Page:Protestant Exiles from France Agnew vol 2.djvu/280

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266
french protestant exiles.

they were reprinted at Amsterdam, in 4 vols. 4to; and again they were brought out in 10 vols. 8vo, annotated by Langles, and published at Paris, 1811. He died in his own house on Christmas day 1712, having not long before entered his seventieth year. Turnham-Green was in the parish of Chiswick, and thus in the Chiswick register (according to Lysons) there is this entry, “Sir John Chardin, buried December 29, 1712.” On the same day his Will was proved by one of the executors, Charles Parry, Esq., power being reserved to the other two, viz., Henry, Earl of Galway, and Dr. John Wickart, Dean of Winchester. The Will, dated 20th September 1711, contains, among other charitable bequests, the following:— For the benefit of poor Protestant Refugees, £500. For the propagation of Gospel in foreign parts, £1000. A monument was erected in Westminster Abbey to the memory of Sir John Chardin; it is surmounted by a terrestrial globe, over which is marked the course of the deceased’s travels, and below his name is the inscription, “Nomen sibi fecit eundo.” Sir John Chardin left two sons and several daughters (one was named Elizabeth). His eldest son, John, passed as a barrister and was of the Inner Temple, London. He purchased from Grantham Andrews, Esq. of Sunbury, a country seat in Middlesex, near Hampton Court, called Kempton Park; he was made a Baronet on the 28th May 1720. Here he lived unmarried, but in 1746 presented the estate to his nephew Sir Philip Musgrave. Sir John Chardin, Baronet, died 26th April 1755, in his sixty-eighth year, when the title became extinct. On the 10th May he was buried in Westminster Abbey, in the eastern aisle, near his father’s monument.

Julia, a daughter of Sir John Chardin, Knight of Turnham-Green, married in 1711, during her father’s life-time, Sir Christopher Musgrave, fifth baronet of Hartley Castle in Westmoreland, M.P. for Carlisle, and had four sons and seven daughters — two of the sons had some fame in the learned world, Rev. Christopher Musgrave, Fellow of All-Souls’ College, Oxford, Rector of Barking, and Rev. Chardin Musgrave, Provost of Oriel College, Oxford. Her eldest son Sir Philip, M.P. for Westmoreland, succeeded to the baronetcy in 1735, and was succeeded in 1795 by his eldest son, John Chardin Musgrave, whose three elder sons in their turn succeeded to the baronetcy.[1] Sir John Chardin Musgrave, who died in 1806, sold the Chardin estate, Kempton Park. But at Edenhall, the seat of the Musgraves, there are memorials of the illustrious refugee, in the shape of two portraits and some pieces of plate. There are also some manuscript volumes which I shall now describe.

In his printed Works, Sir John announced that he intended to publish a distinct treatise containing explanations of passages in the Holy Scriptures, suggested by the existing customs and manners of eastern nations; but he died before he could prepare this anxiously expected book. The subject was taken up about the year 1760 by the Rev. Thomas Harmer, who compiled notes from the narratives of oriental travellers on the principle, “Make every kind of study pay its contribution to the oracles of God.” He brought out a volume of “Observations on divers passages of Scripture, placing many of them in a light altogether new by means of circumstances mentioned in books of voyages and travels in the East.” In 1775 Harmer brought out a second edition, enlarged into two volumes; an extract from its preface will best serve my present purpose:—

“The greatest advantage to this addition are those editions which have been furnished by some MS. Papers of the late Sir John Chardin, who resided long in the East, was a very curious observer, and paid a particular attention to such matters as might serve to illustrate passages of holy writ, which led him to make many observations very much resembling those that were heretofore published in this work. There are six small MS. volumes of Sir John which are still in being, and which I have perused on this occasion. . . . . His observations sometimes give a new turn to the passages of Scripture which he is endeavouring to elucidate; but oftener farther illustrate and confirm the explanations that are to be met with in other writers, and not unfrequently those formerly published in this work. I have selected those that seemed at all suited to the intention of this collection of mine, and I hope these additions will give a considerable degree of pleasure to my readers. If they should, the public ought to be informed that they are indebted for such instruction and pleasure to Sir Philip
  1. Julia Chardin = Sir Christopher Musgrave, 5th bart. (died 1735 ).
    Sir Philip Musgrave, 6th bart. (died 1795).
    Sir John Chardin Musgrave, 7th bart. (died 1806).
    Sir Philip Christopher Musgrave,
    8th bart. (died 1827).
    Rev. Sir Christopher John Musgrave,
    9th bart. (died 1834).
    Sir George Musgrave,
    10th bart. (died 1872).