XVI 



MEMOIR 



until her death in 1825, when it dissolved and left the latest 

 Alnaschar face to face with bankruptcy. The grandniece, Stephen's 

 daughter, the one who had not 'married imprudently,' appears 

 to have been the first ; for she was taken abroad by the golden 

 aunt, and died in her care at Ghent in 1792. Next she adopted 

 William, the youngest of the five nephews ; took him abroad 

 with her it seems as if that were in the formula ; was shut up 

 with him in Paris by the Revolution ; brought him back to 

 Windsor, and got him a place in the King's Body Guard, where 

 he attracted the notice of George III. by his proficiency in 

 German. In 1797, being on guard at St. James's Palace, 

 William took a cold which carried him off; and Aunt Anne was 

 once more left heirless. Lastly, in 1805, perhaps moved by the 

 Admiral, who had a kindness for his old midshipman, perhaps 

 pleased by the good looks and the good nature of the man him- 

 self, Mrs. Buckner turned her eyes upon Charles Jenkin. He 

 was not only to be the heir, however, he was to be the chief 

 hand in a somewhat wild scheme of family farming. Mrs. 

 Jenkin, the mother, contributed 164 acres of land ; Mrs. Buckner, 

 570, some at Northiam, some farther off; Charles let one-half 

 of Stowting to a tenant, and threw the other and various 

 scattered parcels into the common enterprise ; so that the whole 

 farm amounted to near upon a thousand acres, and was scattered 

 over thirty miles of country. The ex-seaman of thirty-nine, on 

 whose wisdom and ubiquity the scheme depended, was to live 

 in the meanwhile without care or fear. He was to check himself 

 in nothing ; his two extravagances, valuable horses and worthless 

 brothers, were to be indulged in comfort ; and whether the year 

 quite paid itself or not, whether successive years left accumulated 

 savings or only a growing deficit, the fortune of the golden aunt 

 should in the end repair all. 



On this understanding Charles Jenkin transported his 

 family to Church House, Northiam : Charles the second, then a 

 child of three, among the number. Through the eyes of the 

 boy we have glimpses of the life that followed : of Admiral and 

 Mrs. Buckner driving up from Windsor in a coach and six, two 

 post horses and their own four ; of the house full of visitors, the 



