popularity.”—Such was our first sovereign of the present family. [894]