CHAPTER XX 



HOME LIFE IN LONDON 



The English mind is homely, intimate and cordial. ANATOLE 

 FRANCE. 



When duty leads, pleasure seldom loiters long behind. Dr. J. 



FOTHERGILL, 1766. 



Oh London, thou art great in glory, and envied for thy greatness : 

 thy Towers, thy Temples, and thy Pinnacles stand upon thy head like 

 borders of fine gold, thy waters like fringes of silver hang at the hems 

 of thy garments. Thou art the goodliest of thy neighbors, but the 

 proudest ; the wealthiest, but the most wanton. Thou hast all things 

 in thee to make thee fairest, and all things in thee to make thee foulest. 

 THOMAS DEKKER, 1606. 



A PICTURE of the home life at Harpur Street has come 

 down to us in a manuscript journal, written by Dr. 

 Fothergill's niece Betty Fothergill, who with her sister 

 Molly paid a visit of some months to her London relations 

 in the years 1769-70. 1 She came from a country home 



1 Betty Fothergill was the daughter of Joseph Fothergill of Warrington, 

 brother of the doctor : born in 1752, she married in 1770 Alexander Chorley 

 of the same town ; he was later an ironmaster near Ashton in Mackerfield. 

 Her life was one of many cares, borne in a conscientious spkit. She died in 

 1809, surviving her husband eight years. Out of a large family, three children 

 grew up to adult life. Of these the two sons, John Rutter Chorley and Henry 

 Fothergill Chorley, were known in the literary world as dramatic authors, 

 the latter also as musical critic to the Athenceum, a song-writer, and an intimate 

 friend of Dickens. The daughter, Margaret, married in 1815 George Crosfield 

 of Lancaster, who wrote the Memoirs of Samuel Fothergill ; she became the 

 ancestress of numerous Crosfields, amongst whom may be mentioned Jas. B. 

 Crosfield of Reigate, Dr. Jessie Crosfield of Northleigh, Albert J. Crosfield of 

 Cambridge, and John D. Crosfield of Marlborough. The author's cordial 

 thanks are due to the two last mentioned for their friendly offices and en- 

 couragement in his present work. The names of Bertram Fothergill Crosfield 

 of Beaconsfield, and his son John Fothergill Crosfield, attest the family 

 connection. Miss Henrietta Crosfield of Liverpool has kindly granted the 

 loan of Betty Fothergill's Journal. 



The sister Mary or Molly married Robert Watson of Waterford, and was 

 long well known amongst the Friends in Ireland and England as a minister, 

 " an upright pillar, steadfast in the truth," standing for the good old ways. 



263 



