HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. [255 



by the curious retrospection of past ages intermixed with modern 

 facts, the correct and elaborate genealogical tables which it con- 

 tains, the descriptions of local scenes, and the variety of engrav- 

 ings with which it is enriched. 



Encouraged by his success, and the reputation which he so 

 justly obtained, Mr. Shaw published the first part of his second 

 volume in 1801. It was in all respects equal to the former, and 

 the lovers of British Topography looked eagerly forward to the 

 completion of a work which would add to the stock of national 

 information ; but this expectation was disappointed by an unfore- 

 seen event. Health, which " is above all gold and treasure," 

 forsook Mr. Shaw, and the capacity to perform his task was 

 destroyed. 



Mr. Shaw's father died at the close of 1799, and he succeeded 

 him in the rectory of Hartshorn. At this village he spent the sum- 

 mer, ad found some relaxation from his clerical duties and topo- 

 graphical studies, in improving his house and the pleasure-grounds 

 around it. He was, however, subject to a bilious complaint, an at- 

 tack of which was much aggravated by the heat of the season. On 

 his recovery, he returned to London in the winter of 1801, and re- 

 sumed his work. But his constitution had received an alarming 

 shock, and early in the ensuing spring he was unfit for his usual 

 studies. While sitting at dinner with his confidential friend Mr. 

 James, and his housekeeper, he was seized with a paroxysm of in- 

 sanity, which was succeeded by a fever, from which, by medical aid, 

 he was at length restored, but all application to books was prohi- 

 bited. In June it was deemed advisable for him to pay a visit to the 

 Kentish coast, for the benefit of a change of salubrious air, and 

 thither he was accompanied by his half-sister, the daughter of his 

 father by a second wife. They went first to Ramsgate, and thence 

 for more perfect seclusion to Sandgate, where the amiable and un- 

 fortunate historian of Staffordshire passed the autumn, and was so 

 far recovered, that he was permitted to join a party of friends in a 

 trip to Boulogne. But in October 1802, his disorder returned with 

 redoubled violence, and after a struggle of ten days he was re- 

 moved to London, where he died on the 28th of the same month, 

 aged 41, " deeply lamented by all who knew him, and leaving a 

 chasm in the department of literature which he had embraced not 

 easy to be supplied." Such was Stebbing Shaw. As an author he 

 is more to be esteemed for his indefatigable, perseverance in the ac- 

 cumulation of facts, than his skill or taste in presenting them to 



