it may be supposed that the counting-house and the business received not an atom more of attention than could be dispensed with. I was twenty years old on leaving Lynn, which I did without education, profession or employment. In June of this year (1759) my father died, and as he left debts, my mother thought it necessary to take an exact account of his effects. The following is the result:— £ _s._ Household goods 674 1 Farming stock 226 4 Plate 149 13 Books 57 0 —-— —— Total £1,106 18 I am sorry to add that money or money due to him made no part of the estimate. The fact was that my father died much in debt, and it was two years before my mother found herself tolerably free. ----- Footnote 1: Lavenham is a very pretty village, with splendid church, lying between Sudbury and Whelnethan, whilst Bury St. Edmunds is the second town in Suffolk. Footnote 2: _Memoirs of Richard Cumberland_, 1806. Footnote 3: Elsewhere Arthur Young mentions a severe flogging ‘very properly’ administered by his father for an act of cruelty, adding, ‘It was the only time that I ever received any correction at his hands, yet he was a remarkably passionate man.’ Footnote 4: Robert Sutton, physician and inoculist, 1757, _Dict. of Biography_, Sampson Low. Dr. Guy’s _Public Health_ has the following: ‘The Suttons were noted for their success in inoculation, but Dr. Gregory gives more credit to diet and exposure to air than to the antimonial and mercurial medicines they extolled.’ Footnote 5: Hero of _The Beaux’ Stratagem_, G. Farquhar. Footnote 6: Till the last generation it was the fashion to brew one’s own beer in Suffolk. Footnote 7: ‘The buildings and yards necessary for the business of a farm.’—_Webster._ Footnote 8: Nicholas Saunderson, D.D., author of the _Elements of Algebra_, in ten books, 1740. Footnote 9: The Mitchell Election, a petition brought by Lord Orwell and Colonel Wedderburn against undue election and return for borough of Mitchell, in Cornwall. See _Commons’ Journals_, xxii., xxiv. and xxxii. Footnote 10: The Duke of Cumberland. Footnote 11: M. de Miripoix, then French Ambassador at St. James’s. Footnote 12: Dr. Charles Burney, author of the _History of Music_, father of Madame d’Arblay. ----- CHAPTER II FARMING AND MARRIAGE, 1759-1766 The gay world—A call on Dr. Johnson—A venture—Offer of a career—Farming decided upon—Garrick—Marriage—Mr. Harte—Lord Chesterfield on farming—Literary work—Correspondence—Birth of a daughter.