Northampton

“ Having made this deprecation on behalf of my own criminality in using such a word as 'genteel,' I go on to say that whilst Northampton was (and is, I believe) of all towns the most genteel, Nottingham for more than two centuries has been the most insurrectionary and in a scarlet excess democratic. Nottingham, in fact, has always resembled the Alexandria of ancient days; whilst Northampton could not be other than aristocratic as the centre of a county more thickly gemmed by the ancestral seats of our nobility than any beside in the island. ”

“ Amidst all this quiet and beauty one forgets the dark problems that threaten England and thinks only of her ineffable charm. Little Brington is not less attractive than its neighbor—the thatched structure above the well in the village green and the two hoary firs overshadowing it forming a picture as quaint as pleasing. We leave the lovely villages regretfully, and winding out of the maze of byroads, take the highway that leads toward the ancient city of Northampton, whose chief distinction should be that a Washington was once its Lord Mayor. ”

“ Look at Northampton, with a franchise more democratic than even the scot and lot franchise. Northampton formerly returned Mr Perceval, and now returns gentlemen of high respectability, gentlemen who have a great stake in the prosperity and tranquillity of the country. Look at the metropolitan districts. This is an a fortiori case. Nay it is—the expression, I fear, is awkward—an a fortiori case at two removes. The ten pound householders of the metropolis are persons in a lower station of life than the ten pound householders of other towns. ”

“ NORTHAMPTON, on a hill on the banks of the river Nene, is a remarkably pleasant town, with several fine old buildings, an ancient church, an open market square, neat clean streets, and suburbs of pretty villas, overlooking, from the hill top, fat green meadows, flooded in winter. Shoemaking on a wholesale scale, is the principal occupation of the inhabitants. For strong shoes Northampton can compete in any foreign market, and a good many light articles, cut after French patterns, have been successfully made since the trade was thrown open by Peel’s tariff. ”

“ Despite his lack of principle, Northampton displayed a many-sided culture, and was reputed the most learned nobleman of his time. His taste in architecture is proved by his enlargement of Greenwich Castle, by the magnificence of his London residence, afterwards Northumberland House, which was built at his cost from the designs of Moses Glover [q.v.] , and by his supervision of Thorpe's designs for Audley End, the residence of his nephew Suffolk. ”

“ A grand old city is Norwich, with its castle, now a museum, looking over it all, with its St. Andrew’s Hall, now utilised for concerts and public meetings, with its great markets, with its Colman’s Mustard Mills, with its old houses and narrow streets. The workman, with his strikes, has driven away from Northampton a good deal of its boot and shoe manufacture. What Northampton has lost Ipswich, Colchester, and especially Norwich, have gained. There is beautiful country round Norwich; and Norwich ought to be eminently holy, for there are forty churches there, many of them very ancient. ”

“ Grey was a good soldier, but he had been a friend of Somerset, and the Duke had tried hard to involve him with Arundel and Paget in Somerset's ruin. [26] Northampton's truth could have been depended upon, but Northampton four years before had been defeated by a mob of Norfolk peasants. Northumberland, the council said, must go himself—'there was no remedy.' No man, on all accounts, could be so fit as he; 'he had achieved the victory in Norfolk once already, and was so feared, that none durst lift their weapons against him:' [27] Suffolk in his absence should command the Tower. ”

“ Each style seems quaint to those who favour the other.
The stranger would expect to find Northampton, as a factory town, a place of squalor and grime; but coming here, and emerging into the market-place from the not very pleasing entrance, his expectations are utterly shattered. There are few towns of the size of Northampton—whose186 population is now considerably over 89,000—that are so bright and clean, and prosperous-looking, as this; and the stranger, to whom its Radical politics are familiar, and to whom its choice for many years of such Parliamentary representatives as Mr. ”

“ Northampton's work was at once undone, the fishmongers regained their privileges, and the greater companies triumphed.
He did not submit quietly to his defeat; the party that he led was numerous and excited, there was talk of making him mayor in spite of his enemies, and the supporters of Brembre believed that the new lord mayor's life was threatened. Northampton was joined by a large number of men when he walked the streets, and seems to have allied himself to the anti-court party among the nobles; for the dispute in the city had a strong bearing on the affairs of the kingdom. ”

“ This the king granted; and sent back Harold to them, to Northampton, on the eve of St. Simon and St. Jude; and announced to them the same, and confirmed it by hand, and renewed there the laws of Knute. But the Northern men did much harm about Northampton, whilst he went on their errand: either that they slew men, and burned houses and corn; or took all the cattle that they could come at; which amounted to many thousands. Many hundred men also they took, and led northward with them; so that not only that shire, but others near it were the worse for many winters. ”

“ In 1613 Northampton, in accordance with his character, gave his support to his grandniece, Lady Frances, daughter of Thomas Howard, earl of Suffolk, in her endeavours to obtain a divorce from her husband, the Earl of Essex. The lady was desirous of marrying the king's favourite, Robert Car, earl of Somerset, and Northampton doubtless thought, by promoting that union, to obtain increased influence at court. Northampton and Lady Frances's father represented the wife in an interview with Essex held at Whitehall in May 1613, in the hope of obtaining his assent to a divorce. ”

“ By all historic precedents Northampton should have been the scene of a contest in the long struggle between King Charles and his Parliament; but, fortunately for the burgesses, who were commercial folk and not greatly interested, the castle was too far gone in decay to be useful to either side, and the great Northamptonshire battle of Naseby was fought twelve miles away. ”

“ Both had beauty and dignity of person, warm sympathies, good brains, abundant energy, and a spirit of hospitality which made their home the focus where the worth and intellect of the village were wont to gather and to shine brightest and warmest. Northampton has now its row of thriving stores, to which the people from neighboring villages flock on market-days, making a cheerful bustle. The elms, planted by the pioneers on either side the street, from the boughs of one of which Jonathan Edwards had preached to the Indians, now spread a goodly shade. ”

“ About a mile from Northampton we passed the Connecticut river, five hundred yards wide, in a small ferry-boat, which, as the night had already set in, was not very agreeable. At Northampton we took lodgings at Warner’s Hotel, a large, clean, and convenient inn. In front of the house is a large porch, and in the first story a large balcony. The gentlemen sit below, and the ladies walk above. It is called a piazza, and has many conveniences. Elm trees stand in front of the house, and a large reflecting lamp illuminates the house and the yard. ”

“ James, loving Rochester as much as ever, and taking a pleasure in completing the happiness of those he loved, lent a willing ear. Northampton and Suffolk both took the matter up warmly, clearly seeing how advantageous an alliance with Carr, whom they had hitherto regarded as an enemy, would be to their plans. A meeting between the relatives of both parties was arranged. It consisted of the Earls of Northampton and Suffolk on Lady Essex's side, and the Earl of Southampton and Lord Knollys on her husband's. ”

“ And yet how good is the Lord! In London we have had most delightful seasons. The glory of the Redeemer filled the tabernacle. If any doubt whether the cause we are embarked in be the cause of God, I say, “Come and see.” Are you free that I should call upon you in my return to town? I think to come by way of Northampton. You shall hear what is done in Yorkshire. I find God has blessed my preaching at Oundle to some souls. At Biddiford, Plymouth, Exeter, and Chatham the word ran and was glorified. ”

“ All the smiths in Northampton who can forge quarrell bolts, or feather them when forged, are to work day and night until 4,000 are ready and despatched. Large quantities of wine from the royal stores in London, at Northampton, and elsewhere, are to be forwarded with speed to Bedford. Knights performing castle guard at Lancaster are ordered up: greyhounds are sent for for sport. The sheriff of Bedfordshire is to supply quarrymen and masons with their levers, hammers, mauls, and wedges, and everything necessary for the preparation of stone shot for the mangonels and petraries. ”

“ Bos; “they are all shoemakers, and of course quarrelsome and contradictory, for where was there ever a shoemaker who was not conceited and easily riled? No, I have little to p. 204say in favour of Northampton, as far as the men are concerned. It’s not the men but the women that make me speak in praise of Northampton. The men are all ill-tempered, but the women quite the contrary. I never saw such a place for merched anladd as Northampton. ”

“ In November 1642, after the king's return to Oxford, he gave Banbury and that part of the country to the Earl of Northampton, who was commanded to raise a regiment of horse, which was given to the Lord Compton, his eldest son, and Sir Charles, his second son, was made lieutenant-colonel of it; to Sir William Compton, his third son, was given the castle of Banbury (ib. 93) . On 22 Dec. the parliament forces from Northampton occupied the town, and assaulted the castle, but Rupert's approach the next day relieved the earl from danger (Twyne, Musterings, apud Hearne, Dunstable, 760) . ”

“ In 1642, Elizabeth, daughter of Theophilus, second Earl of Suffolk, married Algernon Percy, tenth Earl of Northumberland, and the new master gave his name to the old mansion. The above-named Lord Northampton was the man who has been described as foolish when young, infamous when old, an encourager, at threescore years and ten, of his niece, the infamous Countess of Essex ”

“ At Springfield, twenty miles from Northampton down the Connecticut river, is the government armoury. We left Northampton, to visit this establishment, under the most oppressive heat, with five ladies and two gentlemen in the stage-coach, into which we were crowded, somewhat like those that were shut up in the Trojan horse. We arrived about 3 o’clock in the afternoon, and again found an excellent tavern, which was provided with a piazza. Our ride passed through a well-cultivated region of country, along the right bank of the Connecticut river ”

“ In the council which opened in Northampton Castle on Wednesday, 7th October, we see the Curia Regis in the developed form which it had taken under Henry and his justiciar, De Lucy, carrying out an exact legal system, and observing the forms of a very elaborate procedure. The king and his inner council of the great lords, the prelates, and the officers of the household, withdrew to an upper chamber of the castle ”

“ But this is again recompensed by my Lord Arran, a sober and worthy gentleman, who has espoused the Lady Ann Spencer, a young lady of admirable accomplishments and virtue.
23d August, 1688. I left this noble place and conversation, my lady having provided carriages to convey us back in the same manner as we went, and a dinner being prepared at Dunstable against our arrival. Northampton, [Pg 277] having been lately burned and re-edified, is now become a town that for the beauty of the buildings, especially the church and townhouse, may compare with the neatest in Italy itself. ”

“ Reforms in the city during Northampton's first mayoralty, 1381-1382. The majority of the citizens favoured the doctrines of Wycliffe and his followers and endeavoured to carry them out. The Duke of Lancaster had no real sympathy with the Lollards; he only wished to make use of them for a political purpose. It was otherwise with the Londoners, and with John de Northampton, a supporter of the duke, who succeeded to the mayoralty soon after the suppression of the revolt. ”

“ There are several factories, in which large numbers of young persons are employed, but the majority work by the piece at home for the master manufacturers.
Northampton is also great in the fairs and markets of a rich agricultural district, and rejoices over races twice a year, in which the facilities of the railroad have rendered some compensation to the inn-keepers for the loss of the coaching trade. Northampton was originally intended to be a main station of the railway between London and Birmingham. ”

“ It cannot be said these virtues perished with the first possessors of the earldom of Northampton, since a higher amount of architectural knowledge, a clearer insight into its principles, and a better appreciation of its beauties, attended by more disinterested benevolence, by a self-devotion to the cause of humanity and the progress of social refinement, seem to have descended as the indefeasible attributes of the title. ”

“ Fighting between the adherents of York on one side, and of Lancaster on the other, continued with unabated fury, until York having gained a victory at Northampton, called a Parliament, and walked straight up to the throne. ”