Cornish Worthies: Sketches of Some Eminent Cornish Men and Families, Volume 2 (of 2)Tregellas, Walter H. (Walter Hawken)
History
Cornish Worthies: Sketches of Some Eminent Cornish Men and Families, Volume 2 (of 2)
Tregellas, Walter H. (Walter Hawken)
Cornwall (England : County) -- Biography
His portrait, admirably engraved by Edelinck, was painted by Beaupoille
when Dean Grenville was fifty-four years of age; a print of it is
prefixed to the copy of his 'Farewell Sermons' preserved in the
Bodleian Library, and there is another copy in the British Museum. His
character may almost be gathered from what we have seen of his life
and works; and it should be added that he was not only of good natural
abilities, but also no mean scholar. His kinsman, Lord Lansdowne,
may have drawn a somewhat too eulogistic account of the Dean; but,
overshadowed as his fame undoubtedly is by the greater names of his
ancestors, Sir Richard and Sir Bevill, it should never be forgotten
that he was an energetic reformer, in very difficult times, of the
Church and the clergy;--though, as he says, '_his_ religion and loyalty
were not of the new cutt, but of the old royall stamp;'--yet he was
the friend of such men as Beveridge and Comber--and, above all, it
should be remembered that, whatever we may think of his judgment, he
undoubtedly performed that rare act of moral heroism, the sacrifice
of his dignities and honours, his ample revenues, all the comforts
of his native land, and, in fact, all his worldly interests, to his
_conscience_.
Well might it have been said of Dennis Grenville that his
'Loyalty was still the same
Whether it won or lost the game;
True as the dial to the sun,
Altho' it be not shone upon;'
and truly might he have exclaimed, whilst in exile and poverty paying
the penalty of his loyal attachment to the House of Stuart, in the
words of one of the Roxburgh Ballads:
'Then hang up sorrow and care,
It never shall make me rue;
What though my back goes bare?
I'm ragged and torn and TRUE.'
He wrote to his elder brother--the Earl of Bath--a reproachful letter,
in November, 1689, wherein he says, evidently hoping against hope,
that nothing 'shall convince him that it is possible for one descended
from his dear loyall father Sir Bevill Grenville to dye a rebell;'
but I confess that the sentiment of Dean Grenville's which I prefer
treasuring in my own memory, is the noble and tolerant one with which
he concludes his 'Third Speech' to his clergy:
'My fourth and last counsell is, to be just to all men, both to
the Romanist and Dissenter. That your aversion to the doctrine of
any party (tho' never soe contrary to your owne) should not, in
any manner, exceed youer love and concerne for the Religion you
profess.'[41]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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