170 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
[2.4 S. No 9., Mar. 1.56. 
for his great commander, to whom he sent the 
coffin with the following letter : 
“ Sir, —I have taken the liberty of presenting you a 
coffin, made from the mainmast of ‘ L’Orient ;’ that when 
you have finished your military career in this world, you 
may be buried in one of your trophies. But that that 
period may be far distant, is the earnest wish of your 
sincere friend, BenJAMIN HALLOWELL.” —Southey’s Life 
of Nelson. 
Nelson showed how fully he appreciated the 
spirit and feeling of the gallant donor, by making 
that coffin his constant cabin companion; and it 
was only at the earnest entreaty of a favourite 
servant, that the great hero would consent to its 
removal. The subjoined extract, from The De- 
spatches and Letters of Lord Nelson (a work which 
I had no opportunity of previously consulting) 
may be interesting to some of your readers, who 
may not have immediate access to that valuable 
collection : 
“No present sent to Nelson, after the battle of the 
Nile, was so extraordinary as that which he received 
from his gallant friend Captain Hallowell, of the ‘ Swift- 
sure;’ and the idea could have occurred only to a very 
original mind. After ‘L’Orient’ blew up, part of her 
mainmast was taken on board of the ‘Swiftsure;’ and in 
May, 1799, Captain Hallowell, fearing the effect of all 
the praise and flattery lavished on his chief, determined 
to. remind him that he was mortal.* He therefore 
ordered a coffin to be made out of part of ‘ L’Orient’s’ 
mast; and was so careful that nothing whatever should 
be used in its construction that was not taken from it, 
that the staples were formed of the spikes drawn from 
the cheeks of the mast, which were driven into the edge 
of the coffin; and when the lid was put on, toggles were 
put into the staples to keep it down, so as to prevent the 
necessity of using nails or screws for that purpose. The 
nails in the coffin were likewise made from the spikes 
taken from the mast. A paper was pasted on the bottom, 
containing the following certificate : —‘I do hereby cer- 
tify, that every part of this coffin is made of the wood 
and iron of ‘ L’Orient,’ most of which was picked up by 
His Majesty’s ship under my command, in the Bay of 
Aboukir. — ‘ Swiftsure,’ May 23, 1799. 
‘ Ben. HALLOWELL.’ ¢ 
“This singular present was accompanied by the fol- 
lowing letter, which is taken from the original in the 
Nelson Papers; a fact, it is necessary to state, because 
both Charnock and Harrison, not contented with destroy- 
ing its simplicity, altered the address to ‘Sir,’ and 
changed the date to ‘ August, 1798,’ to make it appear 
that the coffin was sent immediately after the battle of 
the Nile. Though printed correctly by Clarke and 
M‘Arthur, Southey followed the copy given by Charnock 
and Harrison. It is greatly to be regretted that Nelson’s 
reply has not been found: 
“<The Right Hon. Lord Nelson, K.B.3 
. © * My Lord, 
“¢Herewith I send you a coffin made of part of 
‘L’Orient’s’ mainmast; that when you are tired of this 
life, you may be buried in one of your own trophies :—but 
* From the information of Rear-Admiral Inglefield, 
C.B., brother-in-law of Admiral Sir Benjamin Hallowell. 
_ t Marshall’s Naval Biography, vol. i. p. 474.2 
may that period be far distant, is the sincere wish of 
your obedient and much obliged servant, 
“¢ Ben. HALLOWELL * 
«“« « Swiftsure,” May 23rd, 1799,’ 
“The astonishment that prevailed among the crew of 
the ‘ Vanguard,’ Lord Nelson’s flag-ship, when they were 
convinced it was a coffin which had been brought on 
board, will be long remembered by their officers. ‘We 
shall have hot work of it, indeed!’ said one of the sea- 
men; ‘you see the Admiral intends to fight till he is 
killed, and there he is to be buried.’ Lord Nelson highly 
appreciated the present, and for some time had it placed 
upright, with the lid on, against the bulk-head of his 
cabin behind the chair on which he sat at dinner. At 
length, by the entreaties of an old servant, he was pre- 
vailed on to allow it to be carried below. When his 
lordship left the ‘ Vanguard,’ the coffin was removed into 
the ‘ Foudroyant,’ where it remained for many days on 
the gratings of the quarter-deck. While his officers were 
one day looking at it, he came out of the cabin: ‘ You 
may look at it, gentlemen,’ said he, ‘as long as you 
please; but, depend on it, none of you shall have it.’ 
It is satisfactory to state, that Nelson was actually buried 
in this coffin.” — Nelson’s Despatches, Letters, §c., with 
Notes by Sir N, H. Nicolas, vol. iii. pp. 88-9. 
F, Psitxorr. 
DESCENDANTS OF JOHN BUNYAN, 
I beg to forward for “ N. & Q.” the following 
information of the descendants of John Bunyan, 
which I have taken from the lips of Mrs. Jackson, 
a grand-niece of the late Robert Bunyan, and the 
oldest daughter of the late Mrs. Seward, whose 
name will appear among the others. 
The late Robert Bunyan had one daughter, the 
present Mrs. Keyworth of Lincoln: she has two 
sons and one daughter living. These are the 
direct descendants of John Bunyan, in the female 
line. Robert Bunyan had also three nephews and 
three nieces: one of the former died young, the 
second was the late Mr. Charles Robinson of 
Wilford, near Nottingham (where Kirke White, 
the poet, lies interred); and the third is Mr. 
Robert Robinson, solicitor, Huddersfield, now 
living. Of the nieces, two are living, and one 
dead. The oldest is the present Mrs. Sarah Owen, 
of Carrington, near Boston ; the second is Miss E. 
VY. Robinson, of Lincoln ; and the third was Mrs. 
Susannah Seward, who died a few years back at 
Grantham. (Several of these have had families, 
most of whom are now living.) 
At the sale of some of the effects of the late 
Mr. Charles Robinson, of Wilford, who possessed 
several relics of Bunyan; one of these, a gold 
snuff-box, was stolen from one of the rooms, and 
never recovered. The others were passed to Mr. 
Robert Bunyan, or Miss Robinson, in whose hands 
they now are. They in part consisted of an arm- 
chair, and a silver tankard. It is to be hoped, 
these relics will be religiously preserved and noted. 
* Autograph, in the Nelson Papers. 
grap 
