One of the most memorable of the Lynn occurrences in 1800, was the taking down the East-gates, which had stood many centuries, and made a somewhat venerable appearance. They had been for sometime a subject of complaint on account of the difficulty of entrance for highloaded waggons, by reason of the lowness of the arch. This act of dilapidation therefore was a case of necessity, and the removal of a nuisance, and it rendered that entrance into the town much pleasanter than before.—But an occurrence of this year which far more affected the public mind, in this town, as well as throughout the kingdom, was the regicide attempt of the maniac Hadfield on the evening of the 15th. of May, at Drury Lane theatre. The poor insane wretch fired a horse-pistol towards the king’s box just as his majesty entered it, but fortunately missed him, owing it seems to a person near him, with great presence of mind, raising his arm when in the act of firing, and so directing the contents of the pistol to the roof of the house. This shocking deed occasioned no small consternation in the house; but it soon subsided, and the play went on to the entire satisfaction and amusement of the whole company, the royal family not excepted.
The news of this horrid attempt upon the king’s life, and of his happy escape, deeply affected the minds of his Lynn subjects, from whom no less than two addresses were soon after presented to his majesty on the occasion; one from the mayor and corporation, and the other from the mayor and the inhabitants. [984] Both of them were penned in a language perfectly dutiful and loyal, which, without doubt, was expressed with the utmost truth and sincerity. The same may also be said of all the numerous addresses which then reached the throne, from all quarters; which proves the sovereign’s great popularity, and how high he stood in the estimation of his addressing subjects. His successor it is to be hoped will prove himself no less deserving of his people’s attachment.
Since the year 1800, and the commencement of the present century, nothing more remarkable is known to have occurred here than what has been produced by the operation of new taxes and new laws—especially our poor and paving laws. [985] These certainly have borne and are still bearing hard upon a large portion of the industrious inhabitants. Of these matters some notice has been taken already, and they will probably be further noticed when we come to give a view of the present state of the town. Such remarkable occurrences as the author may be able to recollect, or any one else may put him in mind of, as having been overlooked in the preceding pages, shall be carefully inserted in a Chronological Table at the end of the work.—Having now brought this history down to the present time, we shall here close this section.
Section X.
Biographical sketches of some of the most eminent or distinguished personages among the natives or inhabitants of Lynn, from the reformation to the present day—Watts—Arrowsmith—Goodwin—Horne—Phelpes—Falkner—Goddard.
In the list of persons of real note, or memorable distinction who appeared since the reformation among the natives or inhabitants of this town, the first place, in order of time, seems to belong to William Watts, said to have been a native of this borough, or its vicinity. The time of his birth is not recorded, but is supposed to have been about the close of the reign of Elizabeth. He probably received the rudiments of his education in the Grammar school of this town, which was from 1597 to 1608 under the care of Mr. John Man, afterwards minister of South Lynn, and from 1608 to 1612 or 13, under that of Mr. Henry Allston. He was afterwards sent to Caius College in Cambridge, where he appears to have made great proficiency, and to have finished his academical education. He then went and made some stay at Oxford; after which he travelled, as Anthony Wood says, into several countries, and became master of divers languages. In his travels he is supposed to have made his chief stay in Holland, where he became acquainted with the celebrated John Gerard Vossius, who entertained a very favourable and high opinion of him, and spoke of him as doctissimus et clarissimus Watsius, qui optime de historia meruit. At his return, after the accession of Charles I, he was made one of the king’s chaplains, and preferred successively to livings and dignities in the church. Being, as might be expected, a zealous royalist, and adhering firmly to the king’s cause, he was sequestered, plundered, and left without a shelter for his wife and children. He was carried by his courage and resentment into the field with prince Rupert, during the hardiest of his exploits; and died, in 1649, on board his fleet, in the harbour of Kinsale. He had an especial hand, says Wood, in Sir Henry Spelman’s Glossary; he edited Matthew Paris, and, exclusively of other treatises, he published, before the civil war of England began, several numbers of new books, in the English tongue, (more than forty,) containing the occurrences in the wars between the king of Sweden and the Germans. When he returned from his travels, Newspapers were very little known in this country. They had first appeared in the reign of Elizabeth, under the sage direction of Burleigh; but they were published only occasionally, and were all extraordinary gazettes. They appeared frequently about the time of the armada, and are supposed to have then answered very important purposes. Being no longer deemed necessary when that danger was past, they were discontinued. The public curiosity having been much gratified by these publications, the people would be no longer satisfied without a newspaper. It was therefore not long before publications of that kind began to make their appearance. They were at first occasional, and afterwards weekly. “Nathaniel Butter, at the Pyde-Bull, St. Augustin’s gate,” established a weekly newspaper, in August 1622, entitled “The certain news of the present week.” How long he continued his hebdomadal intelligences does not appear. He is said to have laid little before his readers, which could enlarge knowledge, or excite risibility; though his battles may have surprised and elevated, and his sieges may have alternately agitated the hopes and fears of his countrymen. He had, however, competitors and imitators. In February 1635–6 was first published a fresh paper of Weekly Newes. The foreign intelligence of May 22, was conveyed in number 13. This too was a small quarto of 14 pages; and it was printed in London, for Mercurius Britannicus; which proves sufficiently that that well known title had a more early origin than has been generally supposed. Similar papers were continued, though they assumed different names. Butter, who appears to have been the most active and enterprising newsmonger of his time, was influenced by his interest to tell—
“News, old news, and such news as you never heard of.”
He was thus induced to convert his Weekly News into half-yearly news, (two of which making a kind of annual register) which shews that he was a person of no common enterprize. In order to insure success to so novel an undertaking, an able compiler seemed absolutely necessary; and Butter very judiciously fixed upon Watts for that department. He accordingly complied with the projector’s proposal, and so became the precursor of Johnson, Burke, Kippis, Southey, and the rest of our distinguished literary characters, who have been since employed in similar departments. How long he continued thus employed we have not been able to discover; but it is probably it might be till near the commencement of the civil wars: and as he was likely to have distinguished himself, in the mean time, as a warm, and perhaps violent advocate for the measures of the court, it may in some measure account for the hardship and severity which he and his family afterwards experienced from the opposite party, by the hands of the sequestrators. Be that as it might, William Watts was certainly a person so distinguished in his day, as to deserve to have his name preserved among the most eminent characters that sprung up here during the period we are now reviewing.
2. John Arrowsmith M.A. Fellow of Catherine Hall, in Cambridge, afterwards D.D., Master of St. John’s College, and member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines. Where he was born we have not been able to learn; but he came to this town about Michaelmas 1630, being then chosen minister of St. Nicholas’ chapel, in which capacity he continued during the whole time of his residence here, which was fourteen years. The town allowed him a salary of 100l. a year, which must have been equal to 6 or 700l. of our money. He was also allowed a house to live in, or 5l. a year in lieu of it, which would pay a house-rent now of between 30 and 40l. a year. It appears that he was treated here, during the whole of his residence, with singular and universal respect; from which it may be inferred that he came well recommended, conducted himself with great prudence and propriety, and that his ministerial labours were highly acceptable. Yet Arrowsmith evidently belonged to the puritans, a party for which Lynn was never understood to entertain any particular predilection. How far his ministry contributed to prepare the town for the new order of things which took place in consequence of the siege, and with which the generality of the inhabitants appeared very compliable, we have not the means of ascertaining. But whatever might be the political tendency of his public labours here, their being highly acceptable to his hearers seems very clear and undeniable. For though he and the principal cotemporary minister of St. Margaret’s had several assistants, [990a] who performed the parts assigned to them on Sundays and week days with good acceptance, yet the present writer has in his hands sufficient documents [990b] to prove that he stood above them all in the public estimation. It is therefore presumed that we are fully warranted in placing him among the most eminent of the inhabitants of this town during the said period. The historian Neal speaks of him as a person “of unexceptionable character for learning and piety;” and further says, that “he was an accute disputant, and a judicious divine, as appears by his Tactica Sacra, a book of great reputation in those times.” He died before the restoration, and therefore his name does not appear in Calamy and Rastrick’s lists of ejected ministers.
Before we take our final leave of Dr. Arrowsmith, it may not be improper to apprize the reader of two persons whom the town successively fixed upon to occupy the vacant place of principal minister of St. Nicholas, immediately previous to their making choice of him. These, as appears to the present writer, were no other than the two Goodwins, Thomas and John, who became so famous and distinguished afterwards among the English nonconformists. In a document or record above alluded to, and extracted probably from the Hall-Books, the following passage occurs.—“1629, 12 June; Mr. Mayor and Mr. Tho. Gurlyn, aldn. travel to Cambridge to move Mr. Tho. Goodwin A.M. to come hither to (be) preacher in ys town, and Mr. M. A. CC elected sd. Mr. G. if he will accept thereof.” But he did not accept of their invitation, owing probably to his having been previously chosen lecturer of Trinity church in Cambridge, of which he afterwards became vicar. [993]