Part 19

There are also in this district several other old houses dismantled and in tenements, betokening the scattering of their once owners to many far lands. It is a pleasure to turn from these to a few houses still in good condition. The Hall,[18] Houghton-le-Spring, was perhaps erected by Robert Hutton, Rector of Houghton, between the years 1589 and 1623, although its erection is more popularly attributed to his grandson and namesake. This later Robert Hutton was Captain of a troop of horse in the Parliamentary army, and, like Dobson of Harlow Hill,

" ... went to Dundee And when he came back held his head hee."

With the proceeds of this expedition he is supposed to have built the house in which his descendants dwelt for many generations. To satisfy some scruple of his conscience, or, according to another story, to lie near a favourite horse, he was buried in his garden under an altar-tomb, inscribed:

"Hic Jacet Robertvs Hvtton armiger qvi obiit Avg die nono 1680. Et moriendo vivet."

Stella Hall, a picturesque Elizabethan structure, situated close to the River Tyne, was erected by the Tempests on the site of a nunnery, and still contains some tapestry representing the story of Hero and Leander.

Scattered up and down the dales are many other old homes that a writer dealing with his homeland would love to touch upon, but space forbids. Even these short notes are all too short. The old mansions of our countryside are a much neglected feature of archæology, and each house in itself demands photographs and drawings and a chapter quite as long as this.

DURHAM ASSOCIATIONS OF JOHN WESLEY

BY THE REV. T. CYRIL DALE, B.A.

A packet of old letters suggests many questions as to the writers, whom they have long survived. Nor is this curiosity diminished when one of the correspondents has achieved a world-wide fame, so that there is no portion of the globe where his name is not known. For then one desires to know who were the people whom he honoured with his friendship, and to scan the letters closely to see if they throw any new light upon the character of the writer. There are in existence seventeen letters written by John Wesley to a member of a family once well-known in the county of Durham. Originally there were thirty letters, as appears from the numbering of those which remain, but where the other letters are the writer does not know.[19] These seventeen letters, two of them being only copies of the originals, came into the possession of the Rev. Thomas Dale, Canon of St. Paul’s from 1843-70, and from him passed to his eldest son, the Rev. Thomas Pelham Dale (1821-92), at one time well-known as the Rector of St. Vedast in the city of London.[20] They were written to Miss Margaret Dale, second daughter of Edward Dale[21] of Tunstall, who, owing to the extinction (as it seems) of the elder branch of the family in the male line, was head of the family of Dale, first of Dalton le Dale, and then of Tunstall. This Edward Dale was the son of Thomas Dale by his wife Margaret, daughter and co-heiress of George Middleton of Silksworth. Through her Burke, who was far too amiable a genealogist to doubt the assertions of any one respecting his ancestors, however remote, traces the descent of Edward Dale from Gundreda, daughter of William the Conqueror. The curious will find the descent set out at length in Burke’s _Royal Family_, Pedigree XVI. Edward Dale married Eleanor, youngest of the three daughters of the Rev. John Lawrence, Rector of Bishop’s Wearmouth. Mr. Lawrence (1668-1732) was in his day a well-known writer on horticulture, and has, as a consequence, a niche in that temple of fame--the _Dictionary of National Biography_. It is related that when in 1721 he was appointed to the Rectory, he was so obnoxious to the principal inhabitants of his parish, owing to his Hanoverian proclivities, that when he was "reading himself in" the three chief landowners of the place--John Goodchild of Pallion, John Pemberton of Bainbridge Holme, and Thomas Dale of Tunstall--walked out of the church as a protest against his appointment.[22] By a kind of poetic justice, his three daughters married into the families of the three protesters. His eldest daughter married the above-named John Goodchild, his two younger daughters the sons and heirs of John Pemberton and Thomas Dale. Only unfortunately for the completeness of the tale, the two last marriages did not take place till after the death of John Lawrence.

By Eleanor Lawrence, Edward Dale had three daughters--Mary, Margaret, and Anne--and one son, also called Edward. He died when his eldest daughter was only eleven and his son still an infant.

Margaret Dale no doubt made the acquaintance of John Wesley through his devoted adherent, Margaret Lewen. Miss Lewen, the only child of Thomas Lewen of Kibblesworth, while still a girl of about twenty-two, was attracted by the preaching of John Wesley during his visit to the North in the year 1764. Wesley, in his famous "Diary," speaks of her as being "a remarkable monument of Divine mercy. She broke through all hindrances, and joined heart and hand with the children of God." She was "a pattern to all young women of fortune in England." Margaret Lewen was certainly exceedingly liberal. "In works of benevolence and Christian zeal, she cheerfully expended an ample income" (Stamp: Orphan House of Wesley, London, 1863). Wesley says she had about £600 a year "in her own hands." On one of his visits to the North she gave him a chaise and a pair of horses. Now, Margaret Lewen was very intimate with the Dale girls, and it was probably through her influence that they came into contact with the great preacher. Whether any letters were written to the other sisters is not known, but they can hardly have been so numerous or more intimate than those written to Margaret Dale.

The first letter extant is written from Portpatrick, and is dated June 1, 1765, when Margaret Dale was still two or three months short of twenty-one. It begins: "My Dear Miss Peggy," and ends, "I trust you will be happier every day; and that you will not forget, my Dear Sister, your Affectionate Brother, J. Wesley." The letter is occupied with spiritual counsels, and questions about her spiritual health. He inquires: "How far do you find Power over your Thoughts? Does not your imagination sometimes wander? Do those imaginations continue for any time?" It is clear, from Wesley’s next letter, written from Kilkenny, dated July 5, 1765, that Miss Peggy had found she was guilty of wandering thoughts, for the letter begins: "My dear Sister,--Altho’ it is certain the kind of Wandering Thoughts wch you mention, are consistent with pure Love, yet it is highly desirable to be delivered from yᵐ, because (as you observe) they hinder profitable thoughts." Miss Lewen is mentioned. "I hope Miss Lewen and you speak to each other, not only without Disguise, but without Reserve." The letter ends, "My Dear Sister, your affectionate Brother."

Letters 4 and 5 are missing. The next, numbered 6, is dated from London, November 6, 1765. Peggy has a fixed idea that she will not live beyond the age of three and twenty. Wesley, in this letter, asks many questions about this conviction. He wants to know when it began, and whether it continues the same, whether her health is better or worse. The subject is continued in the next letter, written December 31 in the same year. This letter begins "My dear Peggy," and ends, "I cannot tell you how tenderly I am, my Dear Sister, your affectionate Brother, J. Wesley."

Wesley had evidently a tender paternal regard for the girl. He was in 1765 sixty-two years of age, fifteen years older than her father would have been if he had survived. Peggy was mistaken in her conviction. She did not actually die till November, 1777, when she had completed her thirty-third year, so she was just ten years out. Letter 9, written April, 1766, from Manchester, contains nothing of interest. Numbers 10 and 11 are unfortunately missing. Number 12 shows that Peggy desired to go to Leytonstone, where there was a considerable colony of Wesleyans, and whither perhaps Margaret Lewen had already gone. Wesley was very anxious she should not go. "I am afraid," he writes, "if you go to Laton-Stone you will give up Perfection. I mean by placing it so high, as I fear none will ever attain. I know _not one_ in London that has ever largely conversed with Sally Ryan, who has not given it up, that is, with regard to their own Experience. Now this, I think, would do you no good at all. Nay, I judge, it wou’d do you much hurt: it would be a substantial Loss. But I do not see how you _cou’d_ possibly avoid that loss, without a free intercourse with me, both in Writing and Speaking. Otherwise I know and feel, I can give you up, tho’ you are exceeding near and dear to me. But if you was to be moved from your Stedfastness that wᵈ give me pain indeed. You will write immediately to, my Dear Peggy, your Affectionate Brother, J. Wesley."

The next two letters are missing, so that we do not know if Peggy obeyed John Wesley or no, though from the tone of the next letter it seems probable that she did so. The next letter is dated November 7, 1766. Margaret Lewen had died at Leytonstone, October 30. By her will, dated November 21, 1764, she left many legacies to various Methodist good works, and to John Wesley £1,000, and her residuary estate to be applied as he should "think fit for the furtherance of the Gospel." She left Mary Dale £1,000, and to her sisters Margaret and Ann Dale, £100 apiece. Her father threatened to dispute the will, and the matter was compromised by the surrender to him of the residuary estate.

John Wesley refers to Margaret Lewen’s death in the fifteenth letter: "How happy it is to sit loose to all below! Just now I find a paper on wch is wrote (in Miss Lewen’s hand), ‘March 24, 1762, Margaret Dale, Ann Dale, Margaret Lewen, wonder in what state of life they will be in the year 1766.’ How little did any of you think at that time that she would then be in Eternity: But she now wonders at nothing and grieves at nothing." He ends: "And sure neither Life nor Death shall separate you from, my Dear Sister, your Affectionate Brother, J. Wesley."

In the eighteenth letter--the sixteenth contains nothing of especial interest, the seventeenth is missing--Wesley speaks of his followers at Newcastle: "Those you mention are Israelites indeed to whom you will do well to speak with all freedom. A few more in Newcastle are of the same spirit: Altho’ they are but few in whom ye Gold is free from dross. I wish you could help poor Molly Stralliger. I am often afraid for her lest she shᵈ be ignorant of Satan’s devices, and lose all that GOD had wrought in her."

The twentieth letter we give in full, not because it is more interesting than the other letters, but because it has not before appeared in public print.[23] The other letters will be found in the _Life and Letters of Thomas Pelham Dale_, by his daughter, Helen Pelham Dale, published by George Allen, 1894. The whereabouts of this letter was not then known, but it has since been unearthed from a collection of autographs made by a connection of the family. Possibly the other missing letters may be in other collections. The letter is dated from Athlone, June 19, 1767: "My dear Peggy, By conversing with you, I should be overpaid for coming two or three hundred miles round about. But how it will be I know not yet. If a ship be ready for Whitehaven, then I shall arrive at Whitehaven or Newcastle, otherwise I must sail for Holyhead or Chester. I hope you now again find the increased witness that you are saved from sin. There is a danger in being content without it, into which you may easily reason yourself. You may easily bring yourself to believe there is no need of it, especially while you are in an easy and peaceful state. But beware of this. The Witness of Sanctification as well as of Justification, is ye privilege of God’s Children, and you may have the one always clear as well as ye other if you walk humbly and closely with God. In what state do you find your mind now? Full of Faith and Love? Praying always? Then I hope you always remember my Dear Peggy, Your affectionate Brother, J. Wesley."

Before Wesley wrote again he had been to Newcastle and had seen Peggy. The letter is dated from Witney, August 27, and is, as usual, very affectionate in tone: "I thought it was hardly possible for me to love you better than I did before I came last to Newcastle. But your artless, simple, undisguised Affection exceedingly increased mine. At the same time it increased my Confidence in you so that I feel you are unspeakably near and dear to me." He adds in a postscript, "Don’t forget what you have learnt in Music." Possibly Peggy had been showing her friend her accomplishments. Possibly, too, she had learnt her music from a certain young man, Edward Avison, afterwards organist of St. Nicholas’ Church, Newcastle. If this were the case, her teacher taught Peggy something else beside music, for she afterwards married him.

In the next letter we get glimpses of two people famous in the Methodist world of the day, George Whitefield, and Darcy, Lady Maxwell. Of George Whitefield it is unnecessary to speak. Lady Maxwell was the daughter of Thomas Brisbane of Brisbane in Ayrshire, and the widow of Sir Walter Maxwell, fourth Baronet, of Pollock. Left a childless widow in 1757, she became a follower of John Wesley, though she did not formally join the Methodists till many years later. She provided the money for building the school at Kingswood.

Wesley writes: "I hope Mr. Whitefield was an instrument of good at Newcasle, and a means of stirring up Some. He is very affectionate and very lively and his word seldom falls to the ground: tho’ he does not frequently speak of the deep things of GOD, or the Height of ye Promises. But you say not one word of Lady Maxwell? Did she call at Newcastle going and coming? Did you converse with her alone? And did she break thro’ her Natural and habitual Shyness? How did you find her? Seeking Heavenly things alone, and all athirst for _God_? It will be a miracle of miracles if she stands, considering the thousand snares that surround her. I have much satisfaction when I consider in how different a situation you and my Dear Molly Dale are. You have every outward Advantage for Holiness wch an indulgent Providence can give."[24]

The correspondence now begins to slacken. Peggy has accused him of not answering her last letter; in reply Wesley writes from Liverpool, April 1, 1768. "I do not understand what Letter you mean. I have answer’d (if I do not forget) every letter which I have receiv’d, and I commonly answer either of you within a day or two. In this respect, I do not love to remain in your debt. In others I must always be so, for I can never pay you the Affection I owe. Accept of what little I have to give.... I hope to be at Glasgow on Wednesday the 19th instant, at Aberdeen ye 28th, at Edinburgh May 5th, at Newcastle on Friday May 20th."

The next letter dated June 30, 1768, may be described as a very brief treatise on Sanctification. Then there is a gap of nearly a year, the next letter being dated May 20, 1769. Peggy has had to endure a great trial. Her sister Molly married a Mr. John Collinson of London. The _Newcastle Courant_ of April 29, 1769, thus announces the fact: "Thursday, was married at St. Andrew’s, Mr. John Collinson of London to Miss Dale of Northumberland Street, daughter of the late Mr. Dale of Tunstall, near Sunderland, a most agreeable young lady, endowed with every qualification to render the marriage state happy, with a fortune of £2,000." But Peggy felt her sister’s defection much. Wesley was strongly in favour of the single life both for men and women. He had published a treatise in favour of celibacy, entitled _Thoughts on a Single Life_. It is true that he himself afterwards married in the year 1751, but, as his matrimonial experiences were distinctly unfortunate (he separated from his wife for ever after five years of married life), he was not unnaturally more than ever firmly convinced of the advantage of celibacy.[25] Peggy was as yet quite sure that John Wesley was right in this as in everything else.

He comforts her thus: "The hearing from my Dear Peggy at this critical time gives me a particular satisfaction. I wanted to know, How you bore such a trial, a wound in the tenderest part. You have now a first proof that the God whom you serve, is able to deliver you in every trial. You feel and yet conquer.... I hope you are delivered not only from _repining_ with regard to Her, but from _reasoning_ with regard to yourself. You still see the more excellent way, and are sensible of the advantages you enjoy. I allow _some_ single women have fewer Advantages for Eternity than they might have in a married State. But, blessed be GOD you have all the Advantages wch one can well conceive.... O may you improve every advantage to the uttermost. And give more and more comfort to, my Dear Peggy, your Affectionate Brother, J. Wesley."

There is one more letter from London, November 17, 1769, encouraging Peggy to persevere in her work for others. Then the letters cease. Perhaps there were more letters which have been lost, or were perchance destroyed by the recipient. Wesley, with his zeal for celibacy, can hardly have liked the news of his Peggy’s engagement to Edward Avison. He was organist of St. Nicholas’, Newcastle, in succession to his father, Charles Avison,[26] once a well-known musician in the North of England. He was three years younger than Peggy. Their married life was short. They were married March, 1773: Edward Avison died October, 1776, aged twenty-nine; and Peggy in November, 1777, aged thirty-three. They left no children. Their monument in the churchyard of St. Andrew’s Church, Newcastle, says: "They were eminent for piety and primitive simplicity of manners; having each borne a lingering disease with the most exemplary patience and resignation, they rejoiced at the approach of death." Perhaps Wesley visited Newcastle during the last year of his dear Peggy’s life, and was able to minister spiritual consolation to her. Let us hope that any breach that Peggy’s marriage may have made between her and one who loved her with so tender and paternal an affection was cured by the approach of Death, the great Healer.

Little remains to be said. Mary Collinson lived to 1812, and left a family of two sons, George Dale and John Collinson, and three daughters, Ann Collinson, Thermuthis Collinson, and Mary, the wife of Christopher Godmond. It is not known if any of her descendants are alive to-day; if there be any such, they may very likely possess the missing letters. Ann Dale never married, and lived till 1820. Edward, their brother, died in 1826, having seen five of his six sons die before him without issue. His eldest and only surviving son, also Edward, lived till 1862, and then died childless. With him died out the senior branch of the family of Dale of Dalton-le-Dale and Tunstall. Since his death there have been no Dales of this family residing in the Bishopric. How the letters written by John Wesley came into the possession of Canon Dale, or Canon Dale’s father, William Dale, is not known. Possibly Anne Dale gave them to William Dale, or her brother may have given them to his son. It is certain that to that son’s careful preservation of them we owe this intimate revelation of the great revivalist’s affection for a Durham girl.

THE OLD FAMILIES OF DURHAM

BY HENRY R. LEIGHTON

The evil fate that has attended the old houses in this county has followed equally relentlessly the families who once dwelled therein. Here and there, it is true, a family still exists that has weathered the storms of long centuries; one or two, perhaps, may be pointed out that have increased their acreage as the long years went by; and perhaps another two or three whose lands remain with daughters’ heirs.

With few exceptions, almost all the families of importance in feudal days have passed away. The great House of Neville,[27] that once threatened to overshadow the Lords Palatine themselves, survives only in several southern branches, and their name is almost forgotten in their native land. The baronial houses of Eure,[28] Conyers, Hylton, and FitzMarmaduke have all passed away. So, too, have nearly all the names recorded in the Heralds’ Visitations at intervals from 1530 to 1666. Of the latter, eight only retain their patrimonial acres. These are the Chaytors, Edens, Lambtons, Liddells, Lumleys, Salvins, Vanes, and Whartons. To these may be added the Williamsons, who came from Nottinghamshire, and the Shaftos from Northumberland.

The Visitations of Durham[29] are, like those of the sister county of Northumberland, notoriously incomplete. Of the latter, Surtees wrote: "The Northumbrian gentry, many of whom probably never heard of the Visitation, would scarcely leave their business or amusements to attend an Officer of Arms for a purpose of which few then saw the utility, and which, it is plain, in many instances was considered an extreme nuisance." In the adjoining county to the south there was a similar state of affairs. Of Dugdale’s _Visitation of York_, Mr. Davies wrote: "Nearly one-third of the whole number of gentry whom the herald called upon to appear before him with proofs of their arms and pedigrees treated his summonses with neglect."

In this county both a long and a strong list of families of gentle blood can easily be enumerated who, for one reason or another, make no appearance in the Heralds’ books. No one familiar with the history of the county can have helped remarking the absence of families formerly so well known, and in many cases still well known, as the Allgoods of Bradley, Blacketts of Hoppyland, Bromleys of Nesbitt, Dales of Dalton, Douthwaites of Westholme, Emersons of Westgate, Goodchilds of Pallion, Greenwells of Greenwell and Stobilee, Holmeses of Wearmouth, Hunters of Medomsley, Ironsides of Houghton, Meaburns of Pontop, and others whose names spin out too long a list to give in full. Now, most of these families had intermarried with families who registered and had written themselves as "gentlemen" for several generations; and, as an interesting sidelight upon the Visitations, we believe it could be shown that more than one family who registered was in debt pretty heavily to others who didn’t register. So it does not appear to have been altogether a matter of means.

It may perhaps be as well, before proceeding farther, to notice the principal material we have, in addition to the Visitations, for proving the succession to estate in this county.