The Newhampshire gazetteer — Exeter, N.H., 1790-11-13 00:00:00, page 1

From a late Newyork Paper.
ECONOMY!
Sketch of the Life and Character of the late
JOHN ELWES, Esq ; Member in three suc
cessive Parliaments, for Berkshire, England.
[Perhaps in no instance is that observation of an
Eng life ewriter better verified, that " in ever, in
dividual there is feme ruling paffon that governs
the rest," than in the life and chara de r of the cele
brated John Elwes. It appears from the following
account, which we have abridged from a late
Edingburgh magazine, that the weft sordid avarice
and miferl, meanness of spirit were horn with this
man, and as natural to him as timidity to the bare
or fcrcemf to the T,ger.j
JOHN ELWES, was the son of a London Brew
er of eminence, who died when this extraor
_ dinary character, was only four years of age..
The father was noway diicinguiihed from the
general east of men, but his mother was a curiosity
indeed ; for though she was left an eßate of near
ly one hundred thousand pounds by her hufband—
fhe starved herfelf to death for fear of coming to
.want..
At an early period of life young Elwes was sent
to Weftminifter school where he remained ten or
twelve vears, where he became a good classical
scholar merely out of avarice, and that his teachers
mi^ht pot get the tuition money without well
earning it. Having left the seminary he was
never known to read, or even open a book after
wards, and every book in his possession when he
died, if collected together from all the different
houses he owned, would not fell for t^o pounds
His knowledge in accounts was very trifling, and
consequently he was always in a Rate of ignorance
with regard to his own affairs.
From Westminster school he was removed tl
Geneva, where he learned the art of hoifemanCnip,
which was more agreeable to him than Rudy.
That he might have the full worth of his money,
he became a most desperate rider, insomuch that
young horses were put into his hands to break.—•
Here he was introduced to Voltaire; but the ge
nius and character of this great man ieemed not to
strike his attention ; they were out of his conteid
plation and his w,,: The horses in the riding
school he remempered much longer, and their
frefpe&ive qualities made a much deeper impression
upon his mind.
On his return to England he was introduced to
his uncle, the late Sir Hervey Elwes, perhaps the
most perfect pi&ure of human penury that ever ex
ited, and such an artist in moneyfaving as never
to have been exceeded by young Elwes himfelf.
At an early period of life Sir Hervey had beCri
given over as deep in a consumption, but became
temperate from a principle of meqnnefs, and lived
until betwixt eighty or ninety.
On his death his fortune which was at least
256,000!. sterling fell to the Nephew, when he was
upwards of 40 years of age-
For some years he had been fond of gaming,
but being always obliged to pay when he loft, and
not being always paid when he won, he conceived
a disgust at the gaming table and quitted it.
After fctitg up whole nights at play for thous
ands, amidst fpkndid rooms, gilt fofas, wax lights,
and waiters attendant upon his call, he would
meanly slink away about four in the morning, not
towards home, but to a farm he had in EBex,
seventeen miles off. There he would Hand hours
in the cold and rain disputing with a carcas buchcr
about a Shilling in the price of an ox. Sometimes
he would walk miles through miry roads to meet
his droves of cattle coming to market, not often
allowing himfelf a horse, for fear of some poflible
expense that might attend that mode of travelling.
Had every man been of Elwes' mind, the race
of innkeepers must have perilled from the face of
the earth, and chairs and poR chaises have been
returned to those who made them, for it was the
business of his life to avoid both. As he advanced
in life he began at last to venture to travel on
horseback. To fee him setting out, on a journey
was truly curious. His firft care was to put two
or three eggs, boiled hard, into his great coat
pocket, or any scraps of bread he could pick up.
Baggage he never took; then mounting one of
his hunters, his next intention was to get out of
London into that road where turnpikes were the
feweft. Then flapping under any hedge where
grass presented itfelf for his horse, and a little
water for himfelf and his horse together. Ail this
ata time when he was worth, at lead, five hun
dred thousand pounds:
til-NWHAMPSHIRE GAZETTEER.
Saturday, November 13,1790.]
He had two fens born to him, who have inherit
ed the greater part of his property by a will made
in 1785. But ii these he took little pleasure, and
the only instance during his whole life in which
he facrificed mone^ to pleafare, when he forgot
the cares, and peA v ,'xities, and the regret which
his wealth occafi^u, 'was his keeping a few fax
hounds. But here every thing was done in the
most frugal manner. The huntsman had not the
least moment of rest, and Scrub, in the Beaux
Stratagem, in comparison ,to this wretched
creature of Elwes', had an idle life of it. At
four o'clock in the morning he was roofed up to
milk the cows. He then prepared breakfaft for
the family; then had to unkennel the hounds,
saddle the horses, and away into the field. After
hunting he had to refresh himfelf by rubbing
down and currycombing a parcel of horses ; then
run intd the house, lay the doth, and wait at din
ner ; then hurrying into d stable again to feed
the horses ; divertihed wr,! an interlude of the
cows again to milk, the dogs to feed, and eight
hunters to litter down for the night; and after all
this, his matter was constantly calling him an idle
dag, and faying he wanted to be paid for noth
ing!
In the pehury of Mr. Elwes there was some
thing that seemed like a judgment from heaven.
All earthly comforts he voluntarily denied him
felf; he would walk home in London through the
heaviest rain, sooner than pay a (hilling for a
coach; he would fit in wet clothes in the coldest
weather, rather than be at the expense of a fire to
dry them ; he would eat his provisions at the
lalt Rage of putrefaction sooner than have a
frefh joint from the butcher's ; and he wore a wig
for abbve a fortnight, which I saw him pick out
of a rut in a lane when we were riding. This
was the last extremity of laudable economy, for to
all appearance it was the call olf wig of some beg-
There was one good trait in this man's charac
ter, which in justice ought to be mentioned.
Where he could serve a person merely by his own
personal fatigue, without any farther expense, he
would readily do it. This was particularly ex
emplified in the case of two old maids to whom
he had no particular obligation, but to serve
whom, in some very urgent business, he rode to
London in one night, a dißance of sixty miles,
with only two hard eggs in his pockefyto fubfife on.-
—The ladies could not Efficiently express their
gratitude, on his return, and willed to know
" what suitable returns they could make for so
much trouble and" expenfe"—"Expenfe ; (said a
gentleman of their acquaintance who knew Elwes'
mode of travelling) fend him fix pence, and be
assured he gains two pence by the journey."
When upon the nomination of Lord Craven he
was eleded into Parliament, what rendered the
honour most acceptable was, that he was brought
in by the Freeholders for nothing. His whole
eledion expense was eighteen pence for a dinner
at the Ordinary in Reading. He was now sixty
years of age.
His dress was so mean, after attaining a feat in
Parliament, that it more than once drew on him
the companion of those who pafi'ed by him in the
street. About the time of his quitting Parlia
ment, his wig being worn out, he concluded it
was most prudent not to go to the expense of
a new one, so for the remainder of his life, he
wore his own hair, which like his expenses, was
very small, —All this time his income was hourly
increasing, and his expenditures next to nothing.
What little pleasures he might formerly have en
gaged in, were now all given up. He kept no
house, & only one old servant, & a couple of horses ;
he resided with his nephew; his two sons being
Rationed in Suffolk and Berkihire to look after his
refpedive efta:es. His dress was no expense to
him, for had it not been for the care of o:her peo
ple, he would not even have fuffered his clothes to
be mended.
He always gave his country feat in Suffolk a
preference in his visits to that of Berkshire, ds hi#
visits into Suffolk coll him only two pence half
penny, while that into Berkshire amounted to four
pence.
During the whole time Mr. Elwes was in the
house of commons, he never once rose to speak, or
delivered his sentiments further than by his vote.
He was constant in his attendance at the house,
and never left it for dinner, as he had accustomed
himfelf to falling, sometimes for 24 hours in con
tinuance,
When he quitted Parliament he was, in the
common phrase, like a fifh out of water. His for.
Published by H. Ranlet, in the Main Street, Exeter.
mer way of life had left him no domeftick feenes
to which he could retire—his home was dreary and
poor—his rooms received no cheerfulnefs from
fire ; and while the outside had all the appear
ance of a house to be let, the iofide was a de
sert ; but he had his penury alone to thank for this,
and for want of all the little consolations which
should attend old age, and smooth the passage of
declining life.
Ac the close of the spring of 1785, he seemed
desirous of visiting his country feat at Stoke. But
then the journey was a most serious object to him,
as he was now become so eld and feeble that he
could no longer perform the journey on his old
gaunt horse, with two hard eggs for his own sus
tenance. The mention of a poll chaise would have
been a crime. "He afford a post chaise, indeed!
i Where was he to get the money ?" would have
been his exclamation.
At last he was carried to this favourite country
feat, as he was carried into Parliament, free of all
expense, by a gentleman not half so rich as him-,
felf. — When he reached the feat, lie looked around
him at the improvements with an eye of difeon
tent, and observed, "He had expended a great
deal of money here once, very foolifhly, but that a
man grew wiser by time."
Upon going into his house, where his son John
now resided, he observed that the furniture was
much too good, and that worse things might have
done. If a window was broken he thought there
ought to be no repair but that of a little brown
paper, or that of piecing in a bit of broken glass ;
and indeed this had been so frequently done, and
in so many shapes, that it would have puzzled a
mathematician to fay what figure they described.
To save fire he would walk about the remains of an
old green house, or fit with a servant in the kitch
en.—During the harvest he would go cenßantiy
into the field to glean corn, on the grounds of his
own tenants; and they used to leave a little more
of it than common to please the old gentleman,
who was as eager after it as any pauper in the
pariih.
Towards winter he would travel about and fill
his pockets with chips for fuel; and he was one
day surprised by a gentleman in the ad of pulling
down with some difficulty a crow's nei for this
purpose. On the gentleman's wondering at his
giving himfelf this trouble—" Oh, Sir, replied
old Elwes, it is really ashame that these creatures
should do so—See what a watte they make of the
small wood—They do not care how extravagant
they are !"
At this period of his life his insatiable desire of
saving became uniform and fyftematrek. In
riding about the country he would now take speci
al care not to let his mare go in gravelly or Rony
roads, where her thoes might be much worn. At
Other times, he would ride her without any (hoes,
always keeping on the foft turf on one fide or other
of the road that the expense of ihoes might be
saved.
When any gentleman called to pay him a visit,
and the boy who attended in the stable, was pro
fufe enough to put a little hay before his horse„
old Elwes would Real slyly back into the stable and
take the hay very carefully away from before the
hungry animal.
Sometimes he Lad his river drawn, when cart
loads of small fifh would be taken, but never would
he fuffer one to be thrown in again, for fear, as
he observed " he fho Id never fee them again." —
Game in the last Rate of putrefaction, and meat:
that walked about his plate would he eat. rather
than have new things killed before the old pro
vision was finifhed.
His shoes he would never „fuffer to be cleaned,
left they Ihould be worn out the sooner, and he
would spend whole days in the winter at his
neighbour's fires for fear sf having any made at
home.
With all this felfdenial and penury he used to
fay frequently, " He must be a little more careful
of his property." His difquie?ude on the fwbjed of
money was now continual When he went to bed
he would put five, eight, or ten guineas into a
bureau, and then in the middle of the night, rous
ing from his rest, he would come dewn to fee if it:
was there.l
If his manors, his fifh ponds, and fom^ grounds
in his own hands had not furnifhed a subsistence
where he had not actually any thing to buy, there
is little doubt but he would have absolutely Rarved
himfelf rather than have bought any thing. He
one day, during this period of old age, dined upon
the remaining part of a moor hen which had been
brought out of the river by a rat, and at another.
[Vol. V. — Numb. 223