wont to say, when any trouble or inconvenience befell him, that "all was for the best ;" and being taunted by his guard, who were taking him to London to be tried, during the fiery times of Queen Mary for heresy, when by some accident his leg was broken, "How could this be for the best?" replied that he did not doubt it would be so. Curiously enough, before he recovered from the fracture, Queen Mary died, and the delay incurred undoubtedly saved his life. It cannot but interest us that we are on the very spot where the youth of this great evangelizer of the north was spent, and to which undoubtedly the affection of his childless old age was turned, for although resident on the sphere of his duty at Houghton-le-Spring, he loved to draw to him, not only his younger relatives from his native dale, but also connections and friends from other parts of Westmorland and Cumberland especially. We are indebted to one of them -George Carlton, Bishop of Chichester-for a beautiful sketch of his life; and the Rev. William Gilpin published a pleasing biography of his collateral ancestor in 1753, introducing some new matter preserved in family papers; and I may humbly add that it is perhaps not altogether unfitting that a pupil of his beloved foundation, the Grammar School of Houghton-le-Spring, should be permitted to pronounce his eulogy here.

I

The characteristics that I have mentioned were manifested by Richard Gilpin, great-great nephew of the Apostle, in an age quite as zealous for religious persecution, only less bloody. have named several points of excellence of the family-I must not omit noticing another, the talent they have on various occasions manifested, not only for literary, but also for artistic culture. Bernard has not left us much in the way of composition, but he was recognized by his contemporaries as one of the ablest of controversialists, and that at a time when the science was in its prime. His brother George, ambassador at the Hague, and a favourite of Queen Elizabeth, made a very elegant translation of a noted satire on Popery from the Dutch of Count Alegambe, entitled "The Beehive of the Romish Church," which was dedicated to Sir Philip Sidney. Richard Gilpin, ejected from his rectory of Greystoke at the Restoration, wrote several theological

works, one of which, on "Satan's Temptations," has been republished during the last ten years; and the name and many of his works on the "Picturesque" and other subjects of the Rev. Wm. Gilpin, of Boldre, are well-known to most of us. As an artist Sawrey Gilpin was the Cooper of his day.

Although the Gilpins have lost their native seat, they differ remarkably from many ancient families in one important respect. Whilst many an ancient house has become extinct, the name of Gilpin, which always, I believe, indicates that they are members of this family, is spread over the wide world; fulfilling the blessing of Scripture, they have become "like the sand on the sea shore for multitude, innumerable." I have said that the name always indicates a member of this particular family, and I anticipate a smile and a query from some-"What! even the famous John of Edmonton ?" Well, I have no objection to include him; he had what the ladies will agree with me is one of the highest manly virtues amenability to marital control.

They have been active on the eastern and western shores of the United States, and one of them was, I believe, the founder of the great and important State of Colorado, whilst in England, not many years ago, Charles Gilpin, who commenced his career as a publisher, became a member of the Government-Lord Palmerston's Government-as Secretary to the Poor Law Board. I could enlarge upon the Gilpins, who are the objects of a just admiration on my part, and well I might, for I have been entrusted by one of themselves with the memoirs of the family, by the Rev. William Gilpin of Boldre;* and such a sketch of domestic happiness and purity scarcely, if at all, exists in our literature. The publication not only of this, but also of the autobiography of its amiable author, has been confided to me; and both, I am well convinced, will be welcomed, not alone by those who are locally interested, but by those who shall value the book for its merits only.

*Edited for the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archæological Society, by Wm. Jackson, F.S. A., as the second volume of their extra series, 1879.

XXII.

Whitehaven: its Streets, its Principal Houses and their Enhabitants.

Reprinted from the Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archæological Society. (Vol. III., p. 348.)

LTHOUGH the names of streets are constantly in our minds and current on our lips, yet whenever street nomenclature forms the special subject of conversation, some ridiculous incongruity or some startling departure from every-day propriety is sure to be brought forward to illustrate the discussion, and so the subject becomes invested with an air of absurdity which does not properly appertain to it. One notable instance of the first will be alluded to in the following paper, where a locality, formerly so remarkable for its beauty, and so charming to every sense as to deserve and obtain the name of Mount Pleasant, is now become repulsive instead of attractive a place to be avoided rather than visited. But in truth, such examples illustrate the exception and not the rule, and street nomenclature is especially valuable in investigating the history of our large towns; it shows who was the popular hero of the hour, and conveys a compliment far more lasting than a mere monument (ære perennius); it indicates to us the impression made by some great event, or it informs us who were the ancient lords of the soil, in all cases giving a clue to the date of erection. Examples of every kind may be found in Whitehaven, and the modern origin of the town enables us to trace them, without much difficulty, to their respective sources. The history of Whitehaven has been so intertwined with that of the Lowther

family, that it will be necessary to give a brief account of one of its offshoots, and its early connection with the district, prefatory to the immediate subject of this paper.

I find from an old admittance, dated October 22, 1631, that Sir John Lowther, of Lowther, was then lord of the manor of St. Bees, which he must have bestowed upon his son soon after; for Christopher, his second son, admits George Brisco to a tenement June 13, 1632. Christopher is therein styled of Lowther, where he probably continued to reside until the death of his father, September 15, 1637. In the absence, at present, of positive information, I conclude from a careful analysis of other dates that subsequently to this event he married Frances, one of the four co-heiresses of Christopher Lancaster, of Sockbridge. They had only three children, two sons and a daughter, who was probably the eldest child, for the two sons were born at Whitehaven: Christopher, the eldest, being baptised at St. Bees, May 26, 1641; and John, November 20, 1642. The father was buried there, April 27, 1644, having been pre-deceased by his son of the same name, May, 1641. The death of Sir Christopher, who had been created a baronet June 11, 1642, was not, in a pecuniary sense, injurious to his son and successor; for Sir John was then little more than eighteen months old; and it saved the Whitehaven branch of the great Lowther family from taking part in the unhappy struggle between King and Parliament, and from the consequent necessity of compounding for their estates in very heavy fines, as the parent and kindred houses were compelled to do, for having embraced the Royal cause. His cousin Sir John, of Lowther, had to pay a fine of £1,500, and his uncle William, of Swillington, one of £200. But these sacrifices secured Sir John, of Whitehaven, equally with themselves, a share of the Royal favour, which was bestowed upon them with no grudging hand after the Restoration.

Sir John attained his majority in 1663, having, together with his sister Frances, been under the guardianship of Henry Mill, as I learn from letters of administration granted to him in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, March 19, 1654, Sir John's grandmother Eleanor (née Fleming) having renounced the

administration. Probably the marriage of his mother to John Lamplugh, of Lamplugh, was held to have excluded her ; nay, the children may have been taken from her on that very account. Who Henry Mill was I cannot tell. Sir John appears to have set himself to work zealously to develop his property, and to secure the influx of inhabitants endowed with talent and energy equal to his own. Though sympathising heartily with the Restoration and enjoying the smiles of Court favour, he took a decided part in connection with his relative and namesake, Sir John Lowther, subsequently the first Viscount Lonsdale, in bringing about the Revolution. He was, beyond all doubt, a Lord of the Admiralty from that period to 1694, but I believe, and think it may be inferred from certain statements made by Pepys, that he was in some way connected with that department at an earlier period. In other ways the family had relations with it, for the head of the Marske branch, Anthony Lowther, whose son became of Holker, married Peg Penn, as Pepys familiarly calls the daughter of the admiral of that name and the sister of the famous founder of Pennsylvania. It was, no doubt, through their connections with that department of the State, of which James, Duke of York, subsequently James II., was the head, that the grants of 1660 and 1678 were obtained, or, at least, facilitated. Sir John's decision of character was painfully manifested in the disherison of his eldest son, Christopher, who had become a reckless spendthrift, and had rendered it manifest to his afflicted father that no hopes were left of his reformation. His marriage, which was contracted in opposition to his father's wishes, left no fruits, and the baronetcy ultimately reverted to the younger son, James, to whom Sir John left all his estate, and who possessed it from 1705 to 1755. His character was curiously opposed to that of his elder brother, for his parsimony earned him the title, by which he is best remembered (to distinguish him from another Sir James), of Farthing Jemmy. Upon his death Sir William, of Holker, enjoyed the estate for a brief twelvemonth, and after his decease it passed, under the entail created by the preceding Sir James, to another of the same name who had succeeded to the family estate at Lowther; since which time Whitehaven has lost