By the Rev. J. Wilkinson. 339 
sand” he was called from the annual value of his estates. But his 
plantations and roads, his additions to Longleat, his preparations 
for the bride who never came, his hospitable treats, which Dryden 
has immortalised in Absalom and Achitophcl,! his political ex- 
penses, his partisanship of the Duke of Monmouth’s popular but 
most costly pretensions; induced early application to money lenders. 
A year only after coming into his fine estate, we find him, not yet 
indeed in the hands of the Jews, but of a good Christian, his kins- 
man John Hall of Bradford, who had married his sister Elizabeth. 
In 1670, when Tom became “‘of ten thousand,” John Hall became 
Sheriff of Wilts; and, though that office is calculated to diminish 
the holder’s means, we find him purchasing large additions to his 
ancestral acres, and lending his ready cash on the excellent security 
of the broad meadows of Monkton. 
Thomas Thynne was murdered in Piccadilly, at the instigation 
of Count Koningsmark, in February 1682, and John Hall was 
named executor of his will, by which the equity of redemption of 
the Monkton property passed to John Hall and John Keen of Lin- 
coln’s Inn, who subsequently released his interest to John Hall. 
This last at his death, in 1711, left one daughter Elizabeth, the 
wife of Thomas Baynton, Esq., of Chalfield. The only child of 
Mr. and Mrs. Baynton was Rachel Baynton, 16 years old, and ap- 
parently unmarried, at the date of her grandfather’s death. By 
1 “The crowd that still believe their kings oppress, 
With lifted hands their young Messiah bless ; 
Who now begins his progress to ordain 
With chariots, horsemen, and a num’rous train ; 
From East to West his glories he displays, 
And, like the sun, the promised land surveys. 
Fame runs before him as the morning star, 
And shouts of joy salute him from afar : 
Each house receives him as a guardian god, 
And consecrates the place of his abode. 
But hospitable treats did most commend 
Wise Issachar, his wealthy western friend.” 
Tom was ‘‘ Issachar” because he was ‘‘a strong ass couching down between 
two burdens, and bowed his shoulder to bear and became a servant unto tribute.” 
But why ‘“‘wise”? It can hardly be for mere alliteration’s sake, And yet, as far 
as we know of Tom, he was rather wealthy than wise. 
