Curialia Miscellanea, or Anecdotes of Old Times. Samuel Pegge
circumstances, for the sake of preserving the narrative entire, as far as it regards the contest between the Dean of Lincoln and the Parish of Brampton; for we believe that this transaction (uninteresting as it may be to the publick in general) is one of very few instances on record which has an exact parallel.
The intermediate points of the contest, in which Mr. Pegge was more peculiarly concerned, and which did not prominently appear to the world, were interruptions and unpleasant impediments which arose in the course of this tedious process.
He had been nominated to the Perpetual Curacy of Brampton by Dr. Cheyney, Dean of Lincoln; was at the sole expence of the suit respecting the right of Patronage, whereby the verdict was given in favour of the Dean; and he was actually licensed by the Bishop of Lichfield. In consequence of this decision and the Bishop's licence, Mr. Pegge, not suspecting that the contest could go any farther, attended to qualify at Brampton, on Sunday, August 28, 1748, in the usual manner; but was repelled by violence from entering the Church.
In this state matters rested regarding the Patronage of Brampton, when Dr. Cheyney was unexpectedly transferred from the Deanry of Lincoln to the Deanry of Winchester, which (we may observe by the way) he solicited on motives similar to those which actuated Mr. Pegge at the very moment; for Dr. Cheyney, being a Native of Winchester, procured an exchange of his Deanry of Lincoln with the Rev. Dr. William George, Provost of Queen's college, Cambridge, for whom the Deanry of Winchester was intended by the Minister on the part of the Crown.
Thus Mr. Pegge's interests and applications were to begin de novo with the Patron of Brampton; for, his nomination by Dr. Cheyney, in the then state of things, was of no validity. He fell, however, into liberal hands; for his activity in the proceedings which had hitherto taken place respecting the living in question had rendered fresh advocates unnecessary, as it had secured the unasked favour of Dr. George, who not long afterwards voluntarily gave him the Rectory of Whittington, near Chesterfield, in Derbyshire; into which he was inducted Nov. 11, 1751, and where he resided for upwards of 44 years without interruption[15].
Though Mr. Pegge had relinquished all farther pretensions to the living of Brampton before the cause came to a decision at Derby, yet he gave every possible assistance at the trial, by the communication of various documents, as well as by his personal evidence at the Assize, to support the claim of the new Nominee, the Rev. John Bowman, in whose favour the verdict was given, and who afterwards enjoyed the benefice.
Here then we take leave of this troublesome affair, so nefarious and unwarrantable on the part of the Parishioners of Brampton; and from which Patrons of every description may draw their own inferences.
Mr. Pegge's ecclesiastical prospect in Derbyshire began soon to brighten; and he ere long obtained the more eligible living of Whittington. Add to this that, in the course of the dispute concerning the Patronage of Brampton, he became known to the Hon. and Right Rev. Frederick (Cornwallis) Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry; who ever afterwards favoured him not only with his personal regard, but with his patronage, which extended even beyond the grave, as will be mentioned hereafter in the order of time.
We must now revert to Mr. Pegge's old Friend Sir Edward Dering, who, at the moment when Mr. Pegge decidedly took the living of Whittington, in Derbyshire, began to negotiate with his Grace of Canterbury (Dr. Herring), the Patron of Godmersham, for an exchange of that living for something tenable with Whittington.
The Archbishop's answer to this application was highly honourable to Mr. Pegge: "Why," said his Grace, "will Mr. Pegge leave my Diocese? If he will continue in Kent, I promise you, Sir Edward, that I will give him preferment to his satisfaction[16]."
No allurements, however, could prevail; and Mr. Pegge, at all events, accepted the Rectory of Whittington, leaving every other pursuit of the kind to contingent circumstances. An exchange was, nevertheless, very soon afterwards effected, by the interest of Sir Edward with the Duke of Devonshire, who consented that Mr. Pegge should take his Grace's Rectory of Brinhill[17] in Lancashire, then luckily void, the Archbishop at the same time engaging to present the Duke's Clerk to Godmersham. Mr. Pegge was accordingly inducted into the Rectory of Brindle, Nov. 23, 1751, in less than a fortnight after his induction at Whittington[18].
In addition to this favour from the Family of Cavendish, Sir Edward Dering obtained for Mr. Pegge, almost at the same moment, a scarf from the Marquis of Hartington (afterwards the fourth Duke of Devonshire), then called up to the House of Peers, in June 1751, by the title of Baron Cavendish of Hardwick. Mr. Pegge's appointment is dated Nov. 18, 1751; and thus, after all his solicitude, he found himself possessed of two livings and a dignity, honourably and indulgently conferred, as well as most desirably connected, in the same year and in the same month; though this latter circumstance may be attributed to the voluntary lapse of Whittington[19]. After Mr. Pegge had held the Rectory of Brinhill for a few years, an opportunity offered, by another obliging acquiescence of the Duke of Devonshire, to exchange it for the living of Heath (alias Lown), in his Grace's Patronage, which lies within seven miles of Whittington: a very commodious measure, as it brought Mr. Pegge's parochial preferments within a smaller distance of each other. He was accordingly inducted into the Vicarage of Heath, Oct. 22, 1758, which he held till his death.
This was the last favour of the kind which Mr. Pegge individually received from the Dukes of Devonshire; but the Compiler of this little Memoir regarding his late Father, flatters himself that it can give no offence to that Noble Family if he takes the opportunity of testifying a sense of his own personal obligations to William the fourth Duke of Devonshire, when his Grace was Lord Chamberlain of his Majesty's Household.
As to Mr. Pegge's other preferments, they shall only be briefly mentioned in chronological order; but with due regard to his obligations. In the year 1765 he was presented to the Perpetual Curacy of Wingerworth, about six miles from. Whittington, by the Honourable and Reverend James Yorke, then Dean of Lincoln, afterwards Bishop of Ely, to whom he was but little known but by name and character. This appendage was rendered the more acceptable to Mr. Pegge, because the seat of his very respectable Friend Sir Henry Hunloke, Bart. is in the parish, from whom, and all the Family, Mr. Pegge ever received great civilities.
We have already observed, that Mr. Pegge became known, insensibly as it were, to the Honourable and Right Reverend Frederick (Cornwallis), Bishop of Lichfield, during the contest respecting the living of Brampton; from whom he afterwards received more than one favour, and by whom another greater instance of regard was intended, as will be mentioned hereafter.
Mr. Pegge was first collated by his Lordship to the Prebend of Bobenhull, in the Church of Lichfield, in 1757; and was afterwards voluntarily advanced by him to that of Whittington in 1763, which he possessed at his death[20].
In addition to the Stall at Lichfield, Mr. Pegge enjoyed the Prebend of Louth, in the Cathedral of Lincoln, to which he had been collated (in 1772) by his old acquaintance, and Fellow-collegian, the late Right Reverend John Green, Bishop of that See[21].
This seems to be the proper place to subjoin, that, towards the close of his life, Mr. Pegge declined a situation for which, in more early days, he had the greatest predilection, and had taken every active and modest measure to obtain—a Residentiaryship in the Church of Lichfield.
Mr. Pegge's wishes tended to this point on laudable, and almost natural motives, as soon as his interest with the Bishop began to gain strength; for it would have been a very pleasant interchange, at that period of life, to have passed a portion of the year at Lichfield. This expectation, however, could not be brought forward till he was too far advanced in age to endure with tolerable convenience a removal from time to time; and therefore, when the offer was realized, he declined the acceptance.
The case was literally this: While Mr. Pegge's elevation in the Church of Lichfield rested solely upon Bishop (Frederick) Cornwallis, it was secure, had a vacancy happened: but his Patron was translated to Canterbury in 1768, and Mr. Pegge had henceforward little more than personal knowledge of any of his