Aug.28th.—Dined at home. Miss Malthus, and Miss Menzies, Mr. R. Malthus,[42b]and Mr. John Duncumb, drank tea.
29th.—Dined at Mr. Godschall’s; Mr. and Mrs. Polhill and Mr. Wollaston there; whist till 10; won 8s.
30th.—Dined at the Club at Dorking, Sir Fredk. Evelyn, &c.; paid for dinner, 4s.6d.
31st.—Set out at 6; breakfasted at Epsom; home at 1; paid for breakfast, 1s.; bait of horses, 1s.
Oct.26th.—Dined at Mr. Godschall’s, between 8 and 9; received by express Mrs. Oglethorpe’s death; sent for a chaise from Dorking; set out at 2, got to Russell Street past 7[42c]; breakfasted; to Mr. Sharp[42d], with him to Cranham.
1788,June9th.—Drank tea at Mr. Ruding’s.[42e]
10th.—With Miss Adees, Mary and Caroline, to Vauxhall; home at 12.
Aug.25th.[42f]—Mr. and Mrs. Shurlock dined.
26th.—Dined at Mr. Taylor’s.
27th.—Mr. Godschall dined with us.
28th.—To Mrs. Haynes, and dined.
29th.—Mr. Prickett, Mr. Woodroffe; and Mr. T. Duncumb dined with us.
30th.—To Reigate, and lay at the ‘White Hart.’
31st.—Dined with Mr. Barnes; to Mr. Fanshawe,[43a]and lay.
Oct.24th.—We all dined and supped at Mrs. Malthus’s; whist, won 3s.6d.
1789,Feb.10th.—Council at the Society of Antiquaries;[43b]to the House of Commons.
April28th.—Drank tea at Mr. Malthus’s.
29th.—Drank tea at Mr. Shurlock’s.
30th.—Dined at Mr. Webb’s.[43c]
May1st.—To Mr. Leech, at Witley; lay at Mr. Webb’s.
2nd.—After breakfast, to Mr. Manning; dined at Mr. Mellersh’s.
3rd.—Dined at Mr. Duncumb’s; to Mr. Malthus; drank tea at Mr. Godschall’s.
14th.—Miss Adees, Mr. Robert Malthus, and Mr. Martyr, dined with us; supped at Lincoln’s Inn Coffee House (with his antiquary friends).
June18th.—Dined with the Duke of Norfolk;[43d]home at 8.
July3rd.—Called at Mr. Eckersall’s;[43e]drank tea at Dorking.
Aug.10th.—To Hazlegrove; lay there (Sir Hy. St John Mildmay’s).
Nov.7th.—To Sir H. Mildmay, at Dogmersfield, and lay.
Dec.25th.—My dear daughter Caroline died this morning, after a fever of a few days.[44a]
1790,July24th.—Dined at Sir Fredk. Evelyn’s.
25th,Sunday.—Dined at Captn. Finch’s; drank tea at Mr. Malthus’s.
26th.—Dined at Mr. Duncumb’s.
27th.—Mr. R. Malthus and the Misses dined here, with Cath. and Mr. and Mrs. Polhill, and Mr. S. Godschall.
28th.—Dined at Mr. Shurlock’s.
29th.—Dined at Mr. Thompson’s.
30th.—Mr. Duncumb and Mr. Thos. and Robt. Duncumb supped here.
31st.—Drank tea at Mr. Malthus’s.[44b]
Sept.1st.—To Mr. Jenkins’, at Putney, and dined; home at 8.
3rd.—Took up Mr. Clutton, at Walworth, and went with him to Sir Peter Burrell’s,[44c]at Beckenham.
1791,June9th.—Dined at Sir Charles Gould’s, with the directors of the Equitable Society. Supped at the Coffee House, Brand, Turner, and others.
Sept.29th.—Dined at Sir Wm. Hillman’s, Lord Say and Sele, Mr. Jenkinson, Mr. Fanshawe, sen.; drank tea at Mrs. Molyneux’s.
30th.—Sir William Hillman, Mr. Willis, Mr. Jenkinson, and Mr. Saml. Dyson, dined here.
Oct.16th,Sunday.—Dined at Captn. Finch’s, Mr. Onslow there.
23rd,Sunday.—Dined at Capt. Finch’s.
1792,Jan.2nd.—Set out ground to widen Sherborne Lane. In the evening rode to Capt. Onslow’s, at Ripley, and lay there.
3rd.—Breakfasted there, and to town in the Godalming coach.
Feb.8th.—Dined at Edward’s, with Mr. Malthus and family; child christened; whist, won 3s.; paid nurse, &c., £3. 3s.
18th.—To Lord Sydney, and with him to Frognal, and lay there.
19th,Sunday.—Returned at 2.
March1st.—Mr. Willis dined here; with him to the Antiquary Society; supped at the Coffee House, Lord Leicester, &c., there.
April12th.—To Mr. Strode, at Loseley, and dined; to Mr. Webb, at Milford, and lay.
1796,Dec.14th.—My wife died about 5 in the afternoon; the most affectionate of wives, tenderest of parents, and most sincere of Christians; to her great prudence and discretion I owe the prosperity with which God has blessed me.
24th.—Very hard frost.[45]
1797,Feb.25th.—Dined at Edward’s, Mr. Godschall, senior, &c.; Reginald christened; paid EdwardDuncumb for a drawing of Combe Bottom, £2. 2s.; frame and glass, 10s.6d.
March21st.—Dined at the ‘Crown and Anchor’ (Antiquaries’ Club), Dr. Hamilton, Sir Wm. Musgrave, Mr. Charles Townshend, Mr. Weston, Seward, Brand, Ord, Lysons; tea at the Coffee House (Holyland’s) paid, for dinner, 2s.; tea, 11d.
Aug.14th.—In Southampton long coach to town at 6; breakfasted at Alton; dined at ‘Catherine Wheel,’ at Egham; drank tea at Hatchett’s.
24th.—Rode with Edward to Mr. Jenkins’s, at Putney, dined and drank tea. Home at 8.
Oct.13th.—To Leatherhead to Mr. Cooper’s; to Shere; no dinner.
14th.—Dined at the ‘White Hart,’ Guildford; drank tea at Mr. Polhill’s (Albury).
15th,Sunday.—To Albury Church; dined at Mr. Malthus’s.
22nd.—To Mr. Currie at East Horsley; dined and lay there.
Nov.3rd.—To Mr. Austen’s; he died about 9.
11th.—With Mr. Halsey and Dr. Benamore at 1; from Mr. Austen’s house with the funeral; dined at Kingston; lay at the ‘White Lion,’ Cobham.
12th.—Mr. Coussmaher and Mr. Martyr met us at the ‘Green Man’; got to Shalford by 1.
16th.—With Master Austen to Harrow.
Dec.16th.—To Guildford; dined at the Club; whist; paid 5s.; won 3s.
17th.—Dined and lay at Mr. Martyr’s.
20th.—With Edward in coach to Lord Grantley’s, inSloane Street, and dined; paid coach and turnpike, 4s.2d.
1798,Jan.19th.—To Lord Grenville, the Duke of Portland,[47a]&c.; dined at Mr. Harrison’s.
23rd.—Dined at the ‘Crown and Anchor’ with the Antiquaries’ Club, Dr. Hamilton, Sir Wm. Musgrave, Dr. Halifax, Topham, Brand, Lysons, Charles Townshend, &c.
30th.—Dined with the Antiquaries’ Club, Weston, Townley, &c.
Feb.18th.—Inflammation in the eye; paid for golden ointment, 1s.9d.
March4th,Sunday.—To Church; Mr. Bayley[47b]and Mr. Baxendale called.
1799,Jan.14th.—Supped at Mr. Baxendale’s; whist.
15th.—Dined at Mr. Ord’s, Brand, Sabine, &c.
16th.—Mr. Hogarth and Mr. and Mrs. Harrison dined here.
17th.—Dined at General Rainsford’s, Sir George Osborn, Colonel Sloane, and Mr. Rose Fuller.
Feb.19th.—Dined at the ‘Crown and Anchor,’ Sir Joseph Banks, Lysons, &c.
July2nd.—Mr. Waddilove[47c]and Salter dined here.
3rd.—Mr. Peach, Dealtry,[47d]Brand, and Mrs. Davis dined here.
4th.—Drank tea at Mrs. Austen’s.
5th.—Dined at Mr. Dealtry’s, Mr. James Farrar, Mr. Blake, &c.
6th.—To Mr. Ruding’s (at Maldon), and breakfasted; dined at Mr. Filewood’s; drank tea at Dr. Taylor’s.
12th.—Mr. and Mrs. Duncumb and Mr. T. Duncumb dined here.
13th.—Breakfasted with Mr. Currie; dined and lay at Sir John Frederick’s.
14th,Sunday.—After breakfast, to Peto,[48a]at Stoke D’Abernon, and to Church there; dined and drank tea at Mr. Cooke’s.
31st.—Drank tea at Mr. Malthus’s; walked through his coppices, Miss Dalton there.
Sept.19th.—To Lord Sydney (in Grosvenor Square), and dined; drank tea at Mr. Andrewes’s.[48b]
Nov.17th,Sunday.—To Church; Dr. Willis and Serjeant Bayley called.
19th.—Mr. Jebb dined here.
20th.—Charity School Meeting.
21st.—Major Molyneux, Captain Vincent, Mr. Fanshawe, Mr. Willis, Mr. Andrewes, and Mr. Ruding dined here.
22nd.—Mr. and Mrs. Godschall dined here; paid for lottery tickets, £8. 4s.
23rd.—Dined and supped at Mrs. Davis’s, Sir Nash Grose, &c.; whist.
24th.—To Church; Dr. Willis, Mr. Penneck, and Mr. Baxendale called.
Dec.22.—Not well.[49]
Mr. Bray left notes of his travels bound together, and making a large book. Most of the houses he saw are fully described. He was never on the Continent or in Ireland.
His first excursion after his tour in Wales in 1769, was in 1774, into Leicestershire and the adjoining counties, when he visited the Field of Bosworth, where it is said that Sir Reginald Bray picked up King Richard’s crown, and gave it to Lord Stanley, who presented it to the Duke.
In the same year 1774, he went twice to the Lakes. Number of miles travelled, 703 and 657.
1775.—The tour of which he published an account.
1776.—Gloucestershire, &c., 506 miles.
1777.—Northamptonshire, Leicestershire.
1778.—Wales, 637 miles.
1779.—Matlock, Buxton.
1780.—Nottinghamshire.
1781.—The Peak.
1782.—Bath, Worcester, Malvern, 406 miles.
1783.—Hastings, Tunbridge Wells, Isle of Wight, 659 miles.
1784.—Brighton, 225 miles.
1785.—Bristol, 302 miles.
1786.—Cambridge, Dover, Ramsgate.
1787.—Essex, 410 miles.
1788.—Luton, Dunstable, 346 miles.
1789.—Glastonbury, Weymouth, Lyme, 520 miles.
1790.—Winchester.
1792.—Oxford.
1793.—Colchester, Lowestoft, 312 miles. Woburn, Eton, Bray, Wales.
1794.—Yorkshire.
1795.—Arundel, Petworth.
1796.—Ross, Ledbury, 392 miles.
1797.—Shrewsbury, Dovedale, 614 miles.
1798.—Norwich, Ipswich, 285 miles.
1799.—Brecon, Llandovery, 441 miles.
1806,Nov.15th.—This day, I completed my 70th year, without having ever met with any accident of consequence and with very little interruption to my health, except in January last, when I had a very serious attack by an inflammation in my lungs, but from which I am perfectly recovered. My eyesight is so good that I can and generally do use my eyes in reading or writing from the time of getting up in the morning till 10 at night. My hearing is in no way impaired. I have not lost one front tooth and very few others. I am able to walk or ride 4 or 5 hours together, but I do not ride fast. My memory isperhaps not so good as it has been. On the whole I seem to be in a perfect good state of health, thanks be to God.
1808,Nov.15th.—This day I completed my 72nd year; and thanks to God’s mercies I find myself in as perfect health as I ever enjoyed in my life, and the only perceivable difference in any of my senses that I am aware of is a little degree of deafness in my right ear, but as the other is perfect, I do pretty well. My left eye I think has not perfectly recovered the severe inflammation which I had two or three years ago, but the other being sound, I read and write as well and as much as ever. My teeth remain perfect in front and without any additional loss to those which decayed some years ago.
1810,April5th.—I quitted the Board of Green Cloth, after having had a place there for 49 years and a half. I was put on the superannuation list at my request, the Lord Steward having kindly procured leave for it. He also, unsolicited, gave me leave to resign my place of Clerk of the Verge to my son.
Nov.14th.—After dinner, I found a giddiness in my head making me unable to walk, and a kind of dumb confusion in my head. I wrote to Mr. Heaviside to come, which he did and ordered immediate cupping.[51]The next morning my complaint was gone.
1814,May30th.—Received from Mr. Sydenham Malthus the melancholy news of my son’s death at Exmouth, from the rupture of a blood-vessel in the lungs.
1817,Feb.15th.—My grandson Henry died this morning.
1826,June16th.—In chaise to Guildford, the County election, voted for Mr. Sumner and Mr. Denison.[52a]
Sept.19th.—With Mary and Miss Davis, in a chaise, by Horsham and Henfold to the ‘Albion’ at Brighton. Dined and lay there; walked on the Chain Pier.
20th.—To Seaford, Eastbourne. Dined and lay at the ‘Hope’ in the Sea-houses.
21st.—To the Castle Hotel, Hastings; through Winchelsea to Rye; New Romney, dined and lay there.
22nd.—To Hythe, through Folkestone to Dover; saw the harbour; returned to Hythe, the ‘Sun,’ dined there. To Ashford, and lay there.
Sept.23rd.—To Lenham ‘Star’ at Maidstone; Wrotham Heath; Sevenoaks; Godstone to Reigate; Called on Mr. Glover; Dorking; Shere before 7.[52b]
1828,Dec.24th.—Such has been the decay in my eyesight the whole of this year that I have not been able to read either print or MS., though I have continued to write letters, as I am writing on this 24th of December. I cannot read it when written. I have also lost my hearing in one ear in a great degree; subject to this, my bodily health has been what may be called good. I have been obliged to pay more than £1,100 by the treachery of a clerk, and the malice ofone who had been long attempting, and at last effected a loss of long friendship with Mrs. Wigzell.[53a]
1832,July5th.—Mr. Linnell, a portrait painter was sent by my grandson Reginald to paint a portrait of me. I had five sittings.
Oct.18th.—I sent my curious MS. of the Bishops’ estates seized and sold by Cromwell to Mr. Ellis,[53b]to be presented to the Trustees of the British Museum.
Dec.17th.—A little rain; at home. Paid Higgins[53c]8s.3d.
LONDON: PRINTED BYSPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUAREAND PARLIAMENT STREET
[6]It appears from his account of the Evelyn Family, in the second volume of the ‘History of Surrey,’ that he had read these Memoirs as long before as 1809.
[7a]Whom he afterwards married. She was the daughter of Mr. Stevens, of Perry Hill, Worplesdon, and lived with her aunt, Mrs. Norwood, at Guildford. She was two years older than Mr. Bray, who was then only two months past 19.
[7b]Mr. Flutter and his brother were Mayors of Guildford more than once, and the name of Flutter appears twice in the list of Mayors in the reign of Charles II.
[7c]A lad of nineteen.
[7d]Mr. Duncumb was Rector of Shere. His father had purchased the advowson from Mr. Edward Bray, and was a connexion by marriage.
[8a]Mr. Wilpley was what was then called an Apothecary.
[8b]Mr. Emily was his cousin, their grandfathers having married the daughters of Vincent Randyll, of Chilworth.
[9a]Jacky was Mr. Martyr’s son. He was called to the Bar, and lived at Guildford to an advanced age.
[9b]The medical charge for the inoculation was £4 4s.
[11]He had very little to do at Mr. Martyr’s. In the summer he was often at the Bowling-green, and took long walks with his friends, male and female. It was not required that any married lady should join the walking parties.
[14a]A Hessian regiment was quartered at Guildford for some time. Their band was a great attraction.
[14b]An attorney at Guildford. Grandfather of the Rev. John Chandler.
[14c]Being of age and out of his articles to Mr. Martyr, he went to London, and took lodgings there. Mr. Adderley, of New Inn, received him in his chambers for instruction in his profession, but his attendance there was not regular.
[15a]Mr. Jenkins was in Mr. Adderley’s office, and afterwards entered into partnership with Mr. Bray. Mr. James was also in the same office.
[15b]He went to his French master for some months, an hour at a time; not regularly.
[16]About this time he bought many books, all at low prices, at stalls and auctions.
[17a]Playing at cards almost every night, and always for coin, he had a purse on purpose.
[17b]Whilst at Guildford he lodged at Baptist’s for 7s.a week. He dined at the ‘White Hart,’ for 10d.
[18]He sold this stock to pay £23. 12s.6d.for Viner’s ‘Abridgment of the Law.’
[20a]He visited Miss Stevens almost every day, but he was not much less in other society than formerly, and he was seldom alone at any time of the day or evening.
[20b]Daughters of Dr. Adee, a physician, who afterwards went to Oxford and practised there.
[21a]He went to the morning service on Wednesdays in most weeks, usually to the Middle Church.
[21b]Mr. Webb was Solicitor to the Treasury. This appointment is now given to barristers.
[21c]He only paid 10d.for his dinners (without wine) at the ‘White Hart’ and the ‘Tuns,’ and 6s.a week for his lodgings in the town.
[22a]Miss Adee and Betsy Stevens were the bridesmaids.
[22b]Mrs. C.’s was the lodging Mr. Jenkins had taken for him in Lothbury.
[22c]He left a particular account of his expenses on his marriage. The following are some of them:—
£
s.
d.
Licence
1
11
6
Pair of gloves
0
1
0
Mr. Burdett’s fee
1
1
0
The clerk
0
10
6
Mrs. Norwood’s maid
0
7
6
Middle Parish ringers
1
1
0
Dinner at Epsom
0
5
6
Chaise from Epsom to London
0
14
0
Driver and hostler
0
2
0
Two bottles of Lisbon at the ‘White Hart’
0
3
4
For fifty oysters
0
0
7½
A pound of cheese
0
0
3½
A pound and a half of salmon
0
1
0
Paid Jenkins for the ring
0
6
6
[Jenkins got the ring and sent it to him with a humourous letter.]
Mr. Shrubb for a tabby nightgown
7
14
0
Ear-rings and necklace
0
14
0
Coffee with Boughton at the Lincoln’s Inn Coffee House (on the afternoon of his wedding)
0
0
5
[23a]They received friends to tea every evening this week. They lived in a house with a garden, in which Mr. Bray planted fruit trees and shrubs, but where it was does not appear in the Diary.
[23b]He went to the Bowling-green to play at whist in the winter, and at howls in the summer.
[24a]He had been the first performance of Marplot by Garrick.
[24b]When he took the horse as far as Dorking it was 2s.6d.
[25a]The son of the Member for the County.
[25b]Mr. Godschall, of Weston House, Albury. An accomplished gentleman, LL.D. of Oxford, cousin of Lady Palmerston, the mother of the late Lord Palmerston.
[25c]Of Parkhurst, where Rousseau was his guest for some time.
[25d]Who built the Leith Hill Tower, and was buried there.
[25e]It is remarkable that a young attorney of 22 should have been invited to the social meetings of elderly and middle-aged gentlemen of the highest position in the neighbourhood. His grandson, the late Mr. Edward Bray, inherited his companionable qualities, and was welcome in every house he visited.
[26a]The Member for the County.
[26b]Of Betchworth Castle. The author of ‘The Light of Nature.’
[27a]The father of the late Sir Henry Austen. He had been articled, as well as Mr. Bray, to Mr. Martyr. He afterwards purchased a Clerkship in the Six Clerks’ Office in Chancery.
[27b]Mr. Bray’s marriage made little difference in his habits this year. He was almost every night with his friends at cards or backgammon; in the summer evenings at bowls; frequently at the morning services on week days at the Middle Church. He had very little to do at this time in his profession.
[28a]Mr. Lane, of East Horsley Park.
[28b]Mr. Evelyn, afterwards Sir John, then M.P. for Helstone, had offered him an appointment at the Board of Green Cloth, which he at first, by the wish of his wife, declined to accept; but a few days afterwards, being better advised, he was glad to find that he could still have it. The following note was among the Memoranda which he left of his early life.—‘Nothing could be pleasanter than our situation at the Board of Green Cloth. The Principals were all members of the House of Commons. We sat in the same room, at the same green cloth table, with them, by whom we were treated rather as associates than as clerks.’ Mr. Bray was at first only an assistant, together with Mr. Selwyn, a barrister, afterwards in large practice; Mr. Blenman, also of the Bar, and Mr. Fanshawe, but they rose to be chief clerks. His usual attendance was from 11 to 3. He took a house in Holles Street, and settled there December 14th, but in the following year he moved to Great Russell Street.
[29]This child died in July,
[30a]After a Royal birth caudle was given to the Clerks of the Green Cloth and others in office at St. James’s.
[30b]Of Bury Hill, now Mr. Barclay’s.
[30c]Of the Rookery, now Mr. Fuller’s. His son, Thomas Robert Malthus, was the great writer on Population. His youngest daughter married Mr. Bray’s son Edward.
[31]His son Edward, who married Miss Malthus, and left a large family. His other sons died in childhood. Mr. Bray had no collateral relations of his name after the death of his uncle and brothers within many generations. His ancestor, Sir Edward Bray, was the heir male of Edmund, Lord Bray, and succeeded to the family estates; but the title descended to Lord Bray’s daughters, and was in abeyance until obtained by the late Baroness Bray. Mr. Bray was one of the few descendants then living of Sir Thomas More, whose granddaughter, the daughter of Margaret Roper, married Sir Edward Bray. His two daughters, Mary and Catherine, were not married.
[32a]He was now getting into the society of literary men.
[32b]Afterwards Admiral Brodrick.
[32c]He had entered into partnership with his friend Mr. Jenkins, whose chambers were in New Inn.
[32d]The Guildford Races were then in May.
[32e]Mr. Sturt was a barrister, and a relation of Mr. Bray’s. Mr. Budgen, Mr. Talbot, and Mr. Scawen, were trustees of the charity.
[33a]A tour with Mr. Jenkins to Oxford, Bath, Gloucester, Salisbury, Blenheim, Fonthill, Longleat, Chepstow, &c. They hired a carriage and horses for the journey; and, in a rhyming letter to his wife, he writes:—
‘We hired from friend Bryant a very good chaise,Intending thus travelling quite at our ease.James was mounted behind on a fine prancing steed,To take care of the baggage and help us if need.’
‘We hired from friend Bryant a very good chaise,Intending thus travelling quite at our ease.James was mounted behind on a fine prancing steed,To take care of the baggage and help us if need.’
Mr. Bray wrote a particular description of Fonthill, Stourton, and other houses visited.
[33b]Some of his intimate friends dined with him every week. The dinner was over at 5 or 6, and he often went afterwards to a coffee-house. He also went frequently to the theatres, and sometimes in the summer to Vauxhall. His mornings were spent at the Board of Green Cloth or in New Inn.
[33c]The house which Mr. Jacobson built, called ‘Lonesome,’ has been pulled down.
[33d]Mr. Bray went to many different coffee-houses, but most frequently to the Percy and Mundy’s. On Sundays he went for an hour to the Buffalo.
[34a]He had a house at Shere, which his mother lived in, and made a home for him during his frequent visits, and at little expense, for riding round in the neighbourhood he got his dinner at one house and tea at another. To general information he could now add the gossip of St. James’s, and he was welcome wherever he went.
[34b]He kept what he called a chaise or whisky, and two horses.
[34c]Mr. Penneck was Keeper of the Reading-room at the British Museum and Rector of Abinger.
[35a]Betchworth Castle.
[35b]He had become acquainted with Dr. Osborn and Dr. Price on the institution of the Equitable Assurance Office, of which he was a director. He frequently rode with his friends, sometimes a party of six.
[35c]He wrote a most particular description of it.
[36a]Mr. Planta, Principal Librarian at the British Museum.
[36b]This was the tour that he published an account of. He rode on horseback 1,800 miles this year.
[36c]This was a society which met at St. Paul’s Coffee House. The subscription was five guineas a year.
[36d]This plantation sowed all the fir trees between the Windmill and Pislake. Another plantation adjoining to the West Churt, sowed all the ground west of the road to Cranley.
[36e]This was for his father.
[36f]For a piece of land at the top of the plantation of beeches above Picket’s Hole.
[36g]Dr. Parr.
[37a]Distinguished Antiquaries.
[37b]Formerly Jacky.
[38]The Rev. Mr. Manning, who began the ‘History of Surrey.’
[39a]Mr. Page had bought the Manor of Cobham, and lived at Pointers.
[39b]When he was in the country he seldom dined at home unless he had friends with him.
[39c]His partnership with Mr. Jenkins was dissolved in 1774, but without any interruption of their friendship.
[39d]To near the end of his life he would often stop to dine, and sometimes to sleep, at the inn at Dorking, or Guildford, instead of going home to Shere.
[39e]His only surviving son Edward was at Harrow.
[40a]These were all eminent antiquaries.
[40b]He was one of the Trustees of the British Museum.
[40c]He was subject all his life to inflammatory disorder, and frequently took physic.
[41a]He went to Church every Sunday, but he did not think it wrong to use his carriage and horses, or to travel on that day. Mr. Polhill, the Rector of Albury, used to go to church in his carriage.
[41b]Abinger Hall. Afterwards Lady Donegal’s.
[41c]Mr. Rice was lord of the Manor of Tooting.
[41d]The Eaten Bray estate was inherited by Mr. Bray’s ancestor, Sir Edward Bray, as heir male of Lord Bray, and sold by him.
[41e]They became clients, and the family have remained among the best clients of Mr. Bray’s firm.
[42a]Sir Joseph Mawbey was member for Surrey;made a fortune by a distillery. Mr. Briscoe derived the manor of Epsom from his daughter.
[42b]Mr. Malthus had left the Rookery, and was living at Albury, in the house afterwards Colonel Clive’s.
[42c]An instance of Mr. Bray’s activity.
[42d]Granville Sharp. General Oglethorpe lived for some years at Westbrook, Godalming.
[42e]The author of ‘The Coinage of Great Britain.’
[42f]His engagements for a week.
[43a]Of Shabden, father of the Miss Fanshawes.
[43b]He had been chosen one of the Council.
[43c]One of his usual rounds of visiting.
[43d]The dinner hour in London was getting later.
[43e]Of Burford Bridge.
[44a]For the following nine days there is no entry but ‘At home.’
[44b]These eight consecutive days were spent in society. When in London he dined every week at the ‘Crown and Anchor’ with his antiquary friends, and often received them to dinner. He played at whist still, but not so often.
[44c]Sir Peter Burrell married the Baroness Willoughby of Eresby, and was made Lord Gwydir. He and his descendants were among the best clients of Mr. Bray’s office.
[45]The thermometer fell one and a half degree below zero.
[47a]As one of the Clerks at the Board of Green Cloth he had to collect the land tax from the Officers of State. He received £520 from Lord Grenville for four quarters’ land tax, at 4s.in the pound; from the Duke of Portland, £923.; Mr. Pitt, two quarters, £456. 15s.; Lord Thurlow, do., £1,425. 17s.9¾d.
[47b]Afterwards a Judge and a Baronet. He was a very frequent Sunday visitor, as well as Mr. Baxendale.
[47c]Afterwards Dean of Ripon.
[47d]Rector of Clapham.
[48a]Father of the great builder.
[48b]Afterwards Dean of Canterbury.
[49]He was confined to the house for more than a week by a bad cold, which was followed by inflammation in one of his eyes. The inflammation was subdued with difficulty by the great oculist Mr. Phipps, afterwards Sir Watken Waller. The eye affected became gradually weaker, and the sight of it was entirely gone for some years before his death, although exactly when he did not notice. At the beginning of the 19th century he was 64; and his son’s attention to the business of the office in Great Russell Street enabled him to live more at Shere, but when in London his habits were little changed. He dined with the Antiquaries’ Club almost every week during the season until he was 90. He did not so frequently take his meals at the houses of his friends, but at his own table they were always welcome, and many came.
[51]He was frequently bled according to the usual practice in those days. He was bled the last time when he was 84.
[52a]Mr. Bray cared very little for politics, but he was not a Tory, and would not have voted for Mr. Summer if he had not represented the county for many years and been much respected.
[52b]Mr. Bray was within a few weeks of 90. He took no servant with him.
[53a]After this shameful affair, neither Mr. Taylor his clerk, nor Mr. Wigzell had any communications with Mr. Bray or his partners; but as a mark of repentance Mrs. Wigzell left Mr. Bray’s grandson a legacy of £100, and Mr. Taylor left £100 to the firm of Bray and Warren.
[53b]Principal Librarian at the British Museum; afterwards Sir Henry Ellis. He was Mr. Bray’s oldest friend then living. He died in 1868 at a very advanced age, having during his long life rendered most valuable services to the public, and particularly by his contributions to English history.
[53c]Mr. Higgins was employed by Mr. Bray in writing for him. His last guest at Shere was his old friend Mr. Carlisle, one of the Secretaries of the Antiquary Society, who came to Shere on Saturday, the 28th of October, and remained till Monday. His grandson Reginald was with him for a day or two every week, and played at piquette with him three days before his death, which took place on the 21st.