Queries.

LOCAL ALTITUDE.-Will you kindly say in your next issue, what is the height of Wilmslow above the sea. FULSHAW CROSS.

CHESHIRE BIBLIOGRAPHY.-Can any of your readers supply the name of the writer of the following pamphlet:

A Country Rector's Address to his Parishioners at the close of the twenty-fifth year of his residence amongst them, with reference to the Disturbed State of the Times. Second edition. London: Hatchard and Sons; and J. G. and F. Rivington; and J. Swinnerton, Macclesfield. Price 1830. sixpence. 8vo. pp. 22.

In a note on the back of the title page the author says, "Who the Rector or where the parish are matters of no importance to the public. If his address tends in the slightest degree to open the eyes of the deluded to the evil designs of the ill-disposed, the writer's object is answered." His object is to point out the folly of the rioters, who at the time went about destroying machinery and committing other outrages. He gives an interesting picture of the state of the working-classes in the early years of the century. Manchester. C. W. S.

Notes.

SAMUEL ROBINSON.-PART III.

(ante, 121, 137.)

name.

A man who, after living a full and useful life, became a recluse more than a quarter of a century ago is necessarily unknown to a large number of the readers of these articles. To the rising generation he can only be a tradition and a From the few passages which have been extracted from his writings, his speeches, and his poems, certain persons, perceiving that these embody some of the ideas of a mind of no common order, will desire that the memory of so valuable a life shall be preserved in the form of a biography in some sort worthy of the subject of it. Such a work is not here attempted; indeed, the writer has not

within his possession the requisite materials. Yet the present simple sketch will not be altogether without use if it serve as a remembrancer to those who were associated with Mr Robinson or knew him in former years; and if it pourtray, albeit in faint outline and with feeble colour, the personalty of a cotton spinner actively engaged with his cards and spindles before the Victorian era, (such an one as the writer of fiction has rarely drawn,) it may be welcome to some of those employed in that impor. tant industry.

A bald narrative of the chief events in the career of Samuel Robinson was first given, and this was followed by extracts from his writings on social and economical questions; these were succeeded by examples of more purely literary productions, chiefly the fruits of solitude and widowhood. It now remains to endeavour to depict him as he

appeared to those about him during the later years of his prolonged life.

Occasionally we hear of a "many-sided man." Probably most men are many sided, but usually they exhibit sides of very unequal development. Like a peach, there may be one face, and one face alone, fully matured, excellent, and beautiful. Mr Robinson, however, was many-equal-sided; all the parts of his nature were nearly equally developed. The perusal of a few extracts from his writings upon social questions must have satisfied the reader that he was in advance of his time. His literary remains prove that he was an elegant scholar and accomplished linguist. If his life at Wilmslow be followed, we shall find abundant subject for study, and indeed for admiration, in his character, quite apart from the aspects already dwelt upon.

Mr Robinson was a man of singular modesty of demeanour, yet his maintenance of principle was unhesitating and uncompromising. When the spread of education was considered dangerous, and sanitary science was not even formulated; when the demands for the People's Charter were consi dered almost revolutionary, he did not adopt the tone of an apologist, nor hesitate in the enunciation of his advanced views. But it was his principles which he made prominent; he never obtruded himself. His writings usually appeared either without name, or they were subscribed with the simple initials "S. R." When he came to reside in the pure air of Fulshaw, a pioneer whose example so many of us have followed, he did not erect a fine villa, or occupy some imposing and extensive old hall, but he rented three cottages pleasantly situated and enjoying a south aspect. Two of these he threw together, and contrived a commodious, picturesque, low-roofed building, sweet and sunny, altogether without pretension, yet betraying in every feature a degree of refinement characteristic of its occupants. No carriage drive sweeps round to the door, but a simple wooden gate admits to the porch embowered in pyrus japonica and jasmine. We are not concerned with financial questions, but may remark that, although the means of Mr Robinson would have amply justified his indulgence in such luxury, he did not choose to drive a carriage. Availing him. self of the name suggested by a tiny stream stained with the humus derived from the peat moss, and which flowed past his garden, he applied to his residence the singularly-modest name of Blackbrook Cottage.

It may be remembered that Mr Robinson mar

ried one of the daughters of Mr John Kennedy, of Ardwick Hall, a man who never during his well. deserved course of prosperity could forget the home of his father, the Laird of Knocknalling, in Kirkcudbright. The love of that which is of Scottish origin showed itself even in the name he bestowed on his daughter-no other than that of the beautiful and unfortunate queen, Mary Stuart.

The interest of Mr Robinson in those who were in less affluent circumstances than himself did not stop at the operative class. Those who from im. providence or misfortune were dependent upon their parish for relief claimed his attention, and he considered the right administration of the poor law a subject of great importance, both in the interest of those who received and those who furnished the funds for this unfortunate class. Accordingly he allowed himself to be elected a guardian of the poor, attended with regularity the meetings of the board held seven miles distant across country, and discharged the duties in a manner which caused his colleagues after his death to record upon their minutes that

He brought to bear an amount of intelligence on poor law matters that was most valuable to the board, and he was held in the highest esteem by every member who sat at the same board with him.

By the courtesy of the clerk to the guardians the following interesting extracts from letters can be submitted :

[Mr Robinson to Mr Cutter.]

Blackbrook-cottage, Wilmslow, April 6th, 1876. Dear Sir,-You will have seen that another guar dian for Fulshaw has been nominated, and, I presume, has been appointed in my place. . . . . It has not been without much consideration and some reluctance that I have come to the determination not to allow myself to be nominated again, but I think that my entrance on my 81st year, and my completion of my uninterrupted service of 20 years at the board, will be readily accepted as a valid reason for wishing to retire from the office, which, at the distance of Knutsford from my house, has become of late occa. sionally inconvenient and trying. I might, indeed, have continued to go over from time to time under favourable circumstances; but I have held office on on occasion when I could no longer perform its duties, and it does not suit my views of propriety to retain it without discharging them with proper regu larity. I cannot, however, separate myself from the board on which I have served so long without desiring to take a kindly leave of its members. With many of them I have served too long not to have acquired for them sentiments of high respect and

I was directed to express to you how much the whole board felt the separation with one of its oldest and most respected members, and how deeply the guardians sympathise with you in the reason given for your resignation.

I only express the feeling of one and all when I asy you carry with you their warmest wishes for your future health and happiness, and their cordial esteem for you personally.

Speaking for myself, I concur most fully, not only in the feelings of the board, but I carry with me a most pleasing recollection of the very great kindness and gentlemanly consideration that you have invariably shown to me as clerk.

The infirmities incident to advanced years not only made it incumbent that Mr Robinson should withdraw from his duties at Knutsford, but from other engagements. He wrote to a friend :—

I don't like to be discouraging; in days bygone I was not wont to be so; but I cannot take part in such movements any longer as I used to do, not being now

the thing,

I was in my hot youth when

George the Third was king!

The assiduous discharge of the duties of guardian of the poor did nothing to abridge the charities of Mr Robinson. He was very generous, and, at the same time, discriminating; but any attempt to chronicle the assistance he rendered to the needy would be unjust to the memory of him who scarcely allowed his right hand to know what his left hand did in eleemosynary work. A solitary case may perhaps be pardoned. Nearly forty years ago a little boy fell into the gearing of a threshing. machine, and his foot was severely crushed. His mother, a widow, was rich in the possession of a numerous family of small children, but very poor in all other outward blessings. In consequence of the neglect of the surgeon who professed to attend, the condition of the foot be. came serious, and the life of the boy was endan

earn

gered. Mr Robinson having heard of the case visited the cottage where the sufferer lay, and, together with two other gentlemen, caused the boy to be placed under the care of an experienced surgeon who lived some miles distant, with the result that the boy slowly recovered. Mr and Mrs Robinson did not content themselves with sending contributions from their kitchen and their purse, but the former came periodically to the cottage, and gave lessons to the boy in order to compensate him in some sort for the lameness to which he was doomed for life, by enabling him to a livelihood by other means than mere physical labour, for which he had become unfitted. One of the phalangoes from the foot of a child, wrapped in paper, and carefully treasured in a little covered jar, recalls the sufferings of the boy, and a handful of nuts still preserved beside it shows what the little sufferer had played with, and what his kind instructor had carried from his own dessert. From that day the widow never wanted a friend in the person of her benefactor, and it may be added that he too gained a true though humble friend, one whom he treated with the consideration and courtesy which was his wont.

No one describing the manners and character of Mr Robinson should omit to mention his dignified courtesy, an example of the habits of the cultured class early in the century. It did not consist in a show of deference to those of superior years or station, but was the natural manifestation of the refined gentle-man to all around him. It is not to be supposed that this was peculiar to Mr Robin. 800. One who well remembers him states that the brother-in-law of Mr Robinson, Sir Benjamin Hey. wood, did not allow a person to enter the room without rising, or at any rate partially rising, to receive him. Even when engaged in writing or other important business, and one of his sons came in upon him with some boyish want or question, he would make an apology for not attending to him at once, saying "Presently, my boy," or "I shall be ready to attend to you immediately."

society who met periodically in Manchester, to read papers and conduct discussions. The chief members were Mr Robert Hyde Greg, Mr William Greg, Dr Henry, Rev. Edward Stanley, afterwards Bishop of Norwich, Mr John Cheetham, Mr Hampson, and Mr Robinson. In later years Mr Robinson established a similar society at Alderley. Mr J. Frederick Foster, Mr Symonds, Mr Samuel Thorp, Dr Satterthwaite, and a few other gentlemen met periodically at the Queen's Hotel, for literary purposes.

The British school at Dean Row was the object of his frequent visits and constant care, as evinced in the following resolution passed at the annual meeting of its subscribers :

That this meeting desires to record its deep sense of the very great loss the school and its supporters have sustained by the death of the late Mr Simuel Robinson, one of its original promoters; he has ever since, down to the very time of his death, taken the principal and most active and unremitting interest in everything concerning its management and welfare, and by his invaluable advice and assistance done so much to secure its efficiency and reputation. The meeting wishes also to acknowledge h ́s kindness and generosity in over and over again making good any deficiency occurring in the funds of the school, besides frequently carrying out, entirely at his own expense, various alterations in the premises, which have added much to the comfort and convenience both of the school and the master.

Mr Robinson held the opinion that advantage would arise if the masters of the different schools in the district could be occasionally brought together in a social capacity. They each conduct their own school having little opportunity of seeing or knowing what others are doing, or how others manage to surmount what may prove to be diffi culties to themselves. Besides to confer a pleasure or bestow an honour upon those in whose important and honourable labours he greatly sympathised was congenial to him, and it became a custom annually to ask the masters to dinner, and no guests who were invited to his table were more generously entertained. These reunions under the guidance of the veteran teacher were occasions of pleasure and profit which will not be forgotten. The practice was continued to the last, indeed the last invitations were issued, and were reluctantly withdrawn when he had become too weak and ill to receive his guests any more.

Mr Robinson was not contented with pro. mulgat ng his belief in the good to be attained by

the spread of knowledge. He showed forth his faith by his works. At Wilmslow he assembled a class of young men at the Methodist chapel, and on one evening each week he taught them. More than one person testifies to his remarkable power of teaching arithmetic, especially the different varieties of proportion, often perplexing to beginners. One individual who has achieved a good position states that he owes to Mr Robinson all that he knows of advanced arithmetic and of mathematics. He describes with enthusiasm the skill and patience which he brought to his self-imposed task nearly 40 years ago. Some of the younger lads, always ready for "a lark," and not duly valuing the advantages they enjoyed, would sometimes become so unruly as to test the patience of the teacher beyond endurance. He would then desist from teaching, look round, move his head and neck in a manner peculiar to himself, which his friends will remember, and then quietly address the rebels to this effect:-"I do not take this conduct as kind on your part. I have left my home and occcupa tions, which were pleasant and profitable to myself, in order to teach you, and you not only will not learn, but you also disturb others who are wishful to be taught." The rebuke would be successful-at least for a time. This association was dignified with the title of the Mechanics' Institution. In the Wilmslow village library and reading room he took a warm interest and accepted the reponsibilities of a trustee. He was anxious that it should become in its way what the flourishing institution in which he was so deeply interested, was to Dukinfield. It should not be the vehicle of diffusing peruicious literature, nor the arena for the propagandism of any exclusive set of theological or political opinions. Mr Robinson did not stay to consider whether the occupation of teaching was an agreeable one; it was sufficient for him that he might do something to vindicate his principles, that he could be of some use to his neighbours, and could set an example which some might be disposed to follow. For many years he was a teacher in the Old Chapel Sunday School, and it is conceded that it is to his influence and personal impress that the school became what it has continued to be ever since that time, one of the best managed Sunday schools in the district. Fortunately we have a verbal photograph of Mr Robinson in the Sunday school, forty eight years ago, in a letter addressed to the late Mr Broadrick, by his brother and co-director of the school.

Just as the service commenced who should come t the school but Mr Robinson, whom I am always

pleased to see.

He had been staying in the neighbourhood for the night in consequence of having been at a meeting at the village library. The preceding evening, after the service, we had some conversation together in the room, and Mr Robinson discoursed, in his sagacious and experienced manner, on mistakes pertaining to schools, pointing out how we ought to make the strongest efforts to retain our young men and women just at the moment when they leave the schools, thinking they had learnt all they will be able to learn, in fact just as they have got over the diffi culties of gaining knowledge, and are on the point of enjoying the pleasures of it. How we ought to endeavour to make devotion more a part of the instruction of our schools, to present religion to our teachers and scholars in its highest and noblest forms, not as a mere matter of opinion in which we should differ from others around us, but as something worth thinking about, and something which, when we feel its reality, ought to incite us to deeds of love and charity. How we cannot do these things if we continue to crowd our school with children so that the attention of the teachers is taken up in keeping order, and the elder scholars are taken away from their classes to teach the little ones before they have learnt anything of the art of teaching; and just as the desire for learning has taken possession of their minds, to drive it out again by instilling into them a desire to become teachers. I may say that as he impressed these things on Me Madge I could not help thinking what a fine picture they formed of teacher and pupil; the scholar so young, so zealous, so full of good wishes and good hopes, and the master mind so deep ard experienced, so fully bert on one subject-the moral and intellectual elevation of the people-that it gave me a thrill of delight, and I feel convinced that Mr Robinson must yet become in some way or other a leader in an educational movement, a teacher of teachers, or e'se we may, when it is too late, repent of our having rejected his counsels; and we may say of him in sorrow

He was a man, take him for all in all,

We shall not look upon his like again. Mrs Robinson died in Italy nearly 30 years ago, and her ashes rest in the beautiful cemetery which overlooks the lake at Zurwich. A sketch of the tomb was placed in her bedroom at Wilmslow, and was never removed during the lifetime of her hus band. There was no issue from the marriage, and after the death of Mr Robinson it became necessary, after a decent interval, that Blackbrook Cottage should be given up. When the contents of the house had been removed, and the faithful servants had found other engagements, the sad change caused by the death of the master seemed absolutely completed. Although Mr Robinson has left relatives who cherish his memory, the circumstance of his leaving no immediate descendants may excuse

our looking a little more curiously into Blackbrook Cottage than otherwise would be justifiable. Mrs Robinson manifested a lively interest in the furnishing of her house, indeed in the planning of it (about the year 1816) as well; and it pleased her husband to accept without question the suggestions prompted by her excellent taste. The garden, in which she was supreme, was a source of continual delight to her. After her death it was the deter. mination of her husband to maintain the place precisely as she had left it. If a room required to be papered the old pattern must, if possible be matched, or otherwise imitated as closely as possible. The same course was adopted with regard to carpets. The pictures and engravings upon the walls remained undisturbed; indeed, the only changes in the dwelling between 1858 and 1884 were due to the added years of the master and the frequent additions to his library. A few years ago the style of furnishing would have been pronounced oldfashioned, but the return to the designs which preceded the massive-mahogany period has, so to speak, modernised the objects in the rooms. The patterns on the carpets and on the wall papers were invariably small in outline and flat in character, well suited to the low-ceiled rooms. No change what

ever was permitted in the garden. The lawn, of a texture like velvet, was surrounded by flower-beds, in which either the very plants and shrubs which its mistress had caused to be planted, remained, or if they had died or become unsightly they were carefully replaced by plants of identical character. Mr Robinson did not take much interest in his gar den except for the sake of its mistress, but he informed the writer that he preferielt cultivate roses the fondness for which flowers he had derived from his Persian studies.

No gaslights were suffered to breathe out their poisonous vapours of carbon sulphide in the cosy rooms of Blackbrook Cottage, and no piece of modern furniture was permitted to enter and perpetrate an anarchronism, disturbing the harmony of the whole.

Recalling the history of his life, it would scarcely have been expected that Mr Robinson was distin guished by mechanical ingenuity and manual dexterity. Yet such was the case, and the talent may have been inherited from his father, who displayed it to a marked extent, and among other congenial occupations of a like character assisted in designing Birtles Hall for his kinsman, Mr Hibbert. Samuel Robinson possessed a well-equipped tool chest, which, however, was rarely opened during recent years, but the curious cupboards and ingenious de