Part 20

{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 0 0 5 Coffee House (on the afternoon of his wedding)

{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.