"I flatter myself that you will be persuaded I have done my best to serve you on this occasion; for I do assure you that nothing would have given me greater pleasure than an opportunity of convincing you of the regard with which, "I am, Sir, yours, &c. DEVONSHIRE." "DEAR SIR, Newcastle-house, Sept. 26, 1758. "I am much obliged to you for your goodness to me, particularly upon our new Hanover loan. I have told the King how good you have been in it, and I am sure I shall soon have the satisfaction to acquaint his Majesty, that through your means and the rest of my friends the business is done. I am, dear Sir, ever most sincerely yours, &c. HOLLES NEWCASTLE." In 1759 he in great measure retired from public business, but gave his opinion and advice in the year 1760, 1761, and 1762, to the Duke of Newcastle and Lord Mansfield, who consulted him on subjects of finance, as appears from their letters. It has been seen that Mr. Gideon made his balance in July 1759, amount to .297,000; but this was in a time of war, when the funds were low, and he always valued them at the market price; and he observes many articles were undervalued, so that upon the whole his property at that time may be considered near £.350,000, and as he lived about three years longer, the natural accumulation of such a capital, deducting perhaps 3 or £.4000 per annum for his expenditure, would, with the peace which soon followed, have considerably increased it. Mr. Gideon's private life and character were no less respectable than his public and commercial. He had not only strong abilities and great judgment in business, but was very correct in all the various relations of private life. He had a happy talent of expressing himself both in writing and conversation; and was famed for wit and pleasantry in his social hours. He had married Elizabeth, daughter of Charles Ermell, Esq. of the Protestant religion and of the Established Church, and brought up all his children in that persuasion. He proved himself an excellent husband, father, and master, of which many proofs might be derived from his letters and papers. "DEAR SON, (æt. 13.) Belvedere, Feb. 16, 1758. "I received your letter, and think to have discovered in it a dutiful mind, a good heart, and a distant prospect of understanding; be steady with the former, to God, to your parents, and to your King; extend the second to those who shall deserve your esteem; the latter will improve as you advance in learning, which may be acquired by application; cherish and cultivate commendable talents as your friends, and let impiety, pride, malice, and folly, remain always strangers to your breast. "Doubtless, by the many Gazettes published since November last, you are acquainted with the many exploits of the Great King of Prussia in Germany. The inclosed (Gazette) will inform you of those, not less glorious, performed by the brave Col. Clive in India; compare their feats with those of old, and conclude that miracles have not ceased; and that constancy and resolution in an honest cause may still relieve the oppressed. Rome had its Cæsars, and Macedon an Alexander; Prussia gave birth to a Frederick, and England sent forth her Clive. "In whatever station Providence may hereafter place you, act with spirit and honour, that you may be acceptable to the people and dear to your father, SAMPSON GIDEON." S. G. jun. Eton. He had shewn himself from the very first to be a man of the strictest integrity and punctuality in all his dealings. This was his philosopher's stone, which had procured him such rapid and progressive success in all his pursuits and undertakings; nor was he less distinguished for his great liberality and humanity, than for his observance of the rules of the strictest justice and honour. His lenity and forbearance were experienced by many, his severity by none. It does not appear that he was engaged either as plaintiff or defendant in any law suit. The utmost resentment he ever shewed to any person was to cease to deal or have any connexions with him, and this appears to have happened only once, or at most twice, in the course of a long life. He was very open on such occasions, and always declared to the party the cause of his disapprobation; but whenever he thought himself unjustly accused or attacked, he repelled the accusation with great spirit and vigour, and seems always to have had the best of the argument, enforcing it with such reasons as carried conviction with them. The instances of his humanity were numerous; the writer will only mention two: the first of which was related to him by the person on whom it was conferred; and the other is upon record, the original paper having been deposited by him in the archives of the Foundling Hospital. Mr. Boulton, of Lincolnshire, was in the early part of his life engaged as an Underwriter, and had almost his whole fortune depending on one venture, which was so circumstanced, that, though he could not gain much, there was hardly a possibility of loss. However, by an unfortunate and almost miraculous coincidence of circumstances, which sometimes happens in this eventful life, accidents happened which were least probable, and Mr. B. was apparently involved in irretrievable ruin. He did not at that time know Mr. Gideon, or the principal parties in this commercial concern; but he attended a meeting of all of them at Garraway's, when he expected his final doom to be pronounced. Instead of which, to his great surprise, Mr. Gideon addressed the company; and after explaining to them the nature of the business, the extreme improbability there was of the events that had happened, and that there had been no want of discretion or prudence on the part of Mr. B.; and after reminding them that he was himself much more interested in the venture than any one else, he proposed that they should all respectively bear their proportion of the loss, and that none of it should fall on the unfortunate sufferer. The whole company immediately consented to his proposal, and Mr. B. declared to the writer, with tears of gratitude in his eyes, that he was so much surprised and affected with this unexpected generosity, that for some time he could hardly give credit to what he heard and saw. Another instance of his active humanity was in favour of Captain Coram, the venerable Founder of the Foundling Hospital, who having successfully made the most laudable exertions in behalf of exposed and deserted young children, was at last in his old age reduced himself to extreme poverty and distress. Mr. Gideon took up the cause of this worthy veteran, and beside much private charity and assistance, he promoted in the year 1749 a subscription amongst his brother merchants, which he headed himself, and procured the names of 160 of the merchants in London, which subscription he collected himself, and paid to this respectable old man one guinea a year each for the remainder of his life. The original agreement on parchment signed by 160 persons, is in possession of the Governors of the Foundling Hospital. His name generally appeared one of the first in all public subscriptions; and for many successive years he contributed one hundred guineas to the Sons of the Clergy. Though Mr. Gideon never lived at any period of his life to the extent of his income, yet he lived creditably and genteelly, having an elegant Villa at Belvedere near Erith in Kent, where he had built a noble Saloon, and fitted it up with pictures of the first masters, Murillo, Rubens, Paul Veronese, Claude de Lorrain, and others. He appears to have had a very superior taste for painting. The collection is not a large one, consisting of between thirty and forty pictures; but there is not one indifferent painting among them*. He lived here chiefly the last years of his life, employing himself in the improvement of his gardens and grounds; he had been for some time afflicted with the dropsy, which at last carried him off in October 1762, at the age of sixty-three. *He says in one of his letters, "I would not give a single shilling for the best copy in the universe. As to myself, I had rather throw the money into the sea than employ it in such baubles." He expressed a desire in his will to be buried in the Jew's burial-ground at Mile End, a wish not unnatural, as, whatever his opinion might have been concerning Christianity, yet he had never been baptised, nor had formally abjured the religion of his forefathers. It has been observed, however, that he married a Protestant of the Church of England, and had bred up all his children to the Established Religion. He took no part in the year 1750, in the Bill for naturalizing the Jews. He was much offended with that body for making use of his name and influence in soliciting and procuring that measure, and wrote a letter addressed to the Wardens or Elders of the Portuguese Jews, dated in 1750, to withdraw himself from that communion, assuring them at the same time, "that he did not by this step intend to discontinue his charity, and that he should in his life-time, and at his death, convince them of the great regard he had for the necessities of his fellow creatures." In another letter he says, "the affair you mention does not in the least concern me, having always declared my sentiments. against any innovation; but contrary to my wishes and opinions, it was solicited in folly, and want of knowledge, granted in lenity and good nature as a matter of no consequence, and now prosecuted with malice to serve a political purpose. It would give me concern as an Englishman, if I apprehended any danger to my country; but, as I look upon it in a trifling light, I am perfectly easy, and shall not choose to meddle either way.' " His will was dated 17th April 1760; and after having made most ample provision for all his family and relations, he gave To the Portuguese Synagogue.. To the Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy.. 2000 To the London Hospital. .... £.1000 1000 To the Lying-in Hospital in Brownlow-street.... 500 To the Portuguese Jews' Hospital. besides many other charities. 200 100 He left the reversion of his estates, if his children died without issue, to the Duke of Devonshire, whom, together with Lord Besborough, Beeston Long, Esq. Sir Francis and Robert Gosling, Esq. he made his executors, with a legacy of £.1000 each. On the whole, it appears, that Mr. Gideon was a man of great natural abilities, of unremitting industry in his profession, and of the highest integrity and honour in all his concerns, public and private; that he had an enlarged mind, capable of overlooking the prejudices, but justly estimating the advantages, of birth and education; that he had great generosity and benevolence of heart, the effects of which were frequently experienced by his friends, and even by strangers; that his country likewise partook of the benefit of his abilities, experience, and public spirit, and that he highly deserved the fortune and rank which he acquired in the state for himself and his family. His son, Sir Sampson Gideon, Bart. changed his name to Eardley in 1789 by licence, and was created a Peer of Ireland, in November 1789, by his Majesty George the Third, and in the administration of Mr. Pitt, for his distinguished loyalty, patriotism, and other virtues, by the name and title of Baron Eardley of Spalding, in the county of Lincoln. [This short sketch is drawn up from the numerous books and papers, in the possession of the Right Hon. Lord Eardley. J. E. W.] MR. JAMES ESSEX, F. S. A. One of Mr. Gough's most voluminous correspondents, was Mr. James Essex, an intelligent surveyor at Cambridge. A memoir of him has been published in the "Literary Anecdotes *;" and there are numerous allusions to him interspersed in the several volumes of that work +. Some extracts from his Correspondence shall here be appended. 1. Mr. ESSEX to Mr. GoUGH. "DEAR SIR, Cambridge, July 30, 1772. "I received yours; but Mr. Tyson is not in College. Before he went out, we had fixed on Monday next to meet you and Mr. Haistwell at St. Alban's, at which place and its neighbourhood we intend to spend two or three days; but, as Mr. Tyson cannot be out after Friday or Saturday at furthest, we proposed to return by way of London. We intended going from hence to St. Alban's in post-chaises, from thence in the coach to London, and from London to Cambridge in the Fly. "A horse is of no use to a man who cannot ride; I never was able to ride much, and, as riding never agreed with me, I was obliged to give it up two or three years ago, and since that time I have not been on horseback. "It would have given me great pleasure to accompany you and Mr. Tyson on this journey, or any other of the same sort, and I would have contrived to meet you at the principal places by means of coaches or chaises; for though I have seen the Vol. VI. p. 624. + See the various references in vol. VII. pp. 128, 562. |