“You cannot imagine anything like Mr Wynn and his wife. He is a raw country
booby of eighteen, his hair about his ears, and a beard that has never deigned
to submit to the stroke of the razor. His voice is loud, broad and unmodulated,
the mind of the possessor has never yet felt a sentiment that should give it
flexibleness or variety. He has at present a brother with him, a lad, as I
guess, of fifteen, who has come to Dr
Parr’s house at Hatton, with a high generosity of
sentiment, and a tone of mind, declaring that, if his brother be disinherited,
he, who is the next brother, will not reap the benefit. His name is
Julius, and John Wynn, the
husband, is also a lad of very good dispositions. They both stammer:
Julius extremely, John less: but
with the stuttering of Julius there is an ingenuousness
and warmth that have considerable charms. John, on the
contrary, has all the drawling, both of voice and thinking, that usually
characterizes a clown. His air is gauche, his gait negligent and slouching, his
whole figure boorish. Both the lads are as ignorant, and as destitute of
adventure and ambition, as any children that aristocracy has to boast.
| KENILWORTH CASTLE. | 265 |
“We slept, as I told you, at Tamworth on Wednesday
evening. Thursday morning we proceeded through Coleshill (where I found a
permanent pillory established, in lieu of the stocks), and where we passed
through a very deep and rather formidable ford, the bridge being under repair,
and breakfasted at the George in the Tree, 18 miles. From thence the road by
Warwick would have been 14 miles, and by a cross-country road only six. By
this, therefore, we proceeded, and a very deep and rough road we found it. We
arrived at Hatton about one, so, after dinner, thinking it too much to sit all
day in the company I have described, I proposed to Montagu a walk to Kenilworth Castle, the seat originally of
Simon De Montfort, Earl of Leicester,
who in the reign of Henry III., to whom he
was an implacable enemy, was the author of the institution of the House of
Commons; and, more recently, the seat of Robert
Dudley, Earl of Leicester—the favourite, and, as he hoped and
designed, the husband of Elizabeth, to
whom he gave a most magnificent and memorable entertainment at this place. The
ruins are, beyond comparison, the finest in England. I found
Montagu by no means a desirable companion in this
expedition. He could not be persuaded to indulge the
| 266 | WILLIAM GODWIN |
“To-day, Friday, as fortune determined, was Coventry Fair, with a procession of all the trades, with a female representative of Lady Godiva at their head, dressed in a close dress to represent nakedness. As fortune had thus disposed of us, we deemed it our duty not to miss the opportunity. We accordingly set out after breakfast, for Montagu proved lazy, and we did not get off till half after eleven. From Dr Parr’s to Warwick is four miles, from Warwick to Coventry ten miles. One mile on the Coventry side of Warwick is Guy’s Cliff, Mr Greathed’s. My description of his garden was an irresistible motive with Montagu to desire to visit it, though I by no means desired it. We accordingly went, and walked round the garden. Mr Greathed was in his grounds, and I left a card, signifying I had done myself the pleasure of paying my respects to him, and taken the liberty of leading my friend over his garden. This delay of half-an-hour precisely answered the purpose of making us too late for Lady Godiva. We saw the crowd, which was not yet dispersed, and the booths of the fair, but the lady, the singularity of the scene, was retired.
“It is now Sunday evening: we are at Cambridge. Montagu says we shall certainly be in town to-morrow (Monday) night. The distance is fifty-three miles: we shall therefore probably be late, and he requests that, if we be not at home before ten, you will retain somebody to take the whiskey from Somers Town to Lincoln’s Inn. If Mary be at a loss on the subject, perhaps the people of Montagu’s lodging can assist her.
| TRANSIENT ILL-HUMOUR. | 267 |
“Farewell: be happy: be in health and spirits. Keep a lookout, but not an anxious one. Delays are not necessarily tragical. I believe there will be none.”
