years of his engagement upon the Wall, his Journal contains few complaints. He suffered occasionally from indigestion and headache, but his attacks were not more numerous or more severe than they had been for several years. Happily, with regard to his condition in this respect during a very important period of his undertaking, I mean from January to May in 1838, during which time he was putting a finishing hand to his labours, an engagement which would naturally call for all his energies of body and mind, nothing can be more decisive than a few words from a letter addressed by him to the writer of this Memoir on the 16th of June, 1838, a few weeks after his task was completed. "Since I saw you at Newcastle, at Christmas, my health has been better than for the last thirty years or more." (P. 381, above.) Need one word more be said against the unjustifiable assertion, contained in Dr. Bruce's Preface, that, whilst Mr. Hodgson's book was in preparation, his mind was bending under the weight of ill-requited labours?

There is still another subject which calls for a few words before I conclude my remarks upon the statements and inferences against Mr. Hodgson's publication on the Wall, which I have thought it my duty to notice. Somewhat must be said in proof that his History of the Roman Wall did, in reality, receive the final revision of its author, whatever may have been for any object asserted to the contrary-and here again I have only to refer to his Journal. When, in 1832, the aged daughter of Captain Grose, and the mother of Archdeacon Singleton, prevailed upon him to keep a daily record of this nature, neither he nor she could foresee how useful it would eventually become for other purposes than those for which it was recommended. The reviewer of Dr. Bruce's book, in the Archæological Journal in 1851, was pleased to assert that Mr. Hodgson's account of the Wall" was unfortunately produced without his personal care or final revision." With respect to the personal care here spoken of, enough, and to any candid reader more than enough, has been said in the preceding pages, and especially in the opening paragraphs of these remarks, which have already extended to too great a length, but which could not, in justice, have been compressed into a more limited space. I have now simply to deal with what has been called the "final revision" of its author, by which can only be meant the putting to the book a finishing hand before its publication. Now against this final assertion, equally as presumptuous and groundless as those which have already been disposed of, what can be so decisive as the following short and pithy entries in the authority referred to? 1839.

9. Camps beyond the Wall on the sea-shore from Walker by Plessey, &c.*

*

My other extracts from the journal, as above, refer only, in a general way, to the additions and corrections in which Hodgson was then daily engaged. Here, happily, is an entry relative to a definite and specific subject- the stray camps north of the Wall along the coast, with a distinct mention of places. Now if the reader will just turn to Hodgson's volume, and to p. 440 of its Appendix, he will find there the very result of this day's labours. The reviewer will perhaps admit that this savours some, what of a revising care, even if it stood alone, against his assertion.

Up to this period Mr. Hodgson had enjoyed his usual health, and it was not till a whole week after the last of the above entries had been made, and he was beginning to labour upon an Index to his book, that he was seized with the serious illness under which he afterwards continued more or less to labour. The Additions and Corrections above spoken of, all of them in his own clear and distinct handwriting, are now upon my table, feelingly calling upon me to do an act of justice to their compiler; and it only remains for me to state, once more, that they were most carefully and conscientiously printed in the appendix to his volume from this, the very copy which he had prepared with his own pen for that purpose. I am here making no new statement or telling a new tale. The circumstances under which in 1839 it became my duty to act a friendly part, in seeing these self-same additions and corrections duly printed, were sufficiently detailed in the preface to the volume itself, of which they form a part. But it is more than probable that the reviewer did not, in his candour and impartiality, deem it his duty to look at Mr. Hodgson's book at all. He had a purpose to serve. He had learned his lesson from an assertion in Dr. Bruce's preface, and poor Hodgson's book was to be sacrificed, by whatever means.*

For this long note I offer no apology. In making the above statements I have had no other object in view than the doing an act of justice to the meritorious but illrequited labours of my friend. It must be honestly admitted that Hodgson's History of the Wall is, from the circumstance of its being mixed up in a large volume with other matter on a different subject, and crowded into so many notes, as it were, in a small type, in some measure an inaccessible book, but ill-arranged and unreadable are terms which have been applied to it with great injustice. The circumstances under which it made its appearance were those of necessity and not of choice. To its author no one held out a helping hand. If he had enjoyed the high and substantial patronage with which Dr. Bruce was favoured, his treatise would have been published in a separate shape, and then all that would have been required for many a long year would have been, for the benefit of his family, a few additions, after Dr. Bruce's own plan, of such discoveries as had been made from time to time after its publication, and there would have been no necessity, real or pretended, for any new survey of ground already examined, for any new disquisition upon points which no longer admitted of doubt or dispute, or for any unjustifiable assertions and arguments in favour of the necessity of such proceedings.

* In the various reviews of Dr. Bruce's book which I have had an opportunity of seeing, Mr. Hodgson's treatise is either not mentioned at all, or it is brought forward chiefly for the purpose of evincing the superior character of that by Dr. Bruce. The Literary Gazette (April, 1851) expresses its superlative pleasure with the chapter headed"The Question, who built the Wall? which is very sensibly and logically discussed." Even the Gentleman's Magazine speaks slightingly of its old friend and correspondent, and describes his work as expensive, and almost as little known as the remains of which it treats. (Feb. 1851, p. 148). Again, in p. 151, it appears to ascribe to Dr. Bruce the credit of having so weighed the testimony of ancient writers as to have of himself come to the conclusion that the Vallum and Wall are to be ascribed to the genius of Hadrian. In a long and laudatory review of Dr. Bruce's Book in the Edinburgh (July, 1851) Hodgson's name is, I believe, never once mentioned. No review of Dr. Bruce's second edition has fallen in my way, with the exception of one in the Gentleman's Magazine, in which also Mr. Hodgson's name does not occur.

SINCE the above remarks were in type there has appeared the supplementary volume to Mr. Hodgson's History of Northumberland, of which I have above spoken (p. 356,) undertaken by John Hodgson Hinde, Esq. at the request of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle. In his preface to this volume Mr. Hinde gives full credit to Mr. Hodgson for the "clearness and ability" of his views respecting the Roman Wall; but, deeming it necessary that more should be said on the subject, he has admitted into his pages another long disquisition from the pen of Dr. Bruce, in a chapter of thirty-two quarto pages, under the title "When and by whom was the Roman Wall built ?" In this second inquiry I again find but little mention made of Mr. Hodgson and his discovery, except in the following passage, near its beginning: “Another opinion has been entertained, and at this Mr. Hodgson arrived during the preparation of his last volume: it is that the whole of the works, with the exception, perhaps, of a few of the stations, which may have been erected by Agricola, are the work of Hadrian." Of Mr. Hodgson we hear no more, save an occasional reference to his book on a point of minor importance; but there follow the same list of authorities, and the same line of reasoning as before, more laboriously discussed, and, it may be, more judiciously handled. The volume before me is professedly supplementary to Mr. Hodgson's History, which was left imperfect at his death. But, at any rate, there was no deficiency in his work upon the subject of the builder of the Wall, and it really does appear to me that not only might much of this chapter have been spared and room gained for other subjects of real necessity and utility, but that, in such portions of it as time had rendered necessary, there ought perhaps to have been a more distinct recognition of the foundation upon which it rested.

But let me turn to a more agreeable subject, and express my most anxious wish that Mr. Hodgson Hinde may be induced and encouraged to proceed with the important task which he has so kindly undertaken. I am reminded in every page of his performance of the gratification with which such a publication would have been welcomed by his departed friend. It is an historical essay of the very highest rank and character, in which ancient Northumbria, in all her members and dynasties, is made to stand fairly before us, from the period of the Roman conquest down to comparatively modern times. The remarkable features in the volume are the caution by which Mr. Hinde's pen is guided, his intimate acquaintance with the best historical authorities, and his judicious arrangement of their testimony so as to weave for posterity a web of genuine history. His chapter on Northern Tenures is in many of its parts not more novel then valuable. His delicacy in dedicating the volume "To Richard Wellington Hodgson, Esq. as a supplement to his father's labours, and as a token of regard for his memory," is gratefully acknowledged, and it will hereafter be duly appreciated in that Northumberland with which the name of Hodgson is for ever inseparably connected, and which now, with this proof of his ability before her, looks to Mr. Hodgson Hinde as the "alter ab illo " to lay her under additional obligations.

CHAPTER XVI.-1839, 1840, 1841.

The Isle of Wight-Extracts from Letters and Journals-Returns to HartburnExtracts from Letters and Journals.

WE may now resume our subject. On the 21st of November, 1839, Hodgson took his leave of Hartburn for the winter, by the recommendation of his medical advisers, and means were not wanting to meet the necessary expenses of the journey. His circumstances were well known to his friends, and no one was better acquainted with them than he who had, from the kindest and purest of motives, for so many years held out to him a helping hand in his pursuits and afflictions. A munificent gift of money found its way from Capheaton to Hartburn, in this his present time of need, the acceptance of which was requested in the most delicate terms; and thus Hodgson had, like the swallow, wings wherewith to fly from the severities of a Northumbrian winter to a southern sun and a more genial air. He was accompanied by Mrs. Hodgson, by Emma his youngest daughter, now Mrs. Kennicott, and also by Miss Brown, who has been already mentioned. His intention was to proceed at once to the southern coast of France, the climate of which had been recommended; but, by the advice of Dr. Holland, a physician who was consulted in London, this plan was abandoned, and the party became temporary settlers in the Isle of Wight.

It has been already observed, that from the day of Hodgson's attack, on the 20th of August, 1839, till the 21st of November, there is a melancholy blank in the Journal of which I have so often availed myself. On the latter day it re-commences, but it far too frequently gives indications of great bodily pain, and, in many of its entries, of that defective state of memory under which its writer never afterwards ceased more or less to labour. Of its numerous mistakes in words and names some appear to have been corrected afterwards, when he had the temporary ability so to do; others remain; and the Journal itself, and the few letters which he wrote after this period, may in general terms be said to be

full of woe. Now and then he brightens up, in the absence of pain, and now and then there are indications that he was in full possession of his powers of memory; but, in a general way, no other conclusion can be come to, than that the very contrary was in both respects the case. At all times, however, both Journal and Letters breathe the spirit of patient resignation, and a due acknowledgement of the Hand from which cometh affliction.

My task is now to glean from Hodgson's journals and letters, from 1839 until he was removed from the world, such extracts as illustrate the conclusion of his now painful history. Those of them which I find uncorrected by himself or his family, will crave the aid of my pen; but no liberties shall be taken with the sense or meaning of the matter with which I shall have to deal. And here I would beg of those of my readers who have no heart of sympathy, and no feeling for suffering humanity, to close the book. I have a picture to draw which to one who reads for amusement will have no charms.

It has been stated that, in the first instance, Hodgson sought for health in the Isle of Wight. A brief preliminary sketch may here be given of his subsequent movements. After his return home in May, 1840, he paid numerous visits in the course of the year to Newcastle, Durham, Tynemouth, Hexham, and Newbigging. In 1842 he proceeded to Harrogate, by medical advice, and on his return diverged at Darlington, and visited his old friend Mr. Redman, at Hartley Cottage, near Kirkby Stephen, on his road to Shap Well, a mineral spring not far from the place of his nativity. He visited Shap again in 1843, and again in 1844; frequently, moreover, during these latter years spending a day or two with his friends at Newcastle or Durham. In truth, for the few concluding years of his life, there was about him a restlessness, which appears to have made him impatient of home, and anxious for a change of place. It was his habit to walk into the house of a friend when he was least expected, and his quiet and composed demeanour under his sufferings in body and memory made him always an object of the most sincere sympathy and commiseration.

I now proceed with my promised extracts from his letters and journals, with an occasional paragraph of my own in the way of