Agnew

“ The Political Economy of a Weekly Sabbath, as corrective of the secular and cold-blooded system of six days’ pay for seven days’ work, was not generally understood in his day, so that he was betrayed into upbraiding my benevolent and patriotic father, the late Sir Andrew Agnew, as a Pharisee. Neither did my father then (nor myself now) feel any resentment against him in consequence, being only disposed to apply to him a parody of the late Lady Dufferin’s celebrated song, and to say
’Tis a pity when charming scribblers
Write of things that they don’t understand. ”

“ A poor weaver, named Gilbert Campbell, at Glenluce in Galloway, had given offence to a sturdy beggar, named Agnew, ‘a most wicked and avowed atheist, for which he was hanged at Dumfries.’ The wretch went away muttering that he would do the family a mischief. ”

“ Sir Andrew Agnew, fifth Baronet of Lochnau, twelfth and last of the hereditary Sheriffs of Galloway, was born in 1687. He joined Marlborough's army as a volunteer immediately after the battle of Blenheim.... He fought bravely at Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet. At the Peace of Utrecht he was reduced as Captain on half-pay of the Scots Greys. Soon after he eloped with a kinswoman, the daughter of Captain Thomas Agnew, of the same regiment. This lady, to whom he was married in London, bore him 18 children. She survived her husband, and died at the age of 87. ”

“ Agnew lost no time. As soon as the funeral services were over she questioned Mrs. Lyman as to her plans for the future. The poor old lady felt bewildered at having to make any plans, so lovingly had she been cared for all her life. She had scarcely realized as yet that her one protector was gone; above all, that he had made no provision for her. Homeless and penniless and nearly seventy years of age, where should she go? What should she do? Where would a helpless being go in straits but to the One who plans and governs our lives? ”

“ I only wish to make you happy. Were you not happy with Mr. Milton during the Week you spent together here at Sheepscote?" Thereat I coulde not refrayn from bursting into Tears. Rose now sprang forward; but Mr. Agnew sayd, "Let her weep, let her weep, it will do her good." Then, alle at once it occurred to me that my Husband was awaiting me at Home, and I cried, "Oh, is Mr. Milton at Forest Hill?" and felt my Heart full of Gladness. Mr. Agnew answered, "Not soe, not soe, poor Moll:" and, looking up at him, I saw him wiping his Brow, though the Daye was soe chill. ”

“ As a lecturer, Agnew was always simple, clear and interesting. According to one of his assistants, Dr. Charles H. May, of New York, "In his first lecture, I remember, he always laid stress upon the necessity for the ophthalmologist being observant, and he regularly illustrated the difference between seeing and observing by the following anecdote: A man was preparing to end his day's work one summer afternoon and found that he had allowed comparatively little time for catching the boat which connected with his train. ”

“ Born in New York City, she did not enter the missionary field until she was over thirty years of age. Was then sent by the Board of Foreign Missions to Ceylon to work in the Oodooville Boarding School. Miss Agnew was the first unmarried missionary to arrive in Ceylon, and caused great consternation among the natives. She never returned to America, but gave her whole life to work among the people of India, and died an old lady in 1883. ”

“ I sayd. "Very grand, but very feasible, for a Woman as well as a Man," rejoined Mr. Agnew, "and we shall be driven to the Wall alle our Lives, unless we have this victorious Struggle with Circumstances. I seldom allude, Cousin, to yours, which are almoste too delicate for me to meddle with; and yet I hardlie feele justified in letting soe many opportunities escape. Do I offend? or may I go on?—Onlie think, then, how voluntarilie you have placed yourself in your present uncomfortable Situation. The Tree cannot resist the graduall Growth of the Moss upon it ”

“ Returning from England in 1881, Agnew re-entered the legislative council in 1884. On 8 March 1886 he formed a ministry in succession to (Sir) Adye Douglas [q. v. Suppl. II] , and was premier till 29 March 1887 ”

“ It had something to dae wi' a wumman. I've forgotten the partic'lers: but I think the King was auld King Hal."
"And what happened to the keeper?" asked Agnew.
"Oh, him," replied Davidson. "The King chopped his heid off. And that, or something like it, is what will happen to you, my lad," he said, looking meaningly at me, "if Lag hears ye talk ony sic nonsense. If thae damnable Covenanters didna nurse their consciences like sickly bairns they would be a bit mair pliable, and gi'e us less work." ”

“ It is a great misfortune for you to be born in that religion, and that the Holy Ghost has not enlightened you. Withdraw.
I was remanded to the prison; and two hours after, the attorney-general came to tell me that if I would change my religion, I should have my pardon, and that they would help me to a good employment at Brest I gave him the same answer that I had given to the king’s attorney at St. Malo, namely, that I was ready to lose my life rather than renounce my religion; whereupon he went away, commanding to put me to the chain with some other galley slaves. ”

“ A Huguenot wife reached England. The husband, who had taken a different road to avoid suspicion, was captured and consigned to a French prison. His cell had an iron floor, which was heated from beneath till it was red hot, whenever the attempt to torture him out of his religion was resorted to. He became a cripple, and was at last let out, to go about the town on crutches. He had no means of corresponding with his wife, and knew not whether she was safe, or even alive. But at last he found his way to London, and startled the passengers by enquiring if they knew where Louise his wife was. ”

“ I cannot say that I have learned in England to be a moderate man in matters of religion, for I never approved any sort of persecution one moment of my life. But ’tis in this country that I have learned to have a right notion of religion — an advantage that can never be too much valued. Being a studious man, it was very natural for me to write some books, which I have done, partly in English and partly in French, for the space of twenty years. ”

“ Some one at length thought of directing him to a coffee house near Soho Square, kept by a French refugee, and resorted to by Huguenots; but even there he could get no information. A pedlar, overhearing all that was said in the coffee-room, silently resolved to enquire for the poor stranger’s wife in every town where French settlers were to be found. At length, at Canterbury, his enquiries made a noise, and Louise, who was there, and living by needle-work, lost no time in starting for London. Reduced to the lowest poverty, and utterly despairing of seeing her again, the poor man was found. ”

“ I beg of you to assure the Duke of Zell and the Elector that I shall continue all my lifetime in the same sentiments of respect and attachment for their family. I am too old to change, and too deeply impressed with the sentiments of the late King, my master, ever to deviate from them. Besides, I love my religion and hate slavery. I hope my son, who is on his return from Italy, will have the honour of making his court at Hanover, and of being received as the son of a faithful servant to the family. ”

“ If I could travel with the post I would soon be in London. I am buying horses, and I will make every exertion which my age will allow. May God console you and fortify you.
“Ruvigny.” The Marquis’s journey did not take place. Barillon, the French Ambassador in England, undertook the duty of requesting for him an audience with the English king. The reply of Charles was first printed by Sir John Dalrymple, and it has been verified by Guizot, [18] — “I do not wish to prevent Monsieur De Ruvigny from coming here, but my Lord Russell’s head will be off before he arrives.” ”

“ J’aurois fort envie de faire les choses pour lesquelles V.M. montre plus de penchant, et j’aurois marché des demain; mais (comme V.M. aura vu) par les avis des Officiers Generaux que toute l’armée est sans souliers, et qu’on ne feroit pas deux journées de marche que la moitié demeureroit pied-nud, il faut attendre qu’ils nous en viennent d’Angleterre ou Mr. Harbord a envoyé; cela nous fait perdre l’occasion de marcher en même temps sur la droite vers la rivière de Shannon, pendant que les ennemis s’eloignent de nous. ”

“ His spirited rule had been carried on amidst frequent bodily suffering, as may be inferred from a letter from Lady Russell which he received in Dublin, and from which I quote what follows:—
“The merciful providence of God it is our duty to pray for and trust in; then it shall be well in the end, in this world or a better. I beseech God to give the consolation of His Holy Spirit to enable you to struggle with bodily pains. Your resignation I have no doubt of; but nature will shrink when the weight is heavy, and presses hard. ”

“ They then sent us from Brest to Dinan, which is forty leagues distant; we performed most of the journey on foot, every league is three long miles. We were five days and a half on the journey, and David and I have walked twenty-one miles in a day. Had it not been for some gentlemen that were with us, we should never have been able to make the journey; for our officer was not with us, and did not know we were gone until after our departure. ”

“ I give and bequeath to Anne Dubourdieu, my daughter, who is still at Montpellier in France, the other annuity of 1706, No. 1771, which is also of £14 per annum, upon condition (and not otherwise) that she shall come here in England and profess the Protestant religion, willing and intending also that, although she comes here, she shall not have the power to dispose of the fund but after she shall have lived here ten years a Protestant; nor shall she receive anything of the income whilst she shall continue a Papist either in France or here ”

“ But if men are to be censured when they give their opinions to the best of their understandings, I must expect to be found fault with as well as the rest. My Lord Galway and everybody in Spain have done their duty. And though I must own that Lord has been unhappy, and that he had no positive orders for a battle, yet I must do him the justice to say, that the whole council of war were of his opinion, to fight the enemy before the coming up of the Duke of Orleans with a reinforcement of ten or twelve thousand men. ”

“ The next day he was seized with what proved to be his last illness, but it seemed to be very slight; he, however, from the first, said calmly and decidedly, “I am ready to go wherever Providence leads me. I have not preached the truth, as it is in Jesus, so long, without making a personal application of it. Whatever be the way God may be pleased to dispose of me, I have no other will but His.” ”

“ When we came into the Bight of Benin, I soon found what a cargo of mules meant, and one of the men, an Englishman like myself, said he know’d of a king as lived somewhere in those parts, about twenty miles up the country, that had taken him home and cured him of a fever once when he was wrecked upon that coast, and that if the captain Mould send a dozen hands with him, and give a trifle head-money, he’d bring away the whole village, king and all. ”

“ But persons, who presented themselves for the purpose of annoying me, had all license for doing so, and of such people there were only too many to be found. Even your poor mother saw me but rarely and with the greatest difficulty, which obliged her, though very inconvenient from the approach of her accouchement, to make a journey to Soissons in order to try and obtain from our Intendant the favour that she should be allowed to take care of me in my illness, and that some kind of liberty should be afforded to me. ”

“ The heading of the first page of the imprint (already mentioned) is, “The method or skill of good preaching, being the advice of a French minister to his son when he was entering on the ministry, translated out of the French by a near relation — the father and son were preachers of the Word in the French and Walloon Reformed Churches, and both are long since dead” (1701) .
The father’s widow, Mrs Delmé, made her will in 1665, and the young pasteur had died before that date. She had joined her son, Peter, in London. ”

“ Justel’s Dedicatory Epistle is “To Monsieur Conrart. Since it is you, sir, who inspired me with the thought of undertaking the defence of our common cause against a Prelate of the reputation of the Bishop of Condom, be pleased also to become responsible to the public for the manner in which I have acquitted myself herein. I am persuaded a man could not set here a better name than yours, to do no wrong to himself, or to give more weight to the Answer he had made. It is notorious that you are known through all parts where desert is known. ”

“ During his residence in Scotland, he has not lived like a stranger in a foreign land, but like a citizen among his fellows. The study of letters he has prosecuted so successfully, as not only to be able to soothe by their suavity the sorrows incident to his disastrous condition, but also to have provided for himself and his family a resource against the future contingencies of life. ”

“ She is the most charming, agreeable woman in the world, without any of the ill humours of eighty, though of those years.”
Happily the much beloved lady recovered, and did not execute her Will till 20th October 1718. She alluded to herself thus:— “While I yet enjoy a tolerable measure of health, and God has preserved to me the free use of my senses, I have thought fitt to make my Will, in order to dispose of what estate I have here. ”