17. Anthony Mayhew. He succeeded the former as the minister of the congregation; and was a minister every way worthy of such a predecessor; for a man of superior worthiness, or of a more excellent character was rarely to be found any where. He was a native of Suffolk, and had been many years in the ministry, chiefly in Hampshire, if we are not mistaken, before he settled in this town. After he had been here some years the old chapel in Spinner-Lane was deserted, and a new one erected in Broad-Street, where Mr. Isaac Allen now officiates. He died Aug. 15, 1783 at the age of 76; about six years after he had resigned his pastoral charge, when he was succeeded by
18. William Warner. He was a person of a most amiable disposition, and of respectable parts and learning. He had been educated in London, under doctors Savage, Kippis, and Rees, and came to Lynn in 1777, by the recommendation of those eminent tutors, in consequence of an application from Mr. Mayhew and the congregation. He was here about three or four and twenty years. His health had been deciding some years before he died, which made him wish for a more favourably situation, which at last offered itself, at Hapton near Norwich. But he lived not long there; for he died early in 1802 [1069] at the age of 46. He was born at or near Nailsworth, in Gloucestershire, where he is supposed to have several near relations still living. He married one of the daughters of his worthy predecessor Mr. Mayhew, who still survives him, and is no way unworthy of such a father and such a husband. His funeral sermon was preached at Lynn by one who knew him intimately above twenty years, and knew him to be a man without bigotry and without guile. The congregation declined in his time, after his death the chapel, by some odd management, went into the hands of the Calvinistic Methodists, under the name of Independents, though it was said to be the property of the Presbyterian Board in London.
19. Sir Benjamin Keene, Knight of the Bath, was born at Lynn, in 1697. He was the eldest son of Charles Keene, Esq; a merchant and alderman of this borough, who served the office of Mayor in 1714–15. Young Keene was probably educated at the Free School in this town, and was thence removed to Pembroke Hall in the University of Cambridge, where he took his degree of civil law. He afterwards continued his studies for a few years at Leyden. It is said that the misfortunes of Mr. Keene, the father, in trade, first recommended the family to the humanity and the protection of Sir Robert Walpole, who afterwards acknowledged that the talents and integrity of the son, in a public station of peculiar difficulty, had more than repaid his beneficence. In July 1724, Mr. Benjamin Keene was appointed the British Consul at Madrid, and in 1727 Minister Plenipotentiary at the Spanish Court. He was afterwards sent Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Court of Portugal, and then removed with the character of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Court of Spain. It was before observed, in the biographical sketch of Sir R. Walpole, that it was the great and meritorious object of that minister to preserve his country in a state of peace: his instructions on this point appear to have been executed by his pupil, Mr. Keene, with equal ability and dignity. At an early period of the clamour on account of what was called the Spanish Depredations, [1070] the origin of the differences, and the difficulty of adjusting them, were thus clearly explained by the Ambassador in a letter to the Secretary of State—
“Upon the whole, the state of our dispute seems to be, that the commanders of our vessels always think, that they are unjustly taken, if they are not taken in actual illicit commerce, even though proofs of their having loaded in that manner are found upon them; and the Spaniards on the other hand presume, that they have a right of seizing, not only the ships that are actually trading in their ports, but likewise of examining and visiting them on the high seas, in order to search, for proofs of fraud, which they may have committed; and till a medium be found out between these two notions, the government will always be embarrassed with complaints, and we shall be continually negotiating in this country for redress, without our being able to procure it.”
No efforts were, however, to be left untried by the parliamentary opponents of Walpole to force him into a war; and while they incessantly inveighed against the pusillanimity of the minister, they did not scruple to give their sanction to the most exaggerated accounts of the insults permitted and exercised by the Spaniards, and indeed to the most incredible tales of horror. A transaction which had occurred seven years before, and which was now worked up into “the fable of Jenkins’ ear,” as Burke justly calls it, was made the vehicle of popular frenzy; and it required the full exertion of ministerial sagacity and influence to elude an immediate rupture. The pacific overtures of Sir R. Walpole were most ably seconded by Mr. Keene, whose address overcame the dilatoriness, the punctilios, and the repugnance of the Spanish Court; and a convention was signed at Madrid, which promised all the advantages which the most successful warfare could have procured. But no reasonable concession could satisfy the people of England: their haughty and insulting language at length disgusted and provoked the Spanish nation. The terms of the convention were, in consequence, not fulfilled; Mr. Keene was recalled, and the declaration of War against Spain was hailed in England with a frantic enthusiasm. “They now ring the bells,” was Sir Robert’s observation, “but they will soon wring their hands.” Burke, whose veracity will not be doubted, declares that he had seen and examined the original documents concerning these important transactions, and that they had perfectly satisfied him of the extreme injustice of this war with Spain. He even says, “some years after, it was my fortune to converse with many of the principal actors against that minister, and with those who principally excited that clamour. None of them, no not one, did in the least defend the measure, or attempt to justify their conduct, which they as freely condemned as they would have done in commenting upon any proceeding in history, in which they were totally unconcerned.” It is sufficient to add, that after a disgraceful period of seven years’ hostility, after a dreadful expense of blood and treasure, the right of English Subjects to navigate in the American Seas, the original source of the differences between us and Spain, were not even mentioned in the articles of the ensuing peace!!
Mr. Keene was again appointed to the same honourable station, and in 1754 his majesty George the second was pleased to give a fresh and public mark of approbation of the ambassador’s conduct, by dignifying him with the knighthood of the order of the Bath; and as the king of Spain graciously performed the ceremony of investing him with the ribband, Sir Benjamin, in allusion to that particular ceremony, took for his motto “Regibus Amicis.” He died at Madrid 15. December 1757, at the time when he was about to return to England, with a view of retiring from public employment, and to be created a Peer of Great Britain. [1073a] His great abilities as a minister, exercised and improved by long and important services; the liberality and magnificence with which he supported the dignity of his public character, without any attention to the increase of his private fortune; and unusual esteem and affection for his person, which his many amiable qualities procured him at the court where he resided, were universally acknowledged, and made his death, especially at that critical juncture, a real loss to his country. His remains were brought over from Madrid, and buried at Lynn, in St. Nicholas’ chapel, near his beloved parents. [1073b] A sarcophagus of white marble is placed over his grave, having on one side a medallion bust of the deceased, and on the other a bas relief of Peace trampling under foot the emblems of War, and pointing to ships and bales of merchandize.
20. Dr. Edmund Keene, a younger brother of Sir Benjamin, was borne at Lynn in 1714. Through the interest of Sir Robert Walpole he was educated at the Charter-House, and thence admitted of Caius College, Cambridge in 1730. He was elected Fellow in 1737, but afterwards he removed to St. Peters’ college, on being appointed Fellow of that society in 1739; and he was made Master of Peter-House in 1748. He was elected Vice-chancellor of the university two succeeding years, 1749 and 1750. In 1753 he was promoted to the see of Chester; [1075] and in 1764 the Primacy of Ireland was offered to him, which he declined: but (as it is related by Bp. Newton in the account of his life,) “he urged his request to Mr. Grenville, that, upon the vacancy, he might succeed to the see of Ely, which was the great object, the aim and end of all his ambition.” In 1771, he “succeeded to his heart’s desire, and happy it was that he did so; for few could have borne the expense, or displayed the taste and magnificence which he did, as he had a liberal fortune, as well as liberal mind, and really merited the appellation of a builder of palaces. For he built a new palace at Chester, he built a new Ely-house in London, and in a great measure a new palace at Ely, left only the outer walls standing, formed a new inside, and thereby converted it into one of the best episcopal houses, if not the very best in the kingdom. He had indeed received the money which arose from the sale of old Ely-house, and also what was paid by the executors of his predecessor for dilapidation, which altogether amounted to about 11,000l. But new houses require new furniture.”—Such is the detail of narrative old age. Bp. Keene published only two or three sermons on the usual state occasions: he is said to have been an attentive prelate to his diocese, particularly in reserving to himself the appointment of all the curates in those parishes which were without a resident incumbent. He died in 1781.
21. Thomas Chesterton. He was born at or near Downham, in Norfolk, about the year 1715. When he was of a proper age to be sent to school he was placed under the care of a respectable clergyman in that neighbourhood, who had a number of other pupils, the sons of reputable families, who generally turned out well, and did him no small credit. Among young Chesterton’s schoolfellows there, were the late revd. Thorogood Upwood, Mr. Philip Case, and others of equally creditable connections. His superior genius for learning was known and acknowledged by most of his fellow pupils, many of whom in making their exercises were often not a little indebted to his assistance. While in that seminary he was well grounded in the rudiments of the Latin and Greek languages: nor did that satisfy him, for he continued ever after to press forward unweariedly for further literary improvement; till he acquired an intimate and accurate knowledge, not only of the Latin and Greek languages, but also of the Hebrew and its kindred tongues, the Chaldee, Syriack and Arabick; of the latter of which he composed a Grammar, which was well thought of by good judges. He acquired likewise no slight knowledge of the Persian, Coptic, and Ethiopic languages: so that it was not without reason that some literary characters, even in the establishment, who were well acquainted with his attainments, looked upon him as one of the best scholars in this county.—It should have been observed that after he left school, being designed for the medical profession, he was placed with a Mr. Harvey, a Surgeon and apothecary of very extensive practice in this town. After he got out of his time with Harvey, he married and went into business for himself: and being well respected in the town he soon came into good practice. Having from the first been a frequent attendant on the ministry of the younger Rastrick, he by degrees imbibed his principles and became a decided nonconformist. Afterwards, in consequence of having some scruples about infant baptism, he renounced that practice, professed himself a Baptist, and joined a Society of that denomination at Downham. He was soon after encouraged to engage in the ministry, and having an invitation to settle with a congregation at Colnbrook in Buckinghamshire, he accepted the same and removed to that place, where he continued several years. He afterwards resigned his pastoral charge there, and removed to London where he followed his medical profession (as he had also done at Colnbrook) and preached occasionally. The congregation he was now chiefly connected with was that which met in Eagle Street under the ministry of the late Dr. Grifford of the British Museum. His health now declining, and his property at Lynn and other parts of Norfolk requiring a nearer residence, he returned back to this town about 1765, after an absence in all of about ten years. He now resumed the medical practice, chiefly to introduce his son into business, who was brought up to the same profession. It so happened at this juncture that the people who had formerly seceded from Mr. Rastrick’s congregation, and had formed a sort of Independent society, were without a minister: their late minister, William Eltringham, commonly called captain Eltringham, having removed from them to another congregation. These people invited him to become their minister, and he accepted their invitation. But he was not long comfortable among them. They soon became as unsatisfied with him as they had been with Mr. Rastrick, though not on the same pretence. The connection between him and them was consequently dissolved. His health was now declining so fast, that he was obliged to relinquish the ministry and every other active employment. After languishing for some time, and mostly in most excruciating pains, he died on the 10th of May 1770, at the age of 54. His disorder was said to be an ulcer in the bladder. He was pretty highly orthodox, but, by all accounts, a very pious, as well as a very learned man.
22. David Lloyd, L.L.D. He was a native of Cilcennin in Cardiganshire. After having spent some time at school in that neighbourhood he was sent to the grammar school at Caermarthen, then a very reputable seminary. He went afterwards to Jesus College in Oxford, where he took the degree of L.L.B. and afterwards that of L.L.D. [1079] After having acquitted himself very creditably as usher at some school in the vicinity of the metropolis, he was chosen master of the Lynn Grammar School in 1760; which situation he filled with great reputation to himself, and equal advantage to his pupils for the long space of 34 years. It does not appear that this school was ever in so flourishing a state under any other master, unless it was in the time of Mr. Horne, who was so long at the head of it, as was before observed. Dr. LL. was unwearied in his attention to the literary improvement of the youth placed under his care, and to the forming of them to be useful members of society in the different departments for which they were designed; in which he appears to have been in no small degree successful, as may be seen by the number of those who were once his pupils and now usefully occupy very respectable stations of life. The Doctor went into orders late in life; (at the age of 50 or upwards) and having no preferment in the church he preached but seldom, confining himself entirely to the duties of his other profession. He died in 1794, and was buried in the chancel of St. Margaret’s church. A stone with the following inscription marks his grave—
“Sacred to the Memory of
The revd. DAVID LLOYD, L.L.D.
Master of the Grammar School in this town for 34 years;
Who departed this life Nov. 19. 1794, aged 60 years.
In him were united, with all the virtues of private life, those inestimable
qualities which ought ever to characterize the instructor of youth.
To the authority of a Tutor he added the tenderness of a Father,
Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit.”