Autobiography and select remains of the late Samuel Roberts

Contents

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Introduction ...... .... 1

Autobiography 8

Introduction

It will be a principal object of the following pages to collect from their diffusion among newspapers, pamphlets, and miscellaneous collections, some of the more striking productions of, by the consent of friends and enemies, one of the most extraordinary and (the writer ventures to think) one of the most original and powerful minds that ever put forth the effusions of unsophisticated and independent genius in what he believed to be the service of God and his fellow-creatures — a mind whose talents, such as they were, continued in active exercise (as will be shewn by the specimens hereafter to be given) to the age of fourscore years and five.*

The subject of these brief remarks was one who, from the incessant war which from his first public debut he waged with existing abuses, the unceremonious way in which he dealt with their upholders, and from the habitually undisguised expression of his feelings, was always followed by a

* "You have astonished and stunned me with your age," wrote a correspondent, to whom he was personally unknown : " four-score, and still such energy ! what are our three-score, two-score, and yet younger men doing ?"

2 I OBIOGBAPHY AND

swarm of petty opponents; but there were those, though high in talentj qoI few in number, with whom the result was far different. Let the following specimens suffice. In the year 1811, on the sole ground of his uncompromising and plain-spoken integrity, he found access at once to the open heart and unswerving friendship of William Wilberforce, who says, in bis private journal of June 11, "Let me just put down the record of a most striking letter from Mr. Roberts, of Sheffield; — the most truly christian, candid, kind, and friendly remonstrance I ever remember/' Thomas Clarkson, in a letter dated August 29, 1816 (just before the death of the venerable writer), sends to him " his dear farewell," as the " man in almost all respects of Ins own heart/'' Prom Dr. Chalmers, of Glasgow, a short period before his decease also, lie received a message accompanied with expressions of high esteem for his character. At page 174 of the 2nd volume of the edition of the "Works of James Montgomery, published in 1841, the following passage, with reference to the subject of this memoir, will be found. "Though, like Jehonadab's with Jehu's, my heart was always with Lis heart, it was not in every enterprise that I had the coinage to accept his invitation to ' come up to (him) into the chariot/ for the adversary's watchman, descrying his approach from the walls, might truly exclaim, ' His drivingis like the driving of the son of Nimshi ; for he driveth furiously/ When, however, I could not do this, I girded myself up to run alongside of him, till I could no more keep pace with his speed; I then followed him as far as my breath and strength would carry me. Among those who know him best, and esteem him proportionately, — though I may perhaps call myself the foremost, having, more than

SELECT REMAINS 01 SAMUEL ROBERTS. 6

any other individual, had opportunities of understanding his motives,, and judging his public conduct by these, — I must not attempt in this place ' to give him honour due/ further than by simply recording my own obligations to him, for having by his intrepidity and example, on some trying occasions, caused me to do a little less harm, and a little more good in my generation, than I should otherwise have had forbearance in the one case to avoid, or fortitude in the other to undertake." The perusal of the above passage will not prepare any one for the information that Mr. Eoberts was distinguished in youth by extreme timidity, silence, and reserve ; yet is this fact not less certain than is the existence of those characteristics of his later life above so accurately delineated. He had reached the middle age of life ere, from behind this veil of nervous sensitiveness, a moral courage began to be put forth, which opposition might strengthen but not subdue, and which never quailed to numbers, authority, rank, or power. Though a silent, he had been an intensely interested spectator of men and things, quietly maturing his opinions, and choosing his ground. These opinions once formed, that ground once taken, he was immoveable. At an early Anti- slavery Meeting in Sheffield, he stood (as far as it is remembered) alone, the advocate of immediate and total abolition. His intimate friend, Mr. Rowland Hodgson, upright, cool, cautious, calculating, and mostly the advocate of things as they were, in vain reminded liim that ninety -nine persons in a hundred would tell him differently. "Mr. Hodgson tells me," he said, "that ninety-nine persons out of a hundred will tell me differently ; but what then ? I really think that it is by putting one foot before the other that we set forward."

Though born in a generation preceding that which has now fairly set forth on an awful but onward career, — though declining in age almost before the first incipient agitation was perceptible, or the trumpet of preparation sounded afar, yet, where the broad principles of humanity and religion were the watchword, not propelled by outward impulse, but directed by a light within, he marched with the van of themighty movement ; embracing the general brotherhood of humanity in his expanded arms, and owning no church but the church of Christ. Yet, (born in a neighbourhood rich in romantic scenery and traditionary lore,) he did not escape the prejudices of early association naturally entailed by a poetical imagination on a contemplative mind. He cherished with perhaps deserved preference his country, his native county, and the particular locality in which he was born ; but the strong feeling which mingled with it must be supposed to have materially influenced that preference. Hence (from its connection with that locality) the romantic interest winch he took in the history, as well as character, of Mary Queen of Scots. The same imagination and enthusiasm were continually bringing on him, in social intercourse, some chilling disappointment. From a few actually existing traits, he drew at once a finished but visionary picture, and had soon to be awakened and find it but a dream.

That feeling which perhaps most of all distinguished him, the ruling principle of his life, was the simple, child -like, unhesitating character of his faith and trust in an Almighty Director, Protector, and Friend, — this upheld him in every trial : scarcely, in the most afflictive dispensations of Providence (and he was not without such), was he known, for the shortest period, to be overwhelmed. The objects of his

SELECT REMAINS OF SAMUEL ROBERTS. O

special interest were little children, the aged, the poor, and the oppressed : of such it might truly be said, " When the ear heard him it blessed him, and when the eye saw him it gave witness unto him."

Surrounded as he was by sources of gratification which, open to all, were exquisitely enjoyed by him, the highest of all his delights appears to have lain in solitary communion with his Creator amid his wildest works. For this purpose, with his horse and one or no attendant, he loved to sally, as a free and unencumbered wanderer, in the moorlands of Derbyshire. Meanwhile he had an ever-spread feast for eye and intellect in the humblest works of the Almighty j he would pause, in an ecstacy of admiration, or rather adoration, contemplating the structure of a shell. " All the wisdom of man/' he said, " employed through the longest life, would be unequal to the contrivance of but a portion of it. To what purpose was all this beauty that was buried in the recesses of the ocean ? God could make nothing that was not perfect of its kind." The ardour of boyish enthusiasm is rarely so intense as that with which, between the age of seventy and eighty, from his noontide perambulation of the grounds, he entered the dining-room fresh from the scene described further on (Birth of the Lady -birds), and gave his first vivid description of the new creation, as it almost seemed, which he had witnessed. Nor was it with less delight, at eighty -four years of age, he witnessed " The Contrast," as he describes it, which would have been lost on ordinary observers.

He had, moreover, an exquisite relish for the fine arts. His talents in architecture were strikingly manifested in their practical application.

AUTOISKM.KAPHY AM"

His attachment to painting was shewn by the devotion with which, in youth, he applied himself to the practice of

it in the intervals of business, till he laid aside a pursuit and a pleasure which, from the strong temptation he found in it to withdraw his time from his serious avocations, he was brought to regard as an enemy which it was safer to flee from than to dally with. In advanced age, he accidentally met with some paintings which he recognized at once as the productions of superior genius, and had his interest augmented by the information that they were the first attempts of a deaf and dumb artist. This young man has subsequently painted for him a series of pictures, which have obtained the high approbation of all judges of the art who have inspected them, but of which the composition was his own. In the last year of his life a somewhat similar occurrence manfested his undiminished interest in the art. His taste for sculpture was also a source of great enjoyment to him.

Geology was a favourite science with him. His mechanical contrivances displayed extraordinary powers of invention.

The wonders of astronomy were not spread for him before a regardless eye. There is a drawing, made by him, of the comet of 1811, as it appeared from his residence in three different stages of its course, shewing its position among the fixed stars, and its relative magnitude.

If the writer mistakes not, his literary talents were not less varied than his general tastes. In humour 3 no one who knew him will wonder at the assertion that he was a master spirit; as a chronicler of the past, he was lively, original, and faithful; his capacity for historical investigation is conspicuously shewn in his inquiry into the guilt or innocence of his favourite Queen. He would concentrate the whole of an argument in a simile produced by an instantaneous flash of thought, illumining with demonstration the pre-existent obscurity ; while he was peculiarly happy in picturesque description. In verse, at times he displayed a most simple and touching pathos ; and he had an imagination capable of gorgeous creations.

Had the possessor of these varied talents, with the advantage of a classical education and an early disciplined mind, directed Ins main attention to some one object, how high in that department might he not have attained ! The preceding statements, however, of course must be verified by extracts from his writings in the course of this work, or, failing of such verification, be rejected.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

During many years I have thought it probable that I might be called upon by circumstances to write some kind of memoirs of my own life. Those circumstances appear to me now to have occurred. From two quarters I have been threatened with sometliing of the kind being in contemplation by others if I do not, and probably if I do. Little as I may myself be qualified for one of the most difficult of all tasks, none else, I am sure, can without my assistance approach that truth which is essential to the utility of biography.

I was born on the 18th of April, 1763, at Sheffield, in the county of York. My father, after whom I was named Samuel, was a respectable manufacturer, and afterwards a merchant. My mother, whose maiden name was Mary Sykes, was the daughter of a neighbour in the file trade, then declining business. I was the second son, but my elder brother died an infant. Two brothers and three sisters lived to years of maturity. I shall dwell longer on my first fourteen years than may usually be done in these cases, because I conceive that they were very important ones in their effects to mc. They were by far the most unhappy ones of my whole life; but during almost three score subsequent years, I have had constantly recurring calls upon me to thank God that it pleased Him that I should in that way bear the yoke in my youth.

The first occurrence which I can, or rather could some years ago, recollect, was that of my nurse taking me into the Vicarage Croft, which, though situated in the midst of the town, was then a small field amidst gardens — the old house beiug empty. She held me — foolishly enough — over an old dry draw-well, to look into it. I cannot tell what I could see in it to please me, but so it was, that I always afterwards, on coming over the Croft, insisted on looking into the well. Whether I was directed by that instinctive desire of getting at Truth, which I fancy I brought into the world, or not, I cannot say ; if not, I cannot account for the fancy.

The next occurrence was of a much more serious nature. In the kitchen of my grandfather's house, which adjoined to ours, there was a deep grate-hole, such as was then common, to contain the ashes when sifted from the cinders. Into this hole it was occasionally customary to put very large quantities of red-hot files, in order to soften them for cutting : their gradually cooling produced that effect. It was usual, on these occasions, to place an iron safeguard to prevent any person from going too near it. The grate-hole was so charged, when I, being only just able to walk, toddled into the kitchen. One only of my aunts was at home, and she had just stepped into the garden, inadvertently leaving the dreadful place unguarded. Into this I fell. My shrieks soon brought my aunt. My clothes were in flames, the flesh beneath them burnt even to the bone ; the vital parts, however, were not injured. One moment's longer delay, and the effect must have been fatal. Thus early in life was I snatched out of a fiery pit, as a brand from the burning. B 2

AA hat innumerable instances have I since then experienced of the constantly watchful and protecting care of a kind, and ever, to me, merciful God ! I was then too young to be duly sensible of the providential escape ; I trust, however, that I have reason to think that it has been to me a blessed one, constantly calling for, and frequently exciting, fervent gratitude.

I had but recently recovered from the dreadful effects of this severe infliction, when I was seized with the small -pox. Inoculation, I believe, was not then practised in Sheffield by any of the regular surgeons, but a few months afterwards a cousin of mine was, I have understood, the first to receive inoculation here by an eminent practitioner. I had the complaint very violently and dangerously : it is, indeed, wonderful, under the then practice of driving the disorder out, that any patients could escape. I was kept in a close room, my mother being in bed with me : not a breath of air was suffered to enter the room : even the key-hole had been stopped : and yet at length I recovered. The marks, however, though much obliterated, I still retain. The prejudices of parents, particularly of mothers, against what they called interfering with the ordainments of God, by themselves inflicting disease, were very strong, — perhaps on better grounds than most prejudices : they should, however, have recollected that the remedy provided was also from God.

I was from infancy a very thoughtful, observant child, saying little, but attending to all that was said by others.

I love to see diffidence and humility in children, though 1 have found these, of almost all things, the most cmbarrassing and painful : they were the means, I am convinced, of throwing me more upon my own resources, or rather upon God, for instruction and aid than would otherwise have been the case. I hardly think that there ever was a human being through early life more low in his own estimation than myself : that was one cause of my much disliking schools. I had, however, no turn for any kind of school-learning, excepting drawing. With my scissors, before I had a pencil, I delighted to be busy. I had a good grandmother, who was always ready to indulge me, but she died on the day that I was seven years of age. Her only wish for life, she said, was that she might see me a man, predicting that I should be a good one. To her prayers, at any rate, I feel assured that I have been greatly indebted : I, she said, would always sit quietly, and listen to her stories, while my cousin, about the same age, was throwing everything in the room into disorder. My mother was a great and worthy favourite with her : their united prayers, I am persuaded, have often been offered up effectually for my welfare. Both of them were unostentatiously pious.

Nothing delighted me more than to sit, a silent listener, to stories of past occurrences. Frecuiently, when about eight years old, I thought, with mortification, that, as times were then (peaceable), when I became a man I should have no strange events to relate to those who should then be children * This was five-and-twenty years after the famous " runaway

* " Nothing wonderful happens in these days," is the recorded lamentation of his boyhood.

Saturday ;" the day on which the Scotch rebel army, under the Pretender, was expected to reach Sheffield on its march to the South. It, however, took another route. Hearing or reading of the progress and ravages of armies in oilier countries excite but little interest compared with the narratives of those who have themselves experienced the alarms of an approaching army. Then every individual was agitated with fearful forebodings : all the town was in commotion ; all hands busy secreting their most valuable moveables; women and children hastening to places of greater secresy and security. Amidst the clamour of the strong, the lamentations of the feeble, every heart was agitated, every tongue employed in giving out or obtaining hourly arriving reports. A listener to such stories, I felt humbled, and almost dejected, as an insignificant being doomed to remain through life only a listener.

My natural timidity, with my humble opinion of myself, made company irksome to me : I fancied that both my behaviour and person would appear ridiculous. I was marked with the small-pox, and had rather a prominent nose : any allusion either to small-pox or noses threw my body into a perspiration, and my face into a scarlet glow. I was, indeed, greatly surprised on overhearing an old lady say, after I had left the room, that I should be the flower of the flock.

My mother, though then but a young woman, had much of trouble to struggle with ; but, though gentle, she was firm. She had a sister Martha, more anxious than she was about the things of this world j — indeed, she had more cause. My uncle used to say, " Aye, Martha is careful

SELECT REMAINS OF SAMUEL EOBEETS. 13

and troubled about many things, but Mary hath chosen that better part, which shall not be taken from her." My mother's religion was unobtrusive, but it was firmly seated in the heart. She had firm faith, but she had it much to herself before God. Both my father and mother were very regular Church-goers on the Sabbath-day. She was almost equally so at evening prayers. Many a dismal drenching walk have I had with her on dark and stormy winter nights. We lived a considerable distance from the Parish Church : the town was then in a very rude state in every respect, it being only partially flagged, with many of the stones loose ; there were very few lamps, and those feeble, and far apart, — often not lighted, or blown out. There were also projecting spouts from between the gutters of the roofs, from which during rain the water flowed in streams. Lanterns were dimly seen in the streets like fire flies flitting about. Umbrellas were then unknown. A farthing candle was stuck in some of the shop windows, just serving to make darkness more dark. Through this dismal scene had we to make our way half drenched to the Church : nor was the scene within much more lively. The Church itself was then one of the most gloomy, irregularly pewed places of worship in the kingdom. It seemed as if, after the work of pewing had begun, every person who chose had formed a pew for himself in his own way, to Ins own size, height, and shape. There were several galleries, but all formed, as it seemed, in the same way as the pews ; some of them on pillars, and some hung in chains. The Lord's closet was a gloomy structure. High under the lofty centre arch, spanned from side to side, the massive Eood Loft : behind which, ll AUTOBIOGII.UMIY AM)

filling up the apex of the arch, were the King's Arms, painted most gloriously, and magnificently large. Under the clock, in a large glass case, yet scarcely perceptible in the gloom, was the pendulum, blazoned with an enormous staring gilt sun, solemnly and mysteriously moving from side to side, with a loud heart-piercing tick or tack at each vibration. Seen through the large centre arch was the gloomy solemn chancel, with the altar table, and the massive armour-clad marble effigies of the noble Talbots, and their ladies, stretched side by side ; one of them with two : all of them (the Talbots) guarded by the enormous black oak eagle with its wide outstretched wings. All these tilings seen in the dimmest gloom by the feeble aid of a few caudles were not likely to enliven a child with his head full of stories, as mine was, of ghosts and hobgoblins : nor were these things, with cold and damp, making the body shiver and the teeth chatter, at all likely to render religion attractive to a child : glad, indeed, was I always when the service was over; when pattens began to clatter, and Johnny Lee (the clerk), was called to on all sides for a light to the lanterns. These bygone times are worth noting before the remembrance of them is departed too.

My good mother, however, did not very long continue to attend the evening prayers at the Church. The Methodists, though then still ridiculed and persecuted, had gained firm footing in the town. They had already had two small meeting-places pulled down bythe mob here, but they speedily built a plain substantial large one, and gradually became very numerous, though still subject occasionally to molestation. 1 believe that the first sermon I ever heard was in the open air by a Methodist preacher on my grandfather's premises, then called Sykes's Square. The circumstance therefore made a strong impression on my mind. Soon afterwards I heard the Rev. George Whitfield hold forth from the top of a cask, at the Sugar House, on Sheffield Moor. My mother, though she never joined the Society, went for several years regularly to their evening services : meanwhile attending at the Church on the Sabbath. Afterwards she ceased to go to either, but went regularly to the Quakers' Meeting House. She, however, never either joined their Society, or conformed to their dress or speech. Her's was truly the religion of the heart. She found fault with none, but she silently strove to shew by example a .more ■ excellent way. She no otherwise sought to bias her children ; yet it showed no common strength of mind so to follow out conviction in her conduct. She was very highly esteemed by the Society of Friends . I never went with her to the Meeting in my life, nor did she seek to influence me, yet I am disposed to think that the mode of worship of the Friends approaches the nearest of any to the purity of true Christian worship. I never was given to change in any way : I must have strong grounds for it, when I do. Perfection in religious societies is, at any rate, unattainable : in all there is a mixture of good and imperfection. I have always endeavoured to choose the former, and avoid the latter. But I am forestalling.

I do not recollect my mother being angry with me but once ; indeed, I scarcely was punished at home or at school in my life. I do not know what I had done, but something for which my mother conceived that I deserved punishment; she therefore told me that I was such a naughty boy that she would go and leave me. In spite of my crying she put on her hat and cloak,, and left the house. I followed in agonies, and she soon found that she had proceeded rather too far, and was glad to retrace her steps. The tempers of children, however young, require to be carefully studied. Great severity is rarely needed ; but that which would be severity to one would seem little punishment to others. Though the almost savage violence which had some years before been common in parents and masters was then greatly diminished, still there remained the practice of rude treatment, even by decent tradespeople, which would not now be tolerated. Apprentices, and even journeymen, were not unfrequently beaten by their masters; nay, maid-servants were at times pushed about, and sometimes boxed by their mistresses. At my father's, and even my grandfather's, the apprentices were well fed and well treated. The latter always dined with them.

I was nearly seven years of age when the famous, perhaps infamous, John Wilkes was to be liberated from prison, and" Wilkes and Liberty," with " Number Forty - five," was vociferated by all ages and almost all stations. I did not know what was meant ; but as there was to be ringing and shouting, and an illumination, I was as glad as others, and with quite as much reason. It was to me, indeed, a most exhilarating day. Young as I was, I had my say as to the form in which the candles were to be placed in the windows, as well as in fastening the laths and preparing the balls of clay to stick them in. I have since seen many illuminations in London, but none to equal tliis, the first, in producing wonder, delight, and lasting impression on my mind. John Wilkes never afterwards afforded me the same delight, though I have seen him as Chamberlain of the City, in his splendid chariot How vain, unsatisfying, and transient have I since perceived the plaudits of the multitude to be ! But this was a knowledge I had then to learn.

Before I proceed to detail the events of my miserable school days, it may not be amiss, in the first place, to describe some of the bygone appearances and customs of my native town. They are not, though, much farther interesting than as preserving a knowledge of a state of society even now almost unknown. I think I may say, happily unknown ; for I am not one of those old men who think that the days of their youth were better than the days of their age. I have, thank God ! found the reverse to be the case. It is true that I was early led, as I shall soon have occasion to show, to form very feeble hopes of earthly happiness, and consequently it was, perhaps, that my hopes have been more than realized.

The state of Sheffield seventy years ago was certainly, comparatively, a very rude and very poor one. Selfishness and unfeelingness towards others much more generally prevailed than they do now.

The Boys' Charity School was then, I believe, with the exception of the workhouse, the only institution in the town for the relief of the poor. A master who farmed the children had then to make a fortune (and did make what was thought one) out of the savings which he could obtain from sixteen-pence a head per week, for the mainte-

IS AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND

nance of sixty poor boys. What sort of living these wretched children must have had we may safely leave any

one to judge. I am in possession of facts relative to that school which would horrify the public were I to state them. At present I allude to the subject to show the former state of the poor in Sheffield, and the conduct of the rich towards them. Who woidd now think of thus famishing the children of a chanty school, and then letting the room in which they ought to have slept as a dancing assembly room ! Yet such was the fact, as well as another, namely, that the use of the room was paid for by the ladies. The card assemblies were likewise held there. More, perhaps, of tins hereafter.

Among the now obsolete practices then continued, was that of hiring at the Statutes, or Statice, as it was called. I do not mean the hiring of servants at that time, then in a great measure discontinued here ; but what I think was peculiar to tins town, the hiring oi cloys, which was effected by flogging the poor animals through the street with whips on the occasion. The origin or meaning of the custom I never heard stated. During more than a week previous to the day, the loud cracking of whips was heard throughout the town continually, to the great annoyance of both bipeds and quadrupeds; the sagacious dogs, by such warnings, seeming to be made well aware of the kind of treat which was preparing for them. On the morning of the great day — rain or fair — long before daylight, crowds of lads were assembled in many dill'erent parts of the town, shouting and cracking their whips. Whenever a dog was discovered, the cry of, a dog ! a dog ! a dog ! was loudly vociferated by every one of them. If the dog fled, a general pursuit ensued; and if surrounded, he suffered severely. Many, however, would stand at bay, and were sent out by their owners for the purpose. If the beast got his back to the wall, few of the lads dare go near enough to lash them, and those who did would sometimes suffer deservedly for it. Some dogs, indeed, had been taught to fly at the lads, and seize their whips without hurting them, taking the whips to their master. These afforded the best sport. The game continued till noon, and then, by common consent, ceased.