THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY &> NATURALIST. 



149 



I am old enough to remember when the only place 

 in which religious services were held was a house in 

 Broad-street, now occupied by Mr. H. Baker, draper, 

 &c. ; and I also remember being taken there from 

 Ovington by my grandmother. While the service 

 was being conducted live sparrows were thrown 

 about the room by the scoffers of that day. I, too, 

 have seen a brickbat come through a window of the 

 present chapel, on the left side of the minister while 

 he was preaching, and so frequently was such an 

 outrage perpetrated that the windows were protected 

 with iron. About fifty-five years ago I was living in 

 Alresford, and on Sunday morning, just as I was 

 leaving my lodgings to attend worship, a riotous, 

 noisy mob was rushing up Broad-street in chase of a 

 respectable-looking man whom they knocked down 

 in front of the door. Fearing lest they might injure 

 the poor fellow who had attempted to preach some- 

 where down the street I opened the door and ad- 

 mitted him, when oh ! what an uproar. As at Thes- 

 salonica in Paul's time, " they assaulted the house of 

 Mrs. Gregory," now the property of Mr. J. Royle, 

 and broke an incredible number of windows. My 

 bedroom faced the churchyard, and as I pass it now 



I occasionally raise my eyes to the window through 

 which a large stone was thrown by " one of the baser 

 sort," who supposed he had seen my head. I heard 



him call out " I can see the ." Such a row has 



not happened there since, nor were the rioters all of 

 the lower class. An auctioneer was their chief 

 adviser, telling them the distance they must keep 

 from the door in their marchings past. An incredible 

 number of panes of glass were broken. The then 

 landlord of the Running Horse approached me as I 

 stood at my door, and clenching his fist said 



II If 'twas n't for the law I'd smash your head." 



So inveterate were they against me, simply for 

 housing a persecuted fellow man, that it was not safe 

 lor me to go to my ordinary occupation the next day, 

 and by order ot Mr. J. Dunn, the magistrates' clerk, 

 the parish constable, Harry Cole, accompanied me 



for some time to and from my workshop. The last 

 rotten egg that was thrown at me missed its mark, 

 and went through the glass door of Mr. West, iron- 

 monger, Broad-street. The ringleader of the mob 

 who assaulted the preacher was a blacksmith, in the 

 employ of Mr. Hoad. He was summoned before the 

 Bench for the act. Mr. Dunn sent the constable to 

 protect me, that I might go and hear the case ; 

 I went, and when he and I entered the Swan yard 

 the auctioneer alluded to and others were 

 seated at an upper window with a pailful of slush to 

 pour down upon me ; but my companion with his 

 brief authority frightened them. The blacksmith, 

 who was in his deshabile on the Sunday, dressed 

 himself as a sailor on Bench-day, so the complainant 

 failed to recognise him, and the man was liberated. 

 The magistrates, Sir Henry Tichborne and Walter 

 Taylor one a Catholic and the other a Protestant 

 seeing the danger the preacher was in, kindly escorted 

 him one on each side down Broad-street, out of the 

 town. Such was the determination of certain parties 

 to suppress the street preaching that a farmer of 

 Wield actually spoiled a large quantity of eggs, and 

 sent them into the town in a donkey cart, while he 

 rode in himself on purpose to throw them at a 

 preacher. O, tempora ! O, Mores ! We now live 

 under " a better dispensation." 



JAS. W. BATCHELOR. 



THE WELSH FAMILY.* 



The Portsmouth Telegraph, ot Monday, October 28, 

 1799, contains the following under " Southampton " : 

 " On Thursday last was married, at Beaulieu, 

 Edward Adams, Esq., ot Bucklershard, to Miss 

 Welsh, of this town." Probably some Southampton 

 reader can contribute particulars of this lady's family. 



BEAULIEU. 



* From The Hampshire Independent, December 27, 1890. 



