to the First Consul, as he was seen repeatedly entering the Government Offices before his departure.

44

He still continued to write for the promotion of his views of political progress, and produced Egeria; or, Elementary Studies on the Progress of Nations in Political Economy, Education, and Government, and Preparatory Studies for Political Reformers. He died on June 29th, 1816. The whole of Mr. Williams's proceedings evince an enthusiastic love of liberty, and a generous regard for the good of his fellow-men. His weakness was the abandonment of faith in the Christian religion, the result of the unlovable form in which he had seen in his youth the doctrines of what was called Christianity presented in the practices of those who mistook harshness and severity for the life of that religion, which on the contrary is gentleness and love."1

THE LORD CHANCELLOR YORKE was a Governor of the Grammar School, and therefore must have been a resident in Highgate, as the deed of the school provides that a Governor should be a "resident person.

Warburton says2 :—“ Last Thursday I dined with Mr. and Mrs. Yorke, at Highgate; it was not a good day, but we walked on his terrace and round his domain."

Lord Campbell says:-"The ex-Attorney-General had now a charming villa at Highgate, where his family resided, and to which he eagerly retired as often as the Court of Chancery and Parliament would permit."

It is a matter for regret that this house has not so far been traced. Charles Yorke was the second son of Lord Hardwicke, and was born in 1723. He was called to the Bar by the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn in 1743. Was M.P. for Reigate 1747, Solicitor-General 1756, Attorney-General 1762, went out of office with the Ministry, was returned again under the Rockingham administration in 1765, but finally resigned in 1766.

At the opening of the session of 1770, Lord Chatham having again thundered against "ministerial corruption and imbecility," Lord Camden, who held the great seal, stated that "on subjects of colonial and domestic policy he utterly condemned the course his colleagues were pursuing." This declaration naturally caused his resignation, and the total surrender of the Government depended upon whether any lawyer of decent character and ability could be found to succeed him. Lord Shelburne declared in the House of Lords that "the seals would go a-begging; but he hoped there would not be found in the kingdom a wretch so base and meanspirited as to accept them on the terms on which they must be offered.” This was on the 9th January.

Howitt.

2 Warburton's Letters.

3 Lives of the Chancellors.

Pressure was brought to bear on Charles Yorke by the Duke of Grafton, but he had given a pledge to his party not to accept office, and he accordingly refused the great seal on Friday the 12th inst. On Tuesday the 16th there was a levée at St. James's, and His Majesty requested Mr. Yorke to see him in his closet afterwards. The outcome. was, that he kissed the king's hand as Lord Chancellor of Great Britain! He was never installed in Westminster Hall, nor sat in the Court of Chancery, and there is no entry respecting him in the "Close Roll," or in the records of the Crown Office; simply the following minute in the books of the Privy Council:

Present

"At the Court of the Queen's House, 17th January, 1770. the King's Most Gracious Majesty in Council. His Majesty in Council was this day graciously pleased to deliver the great seal to the Right Honourable Charles Yorke, Esquire, who was thereupon by His Majesty's command sworn of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, and likewise Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, and accordingly took his place at the Board."

At the same time a warrant was signed by the king for a patent raising him to the peerage by the title of Baron Morden of Morden, in the county of Cambridge.

As soon as the Council was over, Lord Chancellor Yorke, carrying away the great seal, drove to Lord Rockingham's, where it so happened that Yorke's brother, Lord Hardwicke, and other leaders of the Opposition, were in meeting, concerting measures against the Government. He was received with a burst of indignation, all present upbraiding him for a breach of honour.

He instantly left them and returned home, his mind sorely harassed by the severity of their reproaches.

It was announced that very evening he was ill, and at five o'clock on the 20th January, three days after he had been sworn as Lord Chancellor, he was no more. His patent of nobility had been made out and was found in the room in which he died, but the great seal had not been affixed, so that the title did not descend to his heirs. He died in the forty-eighth year of his age. Walpole' says, "whether by sword or razor was uncertain." But his friends state he died from the rupture of a blood vessel.3

4

Lord Campbell adds :-" His acceptance of the great seal was wrong, but it did not proceed from sordid motives; he made no condition for pecuniary grants to himself, which, if he had asked them, would have been showered down upon him; nor does he seem to have been seduced by the love of power or splendour, for he quitted a strong united party

1 Lives of the Chancellors.

2 Memoirs of Times of George 111.

3 Craddock's Memoirs.
4 Lives of the Chancellors.

to join one that was crumbling to pieces, and if he had survived, he could hardly have expected long to enjoy his elevation. He was overpowered by the royal blandishments and a momentary mistake as to the duty of a good subject; but he was struck with deep remorse, and his love for honest fame was demonstrated by his being unable to survive the loss of it.'

Notes on population, etc.-Local government-The Hornsey Local Board, rates, etc. --South Hornsey Local Board, rates, etc.-The Union of Edmonton, rates, etc.-The Hornsey School Board, rates, etc.-The National Schools-The old British School-The magistrates and police-The Episcopal and Nonconformist Churches-The Loyal Highgate Volunteers-The 14th Middlesex Volunteer Rifle Corps, now the 3rd Middlesex Rifle Volunteers-The Literary and Scientific Institution-The Book Society-F. D. Society-Reading Society-The Bookworms-The Choral Society-Chess Club-Tennis Club-The Skating Club-The Working Men's Club-Youths Institute-The Gymnastic Club-The Football Club-The Dispensary-The Horticultural Society-The Chrysanthemum Society-The Cottage Gardens-The Model Lodging HousesThe Cable Tramway-The Parish Magazine-The Diocesan Penitentiary-The Alexandra Palace The Cemetery-The Gravel Pit Wood-The Parliament Fields.

IGHGATE will favourably compare with any village for its local energy, or what my Lord Derby calls "local patriotism," which of all forms of public service is the most needed, and is generally the least valued. The very isolation of its position has made its inhabitants self-reliant, whilst its antiquity seems to have created a power of cohesion which is often strikingly absent in a younger community. In a new neighbourhood no one seems to care for the general good; the householders are here to-day and gone to-morrow, and there seems little or no desire for co-operative neighbourly action. But an old neighbourhood has its traditions to inspire it, and families whose interests from long residence seem rooted in its very

soil.

There are several such families connected with Highgate and its immediate neighbourhood, who have been residents from one to two hundred years.'

Living on a hill famed for its bracing air, the inhabitants seem to be endowed with a kind of Highland vigour both bodily and mentally, which is sought for in vain on the vapid plains below. Garth, from its associations with the poets Marvell, Milton, and Coleridge, compares Highgate with the famed mountain of Greece,

"Or Highgate Hill with lofty Pindus vie.”

It is certain that those inhabitants who have resided the longest time on the famous old Hill are the most attached to it, and knowing its many advantages, unhesitatingly give it the preference to any other neighbourhood immediately contiguous to the Metropolis.

Having traced the past history of Highgate, it is now our pleasant duty to record some of the doings of its inhabitants as exhibited in the local energy, which is so marked a feature of "Highgate of to-day."

NOTES ON POPULATION.

The following table shows the population, the number of houses inhabited, uninhabited, and building, in each of the under-mentioned years in the parish of Hornsey, now divided into Hornsey and South Hornsey. The figures quoted before 1822 must be considered as approximate only

The returns for 1871 and 1881 may be subdivided as under :

1 The Martin family, of High Street, have been residents for two hundred years.

In 1822 out of 743 families residing in Hornsey 113 are returned as being engaged

in agriculture.

3 The Highgate and Edgware Railway, now a branch line of the Great Northern Railway, was opened on Aug. 22nd, 1867.