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 



