announced in 1773 in the following terms. "Married on Wednesday last Mr. Salmon jun. attorney at-law, at Devizes, to Miss Mortimer, a beautiful young lady of the same place, with a fortune of £5,000 and every accomplishment necessary to complete the felicity of the marriage state." This was the gentleman whose name has already occurred at page 439 as Secretary to Lord Shelburne's County Association; and whose uncontrolled management of the borough affairs long after gave him the sobriquet of "King Salmon." In 1783 he had obtained the lucrative position of stamp distributor to the county, in the room of John Flower of Devizes. [Mr. Flower had been appointed in 1779.] 1785. At the July Assizes an action of trespass and assault was brought by Wadham Locke Esq. of Devizes against William Aldridge Ballard an attorney of Westbury, arising out of a personal altercation touching the will of the late John Powell of Conock. 1788. The 5th of November being the centenary of William III.'s Revolution, was celebrated in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin. Earl Stanhope presided at the London Tavern, the Duke of Portland at the Crown and Anchor. At Devizes, a lofty pole, erected near the parade in the market-place, was furnished with tar-barrels, to the top, to feed the flame which was then kindled at its base. GEORGE III.'S VISIT. 1789. When the King was travelling for his health during the early period of his mental malady, he spent some time in this county, in the autumn of 1789; for the particulars of which, see Miss Burney's Diary. While passing from Longleat to Tottenham Park, the royal party stopped to change horses at Devizes, when an absurd scene was enacted, which Miss Burney, notwithstanding her keen observation and love of fun, does not appear to have noticed. Though the King's movements were not designed to attract publicity, GG it was thought necessary by the Corporation to tender some demonstration of loyalty in the form of an address, to be delivered at the coach door the moment the cortège stopped at the Bear Inn. Here therefore they waited their time, twelve in number, arrayed in official garb and attended by macebearers: but when the critical moment arrived, the power of speech forsook the Recorder or whomsoever Mr. Mayor had deputed to read the paper: and the King would have driven off unrecognised, but for the gallant rescue of a military officer, General Crosby, who, residing in the neighbourhood, was present to pay his respects to Majesty on his own account. Perceiving the confusion of the burgomasters, he promptly stepped forward, broke the pantomimic spell by reading their speech for them, and thus extricated all parties from the dilemma. On the next day the following lines, attributed to Dr. Reeve, were found attached to the Market cross. "Brave Crosby only with undaunted face Addressed the King, who smiled with royal grace: Devizes Gazette 28th June 1849. THE ELECTION OF 1790. June 23. At a county meeting held at Devizes Sir James Tylney Long and Ambrose Goddard Esq. the former members, were put in nomination for the county: and on the following day the Hon. Henry Addington the Speaker and Joshua Smith Esq. were elected for Devizes. In December 1794 Sir James Long, having deceased, was succeeded by Henry Penruddocke Wyndham Esq. 1 "And would" in orig. The compiler of Seward's Anecdotes. See vol. iii. p. 371, sets forth the new Wiltshire member's qualifications for office, in terms not ex THE CANAL MANIA. 1792. At a very numerous meeting held at Devizes on 12th December to offer plans for a canal which was to unite Bristol, Bath, Salisbury, and Southampton, William Salmon in the chair, various resolutions were passed, the principal object of which seemed to be to restrain and regulate the purchase of shares rather than to stimulate expectation, so infatuated were the public with the canal-cutting schemes of the hour. Among the Committee, or as we should now call them, the Directors, appear the names of James Sutton of New Park, James Sutton of Devizes, John Anstie of Devizes, Mr. Wyatt of Rowde-Ford, Mr. Tylee, Josiah Eyles Heathcote, John Neate, Edward Horlock Mortimer, and others. More than £220,000 was subscribed in the room, and a deposit of five guineas per cent. made on three-fourths of that sum. This scheme came to nothing. The "Kennet and Avon Canal" to unite London and Bristol fared better; but like all the rest, proved profitable only to a few speculators and professional agents. The design of uniting London and Bristol by a "mediterranean water-passage" was, according to Aubrey, first set on foot during the Protectorate of Cromwell by Mr. Henry Briggs, Savilian professor of geometry at Oxford; and Oliver was so pleased with it, that, had he lived, the project would have been pushed. When it was again taken up 130 years later, viz. in 1783, there was a proposal to call it "The Georgian Canal" "to eternise the memory of the monarch [George III.] who smiled on so magnificent an undertaking!" Salisbury Journal. actly such as are usually presented to electors. Mr. Wyndham had recently lent him a curious old letter from the Duchess of Marlborough: it was very natural therefore that the obliged party should speak of his friend as "a gentleman on whom the unanimous suffrages of the county have lately conferred that honour so long merited by his pleasing manners, his social habits, and his elegant hospitality." In 1781 was published at Salisbury a "Tour through Monmouthshire and Wales in 1774 and 1777," by Hen. Penruddocke Wyndham. It is somewhat remarkable that Devizes, rather than Bristol, should have been the focus of attraction during the infatuated rush for shares to which the Southampton canal gave rise in 1793. But that the men who pulled the wires were here located, seems established by a narrative which appeared at the time, from the pen of Romaine Joseph Thorn Esq. entitled "The mad gallop, or a trip to Decizes, being an humourous description of a journey taken to that place by the inhabitants of Bristol and Bath (chiefly the former), attempted in Hudibrastic verse." As a metrical performance "the mad gallop" is beneath criticism, yet it ran through two editions in a fortnight. It was the youthful production of a gentleman who eventually attained the venerable age of 86, (?) at which time the present writer had the pleasure of interchanging civilities with him. From the statements of the late Mr. Lucas of Devizes, it appears, that a day having been appointed in which the public were to be allowed the luxury of subscription, a tent was erected in the Market-place for the transaction of business, at one end of which the victims were permitted to enter, and to emerge at the other. No one was to have more than five shares, but on each of these shares eight shillings deposit had to be paid for advertising and other preliminary expenses; so that the sum paid down was in most cases £2. As the crowd was sucked in at the one end of the tent and discharged at the other, they were received at the door of exit by parties waiting, either to offer premiums, or to take possession of scrip of which they were the real though not the nominal owners. Hence many amusing scenes occurred. Some who bought for others, refused to surrender their shares. Many a common fellow having mustered £2 by loan or otherwise, found himself worth £5 or £10 soon after emerging from the tent: and this barter continued all through the day, even after the subscription books were closed. While the game was at its height, the drawing up of a hearse in the middle of the crowd dashed for a moment the ardour of speculation; but as instantly produced the opposite result, when the opening of its prison-door enabled a group of eager occupants to tumble out and join in the pursuit of wealth. They had been unable to procure any other mode of conveyance; so entirely had the "passengertraffic" of the hour overtaken the supply. Mr. Romaine Thorn's poem seems to point, not so much to the actual occurrence of the above scenes, as to a subsequent day when the sagacity of the Bristolians had induced them to expect the publication of a new venture; for he describes the hungry crowds as wandering about the streets on the morning after their arrival, in helpless expectation of the opening of business. Here they had remained through the whole of a miserable night, till, ascertaining in the course of the following day that a new route had been projected for the canal, the shares of which were monoplised by two lawyers, and being alarmed moreover by the apparition of the Crier in his sanguineous costume, who came to clear the streets, they quitted the town, "Swearing they'd not again so soon Be gull'd by those who rake the moon." So alarmed were the Devizes magistrates by this unaccountable confluence of strangers that, as Mr. Thorn was informed, they were on the point of reading the Riot Act. Not only were the inns and every available outhouse crowded during the night, but the coaches and chaises were occupied as sleeping apartments. Mr. Thorn himself was one of those who vainly sought the shelter of a chaise which he saw standing in the street: but finding it already crowded, he passed the night, as did many others, stretched on chairs. 1792. 25th December, at eight in the evening an alarming fire broke out in the offices of the mansion at New Park; when the whole town turned out, and with the aid of three fire-engines got the fire so far under before eleven o'clock, as to ensure the safety of the house itself. |