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Extract from The Poetical Works of Richard Furness

By G Calvert Holland MD, 1858

The poet was born at Eyam August 2nd, 1791, in a house which had been occupied by his ancestors nearly three centuries. Over the door is seen, at this day, the inscription [R 1615 F], cut in bold relief, and in good preservation. The pedigree of the family shows, according to the parish register, eleven descents from 1589.

The ancestors of the poet were engaged in agriculture, farming their own land, and using for the pasturing of their flocks of sheep the free and extensive moorlands, which in those days formed a large portion of the parish of Eyam. In wills and other documents of the time, they are styled yeomen. From causes, not satisfactorily explained, the family became reduced in circumstances, probably from the branches springing from it, which were early settled at Stoney Middleton and Pilsley - neighbouring districts of Derbyshire - each carrying along with it portions of the paternal estate. This separation occurred about two centuries ago; and as is usual in mountainous and thinly populated districts, as in the highlands of Scotland, the descendants of these branches, though now very remotely connected by the ties of blood, keep up social relations.

One of the progenitors of Richard Furness deserves particular notice, the persecution to which he was subject, and the heroic stubbornness and independence he displayed, throwing interesting light on the despotism and bigotry of the period. The fact I shall mention is important in another point of view. The persecuted Richard Furness of 1660, and Richard Furness the poet, were not less alike certain mental qualities, than in name. The latter was no degree inferior to the former in asserting his right to think and act according to his conscience, whatever might the opposition or sacrifices to which it exposed him.

The following is abridged from an "Abstract of the Sufferings of the People called Quakers, from 1660 to 1666* :-
"FOR NOT PAYING STEEPLE-HOUSE RATES.- Taken from Richard Furness, of Eyam, for £0. 1s. 4d. demand, goods value £0. 3s. 4d.
FOR NOT PAYING EASTER OFFERINGS.- Richard Furness of Eyam: for fivepence demanded for Easter offerings had goods taken from him worth £1. 6s. 8d.
FOR MEETING TOGETHER TO WORSHIP GOD.- On the 23rd of the same month (4th month, 1661), a meeting at Eyam, in the High Peak, within came the constable of the town with soldiers, and plucked down Elizabeth Deane then praying, dragging others out by the hair of the head. Richard Furness and others were taken to Crich and committed to prison at Derby. They were cruelly used, nor were their friends permitted to visit or relieve them."

This Richard Furness was one of the early converts of Fox, and from these facts it is evident that he thoroughly imbibed the principles and spirit of this singular and extraordinary man to whom society is under deep obligations. He taught his followers, and set the example, to suffer in the cause of right: to allow of no interference with conscience in matters of religion. His zeal, designated fanaticism, from the rough and discourteous manner in which it was exercised, excited attention and produced powerful impressions on the minds of men, not ignorant and grovelling in their habits, but possessing intelligence and respectability of position. It was largely among this class of persons that his doctrines took root, and yielded valuable fruit. His determined opposition to existing laws and exactions, was the occasion of beneficial results unconnected with his religious views. It spread widely abroad a kindred spirit of independence, kept it in vigorous activity until rulers became sensible of the inutility of coercion, and of the propriety of a wiser course of policy. They were inapt pupils, and late to learn. Let us not, however, be ungrateful to the memory of those who contributed to these happy results. Their sufferings were the foundation of many of the privileges and advantages we now enjoy.

Although society has made extraordinary progress within the last two centuries in the liberty of conscience, the expression of opinion, and the freedom from unjust impositions, nevertheless much remains to be accomplished in the direction of amelioration. There is a wide difference between the acknowledged right of expressing opinion, and so treating the exercise of it, that it suggests no line of demarcation interfering with social intercourse, - practically and prejudicially defining the point to which the exercise of it shall be restricted, and within which alone it shall be tolerated. Society has yet to learn what the right of opinion implies! On this subject it is in the swaddling habiliments of infancy. The light of a Samuel Bailey is the light of a remote star which has not reached the earth, or so faintly, that; its influence is unfelt by the many who are capable of reflection.*

Is it not singular that, after two Centuries of unremitting opposition, we have still the " Steeple-house Rates", for the abrogation of which our forefathers suffered persecution and imprisonment? Had their descendants had a tithe of their independence, or of their intense devotional feeling, which enforced respect and toleration from ignorance and despotism, this remnant of a dark and worthless period would not now be in existence. Luxury, however, enervates. It begets an indifference to political, social, and religious rights. Much of what is designated civilization is electroplating. That which is considered good is on the outside, in place of being within. It would be more valuable in animating than adorning lifeless forms.

In the preceding extract it is stated that soldiers entered the room with the constable. It would be difficult to find a soldier on duty at the present day within many miles of Eyam. The inhabitants in those wild and beautiful localities do not require this class of men, either for protection or to secure the authority of the law. In common with the rest of society, they have been moulded into other social and mental conditions, expressing the onward march of intelligence, morality, and religion.

The poet, like his predecessor of the seventeenth century, was stubbornly determined in matters of conscience, and would have suffered any amount of persecution, rather than submit to that which interfered with the exercise of it. His conduct through life displayed his independence. Poverty in no degree relaxed its sternness.

Samuel Furness, the father of the poet, with three brothers and two sisters, was left an orphan when an infant. The brothers and sisters were distributed among the maternal relations, and he was brought up by the paternal grandmother, at Eyam. Neither he nor his brothers received any education. Samuel, however, by his industry and steady perseverance became a respectable scholar, and thoughout his after life kept a diary of the striking events of his time, local as well as general. He and one of his brothers, Peter, joined in the cultivation of the few acres of land which carne to them; and from some connexion with lead mines, in which this part of Derbyshire is rich, and by rigid economy, they were enabled to make additions to the small paternal estate, but even with these it did not exceed thirty acres. The brother remained a bachelor, and the earnings of both formed a common stock. Samuel married, in 1790, Margaret, the youngest daughter of John Bradshaw, of Frith Hall, Brampton, near Chesterfield, and the offspring were seven sons and two daughters, and seven are now living, well advanced in years and in comfortable circumstances.

The father of the poet could have been no ordinary man. An orphan neglected in his education, he became by his own efforts a fair scholar, and though his means were humble, - with little beyond a farm of thirty acres to depend upon, they were so brought up as to be in a position to rise in the scale of society, and some of them to acquire an independency. Two of the sons, are Samuel, a farmer and innkeeper at Eyam, and Peter, of Middleton, in the same neighbourhood, of whom I shall have to speak hereafter.

The seven sons and two daughters received such an education as the locality afforded. They were sent to the school at Eyam, which is admitted to have been ably conducted at the time, and if they failed to make progress it was their own fault. The expense of their tuition must have been considerable, yet this was cheerfully submitted to by the father, and it may reasonably be concluded not without some sacrifices on his part; but these he regarded as trifles compared with the advantages he was conferring on his children. To give them this education, and otherwise to aid them in life, out of the means resulting from the cultivation of a farm of thirty acres, only moderately productive, bespeaks a mind of no common order. Most men, in his circumstances, lose sight of the mental elevation of their offspring, in the screwing and niggard disposition to accumulate money at every cost. The philosophy of Samuel Furness was of a different kind, and it would be unjust to withhold this passing tribute to his intelligence and liberality.

The mother of the poet is described and remembered as a person of vigorous intellect, great firmness of mind, and possessing a remarkably retentive memory. She was noted for the interest she took in the distresses and misfortunes of others.

At the time of which I am speaking, nearly seventy years ago, the peasants and others engaged in milling operations subsisted on coarse food. Wheaten bread and fresh animal meat, as beef and mutton, were things which they seldom saw and tasted, except at the annual feast or wakes. Hence the prevalence of goitre or bronchocele, which disfigured numbers of them. The disease is now rarely observed. Affections of the skin from the same cause, the inadequacy of nutritious diet, were likewise exceedingly common. The condition of these classes is now greatly improved; there is, nevertheless, a handsome margin for more generous living, as the following anecdote will show, which is literally correct. The facts may not be altogether uninteresting to some succeeding historian of these industrious and money-saving districts.

Four years ago, I was requested to visit a patient at Bradwell, Derbyshire, sixteen miles from Sheffield, the population of which is 1800, and it contains seven inns and two beerhouses. I, and a son in his teens, drove over on a Sunday forenoon, - a day on which the good things of the table are usually to be met with in most country places. It was spring, when the air was keen and invigorating. On arriving at our destination, a little before one o'clock p.m., an hour when these good things are supposed to be warm and at hand, we put up at one of the inns of the village, like a town from its size, and ordered dinner. The landlady was evidently embarrassed at this announcement. Perceiving it, before she could reply, I stated we mere not very particular; for, indeed, such was the utterance of the appetite after traversing the bleak hills on our road, with high mountains on either hand, - beef or mutton in any form would be welcome. She smiled, and said, "We do not keep these articles". As a further proof that we were not fastidious, I remarked that we would take broiled ham and poached eggs. The reply was, "We have no ham". I then told her to accompany the poached eggs with bacon. At this she shook her head, and said, "We have no bacon". Curiosity being excited to ascertain what the house could really afford to travellers, she was asked what she could furnish. The answer was, "We keep nothing but hung beef," which is beef salted and dried. This was Bradwell in 1854. Others having experienced the same hospitable treatment, it has given rise to a saying which is not at all inapplicable or wanting in point. When a person is spoken of or to, who is going to Bradwell, the natural exclamation is, God help him! which means, if going thither, he will require the assistance of a special providence. On our return to Hathersage, a thriving village on our road, we lied no reason to complain of want of success.

The poet in his infancy was noticed for a precocity of understanding. At four years of age, instructed by his mother, lie was able to read with considerable ease. Mr.Froggatt a well-known and respected surgeon at Eyam, and a friend of the family, used to mount him on a chair to hear his achievements in this way, which were not unrewarded by his generous and discriminating patron. As a child, he was thoughtful and self-willed, and shewed a taste for mechanism and sculpture. Before he had entered his teens, he lied cut a sun-dial, and in a style that would have done credit to one much further advanced in years. At a later period of life his talent in this way was conspicuously displayed. Though he was constantly among horses and farming occupations, neither particularly interested him. An anecdote is told which illustrates his character at this period. His father one day employed him to drive the horses while he ploughed. In a little while, they seemed to have their own way, and by no means kept in a straight line. The father perceiving this, took up a sod and threw it at the boy, and asked him what he was doing? The answer was, "I was thinking of a rule in Murray's Grammar". He had then gone to school in the village.

In this family, as in that of Burns - and the circumstances of the two have a remarkably close resemblance, - the youngsters that could work had to give a helping hand when it was urgently required. The poet often related with pride his feats at this time. When a little turned thirteen, he boasted that he once mowed an acre of grass in a day. It may, however, be inferred, from the generally sterile character of the soil, its valuable properties being in veins of lead beneath, that the crop was light. At present, with better farming, it is not very abundant, except in particular situations.

In the village of Eyam was a school which appears to have been well managed. Richard Furness was sent to it at the age of four, and had during the years spent there two or three masters in succession, who knew how to apply a thick leathers thong to the backs of the boys, of which the poet got his share. He occasionally played the truant, led by curiosity to watch manual operations of various kinds. He was then learning according to the stirring instincts of his nature, but for this species of instruction, his sensibilities were reached in a very disagreeable form, and two sorts of impressions were left: one which a few weeks removed; the other which died only with memory.

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[Transcribed by Paul Bradford - 17th March 2001]

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