WILLIAM HENRY HYETT, F.R.S.

[1795-1877.]

F the quaint little town of Painswick, with its beautiful

IT

surroundings, were far distant and more difficult of access,

its charms would be more loudly sung and its visitors be more in number. Some who have been long acquainted with this picturesque locality often wonder that it is not more frequently sought by those who appreciate such scenes of beauty as it contains. One of its former inhabitants, a Quaker Land Surveyor, used to tell his friends that it was a parish of 5,000 acres, with not a single level one in all the number. 1 He might have added that these acres present great variety of scenery, and many objects of natural and archæological interest.

Few spots consecrated to the burial of the dead can compare with Painswick Cemetery. Lying on the eastern slope of Spoonbed Hill it is truly beautiful for situation, affording scenes which can scarcely fail to calm and comfort mourning hearts. To many of us it is invested with deep interest. Here Sydney Dobell sleeps amidst the shrubs and flowers with which love has embosomed his resting place. Here, after long residence in various parts of our county, the venerable and kindly-hearted Henry Camps has found a tomb at the close of his eighty-five years of earthly pilgrimage. Though not himself a poet, yet how ardent was his love of sweet song. How richly had he stored his memory with the choicest strains of our seventeenth century poets. Standing by his graveside one seems to hear him quoting his favourite Robert Herrick, singing to the "fair daffodils,"

"We have short time to stay as you,

We have as short a spring,

As quick a breath to meet decay,
As you, or any thing.

We die

As your hours do, and dry

Away,

Like to the summer's rain,

Or, as the pearls of morning dew,

Ne'er to be found again.'

Here Sebastian Dickinson," having served his generation by the will of God," takes his quiet rest.

And here, too, rests, one whose name for nearly sixty years was inseparably associated with Painswick-WILLIAM HENRY HYETT, or, as he was commonly known among his neighbours, "SQUIRE" HYETT, of Painswick House.

In many respects Mr. Hyett stood out as a man of very marked individuality, and through great part of his long life he was a prominent figure in county affairs. Of magnificent person, of high and honourable character, of great and varied abilities, and of interesting and useful pursuits, his memory will be fresh for many years to come. Such a life and character call for honourable record in any annals of the Worthies of Gloucestershire.

Mr. Hyett was the eldest son of the Rev. Henry Cay Adams, of Shrewsbury, and was born September 2nd, 1795. At the age of ten he was sent to Westminster School, where, during the term, he sat between the Marquis of Westminster (father of the present Duke) and the son of a Westminster butcher! He always expressed approval of a school which could so bring all classes together. Here he remained till 1812. The following year, on the death of Benjamin Hyett, Esq., who had married a member of the Adams family, he succeeded to the estates in Painswick, Badgeworth, Bulley, and other Gloucestershire parishes, and assumed the name and arms of Hyett in lieu of Adams.

Two years

Edinburgh.

were now spent with a private tutor at Here he formed an intimate friendship with

Francis Jeffrey, the far-famed editor of the Edinburgh Review, at whose country house he passed two summers, and with whom he made two tours on foot, covering nearly the whole of the Highlands. His intercourse with Jeffrey served to imbue his mind with the principles which were then held by the Whig party.

He had also imbibed from the same source such views of self-education as led him, as soon as peace had opened the Continent to Englishmen, to enter upon a course of foreign travel for purposes of observation and study. He was upon the field of Waterloo while it was yet ghastly with the battle strife, the burial of the slain not being completed. Following the allied armies he spent three months in Paris during their memorable occupation of the French capital. Returning to England the same year, he entered as a Gentleman Commoner at Christ Church, Oxford, and kept terms for two years. Among his recollections of his University life were those of the reception accorded to the allied sovereigns, and the commanders Blucher, Platoff and Wellington. One incident on that occasion was the casual appearance of a little greyheaded man, who, in crossing the theatre, was recognised as Warren Hastings, and greeted with loudest applause: "the nation," says Macaulay, "had forgotten his faults, and remembered only his services."

Having completed two years at Oxford, Mr. Hyett resolved to resume his foreign travels; and a more extended tour was commenced in 1817. The summer was passed in Switzerland, the autumn in Italy, and the winter in Rome. In 1819, he went by Eastern Calabria to Otranto, Corfu, and Albania, where he visited that bold and intelligent but unprincipled Governor, the notorious Ali Pasha, at his capital, Yanina; spent two months among the classic scenes of Athens; then proceeded to the plains of Troy, and at length reached the Dardanelles.

The feat of swimming the Hellespont, which Lord Byron and Lieutenant Ekenhead had accomplished in 1810 had

excited much attention; and Mr. Hyett, resolving not only to emulate but excel it, swam from Sestos to Abydos, not following the short course the poet and his companion had taken, but the longer one attributed to Leander himself. He achieved this feat in one hour and fifty minutes. Besides this performance, he also swam across the Lake of Geneva, near the Geneva end, where it is about two miles broad. This, though less in distance, he said was a more arduous swim than that across the Helespont, on account of the changing temperature of different currents of the water.

On leaving the Dardanelles, Mr. Hyett proceeded by way of Constantinople, through the Black Sea, and up the Danube to Vienna, where he wintered.

To a young man of Mr. Hyett's acuteness of observation and retentiveness of memory, these travels were an invaluable addition to the studies by which he was disciplining and informing his active mind. The influences he thus received were apparent all through life.

But he had no disposition to spend his life as a wanderer; and the responsibilities connected with his estates had to be assumed. Returning to England he took up his abode in Gloucester, occupying a house in Palace-yard, then called Miller's-green. About this time he was made a member of the Corporation of the city.

2

The year 1821 was marked by his marriage with Anne Jane, daughter of Joseph Seymour Biscoe, Esq., of Hempstead Court: a happy union, followed by fifty-six years of wedded life. He now took up his residence at Painswick House, which had been prepared for the reception of himself and bride, and settled down to the life of a country gentleman. 3 In such a life he found much that was congenial to many of his tastes. The improvement of his property, the discharge of magisterial and other public duties, and occasional visits to Scotland for his favourite sport of deerstalking, did not indispose him to plans of benevolence for the good of his neighbours, nor prevent his prosecution of some original and interesting scientific enquiries.

These occupations of his rural life were somewhat interrupted by his election to the mayoralty of Gloucester. He had for some time filled the office of Alderman, and in 1829 he was called to that of Chief Magistrate of the city. The appointment was an expression of the popular favour in which he was held, and the occasion was one of special festivity in the Corporation circle.

An "Old Blue Boy," in his reminiscences of this period, says: "I well remember my first introduction to Mr. Hyett. It was on the Feast of St. Thomas, December 21, 1829, the day of my entry to the school. The seven young boys' were arranged at a side desk, waiting the arrival of the Mayor and Corporation. The whole school was in a state of excitement and anticipation, as the feast could not begin till the Aldermen, who had to preside and carve, had come. At length they appeared, ushered in by the worthy Master and Matron-Mr. and Mrs. Wood. I shall never forget the impression the first sight of the Mayor made upon my mind. It is now nearly fifty-seven years ago, but that impression is as fresh as ever. I thought him a giant! So tall, so handsome! And when he spoke, such a fine sonorous voice; full, firm, commanding! and yet with a kindly ringing melody in it. He was the patron of one of the new boys, and wished to know which it was. The little fellow did not show to advantage, his face bearing signs of recent strife. Mr. Hyett after enquiring particulars, which were truthfully told, gave the boy a few words of good advice, wiped some tears from his cheek with his own pocket handkerchief, and at the same time patted him gently on the head. I have known all the Mayors who have succeeded him, and many personable men have been included in the number, but I have never met with one of so noble a presence and so commanding a style." 4

The Reform Bill of 1832 created the Electoral Borough of Stroud, giving its inhabitants the right to return two, members to Parliament. The district was at that time one of the most politically intelligent in the county, and one of