The Johnson Society (Lichfield)

In September, 1972, two hundred and ten years after the original journey, an informal and partial repetition of Johnson’s only trip to Devon was undertaken by a small party; the Reynolds authority, Professor Frederick Hilles of Yale; Dr John Edgcumbe of Exmouth (a four-times-great-nephew of Sir Joshua) and a Reynolds enthusiast, as well as a distinguished haematologist; his wife, Terry Edgcumbe and their son, Richard, in his third year at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge; Floyd McGowin of Chapman, Alabama, a member of the Lichfield Johnson Society and the American Johnsonians; and Mary Hyde, also a member of these groups and recorder of this account.

The inspiration of the trip had been an article by a Lichfield Past President, Professor James L Clifford: Johnson’s Trip to Devon, 1762 (in Eighteenth Century Studies, Grolier Club, 1970). Johnson was fifty-three at the time he made the journey; he had recently received his pension from George III, and was enjoying the financial advantages and freedom it provided. Reynolds was thirty-nine, not ‘Sir’ until 1769, but was already established in his profession, a popular portrait painter in London as well as in the West Country. Presumably the purpose of the trip for Reynolds was two-fold: to inspect certain portraits he had recently painted, to check their framing and appearance in place, also to visit members of his family in Devon, particularly the two married sisters in Torrington to whom he was devoted, Mary Palmer and Elizabeth Johnson. (Twelve years before, their financial contributions had made his lengthy stay in Italy possible.) Reynolds customarily took his holiday at the end of the summer and most holidays he spent in Devon. It is easy to imagine that his talk of the West Country had provoked Johnson’s curiosity, and when Reynolds suggested that he come along, it was a temptation the Rambler was not able to resist.

On 16 August 1762 Johnson and Reynolds left London. Their route was roughly: Winchester, Salisbury, Exeter, Torrington, Plymouth, Plympton and back to London.

The 1972 tour began officially on Tuesday 5 September at Exmouth, but before this, in London, Professor Hilles had put some of the party in the proper mood by taking them to the Royal Academy to see Reynolds’s original manuscript notebook, which covered the period of the trip, one of a long series of yearly engagement books, listing sitters, appointments, dinners and meetings together with various jottings.

Before arriving in Exmouth, two of the party had also made certain association visits under the supervision of their hosts, the Anthony Hobsons, during the Whitsbury weekend. They visited Wilton House where Johnson and Reynolds had gone to inspect the portrait of Sir Charles Spencer which Reynolds had been painting in April, May and early June of 1762 (inspecting also, perhaps, the new portrait of the tenth Earl of Pembroke). Surely they enjoyed, as we did, the opportunity of seeing the famous Van Dycks and Lelys.

Next day we went to Winchester, saw the Cathedral and were shown through Winchester College by the Librarian, John Blakiston, who had prepared a special exhibition of Thomas Warton material for the occasion. (Warton was Under-Master of the College when his friends Johnson and Reynolds came to Winchester). We went on to Salisbury and in the evening attended a son et lumiere performance at the Cathedral.

On 3 September, at Longford, the present Lady Radnor offered hospitality with the graciousness of an eighteenth century hostess. We walked through the same rooms and saw the same old masters and the family portraits which Reynolds had come to inspect : the eight-year-old William Henry Bouverie, the eldest son of the first Earl of Radnor ; and little Billy’s aunt, Mary, Countess of Shaftesbury (both painted in 1760) and , even fresher, his portrait of her husband, the fourth Earl of Shaftesbury, painted in 1762.

On another day we went to Sturminster Marshall to see the church and rectory, where Johnson and Reynolds presumably stayed with the Reverend John Harris. The fascinating great house, Kingston Lacy , is close by, and here there was an invitation to spend an afternoon with the descendant of the eighteenth century host. The present owner, Mr H R J Bankes, not only showed the ‘capital’ pictures seen by Johnson and Reynolds, but proved himself to be as familiar as the readers of Professor Clifford’s article with the story of Johnson’s strange manoeuvres (stretching one leg as far as possible, then the other, stamping each foot with a terrific force down on the boards, until finally the astonished host assured him that his floor was quite firm). Mr Bankes re-enacted the scene where it had taken place.

On the 5 September, in the morning, most of the party met at Sidmouth, a seaside resort which has associations with Mrs Piozzi. By afternoon the full party was in Exmouth. Here, we promenaded on the ‘Beacon’, admiring the row of eighteenth century houses on the hill, each with a stretch of lawn in front, and a distant view. We also visited the nearby ‘Strand’, by the estuary, across from Powderham Castle. There are few traces now of the street of Regency houses ; these were destroyed in the war, but in one, John Edgcumbe told us, the Piozzis had lived during the time she was preparing the manuscript of her, Journey through France, Italy and Germany.

As a note of Boswell interest, it should be mentioned that the out-of-town pilgrims lodged for two nights of the tour at Combe House, near Honiton. This country house hotel is managed, and managed delightfully, by John Boswell, who grew up at Auchinleck, the eldest son of the late John D P Boswell.

On 6 September the Honiton and Exmouth cars met by appointment in Exeter, at the Cathedral, where excavations for a Roman bath were going on in the Close. The Edgcumbes were accompanied by someone who added much to the general enjoyment, Mrs Herbert Ashe, whose father had been a Priest Vicar of the Cathedral and Headmaster of the Choir School.

From Exeter the two cars drove through Crediton and Bow to Torrington, where Johnson and Reynolds stayed for several days at Palmer House, so called because it was here that Reynolds’ sister, Mary and John Palmer lived. The present owners, Mr and Mrs Francis A Dickson entertained us with extraordinary kindness. A few years ago the Dicksons purchased this brick house with Palladian features, and they are now concerned with renovation. The property came to them in poor repair; the house much run down, the garden overgrown with weeds and the elevated hexagonal summerhouse (complete with fireplace, where Reynolds is said to have painted and Johnson to have read) in a state of dilapidation. There is much to be done but the Dicksons have accepted the challenge with enthusiasm.

After a brief visit to the church opposite Palmer House, we walked through the streets familiar to Johnson and Reynolds. Our picnic spot must have been familiar as well, on the crest of Castle Hill with a sweeping view of fields, river, valley and hills; a prospect which one of the travellers recorded as, ‘the most beautiful sight of the tour’.

In the afternoon the party drove to Cotehele, a fifteenth century manor house built in the late mediaeval tradition. This had been the home of the almost legendary Sir Richard Edgcumbe, supporter of Henry Tudor. The pleasure of everyone, including guides and staff, was heightened by the presence of his namesake descendant, Richard Edgcumbe. Cotehele is filled with fine furniture, much of it from the period of Charles II. The walls are hung with Brussels, Mortlake and Soho tapestries. The house, stables and out-buildings, all of grey granite, are nestled in a deep wood. There is a formal garden at the back of the house and below this a romantic, thickly planted glade, runs down to the River Tamar.

It is hard to imagine how the Edgcumbes could conceive of a place lovelier than Cotehele, but in the fifteen fifties another Sir Richard built Mount Edgcumbe, a spectacular house on the high jet of land facing Plymouth harbour. These two houses are complete opposites and both superlative. The Admiral of the Spanish Armada vowed that Mount Edgcumbe would be his own after victory. Fortunately the acquisitor’s wish was not granted; commanding Mount Edgcumbe, and secluded Cotehele, remained in the family for almost four centuries. Not until 1947, with the pressure of taxes and death duties, did a choice have to be made: Mount Edgcumbe became the residence, Cotehele a National Trust house.

On 17 September we were invited to visit Mount Edgcumbe. We took the Cremyll ferry across Plymouth harbour as Johnson and Reynolds had done and walked from the quay up the hill through the impressive park. At the appointed hour the Earl of Edgcumbe welcomed us and with the greatest courtesy showed us over every floor of the great turreted house, now square in shape. The eighteenth century building was burned out in the last war. The fine family portraits by Reynolds of George, Third Baron Edgcumbe, painted late in 1761, and his wife, Emma, painted in April 1762, were lost. The picture of the second Baron, Richard, a friend of Walpole, painted in April and May of 1760 was saved. This portrait happened to be at Cotehele on the night of the fire in April 1941. The second Baron is now back at Mount Edgcumbe. We studied this portrait and inspected other treasures from Cotehele including historic prints and, in a number of cases, compared them to present scenes. Waiting for the ferry, we read Garrick’s Exclamation on First Seeing Mount Edgcumbe: ‘Whose wonders can e’en make a poet of me’.

Back in Plymouth there was still time before dinner to see the Eddystone Lighthouse, sometimes called Smeaton’s Tower, after its architect. Our excursion had none of the difficulties or disappointments of that attempted by Johnson and Reynolds. The great lighthouse, in their time, had only recently been completed: it stood fourteen miles south of the Hoe, from which its light of twenty four candles was visible on a clear night. Johnson and Reynolds visited Plymouth soon after a devastating storm and the sea was still too rough to permit a landing on the lighthouse itself – a bitter disappointment to Johnson, as he wanted very much to inspect Smeaton’s engineering wonder. The Eddystone Lighthouse (built on the principle of the bole of an oak tree) proved to be an extraordinary achievement, standing firm against violent winds and waves for years. The engraving by A Birrel (1789) after M Dixon, shows waves washing straight over its top. It was the Eddystone Rock, the foundation, that in time began to give way. The lighthouse, still sound in itself was brought ashore and re-erected on the historic promontory, Plymouth Hoe. Now, a visitor suffers no eighteenth century inconvenience. If he wishes to ascend to the light, he simply appears during open hours, pays a small charge to the keeper, and walks up the stairs.

On the 8 September, we drove to Plympton, the birthplace of Sir Joshua Reynolds. This pretty town, older than Plymouth, and once larger, has now become a part of the city of Plymouth.

We visited St Maurice, the Church of the Reynolds family (Sir Joshua is remembered here by a memorial wall plaque). We walked to the Town Hall, an unusual seventeenth century building with pillars: part of the second storey is built over the street. A self-portrait of Reynolds once hung in the main hall; he had been chosen Mayor of Plympton in 1773, and his picture, according to Farington, was painted in a single day. Reynolds’s portraits of Captain Ourry and Captain Edgcumbe once hung in the hall as well; all have now been sold. The Town Hall is now undergoing extensive, and one hopes, faithful, restoration. Climbing over scaffolding and planks, we inspected the various rooms, including the Mayor’s parlour (the section of the building over the street). The men at work took an amused interest in the 1972 pilgrimage.

We walked back towards the church, and across from it, looked at a plaque on a street wall, indicating the site of Sir Joshua’s birthplace, the home of Samuel and Theophilia Reynolds and their eleven children. Years ago the building was torn down and replaced by a Victorian house; this still shares the same grounds with the old Grammar School, of which Samuel Reynolds was headmaster for thirty-one years, and his seventh son, Joshua was one of his many pupils. This stone building, with an open arcade of granite columns (subject of an early Reynolds sketch) is no longer used as a grammar school, but is now the headquarters of the Department of Education. The staff permitted us to walk through the building, now partitioned by dividers into small offices. Recent changes were only a slight impediment to our survey however, as John Edgcumbe, familiar with the original plan, was able to indicate the eighteenth century design. On the first floor was the large rectangular school room; the headmaster’s supervising balcony was centred over the entrance door of the long north wall. Behind this balcony was the headmaster’s private study, a retreat for Samuel Reynolds and his successors, now used for staff teas and storage.

Lunch at Plympton was, appropriately at the ‘Sir Joshua Reynolds’. The walls of the pub are covered with engravings by the artist. After brief refreshments, we drove on a few miles to Saltram, the seat of the Parker family in Reynolds and Johnson’s days, and indeed until 1957, when the property was turned over to the National Trust. This beautiful eighteenth century house and the very appealing Parkers, who for generations inhabited it, were the subjects of a recent BBC television series. We walked through the rooms, admiring the Reynolds family pictures, the Adam blue parlour, the pale green ‘eating room’, the red morning room, the Chinese wallpapered bedroom and the panelled library (with nine Gilbert Stuarts and eleven Reynolds). Mr Patrick Dawes, the Saltram Curator, brought out books and manuscripts for us to see. These included John Parker’s House Accounts and Gaming Accounts. Questions were asked about these, also about family correspondence, most of which is now in the British Museum. Professor Hilles had read many of the letters a few days earlier.

Some four miles from Saltram is Kitley, and we next drove to this Elizabethan house. Remodelled by Repton, Kitley is still owned by the Bastard family, well-known Devon architects in Reynolds and Johnson’s day. Mrs Bastard, offered us sherry, and led us on a tour of inspection through the rooms. Of particular interest were the self-portrait of Reynolds in the drawing room and the large and handsome family portraits by Reynolds and Northcote in the dining room.

After leaving Kitley we returned to Plymouth, where we dined at the Duke of Cornwall (residence for the past two nights of the visitors). We spent our final evening reviewing the high points of our tour. We had seen most of the places visited by Johnson and Reynolds; their journey had taken six weeks, ours less than six days. The speeding up of post chaises, making it possible to see a great many sights in a very short time, we agreed, was one of the happy marks of progress; another, of course, was the comfort of our travel – two cars in which we changed places as we wished.

In the cars we carried a travelling library, and among the various were: the Hill-Powell edition of Boswell’s Life of Johnson (a copy inscribed by Lichfield Past President, L F Powell); Paterson’s Roads of England and Kitchin’s Post-Chaise Guide, as well as W G Hoskins’ Devon; modern road maps, notes on Sir Joshua, and a xerox copy of the article by Professor Clifford which had launched us.

Shortly after the end of the Johnson-Reynolds Tour, three of us drove to Lichfield and attended the year’s Johnson Birthday Supper – which we considered an outstanding success. The following day we flew to Scotland, as did the William Atkins of Evanston, Illinois; all of us attending the second Boswell Society Dinner in Cumnock – a splendid occasion as well.

The days devoted to the Devon Tour and the two side-trips were certainly, to paraphrase Professor Clifford’s conclusion, a delightful interlude in the lives of the Johnsonians who shared them.

For a little background on this paper and the prospects for further visits click here.

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Johnson and Reynolds in Devon - Additional Papers

The following three short articles by members of the society cast some light on why Mary Hyde's piece was re-published and the prospects for following in the footsteps of the great men.

Click an item:
1.Why republish?
2.A trip worth considering?
3. Mary Viscountess Eccles, in Memoriam

John Dudley

As the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the publication of the Dictionary of the English Language approaches in 2005 and the tercentenary of Johnson’s birth looms in 2009 Johnsonians everywhere seem to be thinking of activities and events which could be appropriate as a commemoration of Johnson’s life and work. One such activity could be a visit, journey or, if you will, pilgrimage.

To take a journey in memory or imitation of a revered figure or to visit a place visited by them has always been a traditional means of commemoration of exceptional events or great people. Johnson’s life, as recorded in various biographies, is full of possibilities. One has only to consider his journey to London with Garrick, his journey to France with the Thrales and most obviously his trip to the Western Isles with Boswell. Retracing famous journeys often provides the best access to the physical environment and the cultural milieu of the places concerned. I have always thought, for example, that the best way to visit the Isle of Mull is with Journey to the Western Isles and Journal of a Tour to the Western Isles with Samuel Johnson LL D in one hand (there is a good OUP paperback containing both) and a good basic text on the geology and scenery of Scotland in the other! Seated on some rocks on Mull, overlooking Iona, one can reflect on the strength and stamina involved for a sixty-year-old to travel to this location in the eighteenth century. When Johnson journeyed through it he observed:

Desolate it may be but also one can reflect on the geological processes which have produced this landscape of hexagonal blocks of basalt which dominate the surrounding area.

One of Johnson’s lesser known jaunts was made with Joshua Reynolds when the two great men toured Devon in 1772. In 1972 a small group of Johnsonians made a ‘partial repetition’ of this tour. One of the party, Mary Hyde, wrote a report entitled called ‘Johnson and Reynolds’ Tour of Devon Re-traced’. It was published in Transactions 1973. Several enquiries about this article were received during 2004, the implication being that it might serve as the basis for further tours or visits. Therefore, an edited version of the original article is republished below. It is, of course, not possible to visit the same places visited by Johnson and Reynolds for a variety of reasons. Some of them have changed use; some others are in public ownership, some have changed hands, some are not available for visits and some have disappeared. Nevertheless it may be that potential celebrants, pilgrims, scholars or just plain members of the society may be inspired to carry out their own Johnsonian tour if not in this particular region, then in another.

Richard Aylmer, editor of the Reynolds Newsletter and Johnson Society member organised, in 2001, a Reynolds Group weekend in Plympton. He has carried out a considerable amount of research into this tour to Devon. The fruits of his efforts are contained in a short article which follows the edited version of Mary Hyde’s original contribution.

As many members will be aware Mary Hyde, the author of this piece and later to become Mary, Viscountess Eccles was a former president of the society. An obituary is included after the article.

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Amongst the celebrations planned for 2009, the tercentenary of Samuel Johnson’s birth, a trip to Devon following in his footsteps in 1762 seems worth considering. As Samuel Johnson went with Joshua Reynolds it is an opportunity for co-operation between the Johnson Society and the Reynolds Group. Joshua Reynolds had no children but many nephews and nieces. By a bit of luck in 1996 two descendants of one of Joshua’s sisters, Molly Palmer, were both making enquiries at the same place and were put in touch with each other by the curator. It was soon apparent that there was much to be gained not only from working "vertically" back to Joshua Reynolds but also "horizontally" and co-operating with other descendants who had been unaware of each other’s existence. It was not until after 1998 that the descendants of Reynolds’s sister Molly Palmer made contact with descendants of another sister, Elizabeth Johnson. Much has come to light as a result. Items such as pictures and manuscripts, are no longer in the family, and about half the people who receive the Reynolds Newsletter twice a year are curators, archivists, authors and librarians. Even this split is not as simple as it sounds as some of the descendants are curators and archivists.

The Devon trip was Joshua Reynolds’s idea. They took six weeks, and three of those weeks were spent in Plymouth with the Mudge family (Mudge descendants are currently members of the Reynolds Group). In 1972 half a dozen people from the Johnson Society in two cars made the trip. What sort of trip should be planned for 2009, presuming that we do not have six weeks at our disposal and are there more than half a dozen people involved? The suggestion is being made here that there should be a weekend in an hotel in the Plymouth area. People should travel by whatever means of transport suits them, car, coach or train, and follow as much of Johnson and Reynolds’s route as they wish to, and take as long as they want to, so long as they reach Plymouth for that weekend. Some may wish to visit Winchester, Wilton near Salisbury, and Kingston Lacy in Dorset. Others may wish to head straight for Plymouth, or take in Torrington where Samuel Johnson met Joshua Reynolds’s sisters and their families.

There are certain advantages in being a group. In 2001 Plymouth Gallery was kind enough to bring some pictures out of store for us because there were enough of us to make it worth their while. We had a conducted tour at Saltram which emphasised topics relevant to Joshua Reynolds. The Old School at Plympton where Joshua’s father Samuel Reynolds was Master is little changed but it is not a museum and is used for adult education classes, so is not always open to visitors. We did not visit the Dockyard but Samuel Johnson and Joshua Reynolds did. The Dockyard is a naval base and access is available only to organised groups. The party could assemble in time for an evening meal on the Friday evening, go on an organised tour all day on Saturday, and continue on Sunday or disperse.

While an organised party sounds a good idea there is a limit to the number of people who can be shown around by a guide, or conveniently fit into the same pub for a sandwich at lunch time. There is much to be said for making it easy for people to arrange their own tours at other times. With this in mind an approach has been made to the copyright owner of Dictionary Johnson by James L. Clifford, which has been out of print for a long time. The relevant chapter is to be reprinted as a booklet with modern information for visitors, and eleven half-tone illustrations. It will be available in 2005. The second weekend in September is close to Samuel Johnson’s birthday and they were in Devon for his birthday, so perhaps the weekend before it is appropriate. Furthermore it is the weekend when, for a number of years, many historic venues in the Plymouth area have been open to the public, including the Dockyard, so there is no access problem.

Rather than organising one tour only for 2009 perhaps this in an opportunity to make it easy for tours to take place frequently. If a family goes there is no need to concentrate entirely on venues visited by Reynolds and Johnson as members of family parties tend to enjoy different things. There is much else in the area worth seeing and doing: the National Aquarium, the seaside, boat trips, Dartmoor, Drake’s House, Plymouth Citadel, the Barbican, and so on. Certainly there is scope for a celebratory tour in 2009 but there is no special merit in trying to do it all in one go unless one has several weeks at one’s disposal. Plymouth, Torrington, Winchester, Salisbury and Kingston Lacy can be visited separately.

Anyone who is interested is invited to contact Richard Aylmer, Cromwell’s House, 17 Mill Lane, Old Marston, Oxford OX3 0PY. Tel: 01865 241024.

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Mary, Viscountess Eccles at the British Library with Hon. G H Seitz on the occasion of the 2002 Bryant Lecture, given by Mr Seitz entitled ‘A new Security for an Old America’. (Photograph by kind permission of the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library)

Mary Viscountess Eccles died at Four Oaks Farm, New Jersey, on 26 August 2003. She was President of the Johnson Society in 1957 and, with her first husband, Douglas Hyde, she helped to establish the famous collection of Johnson’s books and manuscripts at Four Oaks Farm, Somerville, New Jersey. The collection gradually expanded and became a two volume catalogue of books and documents.

The Hyde Collection, as it was called, contained an estimated eighty percent of Johnson’s letters and ‘The Hyde Edition’ of Johnson’s letters, published in 1992 by the Oxford and Princeton University Presses and edited by Professor Bruce Redford was a notable addition to the canon of Johnsonian studies. The range of Viscountess Eccles’s interests as a book lover, scholar and collector, underpinned by her learning and scholarship, was not restricted to Johnson or to the eighteenth century however, as her library contained letters from a wide range of authors such as Jane Austen, George Washington, Horatio Nelson and Peter the Great of Russia.

When her first husband, Donald Hyde, died in 1967, Mary continued to build the Four Oaks collection and continue with her writing including The Impossible Friendship: Boswell and Mrs Thrale (1973) and The Thrales of Streatham Park (1977).

She married Viscount Eccles in 1984 and the couple pursued their interests in literature, books, letters and documents. Keen to further the cause of academic letters, they endowed the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library in 1991. This was but one of many benefactions the couple made over the years to English and American academic institutions. Collections at the British Library, the Bodleian and Pembroke College, Oxford have all been beneficiaries.

Mary Eccles maintained an active interest in the British Library and only in 2002 was she unable to attend the Eccles Centre’s annual Bryant Lecture through ill health but in later meetings with the director she was always urging, with characteristic enthusiasm, the consideration of future developments.

A bibliophile, collector and Johnsonian scholar of the highest rank she was awarded a number of honorary doctorates and was an honorary fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford.
JD

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