Page:History and characteristics of Bishop Auckland.djvu/58

HISTORY OF BISHOP AUCKLAND. 37 executed at the Westgate, Newcastle, in the year 1743. He is said to have "walked upon gold/' as he had, when taken, a quantity of that precious metal inserted between the inner and outer soles of his boots. It is also stated that at the execution of Sir William, the largest multitude of pick-pockets, gamblers, and robbers ever seen, were gathered together in Newcastle to witness it, and it was the general opinion that a rescue was intended ; but a powerful body of soldiers being present, the design was frustrated. His residence on Etherley Moor has been pointed out as being on the left hand side of the road between Etherley Dene and Woodhouse Lana Confirmatory evidence is given of the lawless state of this neighbourhood, in those early times, in a correspondence between Bishop Cosin, in London, and his Steward, Miles Stapylton, at Bishop Auckland, from which we give the following extracts : — Pall Mail, August 20th,^1670. — The 7 oxen which the Northumberland thief brought to Durham, and sold to Mr Ducke for £14 10s., were extremely cheap, and would make others suspect that Mr Ducke knew they were stolen before- hand, and that hee playd booty with the thiefe, thinking himself safe enough by buying them openly, and tolling them in the market. I thinke you argue well that the thiefe, being convict after Mr Ducke had bought the oxen of him, and promised hm to pay for them, the debdt now belongs to mee. But I shall be glad if you could perswade Mr Ducke so to order the matter, that I might have my rights without going to law, and perhaps spending more than this £14 is worth. Is there never a wise and understanding man neere about you that may end this controversy without law. When you have tryed such wayes first, you may talke of law after, and so I rest, your very loving friend, Jo. Ditsesmb. The above case is also illustrative of the ancient right of the Bishop of claiming forfeiture of all goods of persons convicted within the jurisdiction of his palatinate* Pall Mall, December 31st, 1670. — The robberys that are committed neere about you are variously reported here ; and on» report is, that a maid, or a woman, sometimes serveing in the castle at Durham, haveing got £i in her pocket, which was known to a man that pretended to keep her company upon the highway, as they past by a colepit hee demanded the money, and when she had delivered it hee stripped her of her cloaths, but, being near the pit's mouth, she made use of her wits and thrust him down into the pit ; which, upon her notice given thereof, was searched, and at the bottom of the pit three naked women found dead, that the man had formerly thrown in there, as he intended to have done this woman ; but fell into the pit himself e, and lay there among the three women that he had murdered before. I thinke above twenty persons have been with me to know the truth of the story, supposed to be acted about three weekes or a month since ; yet, because you have writ nothing of it, I answer them all that I believe nothing about it. The See of Durham, from the time of Bishop Cosin, was filled by many men remarkable for their piety and learning. Nathaniel Lord Crewe, whose charitable endowments will be noticed hereafter, is said to have obtained the See of Durham by promising to pay out of its revenues to the celebrated paramour of Charles II, Nell Gwynne, the sum of £6,000. Between the years 1750 and 1752, it was held by the learned Joseph Butler, the author of " Butler's Analogy of Beligion." His successor was Kichard Trevor, of whom Mr Allan issued from his private press " A sketch of his life and character," and in which he says, " he answered in everything to St Paul's description of a Christian bishop. In 1791, the Honourable Shute Barrington, D.D., was translated from the See of Salisbury to that of Durham. The Barrington family is a very ancient one, and can be traced back to the Saxon era ; and, subsequently, it became ennobled by an intermarriage with the Plantagenets. Barrington was not only renowned for his many charities (which will be noticed in their proper place), but also for his learning. He was, also, most liberal in his religious sentiments, and associated with men of every persuasion, from the Catholic to the Quaker. In his episcopal character, he was a strict observer of discipline amongst his clergy; and he made it his constant business to seek out such worthy and able men as were best entitled to preferment. . Hence, many men of great learning and eminence were numbered amongst his chaplains, viz., the Rev. Joseph Dacre Carlyle, the well-known Eastern traveller ; Dr. Holmes, the great Greek biblicist ; and Dr. Bell, the inventor of the Madras system of education. Has private beneficence was most princely, and it is said that a sum of £100,000 would not exceed the amount of his benefactiona The following pleasing anecdote appears in " Lockart's Life of Sir Walter Scott :"— Digitized by Google