104
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. XL FEB. G, im.
-to Robert Berkeley. Each of his servant
is to have a year's wages ; and Mr. Henr
Berrington, of Cowarne, co. Hereford, 100
James Smith and George Newman witnes
the will.
There was a Thomas, son of Anthon Attwood, of Elmbridge, co. Worcester, gent who matriculated at Oriel College, Oxforc -on 2 April, 1690, aged 15, and took his B.A degree in 1693. Mr. Attwood tells me tha this Thomas has been described as an M.B. but he lived at Chaddesley Corbett,* wher he died in 1718, and seems to have had connexion with Worcester.
There is no reason for doubting that i was Dr. Thomas Attwood, of Powick, bj Worcester, who attended the infant Johnson Worcester is some twenty-five miles south o: Trysull.
" Parson " Ford. Since writing my pre vious note on the "Parson" (10 S. ix. 44 I have come across what is apparently another reference to him. In Nichols's ' Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century " (vol. i. pp. 223-7) is given a letter written from St. John's College, Cambridge, on 6 May, 1722, by Vere Foster, a Fellow of the College, " a good scholar, and of great "wit and humour," to James Bonwicke, son of Ambrose Bonwicke, in which is quoted A humorous poem entitled ' Mr. Prior' sf Lamentation for the Loss of Mrs. Joanna Bentley,' described as having " been a long time the vogue at every tea-table in college." In this poem occur the lines :
But, ! the lordly haughtiness of mien, And all the father^ in the daughter seen ! That unaffected modesty of mind, Which nor in Green nor Ford improv'd we find.
After the poem is given a series of notes upon it, intended to explain some of the allusions and develope the humour, among which is the following :
" The characters of Green and Ford, you are well enough acquainted with ; only observe the com- pliment."
Nichols adds a foot-note on Ford :
" The latter, we imagine, was the same Mr. Ford
who was afterwards as well known by his being
Chaplain to Lord Chesterfield as by his abandoned,
unclerical character, and of whom it is recorded,
- John, son of Thomas Attwood, of Chaddesley,
co. Worcester, gent., matriculated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, on 9 March, 1725/6, aged 16 ; and took his B.A. degree on 13 Feb., 1729/30.
t Edward Prior, of Trinity.
Joanna was a daughter of the celebrated Richard Bentley, Master of Trinity. She married Denison Cumberland, and was mother of the well-known Richard Cumberland (1732-1811).
that, on his being refused the same appointment in
Ireland, when his noble Patron was Lord Lieutenant,
being told that it was owing to his want ot one
vice ; and wondering what that vice could be, was
answered ' Hypocrixy.' "
It does seem extremely probable that the poet's irony was directed against Dr. John- son's cousin, who in that case must have acquired some reputation for being self- appreciative. As recorded in my book (p. 158), Cornelius Ford had entered St. John's College in 1710, and taken his B.A. degree in 1713 ; while his M.A. degree he had taken from Peterhouse in 1720. Mr. R. F. Scott, the Master of St. John's, who is an earnest student of all that concerns the personal history of those connected with his College, tells me that there was no other Cambridge graduate of the name of Ford about that time except Thomas Ford, who took his B.A. degree from Christ's College in 1691, and his M.A. in 1697, and who, as Mr. Scott says, hardly fits in with the other names mentioned in the poem.f The " Green " who is bracketed with Ford was, Mr. Scott thinks, probably one Richard GJreen, who took his LL.B. degree from Peterhouse in 1722, and who would therefore more or less a contemporary of Cornelius Ford's. According to Nichols, the person
alluded to " was supposed to be the learned Dr. John Green, who died Bishop of Lincoln
in 1779." This identification would be more interesting, as it was John Green who,
on leaving Cambridge, went to Lichfield
as assistant master under the Rev. John ilunter, and there made the acquaintance
of Johnson and Garrick ; but his dates eem to me to destroy his claim. Mr.
Scott clinches this argument by stating ihat John Green did not enter St. John's
until 10 June, 1724, his age being then given
as " past 17."
In the same volume (p. 221) Nichols giveg ome account of " Dr. Christopher Anstey, ellow of St. John's, for some time a tutor n that college," who, as mentioned in my
This is a lame version of Gibber's original story,
vhich is fully discussed in my book (pp. 160-61).
Vnd the reference should be to the Hague, not to
reland. Lord Chesterfield was Lord Lieutenant of
reland from July, 1745, to April, 1746, some four-
- en years after "Parson" Ford's death.
t Mr. Scott says that "Brathwait," the "gentle- nan of Catharine hall ; an elegantly-made man," ras no doubt Mark Brathwayt, LL.B. 1723 and
- L.D. 1728 the " gentleman " showing that he was
ot yet a graduate. " Grim Thornton," introduced o us as "a gentleman of Trinity, junior bachelor, who itely shoolc hands with learning, and now professes allantry," he identifies with Jonathan Thornton* .A. 1721/2, and M.A. 1725.
