1/2 HISTORY OF HARTING. 



John Caryll, after the purchase of Lady Holt, dated 8 

 April, 1768, states that the parish had charged him 

 for the poor rate that half year to Lady Day, 1768, 

 at 2s. 6d. in the pound.* When all these burdens are 

 considered, the price of .19,000 for Uppark and 

 1,000 acres of land, does not appear insignificant or 

 disproportionate ; for it must be remembered that 

 it would be equivalent to at least ,40,000 at present. 



Having now completed the records of the Fords 

 of East Harting, I have only to describe the few 

 remaining years of the Carylls. From the death 

 of the old Squire, in 1735, the voluminous corres- 

 pondence religiously preserved in the British Museum 

 is little else than a mass of dunning letters ; and each 

 year up to the finale of the MSS. in 1768, marks 

 the steady advance of the tide of debt, misery, and 

 ruin. It would seem far more respectful, not to say 

 humane, towards an ancient and honourable house to 

 have destroyed, or at all events suppressed from public 

 gaze, the monotonous records of its degradation ; and 

 if a Caryll were to re-appear now-a-days, he might 

 justly complain that many have brought the rake 

 and few the broom. No doubt much is nationally 

 interesting, as relating to a family connected with 

 James II. and with Pope, and other great men : still 

 at least the story of the end of the Carylls might have 

 been told far more shortly, and those who believe it 

 to be a duty to destroy letters, may be fortified in 

 their opinion by a perusal of the last six volumes of 

 the Caryll correspondence. How such a collection of 

 trash, as much of it is, could have been admitted to 

 the shelves of the British Museum, is passing strange. 



In April, 1736, Lady Mary heard from her brother 

 that John Caryll, the Squire, was dead, and had left 

 no will, but that a letter was found in his pocket which 

 was intended to be sent for one to make it. " Master 



* Caryll Corresp., Vol. IX. Add 1 - 28,235, p. 398. 



