Lcibop, O.Ctober 16Th, 1908. NOTES

107 lcibop, O.ctober 16th, 1908. NOTES. [405 .] MUTINY OF THE "BOUNTY ." (See Note No . 214 .) In his last week's London Letter, Mr . Henry CV . Lucy writes :- The deathless human interest that for more than a century has lingered round the story of the mutiny of the "Bounty" is illustrated afresh by a correspondence that has just reached me. Nearly three months ago, under date July 4th, there appeared in this column a paragraph re- porting the sale at Messrs . Sotheby, Wilkinson's Wellin g ton Rooms, of an autograph manuscript in which Captain Pipon related the story of the discovery of the mutineers on Pitcairn Island . "Captain Pipon," it was written, "described the condition of the community consisting, with one exception, of women and children . The exception was Fletcher Christian, who had assumed the name of John Adams." The paragraph, making leisurely way round the world, has reached Australia . A member of the Australian Historical Society writes to me from Sydney : "If it could be proved that the sole survivor of the crew was, as Captain Pipon states, Fletcher Christian, who had assumed the name of John Adams, a very interesting discovery indeed would have been made. Captain Folgar, of the ship Topaz at Boston, landed on Pitcairn Island in 1808 and reported that he found Alexander Smith, alias John Adams, the sole survivor . This was six years before Captain Pipon visited Pitcairn . If Captain Pipon says that Fletcher Christian was still alive, and had adopted the name of one of his shipmates, it would throw a new light on the mystery attaching to Christian's fate . Captain Peter Heywood was under the impres- sion he saw Christian in Plymouth in 1809. Singularly enough, the age attributed to Adams at his death in 1829 (65) approximates nearer to Christian's years than to Adams' ." Another correspondent, equally erudite and not less profoundly interested in the mystery, writes, also from Sydney : "Fletcher Christian was killed by the Otaheitons a year after the mutineers settled at Pitcairn, more than 20 years before Captain Pipon visited the island .

108 The man he met was Fletcher Christian's son, Thursday October Christian ; and the only sur- viving mutineer at that date was Alexander Smith, who had taken the name of John Adams ." My first correspondent suggests that so interesting a document as Captain Pipon's report should be lodged in the library of New South Wales, and he undertakes to take steps to secure its possession . PETER. [406.] A LABOUR MEETING IN 1844 . On the first day of July in 1844 a Labour meeting was held in Heywood, and as Heywood at that time had no newspaper of its own in which such an event could be reported and the record preserved, a brief account of the meeting given in a Manchester paper two days afterwards may be deemed worthy of reproduction here . The report reads as follows :- On Monday last a public meeting of colliers from the neighbourhoods of Bury, Middleton, etc., u -as held at the back part of the Bull's Head beerhouse, Heywood ; from 600 to 700 persons were present . Henry Ingham, an opera- tive coal miner, frond Bury, was chairman .- Berrill, a missionary from Newcastle-on-Tyne, spoke at considerable length, and in the course of his speech he said the miners had 155 lodges in Lancashire, consisting of upwards of 8,000 well-organised colliers, and the lodges were worth £20 each . He hoped all other trades would unite to reduce the hours of labour and increase the rate of wages . It was for that meeting to determine whether they would support the turn-out miners of Northumberland, Durham, and Yorkshire, in their present struggle.- Wil-liam Holgate, another of the colliers' mis- sionaries, - Dixon, a 'Chartist, and other paid delegates, also addressed the audience .-Votes of thanks to the chairman, and Mr . Roberts, the miners' attorney, were given, and the party separated . Probably there is a much smaller number of colliers to-day in "the neighbourhoods of Bury, Middleton, etc .," than in 1844, but in the county as a whole the number is far greater, and the miners' lodges are financially, as a rule, worth much more than was the case sixty-four years ago . At one time a fair number of colliers found employment in the Birtle-cum-Bamford and Ashworth districts, where to-day none, or exceedingly few, are seen.

109 On the Thursday, before the miners' meeting, the landlord of the Bull's Head was concerned in a very different event. In the same paper it is recorded that on the Thursday morning A pig weighing upwards of nine score pounds, belonging to George Horner, of the Bull's Head beerhouse, Heywood, was found dead . It had been in a very bad state for some time, yet a "slink butcher" named Farrow agreed with the beerseller to dress it and sell it for pork ; but the inspectors of meat, and three of the Bury constabulary force, having been informed of the circumstances, took it and burned it in the Market Place, at Heywood, the same evening . Was it customary in those days to cremate condemned meat in the Market Place? Does any venerable Heywoodite remember the Burning of the Pig? X .Y.

[407 .] THE COLLECTION OF FOLKLORE : A PLEA. I have often wondered why more, people don't take up the study of folklore, for I am sure it is the most fascinating of all the sciences. In the investigation of one stray custom or legend one may be led back to the very earliest and most primitive man, to man before metals, to man living in wandering hordes, cannibal in fact To trace the growth of a fairy tale is surely not an uninteresting thing, but rather something full of living interest . To find that some episode, say, in "Beauty and the Beast," goes back to the earliest religious beliefs of man and has affinity with the customs of savage races to-day certainly gives much human interest to what we should otherwise condemn as meraly a childish thing . The vast bulk of the materials of folklore date from the prehistoric period before knowledge was committed to writing and when it could only be perpetuated orally . As one eminent folklorist says, "To this mode of preservation and communication, as well as to the things thus preserved and communicated, the name of tradition is given, and folklore is the science of tradition ." Then, to quote another writer, "Folklore contains the survivals of the oldest and rudest culture of man ." Thus it is the study of "survivals" or "relics of an unrecorded past : 110 It is sometimes urged against the study of history, as it is generally taught, that it is merely the record of kings, statesmen, and generals, that the people are neglected . Of what use to us, it is said, are these petty details about the rulers, it is the condition of the ruled we want to know . That point of view is all right, but, as in other things, the compromise between the two views is the most satisfactory . Any- how, that objection cannot be raised against the history derived from the material of folklore study . It is the "lore" of the "folk ." Perhaps a short quotation from Dr . Haddon's book, "The Study of Man," will help to establish my meaning :-

"Everywhere," he rays, "and at all times, man has `attempted to explain the natural phe- nomena surrounding and affecting him . When such explanations are universally or generally accepted by any tribe or people they constitute the mythology and to some extent the religious beliefs of such tribe or people' (G . L.Gomme .)

"Man is naturally profoundly affected and even modified by his environment, the physical conditions of his country and climate, the nature of the vegetation and of the animal life around him all leave an impress on his character . The friendly as well as the inimical relations between man and man have given rise to rules to govern conduct and intercourse, and these have crystallised into custom

"When man changes from one condition to another, lie still clings to his old beliefs and customs, and should these in process of time cease to be as binding to him or as sacred as they were in the olden time, the memories of them will be preserved and related to the rising generation, to be again narrated to future generations. But in all civilised races there are less cultured people who have lagged behind in the march of civilisation and who still maintain a greater or less amount of belief in the ancient traditions, and who practise old customs though it be but in an attenuated manner ; these are the `folk,' and it is their `lore' which is the sub- ject of enquiry ." That admirably sums up in general terms what we mean by folklore .

ill Folklore comprises all classes of superstition and tradition, children's games, nursery rhymes, and so forth, local customs and festivals, while a very important part of it deals with the growth of religious . Thus it will be seen that folklore is no inconsiderable part of the great science -anthropology-the study of man . Its object, as Dr . Haddon says in a few words, is "to increase our knowledge about ourselves ." As yet "Heywood Notes and Queries" does not seem to have gathered much folklore material . I should like to see some effort made to print here all the published material relating to the district and also to print many hitherto - unpub- lished items gathered from the lips of the people themselves . Everyone can help in this matter . Children's games and rhymes, any recollections of old customs, any nicknames, proverbs, bal- lads, legends and traditions about places, and fairiesthese are only a few of the things that might be collected . The Editor of this column would be pleased to publish them, and with his consent I should like in a further note to illus- trate how these apparently "scrappy" bits are co-ordinated, compared, and traced back to their remote origin . No one need be afraid that be- canee his contribution may be only a line or two that it is to be despised. For example, take children's counting-out rhymes : these collected from all over the British Empire are found to be remarkably alike in principle, though in detail each one is different. By competent scholars the unmeaning jingle has been identified with the one, two, three, of the early Keltsthe ancient Britons, in fact! and, of course, this comparison can be carried further back, on the basis of the connection between the Indo- European tongues, to the original Aryan race . But I do not want to press the matter too far without giving examples . Any contributions would be gladly welcomed . i n a further note I will try to show the real meaning of such common children's games as "Nuts in May," "Draw a Pail of Water," and so on, which are distinctly traceable to the earliest conditions of man. Q . 112

, f ribiy, October 23xb, 1908 .

NOTES.

[408 .] YEW TREE FARM AND " PETER. " (See Note No . 128.) "If stones could speak, what interesting stories this might tell!"

In this wise I reflected, while looking at a relic of Yew Tree Farm, Top of Heap, on the old road from Heywood town to Heap Bridge and Bury . A plain, simple-looking stone ; a sort of trough or slopstone ; yet it can hardly have served as a sdopstone, for there is no hole cut through it as an outlet for water .

Ii' is a chiselled stone, 3ft . 4;in . long, 1ft . bin . wide, and 12'-z in . deep (outside measurements) . The hollow portion is at the top 3ft . long and 13lin . wide . It is hollowed to a depth of 5zin ., and the sloping inner sides give the bottom a width of 104in . The inside corners are rounded .

In what part of the ancient farm house this stone stood, or what purpose it served there, I do not know. It now lies on the ground near the west wall of the re-built barn, in the re-building of which all the stones of the old house except this one appear to have been utilised . Though it is not long since the house-for some years dilapi- dated and unoccupied-was pulled down, the grass is already growing all over the site ; and the home for many generations of a rather notable family has become simply a memory .

And what of this derelict stone now lying near the barn? Look over on the side next the wall, and an inch or two from the top of the stone you will see an incised Christian name (in sloping capitals)- 113 PETER. It is a name I like. Not many weeks before finding it on this solitary stone, I was standing at the graveside of a brother Peter . A yeoman- uncle and a cousin also bore this name . And I love to remember my dear old mother's remini- scences of her grandsire, Peter Moore (born about 1740) ; a Yorkshire dalesman ; "one of the best fiddlers in the West Riding," I have been told ; who spent a great part of his life in Dent, where his cousin, Richard Sedgwick, was vicar--father of the famous Professor Adam Sedgwick . But Peter of the Yew Tree Farm inscription : Who was he? What was he? When and where did he live and die? I cannot say. And yet I do not think he was a member of the family, or a regular resident, at this farm house which has now disappeared . "Peter" was cut in the stone probably in the eighteenth century, when the Holker family "flourished" here . During practically the whole of that century there were Holkers at the Yew Tree Farm. And yet I cannot find that a "Peter" Holker ever lived here or elsewhere. There was, however, a relative of the Holkers named Peter, and I venture to suggest that he is identical with the Peter of the inscription .

Two hundred and eleven years ago-in Octo- ber, 1697-Peter Baron of Ainsworth, son of Titus Baron, yeoman, and his wife Mary War- ing, was married at Middleton Parish Church to Esther Fearniside, described as of Bolton parish (probably of Little Lever). The bride wacc a daughter of James Fearniside and his wife Grace, daughter of John Crompton of 'Hacking Hall, Darcy Lever. Peter Baron had several sons and daughters, the eldest of whom 'had barely "come of age" when the mother died-killed by a fall from horseback, about five years before the marriage VOL . 4.-Part 44. 114 of her second daughter, Grace, at Heywood, 11th October, 1725, to the first minister of the first Nonconformist chapel in Bury, the Rev . Thomas Braddock . Peter Baron's wife had a sister, Elizabeth Fearniside, who by her marriage with Richard Hardman -of Rochdale was the mother of two successful merchants--James and John Hardman, the latter of whom was sometime M .P. for Liverpool . It was in the later years of the seventeenth century that the Holkers settled at Top of Heap, and they became connected by marriage with the Barons. Esther Baron, a daughter of the aforementioned Peter Baron, was married to Samuel Holker, son of Thomas Holker, of the Yew Tree Farm, and I think it would be after Samuel Holker succeeded to the farm on the death of his father (in March, 1734) that "Peter" was inscribed in the stone under notice . The inscription is not well done, and it is rather suggestive of having been cut with the point of a pocket-knife By whom? Well, I think by a nephew of Mrs. Samuel Holker ; done while on a visit to his relatives at the farm. Samuel Holker's wife had three or four brothers. One of them, Joseph Baron, who carried on business in Bury as a woollen draper, had a wife and . several children, and one of his sons was named Peter . No doubt visits would be paid by Joseph Baron's children to the kins- folk at Top of Heap, and it is not at all un- likely that on one of those occasions young Peter Baron (whose father died on 24th June, 1750, aged 48) cut his Christian name in the stone which I have described. Joseph Baron was survived by his wife, three sons, and three daughters, and there was also a posthumous child . What became of the widow and the children, or of any of them, I do not know. Possibly some of their descendants are among the Barons of Bamford, Rochdale, etc.

115 There was a Peter Baron, merchant, of Man- chester and London, who died about 1774, but beyond that fact I have no information concerning him .

There is still standing a portion of the ancient yew from which the farm occupied so long by the Holkers derived its name ; but so much decayed that it might fall at any time now . What remains of it is about 8ft . high and about a dozen feet in circumference . It stands a few feet from the roadside, and some twenty-five yards eastward of the site of the farmhouse . And between that site and the lifeless trunk of what must once have been a fine tree there lie a few oaken beams from the roof of the vanished house-the ancestral home of a great leader of the Northern Circuit who became Lord Justice of the High Court of Appeal . Perhaps from branches of this yew bows were made for some of the gallant yeomen who up- held the fame of the Lancashire archers at Flodden Field. L$OTOB .

ANSWERS. [449 .] HANDLOOM WEAVING. I send herewith a few more notes on the above, and hope they will bring further information . In my last note I said that Mr. B. Taylor was the last handloom weaver in Heywood . I am informed that that is wrong, and that bandloom weaving was done 50 years ago at Heady Hill at what is now No . 15 . The weaver's name was James Kay, and he used too fetch his warp, etc ., from and carry his woven piece back to White- field. He died about 46 years ago . It is said that in addition to weaving he kept a toffee shop, making treacle toffee, and also selling toffee which he bought in Manchester in half-pound lots, the same being sold at four for a halfpenny to the boys and girls who were fortunate enough at that time to possess that

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valuablee coin. There was then so such thing as giving children a penny in the shilling as is done today, and which I believe is working untold harm amongst boys and girls. At this time for a lad to become possessed of about twopenee, he would have been looked upon as a bloated capitalist. The above James Taylor had a son, John Kay Taylor, who was reckoned a first-rate portrait painter, etc .. It was in the house of James' Kay that many of the old Chartists used to meet, and drill with their old pikes, etc!. Amongst the last of the handloom woollen weavers in this neighbourhood was John As'hworth, father of Abel Ashworth of Hooley Bridge, and also father of John Ash- worth, the author of "Strange Tales," and who was also connected with the Chapel for the Destitute in Rochdale. The house in which Mr. Ashworth did his weaving was in a house where Mr . Barker now lives at Simpson C'lough.

And another handloom weaver was Mr. Shep- herd, father of Dr . Shepherd of Glasgow, who lived at a house called Clough Stile, near to St . Michael's school, Bamford . This house has recently been pulled down and in place thereof a high wall now obstructs the view of the Park, etc ., from the Bury Old Road.

So far as I can ascertain these two men were the last of the woollen handloom weavers, and the time is fixed as about 60 or 70 years ago .

The weft and warp had to be carried on their backs from Bury or Rochdale ; and the pieces were returned in the same way. It would be interesting to know what became of these old handlooms . Can any reader oblige? JOSEPH LORI) .

[410.] DATE OF OPENING OF THE HEYWOOD RAILWAY . (Query No . 315.) The railway from Bluepits (the station now known as Castleton) to Heywood was opened on April 17th, 1841 ; from Heywood to Bury in May, 1848 ; from Bury toi Liverpool November 20th, 1848. A. B. 117 ifxibag, tRobtmbex 6th, 1908.

NOTES.

L411 .] OLIVER HEYWOOD IN HEYWOOD AND ROUNDABOUT . I. The diaries, etc ., of the distinguished Lanca- shire-born divine, Oliver Hey wood-one of a great number of worthy clergymen forced out of their livings by the operation of the Act of Uniformity (1662)-show that he repeatedly passed through this district on his preaching journeys ; and locally there is an added interest in the probability that some of his ancestors were natives of this township . As regards the latter point, there is an interesting passage in his autobiography . Writing of his family, he says :- 'Tis possible we might spring from some younger brother of the house of Heywood of Heywood, an ancient Esquire's seat betwixt Ratchdal and -Bury, for old Mr . Robert Hey- wood (whom I knew), a pious, reverend old gentleman, and an excellent poet, was wont to call my father Cozen ; but kinship grows out in processe of time, and 'tis not much materiall what family we are of so that we be of the household of faith, and have God for our Father, Christ for our elder brother, and the spirit of grace running in our best veines and acting us for God . Born at Little Lever, near Bolton, in the early part of 1629, Oliver Heywood was but a youth when he knew Robert Heywood, the poet. It is erroneously stated in the Dictionary of National Biography and in one of the Chetham Society's publications that Robert Heywood died in 1645. He died in January, 1646-7. For information concerning him, see "Heywood Notes and Queries," Nos. 235 and 293 . Some extracts from Oliver Heywood's diaries, etc ., referring to his journeys from and to his home near Halifax, are appended :- [YEAR 1667 .] On the day after April 29 I went towards Lancashire, and lodged at Mathew Hollis house at Ratchdale, where I preached. On 118 the Tuesday to Manchester, and lodged at Mr. Hultons that night. They have a foolish custom after twelve o'clock to rise and ramble abroad, make garlands, strew flowers, etc., which they call Bringing in May . I could sleep little that night by reason of the tumult. The day after, being May the 1st, I went to Denton, and on the Thursday to Dean, to accompany my cousin and sister to my brother Angiers. Left them there and lodged in Little Leaver with my brother Whitehead. The morning after I went to Heaton Hall, near Prestwich, a business to Mr . Laurence Hog, and then to James Hardmans, of Brod- field, near Heywood Chappel . There according to appointment I preached, the Lord graciously assisting. Lodged there that night. In the morning called of my cosin Edmund Hill . Thursday, Septemb 19. I set forward in my journey towards Lancashire. Lodged that night at Mr . Hortons at Sowerby. On Fri- day Mr. Bentley, my wife, and I went to Manchester. On Lords day he and I preacht at Denton. On Munday we kept a private fast at my brother Hultons house in Man- chester, where I stayed and visited friends till Wednesday, on which day we visited my Aunt Darcy at E'dgcroft . Thence we went with my Brother and sister Crompton to Breakmit-hill, where I preacht upon the Thursday night . On Friday I preacht with Mr. Pendlebury near Cockey chappel. On Lords day I preacht all day at my brother William \Vhiteheads house. On Munday went to Bolton. On Tuesday I preacht at my uncle Francis Critchlaws house ; on Wednes- day at my brother Thomas Cromptons ; on Thursday night at George Holts in Bolton ; on Friday with Mr . Aspinal at Mr. Strang- ways house in Ainsworth . The day after, being Saturday, I went to visit my dear brother at Ormeschurch, where I preacht on. Lords day night, and stayed there till Tues- day, and so returned to Bolton, staying all night at my brother Okeys. On Wednesday morning, according to appointment, I preacht at Thomas Livesleys, in Bury parish ; on Thursday with Mr. Hulme at Adam Fernisides, in Little Leaver ; on Saturday night at my Brother Samuel Brad- leys home ; on Lords day twice at Ralph 119

Leavers ; on Munday night at Captain Sed- dons. On the Tuesday we returned to Man- chester, where we stayed that week, visiting our friends. On Saturday we went to Den- ton, there I preacht on the Lords day, and on Munday returned to Manchester . On the Tuesday we returned homewards, visiting friends at Hollin-wood, Oldham, and lodged at Matthew Hollis' house that night, where I preacht ; the day after at James Hardmans by Heywood chappel, and in the evening at Chedwick-hall ; and upon Thurs- day (after five weekes voyage), Octob 24, '67, we returned to Coley-hall . As regards "Mathew Hollis house at Ratch- dale," where Oliver Heywood occasionally preached : In a list of "Presbyterian parsons and their meeting places" in 1689, 1 find "Joseph Whitworth-Mr . Mathew Hallowe's house in Hundersfield" ; and in a letter dated 13th September, 1696, I find mention of "Mathew Holles, a trader with Rachdale baise, or some cloth ." Probably lie is identical with "Mr. Matthew Hallowes of Ashworth Hall, near Rochdale," who, according to what is known as the "Northowram Register," was buried on September 12th, 1707 . Of the same family would be "Mr . Samuel Hallows, a Jus- tice of the Peace near Rochdale," who, according to the same register, died on January 21st, 1740. Samuel is no doubt identical with the gentleman referred to elsewhere as "Mr . Hal- lows of Lincoln's Inn," who is said to have purchased the Ashworth Hall estate "from the impecunious Richard Holt for £3,960 and an annuity to him for life ." Samuel, it is also stated, married a Miss Rothwell of Bury ; and in John Starky's diary it is written-"1740, January 21st -This day died Mr . Sam . Hal- lows of Ashworth to the great joy of all his neighbours ." The will of one Samuel Hallows of Ashworth, Esquire, was proved in 1750 . The Rev . James Clegg (1679-1755), Nonconformist minister and a native of Shawfield, near Roch- dale, mentions in his diary that on September 6th, 1732, he "set out for Ashworth, dined with Justice Hallowes, and returned that night to Manchester ." Among the Raines Manuscripts I find a note that "Sarah, daughter of Matthew Hollows, of Ashworth Hall and Newbold Lane, and widow of Samuel Hamer, of Hamer, married the Rev . 120

Joseph Mottershead, Presbyterian minister . She appears also to have been the widow of Nathaniel Gaskell, of Manchester." The Rev . Joseph Mottershead was minister of Cross-street Chapel, Manchester, from 1717 to his death in 1771, and Matthew Hallows's daughter Mar- garet (not Sarah) was his second wife. He was married to her in January, 1721, and she died 31st January, 1740. The Rev . Joseph Whitworth, who sometime officiated at "meetings" of Nonconformists held at Matthew Hallows's house in Hundersfield, afterwards removed from Rochdale to the Ains- worth Presbyterian (now Unitarian) Church, and died at Ainsworth on February 13th, 1722, in his 66th year, his remains being interred there. He was the son of a Rochdale surgeon, and his wife was a Rochdale lady, a daughter of Abraham Stansfield . In the "Record of the Provincial Assembly of Lancashire and Cheshire" the Rev . George Eyre Evans says in regard to Joseph Whitworth and Ainsworth : "No proof that he was ever minister here, save a tombstone error" ; but I have met with contemporary evidence of Mr . Whitworth minis- tering in that district . In the will of a local Nonconformist, made in November, 1713, Joseph Whitworth is mentioned as being then minister at Aiusworth, and I have met with records of some of his movements in that district a number of years earlier . In the foregoing extracts, mention is made of Oliver Heywood preaching at the house of James Hardman of Broadfield, Heywood. For information about the Hardmans of Broadfield, see "Heywood Notes and Queries," Nos . 90 and 105. To which may be added an entry in the Northowrom Register : -1708 . James Hardman's wife of Broadfield, in Middleton Parish, buried [at Middleton Church] May 26, aged about 83 ." This last-named James Hardman was a son of the James mentioned by Oliver Heywood in 1667, and survived his wife about three years and nine months, his funeral taking place at Middleton Church, February 8th, 1711-12 . It is recorded in the Northowram Register that his mother died "near Heywood" in 1691, aged 86 (having survived her husband aboutl8years) . Another place at which Oliver Heywood says he preached in 1667 was "Thomas Livesleys, in Bury Parish." This would be the house of 121

Thomas Livesey, in Birtle. Reference is made to it in the diary of the Rev . James Clegg, thus My mother Ann was the daughter of Livesay of Berkle in the parish of Bury . Her father was a zealous dissenter and had private Meetings in his house, when preachers of that persuasion were so bitterly persecuted in ye reign of Charles ye 2nd . I have heard her mention several ministers, amongst others Mr. Oliver Heywood and Mr . Naylor, who used frequently to preach there . Mrs . Ann Cleg; s father, Thomas Livesey of Birtle, was a son of Robert Livesey of Heap, and was born in December, 1617 . His mother, Margaret Hardman, at the time of her marriage (10th November, 1610) resided at Brandle- some, near Bury ; probably she was a connection of the Hardinans of Broadfield . A younger brother of Thomas Livesey was James Livesey (born in December, 1625), who proceeded to Cambridge University in May, 1645, along with Henry Pendlebury-a celebrated native of Banrford, an account of whom has been given in "Heywood Notes and Queries," Nos. 84, 318, and 320. James Livesey (whose wife's father, George Chetham, was a nephew of Hum- phry Chetham founder of Manchester's most famous charity) ministered at Turton 1650-52, at Atherton 1652-56, and was vicar of Great Budworth, Cheshire, from 1657 to his death, 7th February, 1661-2 . His brother, Thomas Livesey, died at his residence in Birtle, 1st July, 1673 . Robert Livesey, the father, is described as a yeoman, of Bury, in the record of his son James's admission at Cambridge University ; but in the christening register he (Robert) is described as of Heap, and it was in the township of Heap he died, 25th April, 1675-Heap then being in the parish of Bury . He died at Spout Bank Farm (near Heap Bridge), the land of which was cut through when the railway from Heywood to Bury was made, upwards of sixty years ago .

Livesey succeeded Livesey at Spout Bank. One of them commemorated some building or family event by putting a stone in the north end of premises now used as shippon and barn, with an incised heart-shaped design over "E .L.,°" 122 and beneath these initials the date 1684. I am glad I made a copy when rambling that way in the autumn of 1905 ; for when going round again recently I observed that the entire face of the stone had scaled off to a depth of over half an inch, and the inscription had disappeared for ever . LsaTOS.

lribap, 1obember 13th, 1908 .

NOTES. [412 .] OLIVER HEYWOOD IN HEYWOOD AND ROUNDABOUT. H. In the extracts already given from his diaries, etc., Oliver Heywood mentions calling at his "cousin Edmund Hills," Chadwick Hall, in 1667, where he also called and preached subsequently . In what way Oliver Heywood and Edmund Hill were related I do not know-the word "cousin" was not always used in the same sense in those days as it is now. Nor have I any trustworthy information about Edmund Hill himself . Probably he was a yeoman and he may be identical with the Edmund Hill of Tong End, a ear Whitworth, whose will was proved in 1696. The will of another Edmund Hill of Tong End was proved in 1718, sand the will of another Edmund of "Cheesdenfold, in Rochdale, yeoman," was proved' in 1759. Of the same stock may have been Edmund Hill of Hardin C'lough, Shuttle- worth, who died on 26th November, 1768, in his 70th year ; and Edmund Hill of 'Wind'le, yeoman, whose will was proved in 1780 . "Adam Ferniside in Little Lever," yeoman, in whose house and barn Oliver Heywood occasionally preached in 1667 and in later years, was the father of James Fearniside ; and James Fearniside's wife, Grace, a younger daughter of John Crompton of Hacking Hall, Darcy Lever, was probably a kinswoman of Abigail, daughter of James Cro mpton of Breightmet, to whom Olives' Heywood was married (Abigail being his second wife) on 27th June, 1667. 'The aforementioned Mrs. Grace Fearniside committed suicide, by hanging, on 28th May, 1672. She was the mother of Bather

123

and Elizabeth, the wives respectively of Peter Baron of Ainsworth and, Bury, and' Richard Hardman, of Rochdale, to whom reference is made in the article on "Yew Tree Form and `Peter"' in "Heywood Notes and Queries," No . 408 . One of Mrs . Grace Fearniside's great- grand-daughters, Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel Holker of Yew Tree Farm, Top of Heap, was the wife of the Rev . Francis Hodgson (1742- 1818), who was headmaster of Bury Grammar School for forty-nice years, and descendants of whom are still living . "Adam Fearnside of Little Leaver" died on 30th April, 1685, in his 81st year, and was buried in Bolton Parish Churchyard. He had a son, Adam, M.A., of Christ College, Cambridge, who died on 27th April, 1688. -- [YEAR 1668 .] Lords day, April 12, I preacht at Cockey Chappel, upon call, they having no minister . There was a numerous congregation . God granted liberty of the place, and peace, tho the high sheriff, Mr. Greenbaugh of Brandlesome, and his father-in-law, Dr . Bridgeman, dean of Chester, were within two pules of us, and the trumpeter came at noone, to an alehouse by the ehappel ; Blessed be God . On Munday [April ] I returned back to Manchester, and after supper I went out and baptized two children in the towne . On Tuesday I came homewards as farre as James illardmans of Broadfield, near Hey- wood Chappel ; there I preacht upon the Wednesday, but what with a cold I had got and my excessive paines for five houree that day my body was much disordered, and with some difficulty we got home upon Thursday, April 30 . On Tuesday, Sept . 15, we set forward in our journey towards Lancashire We lodged at Mr. Hortons the first night, at my cousin Edmund Hills the second . The Thursday night we came to my brother Cromptons on Brelamit Hill, but because Cockey Chappel was supplyed on the Lords day I turned my course to Denton . . Having promised to preach at Cookey I went thither, and was there on Lords day, being Octob . 4 ; tho it was a very rainy day, yet God brought many people together. On Munday night I preacht at Bolton at my brother Okeys ; on 124 Wednesday I kept a fast at my brother Bradleys ; on 'Thursday I preacht at 'brother Wihiteheads upon the text John Busick left ; on Friday we kept a fast in Little Bolton (et his request) for my cousin, John Goodwin, who is sensible of his miscariages . Oh what a good day was it! Lord hearken . That night I was all night with Mr. Andrews at Little Leauver-hail . Saturday I went to Thomas Liveseys, being to preach on Lords day at Ashworth, which with some difficulty I obtained for one part of the day . Lodged at night with Richard Livesey . On Monday I went to Bolton, preacht at brother Okeys again . On Tuesday went to my fathers to Water-side, spent some time in prayer with him, and went to Manchester that night ; preacht at brother Hultons on Wednesday night. On Friday we set homewards. That day I preacht and lodged at James Hard- mane. On Saturday I preaoht et Edmund Ilills ; on Lords day I preacht all day at Shaw Chappell . Lodged that night and next et Matthew Holliecs, where I preacht on Munday night, and went home on 'Tuesday, Octob. 20, just that day five weekes we set from home ; found our family and friends well, blessed be our good God . "Mr. Greenhaugh of Brandlesome" : This was Thomas Greenhalgh of Brandlesome (or Buandlesholme) Hall, near Bury, who was High Sheriff of Lancashire in 1668 and 1669. His grandfather, Captain John Greenhaugh, was Governor of the Isle of Man for a number of years ; and his great-grandmother, Mary, the wife of Thomas Greenha,gh, was the daughter of Robert Ilolt of Ashworth (See Note 151, on "Halts of Ashworth Hall.") Richard Livesey, with whom Oliver Heywood "lodged' at night," after preaching at Ashworth Chapel, in October, 1,668, was a youngerbrother of Thomas Livesey under whose roof Oliver occasionally preached . Richard was christened (from Heap) on 30th March, 1623, and on 7th September, 1655, lie married Anne Marcroft of Birtle, taking up his residence et Woodgate Hill . He died at Moorside on 9th June 1688. Some other particulars about these Liveseys of Heap and Birtle are given in chapter 1. (Note 412.) 125

[YEAR 1669 .] On Thursday set forward towards Lanca- shire, being April 22 . Lodged at Mr. Gregorys at Ratchdale, the day after at my Brother Hultons at Manchester. . . . On Thurs- day went to Co-sin Garsides in Prestwieh parish; on Friday to brother Cromptons in Breakinight ; preacht the Lord's day at Cockey . On Tuesday I went to Ormeechurch ; there saw an afflicted family, my dear brothers son in sad fits of convulsion . Re- turned on 'Thursday, kept a day, and •preacht at Breamt Hill. Saturday went to Manch ., preacht at Gorton on Lords day, on Wednes- day went to Little Leaver, preacht at Brother Whiteheads on Thursday . On Fri- day Mr . Bradshaw and I joyned at a day, both preacht at Brother T . Cromptone, and Lords day I preaeht funeral sermons for Mr . Park and my good uncle Francis Critchlaw at Bradshaw Chappel, an Munday night at Brother Okeys, on Thursday at Brother Bradleys, on Friday at James Hurdmans, so cane to Ratchdale that night, designing that Lords day to preach at Shaw Chappel, but by reason of an unhappy nih e about a letter it was not judged fit, so I came home on Satur- day, May 23, and have spent this Sabboth peacebly and I hope profitably at home, with a numerous congregation ; blessed be God. Sep . 24 I with my family set forward in our journey towards Lane . Came to Ched- ,wick Hall that night . On Saturday we went by Manchester to Denton . . . Preacht on Lords day, Octob. 3, at Shaw C'happel . On Munday we went to Little Leaver ; on Tues- clay to Bolton, there I preacht on Wednes- day at Mtris Parkes ; on Thursday at Brother Cronyptons at a private day ; on Lords day at Cockey ; on Munday night at Bolton ; on Tuesday at Brother Whiteheads ; on Thurs- day at Thom . Lieveslys. Came homewards to Littleborough with any maid and sons . Re- turned back on Friday night into Break- might. Preacht at Cockey on Lords day again, at James Hurdmans on Tuesday, at Ratchdale at night, lodged with Elizeb . Has- lam, so returned home on Wednesday, being Octob. 20. This journey I have preacht two funeral sermons for two good women that gave me the texts, viz., Isai 44, 22, at Cockey Chappel,

126 and Lam 3, 27, at Thom Liveseys, both wrought upon by any ministry, and I hope gone to gloryblessed be God . The "Mr. Gregory," at whose house in Roch- dale Oliver Heywood occasionally "lodged" and preached, is mentioned elsewhere in the latter'a records thus :- Mr. John Gregory buryed at Ratchdale, March 18, 1674-5, a wise, zealous, rich, useful man as any in that parish . Elizabeth Ilaslam of Rochdale, at whose house also Oliver Heywood' sometimes stopped and preached, was a widow ; and "Jo . Haslam," of the same town, with whom Oliver stayed one night in April, 1680, would probaibly be of the same family . LECTOR .

gribag, g"tobember 20th, 1908.

NOTES. [413.] OLIVER HEYWOOD IN HEYWOOD AND ROUNDABOUT . III . Under date 30th September, 1666, Oliver Hey- wood writes that he "spent the Lords day at Mr. Browns house at Horsham in Bury parish ." There is no "Horsham" in that parish . No doubt Holcombe is meant-where Oliver Hey- wood's friend, Henry Pendlebury, was incumbent, and where Pendlebury was ejected under the Act of Uniformity in 1662 . At that time Thomas Browne, gentleman, lived at Heyhouse, Holcombe . On the north side of the house there is a stone inscribed, "R.B. 1616," the initials being those of Roger Browne . Thomas Browne was an elder of the Presbyterian Classis (embracing the parishes of Bolton, Bury, Roch- dale, Middleton, Radcliffe, and Deane) at the time of Oliver Heywood's ordination in Bury Parish Church, 4th August, 1652 . Some additional extracts from Oliver's diaries, etc ., are appended :- [Year 1671 .] Sep 14 we [the diarist and his wife] went towards Lane. We lodged first night at Henry Smiths at Sowerby, where I preacht that night . The day after we went to James 127 Hardmans, and on the day after, being Satur- day, I came to Ratchdale . Spent the Lords day at Mat : Hallows house in Hatchdale . Went at night to J . Hardmans ; preacht there after publiek work was over . On Thursday morning [November 16th], by that tine I was settled at my study, came a messenger out of Lane : signifying a peece of sadness, that my dear brother-in-law Will Whitehead, was dead . I went immethately with him. We lodged at Heywood Chappel at an inne. On Friday morning I came to that sad family, his wife being sick also of a feaver. He dyed on Wednesday, was buryed on Friday, Nov . 17 . It was a solemn funerall, seven nonconformist ministers, multitudes of people, great lamentation . [March, 1683-4 .] Mr . Greenhaugh of Brandlesome (Justice of Peace in Lane .), hitherto moderate, is now grown unreasonable, fining people for going to Cocky chappel, tho bel was rung, prayers read, etc . There are three informers about Bury have done abundance of mischief, are incouraged (though perjured, apparently) swearing agt. a meeting at Mr . A . though they were not in the house or inner court, heard nothing and seazed 21 beasts of a Quaker for £20, sold them . Mr. Gips, parson, of Bury, said if the con- stables and church officers will not inform agt i dissenters, whose office it is to suppresse them, yet he was glad it was done by those informers, though they might have one ill end therein, saying with Paul, some inform out of envy, others of goodwill, however the work is done therein I rejoyce and will rejoyce . Thomas Greenhalgh of Brandlesome Hall, whose family was connected with the Holts of Ashworth and the Asshetons of Middleton, was i referred to in the preceding chapter . He died on January 15th, 1691-2, in his58th year . His wife, Elizabeth, was a daughter of Henry Bridgeman, some time Dean of Chester, and later Bishop of Sedor and Man (whose father, Dr . John Bridge- rnan, was Bishop of Chester) . Thomas Green- halgh's daughter, Elizabeth, by her marriage with Miles Lonsdale, had a daughter, Eliza- beth, who married a son of John Kay, the inventor of the fly shuttle . Another son (Robert) 128 of the famous inventor had a daughter who married Thomas Oram, and Thomas Oram had a daughter who, by her marriage with John Whitehead (uncle of Robert Whitehead, inventor of the torpedo) was grandmother of Henry Whitehead of Haslem Hey, High Sheriff of Lan- cashire in 1903, the donor of the handsome memorial to John Kay, the inventor, which was unveiled at Bury on April 4th, 1908, by the late Earl of Derby. Of the ancient hall which was the ancestral home of the Greenhalghes very little now remains, and the only existing sign of their occupation consists in an inscription over the doorway of a delapidated outbuilding- "H 1709 0" (the initials being those of Henry, the eldest son of the aforementioned Thomas Greenhalgh), surmounted by the family crest, a stringed bugle horn . [Year 1689 .] I was extraordinarily imployed in Lanca- shire preaching almost every day for almost a fortnight in several places about Manch ., Bolton, Ratchdal ; bad laid out my self in weeping, wrestling, beating my braines, lungs, but had no incouragement concerning the successe of my labours on consciences . The last day, viz. Sep 30, 1689, returning homewards I preached near Heywood chappel to a numerous assembly ; there I heard a passage wch exceedingly cheared me, which was that one Mr . Chaderton, afterwards a serious Christian and famous preacher (though living obscurely with Mr . Sarjeant at Stand), was wrought upon by'a sermon that I preacht at Underwood, near Ratchdall, many yeares agoe, wch I never heard of till that day ; the like I heard from Mr . Timothy Hodgson himself owning me as an instrument of good to his soul . Born in 1655, near Middleton, Robert Chader ton was educated at Brazenose College, Oxford . For some time he acted as assistant in a school at Middleton, afterwards as private chaplain to I Thomas Sergeant at Old Hall, Stand, and finally, for a short time, as minister of the Non- conformist church at Lancaster . He was or- dained by Oliver Hey wood at Widow Col- bourn's house, Outwood Gate, near Stand, Whitefield, on May 12th, 1687 . His health broke down at Lancaster, and he was removed to Old Hall, Stand, where he died, his funeral taking place at Prestwich Church on October 129

15th, 1687 . The Timothy Hodgson mentioned by Oliver Heywood may have been a connection of the Hodgsons of Littleborough . Under no specific date, Oliver Heywood writes : - A gentleman told me, one Mr . G . M ., that he having occasion to dig for stones to build a house, he found a place in the middle of a field where there was a strange conglomera- tion of stones and earth . The place is in Bury parish in Lane . It lyes high and hath a fair prospect . The whole field hath a little swarfe with grasse at the top, but stoney under like a causey, and could never be plowed ; but about the middle of it, for about a rood of ground compasse, in digging they found a strange incredible glueing and clotter- ing of stones and earth, so that they stuck so close together that they could not part them, and this was for about halfe a yard deep . They conjecture that that is a place where the heathens in ancient times offered their sacrifices, and that the blood of the beasts runing down might soake into the earth, and congeal the dust and stones and earth to such incredible hardnes . "Mr. G. M ." may have been Giles Meadow- croft (whose father, Richard, died at Smethurst Hall, Rochdale Old Road, near "Jericho," in October, 1561) . Or he may have been George Mellodew, a member of a local yeoman family which has been already written of in the "Hey- wood Notes and Queries ." . (See Note on the Melladews, Mellalieus, etc ., No . 218 .) The field referred to by Oliver Heywood would probably be on the Birtle side of the district . It is interesting to find that Oliver Heywood was personally well acquainted with the founder of one of our most notable educational charities, William Hulme . Among the great divine's records is this :- Mr . Win Hulm, my old companion at school, decayed gentleman, had been justice, was brought to Brother Hiltons, buryed at Manchester, Oct . 29, '91 . Aged 60. There is a pathetic entry relating to a death which may be said to have led William Huline to bequeath for the good of other people the estate which there was no child of his own to inherit . The entry reads :- VOL. 4 .-part 45.

130 1673 . Sept. Mr. Banister Hulme (son of my old school-fellow Mr . Will . Hulme, now justice of peace), went to school at Manches- ter, tabled at my brother Hultons, had been squabling with a boy at schools, came home, complained of his head, vomited before he went to bed, grew worse, his parents sent for . Doctors came, applyed many things to him, he grew frantick, sung much, could not be held in bed scarce by four lusty men, though but a youth of about 17 yeares of age . Dr . Anderton and Dr . Chadwick almost martyred him with plaisters, leeches, shaving clisters, etc ., yet confessed they understood not his disease. At last he dyed, was buryed at Man- chester Sept 11, the day of that unparaleld flood. He was their only child, extraordinary dear, his mother is almost distracted with excessive grief. His father bath been something debauched, tho of late much reformed, yet exceeding devoted to conformity . The first work he did after he was justice of peace was sending good Mr . Wood to Lancaster jayl for preaching . He hath said of my brother Hul- ton's house, wch is his, that he had rather see it afire than have it hold a conventicle . Who knows what this dreadfull blow may do upon my old companion! The great-grandmother of William Hulme was Anne, daughter of Robert Holt of Ashworth Hall . One of the later occasions on which Oliver Heywood passed through this district was in May, 1695, when he paid what proved to be his last visit to his old friend, Henry Pendlebury, at Bast House, Walmersley, near Bury . "What are your thoughts now, as to your nonconformity?-do you repent of it?" was one of the questions put by the visitor to his stricken 1 brother . And the answer was one after Oliver's own heart . "I bless God I am abundantly satisfied with it," replied the dying veteran ; "and if I were to make my choice over again, and if it were possible for me to see all the sufferings I have undergone for it (which are nothing to what many of the precious servants of God have suffered), and if they were all laid together, I would make the same choice, and take my nonconformity with them ; and I bless God I never so much as tampered with them . . . The words of the Apostle I leave with you, my brother : Be not weary in well- doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not." LECTOR. 1 3 1 Iribap, flobember 27th, 1908 .

NOTES.

[414 .] A BIT OF LANCASHIRE AND FIFTY YEARS AGO . I. Yes, 50 years ago it must be, more or less, as we say, since the writer, then a lad in his teens, stood before the Queen Anne Hotel in the centre of the town of Ifeywood, thoroughly absorbed in watching a company of Volunteers going through some elementary exercises . At the head of the men was a smart young officer who still survives in the person of the venerable Colonel Mellor of Whitefield, and late popular member of Parlia- ment for Radeliffe-cum-Farnworth . Just below the Queen Anne stood the Post Office in those days, and the postmaster was John Ileywood, author of that once well-known children's hymn, "Sabbath schools are England's glory ." A spare, sharp-featured, keen-eyed man he was, I remember . With the reader's kind permission we will take a little walk together, in imagination, down the main street and on towards Rochdale . The Parish Church, a rather imposing struc- ture, stands on the site of the old building of former days. The clergyman I first remember was the Rev . Mr . Shadwell-a tall, military- looking man, and somewhat of a martinet in discipline, for he sometimes exercised authority in the day school along with the schoolmaster . An equally striking personality and a fine-looking man was the schoolmaster himself-Mr . Thomas Wolstenholme-whose powerful voice and strong right arm did their best to drive knowledge into the heads of the youths of the town . Having had no day school education I attended the night school for a short time, where much the same fear of the master prevailed . There is only one lesson I can remember, but that was a severe one . I was engaged one night scribbling something or other at the bottom of my copy book as the master walked along the front of the desk. A. dark shadow covered my book, and a voice of thunder demanded to know what I was doing, followed by a ringing blow on 132

my ear from his big fist. My anger and my face vied with each other in a burning contest for a long time afterwards . The fact that the master was cousin to my mother evidently counted for little in lessening the severity of my punish- ment. Aye! many a rare whacking did lie give to the human form tightly drawn over another form, andd all for the reformation of some lazy or obstreperous youth . Peace be to his memory, for he was a clever man, and it was generally admitted he turned out some fine scholars.

Just opposite the National school there lived a well-known figure of the town in those days, a newsagent called Dykes, I believe. I fancy I see him now : a short, thick-set man, with a red face and shirt collar unbuttoned, going about selling his papers . A little way down the road stands the old Inde- pendent Chapel, but now owned by the Conser, votive Club. Fifty years ago some hard-working and earnest men were connected with this place of worship, and deeply interested in the welfare of the town, among whom was Abel Ashworth, brother of John Ashworth . author of "Strange Tales ." Passing down this long street of shops and private houses we see no more at the doorways the forms and faces that we knew so well, and the glass dish in one of the windows containing some dark-looking creatures, with the notice hung above, "Leeches kept here," has long since disappeared . Ah! they bled us in those days for most of the ills that flesh is heir to : in my case, a severe attack of quinsy, when the woman who brought them to our house for the purpose, on returning home evidently forgot to count ner horny black snails, for she left one in bed with me, bloated and blown with the sucking of my young life's blood! We pass the Lamb Inn without fear, and escaping the jaws of the White Lion on the right and the fury of the Black Bull on the left, we are well on the Rochdale Road, past Hartley's old mill, and on to "top-o'th'- Orchard ." But no signs do I ever remember seeing of the orchard, not even so much as an old "bayberry" bush . But here are some old houses, with steps in front, in one of which dwelt Josiah Wolsten- holme, a Christian of the old Puritan type, who journeyed to Bamford every Sunday morning for T_ worship and useful service . Next door a Miss 133 Smith kept a little school, in which she taught her boy pupils, along with the girls, to bem pocket handkerchiefs as a part of their educa- 1 tion ! And a little lower down lived William Yates. who told fortunes. Even very fine ladies came at times, it is said, to enquire of this oracle what "coming events cast their shadows before ." And can we pass without a word of recog- nition dear old Betty Harvey's toffy shop? where many a precious halfpenny I have laid out to the best advantage in days long gone by . Fifty years ago three ropewalks of the old order were at work hereabouts . Did I not turn a wheel at each of them at one time or other for a small pittance with many a good "clout" thrown in for turning too fast or turning too slow? From early morn to dewy eve the wheel went round with dull monotony . I can still see the long rows of wooden stumps, about four feet high, with their cross pieces studded with nails, on which the spinner placed the twine as he walked backwards with a big lumb of hemp held up to his breast by a coarse apron tied at the back . 8 One man, I remember, was of a musical turn. and sang as be spun : In the days when I was hard up For want of food and fire, I used to tie my shoes up With little bits of wire . The rest of the song I forget save two lines, in which he declared lie often beat the Devil down for tempting him to steal! We sincerely hope, he continued to give that dread personage the rope's end as long as he lived . At last we are at "Captain Fowt" and at the entrance to "Chirrick Owd Lone ." And here, kind reader, you will forgive me if I linger a little while . Here in the old days stood a well- known hostelry, the Dog and Partridge, with its I drinking *.rough in front and a good open space where many a young gallant has pulled rein to his steed and quaffed the foaming glass handed to him at the door by the bonny, buxom daughter of that old-time landlord, Tom Fenton, the while pint pots were being rapidly emptied of their real home-brewed ale by the grimy sons of toil . Ah ! many a glorious rush cart have I seen P drawn up here, with its long array of stretcher bearers in their shirt sleeves, bedecked with rib- bons of the brightest hue, and the face of the 1 3 4 cart ablaze with glittering ornaments such as kettles, tea pots, watches, spoons, and things too numerous to mention . The whole surmounted by a green oak branch, behind which sat a man who drew up his portion of beer in a tin can fastened to a piece of string. And what a scene there was here at the ending of the terrible Crimean war! Whilst a big bonfire blazed on the top of the adjoining sandhil], a surging crowd gathered in front of the inn, and, amidst laughter and loud exclamations, an effigy of the Emperor Nicholas was hoisted high above the heads of the people and immediately blown to pieces by a man who had borrowed my grandfather's blunderbus for the purpose . But the inn is gone, its honest landlord is no more, and the quiet chat and lusty song are hushed for ever! A few yards beyond, where stood the "Dog and Partridge," is the neat lodge at the entrance to the carriage road leading up to Harefield Hall . In the lifetime of Mr . Richard Kay, the founder of the estate, and who spent a good suns of money yearly on its efficient upkeep, this carriage drive, though but a narrow one, was one of the prettiest in the district. With its pleasant curves, its closely mown and sloping grass bank on each side, bordered by rhodo- dendrons, azaleas, etc ., backed by trees of higher g rowth. i t formed a picture on which the eye was ever pleased to rest . For the sake of "auld lang syne," we enter and walk up the road for a short distance and find it still in a fairly good condition, having probably needed little mending since it was relaid with white spar chippings by a clever Scotch gardener named Leaden, fifty years ago . Mr. Kay himself took great pride in his estate and com- bined with fine business talent a great love for the beautiful in nature . It was a pleasing sight to see him walk through his greenhouses when looking at their best . His eyes would kindle, and some word of admiration escape his lips as he noticed some, plant or flower of surpassing beauty . Mounted on his fine bay horse, on which he daily rode to his mills at Heywood, Mr . Kay was a man to command attention . He had a pale and thoughtful face, on which there seemed oftener to sit the signs of care than of the joy of life that some people fancy riches must bring to "their possessor . 135 I well remember how, on a certain quiet evening, as the old gentleman was walking round his plantation overlooking the highway, he heard the sound of a horse's feet clattering along the road at a rapid pace, and the solitary rider, turning in by the lodge, brought the sad tidings that a son who was at a public school in Scotland bad been drowned whilst bathing . Great was the father's grief and lamentation, and reminded one of the old Bible story of David's lament over Absalmn, for Arthur was a generous hearted and comely youth, and a favourite with all . A little distance beyond the lodge gate the country opens out on the right towards Castleton in a pleasant sweep of meadow and pasture land . And here let me remark, as good crops of grass are grown near some of our manufactur- ing towns as appear to be in more favourable situations . This, no doubt, is owing to a great extent to the upright growth of the shining blade, which prevents a permanent lodgment of .the dust and dirt, which are washed about the roots by frequent showers. Other forms of vegetation are not so fortunate, such as trees and shrubs, that are more exposed, and whose outspread foliage retains much of the poison- ous matter which is poured down upon it . CASTLETONIAN.

ldbag, Pecentber 4th, 1908 .

NOTES. [415.] A BIT OF LANCASHIRE AND FIFTY YEARS AGO . II . A splendid specimen of the sycamore grew here at one time, but which has long since disappeared . Standing a few yards back from the road, the thorn hedge on each side running to an angle at the trunk, together with the over- hanging branches of the tree, made the corner a doubly dark one at night-time . Ah, there were "boggarts" in those days! and scores of times have I passed this spot with a strange, uncanny feeling, or, putting on a bold front, attempted to whistle some lively air, but 136 as the notes rose my courage fell until I had passed the dreaded spot ! We are nearing the end of our little walk together, for here is "Dumfries" farm, which my grandfather, William Wolstenholme, held for many years, and where he might have continued to live in comfort and died in peace, but for an unfor- tunate friendship that sprung up between him and Sir John Barleycorn .

How the farm got its name I could never ascertain . Whether some wandering Scot from the good old town linked with the name of the immortal Burns, settled here and gave the name I cannot say. Or was it one of those travelling S'cotchmen, much in evidence on this high road fifty years ago? Many a pack have they opened, and many a good bargain made at this old farmhouse. There was also an English "Seotchman!" who called on his round about once a month and stopped to dinner, when the standing dish was a big potato pie, with its nut-brown crust and rich gravy . There are no such potato pies now, say we! Whilst I was living here at my grandfather's a short time a very amusing incident occurred . One night my aunt, locking the door, and putting the key in her pocket, took me with her to a farewell party near Marland, when one Mary Turner was about to set sail for America. There was fiddling and dancing, and we sang what proved to be true, "We won't go home till morning." In the excitement grandfather was forgotten! Coming hone from the "Dog and Partridge," and finding the door barred against him, lie procured a large piece of wood, and with it drove a hole right through the middle of the door! Still being unable to get in, he betook himself to the shippon and lay down in a "boose" beside one of the cows, and there he was found, sleeping the sleep of the Poor old "granfaather l" simple and warm-hearted as a child, strong in his resolution to break with Sir John, but weak in execution, with his once tall and handsome form now nearly bent double, he earned his bread by hedging and ditching, and died-an honest man . Passing along the road a few hundred yards, we come to some half-dozen old houses, in the 1 3 7 end one of which, with a small garden attached, dwelt Robert Butterworth, who ran an old coach between the neighbouring towns . Upon the bony parts of his grey old steeds I often sat in pain, but with a vaulting ambition, as they were being led to watering . In this house we subsequently lived, and where, in the little garden, and close to the high road, I planted a small ash tree, "and there it stands unto this day to witness if I lie ." Not a large tree yet, but healthy and flourishing, from the wee bit of a sapling I planted fifty years ago! And there steed the old Ryecroft toll bar, kept by Moses Aston, whose wife, on a backstone in the weighhouse, made the finest and crispest "wut cakes" (oat cakes) in the country. And there was their beautiful daughter "Amanda," who, like so many lovely things on earth, early left it for a more congenial clime . And from the old farmhouse behind I see the ungainly form of Matthew Gorton starting off in great fury after "them yung beggers" who are "setting croddies" over the brook that bounded his little pasture land . Retracing our steps a little way, and passing a neat-looking house built by the late Mr . Charles Cheetham, on the site of a former building called "Plunder Hall," and, turning up a narrow lane opposite "Dumfries" farm, in three minutes we behold Crimble and the valley of the Roach, where the "Brode Wayther" still goes wandering on its way, as it has done, no doubt these centuries past . Even this quiet spot and out-of-the-way place bas seen something of human history, of the comedy and tragedy of life . Over the valley yonder stands "War Office" and, just below, "Knatt Bank," where Colonel Mellor, along with his brother, owned and worked an old mill, now demolished, and where fifty years ago he established a night school for the benefit of the youth of the district and where Mr . William Porritt now of Harwood Lodge, near Bolton, taught the day school . Belonging to their Knatt Bank pro- perty was a stretch of land running down by the river side, which included the spot that tradition points out as the hiding place of the fugitive Earl of Tyrone, called Tyrone's Bed . The stranger, however, would be little the wiser if the spot was indicated to him in the local tongue, as I often heard it when a lad, as "Yells ut thrones!" 138

And here we are at the bridge, opposite the solitary mill . At this spot, in the years long gone by, a young woman, named Wood, on going home from her work one dark night missed the bridge and fell into the surging waters of the river, then in flood, and was never again seen . The story goes that her poor heart- broken mother never again locked the door of her cottage! Just behind the mill there winds a steep road leading on to the pretty village of Bamford, and past Crimble Hall, once the residence of Mr . John Fenton, the first member of Parliament for Rochdale . A little distance up this road still stands the I house where a somewhat eccentric gentleman lived, named Stott . One day myself and other lads, after floundering about Mr . Stott's garden for some time (though I think, to our credit, never actually in it), were suddenly startled by the old gentleman appearing in our midst like an apparition . With a dramatic gesture and a voice of great solemnity, ho exclaimed, "Keep your hands from picking and stealing, and your tongues from lying and slandering ." Another illustration of the wisdom of speaking a word in due season, when one of the culprits, at least, remembers it fifty years after ! Here, too, in a cottage on the banks of the river dwelt a well-known man called Robert Clou,gh, a man of rare wit and originality, and welcome at every home through the countryside for his good company. Robert bore himself with a certain dignity of carriage, but not from any feeling' of self-importance, for he sometimes declared, "I am proud that I am not proud ." He was a keen observer of men and things, and was well read in the customs and traditions of our county and all the peculiarities of its dialect . If the many wise and witty sayings that Clough uttered in his casual conversation could have been jotted down they would have formed one of the most interesting books of Lancashire life that was ever penned . But he had no Boswell . He had a smile and a greeting for old and young, and could temper a needful rebuke with right good humour, as in the case of a woman well known for her gift of speech, but whose child was slow in beginning to learn that in which its mother excelled! "Eh, Mesthur Clough," she said, "dun yo' think hoo'll ever talk?" to which he replied, "Pray, lass, howd thi din, hoo'll talk quite soon enough ." 139 Contented and happy in his native dale, it is said he did once "emigrate" to Bury, but was soon back again! Meeting an old friend who expressed surprise at his early return, he replied, "Eh, lad, aw would sooner commit suicide i' Crimble than dee a natheral dyeath i' Bury!" Fifty years ago there lived in this district a goodly number of handloom weavers ; a class of men to which Lancashire is indebted for much of its subsequent commercial prosperity . Some of these men had a narrow and stern piety, but their thoughtfulness, good common sense, and general sterling qualities left their mark upon us . Pursuing the quiet and even tenour of their way, toiling from early morn to a late hour at night, to bring up large families on a meagre wage, and knowing little of excursions and pleasure trips ; yet even they had some compen- sations-the haste and feverishness of our time was absent from their lives . Though long their labours, coarse their fare . Our ceaseless whirl and rush They knew not, nor the ghost of care That haunts this region of push! Then there was heard no cycle bell, No toot of motor horn, To break their evening's quiet spell, Or stillness of the morn ! CASTLETONIAN.

- iribag, December 11th, 1908.

NOTES . [416.) PETER ITEYWOOD OF HEYWOOD, GENTLEMAN. In the "Royalist Composition Papers, Being the Proceedings of the Committee for Com- pounding, A.D. 1643-1660," abstracts of which are given in several volumes of the Record Society (Lancashire and Cheshire), there are some docu- I ments relating to Peter Hey-wood of Heywood, gentleman, a delinquent . According to the records referred to, Peter Heywood's delinquency consisted in deserting big habitation, going into the garrisons held against 140 the Parliament, and adhering to those forces . He petitioned on 10th December, 1647, and compounded upon a particular by which it appeared that he was possessed of a personal estate of the value of £60. A fine of £10 was imposed . (9th August, 1649 .) A receipt, signed "Michel Herring," dated 6th March, 1651(-2), at the Treasury, Goldsmiths' Hall, London, certified that this compounder, on 10th August, 1649, had paid £10, being the full amount of the first fine imposed upon him, and also that on the 3rd March instant he further paid the sum of £341 . being the full amount of the additional fine, which he had been directed to pay into the Treasury by a resolution of Par- liament made on 2nd October, 1650 . Two printed receipts had been given, him : it was alleged they had been lost, and the above was given in lieu . On 21st November, 1650, there was received from the compounder a petition (referred to Mr. Reading to report upon) in which he stated that he had an interest in certain lands, after a charge upon them of £900 had been paid, which he had not inserted in his particular ; also that he had a right to a dower belonging to his wife, which, as he had to recover by law, he "held it not worth the cost, and he compounded not for it.,, A report was made, by which it appeared that Robert Heywood (of Heywood Hall), the compounder's father, by his last will, dated 8th Octo- ber, 1646, devised the premises to Captain Peter Holt and others, their heirs and assigns, for ever, upon trust that they stood seized: of a third part to the use of the said Robert Heywood's wife, Margaret (daughter and co-heir of John Ashton of Penketh), for her life, and, after the decease of the devisor, of another third part unto the said trustees for eight years, for payment of the devisor's debts and for raising £600, viz., £20 for Alice Heywood, his daughter-in-law (daughter of Captain John Greenhaigh of Brandlesome, Governor of the Isle of Man, and widow of Theo- philus Holt of Grislehurst) ; £20 apiece for his two daughters, Dorothy Lomas (wife of Oliver Lomas of Heap), and Elizabeth Worsley (wife of John Worsley, second son of John Worsley of Hovingham, Yorkshire) ; and £20 for his son John (rector of Walton, Lenca- shire, from December, 1660, to 1671), to the intent that Margaret, his wife, might enjoy all his goods, and the said £600 .to be unto his six grand- 141

daughters ; and for the last third part to the use of Alice, his daughter-in-law, for life, or until Dorothy, her daughter, accomplished the age of twenty-one years, "whether shall fortune longer to continue, towards education of her said children ." And from the determination of the uses aforesaid, then to the use of Robert Hey- wood, his grandson, and his heirs male ; in de- fault, to John Heywood, his son and heirs ; in de- fault, to the right heirs of the devisor for ever . Provided that the trustees should stand seized of two houses in Rochdale, to the use of his son John, upon his submission to Parliament, until he came to some ecclesiastical preferment in the Church of England of £50 per annum . Provided if his son Peter (the compounder) submit to the Parliament and make his peace, then the trustees to stand seized of the premises unto the said Peter Heywood, his heirs and assigns, forever ; he paying all the devisor's debts, and before entry giving security accordingly . Also that Elizabeth Worsley's, his daughter's, portion be first paid, and, saving the premises limited to his son John, according to the former proviso . Power was given to the trustees to lease, for one life or twenty-one years, aDv of the premises usually leased, and to raise the above sums according to their discretion . To each of them he devised £3 6s. 83 . for their pains. The compounder deposed that the said Robert 11eywood, his father, died in March, 1647 (this corrects Dugdale's "Visitation" and one or two other accounts in which the date given is 16451, and that certain of the lands and tenements and a mill, part of the said premises in Roch- dale and Bury, were of the yearly value of £56 13s. 4d . ; that other parts in the same parishes were worth £3 6s . 8d . ; that the lands etc ., limited to Margaret for life were worth yearly A £28 6s . 8d . and the old rent of £1 13s . 4d . ; that the two tenements limited to John were worth £18 a year . The compounder craved an allowance, of the £600 and the portion of Eliza- beth Worsley, deposed by him to have been £300, also £36 proper debts of Robert Heywood, then unpaid . He also desired to compound for the dower of his wife, whereof he then had never been possessed of certain lands in the parishes of Rochdale and Steed, formerly the inheritance of Theophilus Holt, her former husband, worth yearly £60 . The compounder also stated that he formerly possessed a lease under the Duchy Seal, for about eighteen years then to come, of 1 4 2 the fine, issues, and amerciaments in the County of Lancaster, which he desired a saving to compound when he should have recovered the same . In an affidavit the compounder declared that Margaret and John Heywood were still living ; that John was no delinquent, that he had had n,a preferment, and that for the past sixteen years he had resided for the most part at Ox- ford . Under date 31st January, 1650(-1), it was "Or- dered that the discharge of Peter Heywood of Heywood, in the County of Lancaster, gentleman, granted by the former Commissioners for Compositions, dated 10 August, 1649, be allowed of by this Committee, and the present Commis- sioners for ISequestrations in the said County of Lancaster are 'hereby required to 'take notice thereof and observe the same accordingly, per- mitting him to enjoy the estate mentioned in the particulars annexed, having compounded for the came, amounting to the sum of three score pounds." This, however, was not the end of the trouble, as the continuation of the record shows :- Order, 14th -lay, 1681, directing petitioner to pay in the moiety of his fine, with interest, within two days from date, that then he might have liberty to sell a tenement of the yearly value of £30. Petition, 24 February, 1651(-2), showing that the petitioner, having had a conditional right to certain lands (namely, making 'his peace to the Parliament, and paying the debts incumbent upon the same, and not otherwise, which two conditions in case he did not perform the remainder was given to other persons), and having made his peace with the Parliament, coin- pornded on his own discovery, and had a licence to sell land, and was to pay in the moiety of his fine with interest from the 14th January, 1650(-1) to 'the 2nd July, 1651, as by an order of the said 2nd July appeared, but being opposed by the trustees, he could not sell the land, as they refused to consent to the sale until the "charge for which they were trusted" was paid off, so that for non-payment of the fine the lands became sequestered, and the profits wholly diverted from payment of the said debts, which were then unsatisfied . At the date of this petition it appears an agreement had been arrived at between the parties concerned as to. the manner in which A- 143 the fine of the Commonwealth and the charge on the land should have been raised and paid . The petitioner prayed, as it was no fault of his that the fine had not been paid, for an order that the fine might be received and that the interest might be remitted, as the State had already received double that from the profits of the land . Reviewing the case, 2nd July, 1652, the Com- missioners in London order that petitioner do forthwith pay in the moiety of the fine with interest, and that the fine be confirmed on the Tuesday next following. Petition from Margaret Heywood, relict of Robert Heywood, gentleman, and Oliver Lomax, gentleman, which showed that petitioner Mar- garet's husband, dying seized of certain lands in the County of Lancaster, had by his last will charged the same with payment of his debts and legacies to his children and grandchildren, to be raised within eight years from February 1646(-7), the remainder to Robert Heywood, his grandson, with other remainders, and a proviso that if Peter Heywood should make his peace with the Parliament and pay or secure the said money, then the remainder to him and his heirs . As the debts and sums were not then paid or secured by the said Peter Heywood, petitioners conceived they ought to precede sequestration for any delinquencies of the said Peter, and that no alienation of the said lands ought to have been made ; they prayed, therefore, they would suspend the sequestration intended and the damages incident, and (as all parties were agreed) that petitioners (being nearest friends to the children and trustees to the will) might be admitted to compound for the said lands, and to hold the same until they could imburse the fine to the Commonwealth and the money charged, and they were ready to pay a moiety of the fine imposed and the other in the Decem- ber then next following. (No order .) (2 July, 1651 .) Under the heading "Particular of the Estate o'F Peter Heywood of Heywood, Gentleman," and signed "Peter Heywood," the following is given :- He bath a right of the third parts of the desmesne of Steed and other lands and tenements in Spotland, Whitworth, and Ratchdale, in the County of Lancaster, not sequestred nor in his possession of the yearly vallue of £60 . (This was the dower of his wife by a former

1 4 4

husband.) And hath right to an estate in fee of some other estate of inheritance in other lands in the said county which stand charged with a dower of his mother and £900 for por- tions for his sisters and other legacies and debts before the compounder can have a legall possession or dispose of any parte thereof to his owne use, worth yearly £100 . For additional information relating to Peter Heywood and some others afore-mentioned see "Heywood Notes and Queries," Nos . 293-297, and 373 . H .B .

,lribnh, December 18th, 1908.

NOTES. [4171 THE POEMS OF ROBERT HEYWOOD . Heywood Notes and Queries really ought not to go by without some account of Heywod's first - poet, Robert Heywood, the member of a family once perhaps the 'most distinguished in the im- mediate district . I don't suppose many Hey- i wood people know of his poems, though they have had the honour of being printed by the 01 etham Society ! A great landowner, an important magistrate, and in private life (so we are told) a "pious reverend old gentleman," we have nothing particular to learn of our author . It is not my purpose here to attempt any account of his life . 'That can only be done by wide research in the many county documents and papers-a search I offer as a suggestion for any local historian or historian - to be . I will only say he was head of the family of Heywood, held extensive lands in 0- Heywood, Rochdale, and the surrounding districts . He was the son of Peter Heywood ; was 1 orn a bo .i t. 1574 ; rebuilt Heywood Hall in 1611 ; reused the honour(?) of knighthood in 1623 ; and, according to the Bury registers, was buried in January, 1647 . Such is in brief the career of a county gentleman of the time of the early Stuarts . He had been at the University, for he had graduated at Oxford when a young man ; he entertained Richard James, a distinguished scholar of the day, at Heywood !Hall in 1636, and one of his sons was a Northamptonshire vicar, so, perhaps, he was not quite the Squire i45 Western of Fielding's novel, or quite so fond of conviviality as his contemporary and neigh- bour, Nicholas Asshetan of Downham . Judging from his poems and the little we know of him, we should imagine him a second Mr . Allworthy, though details are lacking. His poems are valuable as those of a Hey- woodite, but beyond that they have not much ti recommend them . They have no place in English literature . There were hundreds better poets in his own age, and there have been count- less numbers since who have written better verse, but who are now forgotten . The Carolean age was a period when, as in the Elizabethan age, it was fashionable to write verse . The number of minor poets whom modern critics have "discovered," and who are still occasionally coming to light, shows us the peculiar ten- dencies of the time. Education was more wide- spread among the gentry than in the Eliza- bethan age. Religion, had a greater influence . The Puritan spirit had come into being, and Heywood's poems are an outcome of that spirit . It is inconceivable that he would have written similar poetry fifty years before . He might possibly have done it fifty years later, but from other indications of the time I should not imagine he would. He was the product of an age of theology and theologians, an age of scholars and preachers, orthodox and hetrodox, heresies and heretics, the England of the Hamp- den Court Conference and of the Petition of Right . He is not a Nonconformist-he is neither Independent nor Presbyterian-but a Church- man of that peculiarly Puritan type which the age produced . He here turns out by the hundred stanzas of 'the most indifferent and mediocre- verse on election, reprobation, and other abstruse theological doctrines, with rarely a line of real merit or a flash of wit to redeem the dreariness of the whole. Oliver Heywood called him an "excellent poet," but we must remember Oliver's theological bias . Would he have com- mended the exquisite lyrics of Herrick or of Lovelace ae "excellent" or of the devil? or even would he have so favoured the magnifi- cent lines of Donne? Yet in reading these "centuries" one after another on the follies of mankind, the transitoriness of life and the question of free grace one sighs for a touch of Herrick's daintiness, or even for a quaint con- ceit of Quarles, who is occasionally lively . Hey- VOL . 4.-Part 46. 146 wood is always au serieux . It iib perhaps too hard to judge this verse by the "touchstone' and the poetry of other greater contemporaries ; there were "poets" of that ago worse than Hey- wood, and after all it may be that a different temperament would appreciate +and value more highly the poems of Heywood's first poet . How- ever, I leave my opinions for what they are worth. The poems as they have come down to uo have a curious history. Oliver Heywood's remark about "old Mr. 'Robert Heywood whom I knew a !pious reverened old gentleman and an excellent poet," I have already mentioned . This was thought till about forty years ago to be rthe only trace of his poems. Mr. Corker, in editing the "Iter Lancastiense" of Richard James in 1845, said he could find no vestige of any writings by Robert Heywood . In the spring of 1868, at one of the sales of Messrs. Sotheby, the famous London auctioneers, a small manuscript volume was purchased . It contained 273 pages, written in the same very neat and distinct handwriting . Of these pages 164 were taken up by six-line stanzas-the Obseruatione, Diuine, and Morell of Robert Heywood-while the rest included several pieces with no authors' names attached. With these latter we are not concerned. The Chatham. Society volume, edited by Mr. James Crossley, did not reprint them . They have not been identified as of IHeywood's composition, and as a portion of one of them is included 'in the published works of Roger Brierley, the founder of the sect of Grindletonians (and who was, I believe, born at Marland), they cannot with any certainty be ascribed to anyone in particular . The Observations are divided into centuries, each of a hundred stanzas : of these there are four, and eighty-seven of a fifth and uncom- pleted "century ." How long he could have gone on grinding out these centuries one would not like to say. Perhaps he did write more, and the copyist gave up from sheer exhaustion 1 It would be absolutely impossible within the limits of this column to give anything like a fair selection from the hundreds of stanzas in the book . I can only quote two or three. He opens : Methought as late I chane't to view At list and length this earthly stage, I sawe exemplifyde for true No joye in youth, nor rest in age ; 147 My muse said, Minyon, heers for thee, Learn this, and so take out, quoth she . Alas, said I, why am I heer Amongst these boystringe foaminge floods Which from their bosome every where Cast up such foule and filthye muddsi Thou foole, said she, thy self reclaime, Then mayst thou better others blame. So the first century opens . In another stanza or two he continues : Then gathered I into my thought The various course of earthly thinges How everywhere content is sought In that which no contentment bringes, But still we rove with restles minds Like swelling seas raginge windes . He then passes in review the various stages of life. His verses have a certain terseness and felicity of phrase, but after a time pall upon one. Methought I sawe green youth's fresh flower Was blasted oft yen it was blowne Or if it staide the utmost bower To reape the fruite itself had sown The end was endles flaminge fire Or ells repentance, for its hire . That is a comforting prospect! He has the same antipathy to the Laodiceans as the author of Revelations had. Lukewarmness, loathe to toyle within, For outwards healps and comfort fought, So one after loosenes did beginne Prophanes to perfection brought He that would soundly sinne subdue At first must resolution shew. I will give some more extracts next week . Q.

,fribaj, Sanuarp tat, 1909 .

NOTES. [418 .] HEYWOOD MECHANICS' INSTITUTE . Not a great deal of information has been published about the Mechanics' Institute at Heywood . For many years it was perhaps the leading educational society in the town, though when similar institutes all up and down the country declined Heywood proved no exception to the rule . The following is a brief account of it :- 148 On 7th May, 1840, a public meeting took place at the Queen Anne Inn, where the Petty Sessions were held and which was a common place for public meetings . Mr. Thomas Grundy, solicitor, was in the chair . The meeting was called for the purpose of considering the desirability of establishing an institution for the mental and moral improvement of the working classes ; the proposal was received with great favour, and leading gentlemen gave their support. The outcome was the establish- ment of the Mechanics' Institution, which, after a time, became a leading feature of the town. Lectures on various scientific and other subjects were engaged, a library was formed, a reading room was established, and the institution was in every respect well organised and appointed . The Mechanics' In- stitute Buildings (now the Municipal Build- ings) were erected in 1850 at the cost of about £10,000. They were well adapted and suffi- ciently commodious for the wants of the in . stitution at that time. They were brick buildings, with no great pretensions for architec- tural beauty, but contained a well-appointed library reading room, and lecture room . For some time the institution had had a very useful and prosperous career, but with later educational developments the members dwindled away, and the subscriptions accordingly fell off. But the depression of trade, long continued, exercised the most powerful influence against it, and in 1865 it was in a very low condition . An effort was made to revive it and place it again on a firm footing. Some rather stormy meetings were held in the early part of the year 1865, and much dissatis- faction was expressed at the general manage- ment of the institution . The result was that considerable changes were made . Mr. Salis- bury, who had been secretary for some years, was succeeded by Mr . George Fairbrother . The board of directors was also reconstituted . This attempt to reinvigorate the institution and uphold and extend, if possible, its former usefulness, failed in its object, and soon the institution died . Beyond these few facts (which are taken from an old newspaper article) I have little information about the society . J. W. Hud- son's "History of Adult Education," which ccmprises a history of Mechanics and Literary Institutions, published in 1851, describes the 149 state of the Heywood society in that year . Its subscription was 2s. Gd. a year or Is. per quarter . The membership was 145 ; the number of volumes in the library 400 ; the annual issue of books 7,500 . As in most Lan- cashire towns classes were also held in connection with the institution . Hudson gives the number of pupils in these classes as 50 . Mr . Scholefield was then the secretary . Whether the reasons adduced in the quotation given above for the decline of Mechanics' Institutes are correct I will not here attempt to say. It is a curious enough fact that since the fall of the Mechanics' Institute there has not been in Heywood any educational associa- tion appealing to the workers which has survived . This is surely a reproach . E. W. A. L419 .] THE POEMS OF ROBERT IIEYWOOD . Below are a few more stanzas from the poems of Robert Heywood, with which I dealt in a previous note. In common with other 17th century writers Hey wood_ has a multitude of quaint conceits . Such stanzas as the following will show what I mean : Things vegetable and sensitive Have life as salt to keep them sweet ; Alen's bodyes soules whereby they live ; These must be seasoned by God's Spirit : Thy soul then to that Spirit linck That in God's nose thou doe not stink . An anthropomorphic conception, truly . I saw the master set to schools, The scholler beare away the pryze, True spiritual) wisdome goe for foole, 2 Whiles worldlines was counted wise ; Such as they have men use to eate Who are not stoared with better meate. Plenty had store and much to spare, Yet still heapt wealth, laid land to land, With wondrous toyle and carkinge care, Yet ne'er could come to understand That this is all he gain'd heerby, Like men to eate, drinke, live, and dye . This last has quite a modern application . I suppose it is a universal truth . He goes on : The crye of poore, the wrack of states, I sawe ambition well disgest, 9, 150 Yea, meane men's loves and great men's hates To gain a blast of aire at best . And death in topp thereof enquire Where's now the fruite of thy desire? Who goodness loves, the world defyes, Reprooved amendeth carefully, To rule submitts, himselfe denyes, For Christ doth suffer patiently . Let death and hell doe what they can, Shall doubtless dye a happy man . The last two lines (indented) generally show the moral of the preceding four lines . Thus- I sawe profession past her prime Becalmed at an ebb of zeale, Fleatinge unfelt downe streams of time . To whom the bancks did seem to faile ; Yer I judge others, let me trye, Who is blameworthy, they or I? Or again : I saw huge numbers discontent With that estate themselves were in ; When God another callinge sent 4 It did not ease their mindes a pion ; But tossinge till they sought no more, Were gladd of that they left before . Some of these concluding lines are complete Y in themselves. I select a few haphazard : Content and man are still at odd, Save as his soule enjoyeth God. The acts of life, eate, drinke, sleep, rest, A heavenly heart doth ill digest. These thinges belowe we too much minde, Which change each moment with the winde . Time lost if seen when thou art sick Will pierce thy soule ev'n to the quick . Reproof is like an Aprill storme, Which after leaves the weather warme . There are many quotable stanzas similar to the above, but I will conclude with the last stanza of the last and unfinished century, reading : Wretch canst thou God's free grace applye Yet in thy heart regardest sinne? Thy new faith is 'but a phantazy, Thou a view ground worke must beginne For though true faith receives atone, If faith want workes that faith is none. Q. 1'