Map 1748

Someone very kindly sent me this map of Bourton in 1748. It is marked with several interesting features. (Click to see more clearly)

Beddome's hymns criticised

In The Hymn Lover William Garret Horder says

I cannot agree with the praise bestowed by James Montgomery and Robert Hall on the hymns of Benjamin Beddome, MA  (1717-1795), pastor of the Baptist Church at Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire. The former praises him for preserving the unity of each hymn. This he does, but there is a didactic tone, and an absence of the lyric element, which are fatal faults in a hymn. This is partly due to the fact that they were written to be sung after his sermons, to which they are a kind of application. This is not the true office of hymns. The mind of their writers should not be occupied with the thought of the edification of the people, but of praise to God. This is the defect of most of his hymns, as will be seen even in his most popular, "Did Christ o'er sinners weep?" "Faith, 'tis a precious grace," and "Let party names no more." The fault is least evident in his Ordination hymn, "Father of mercies, bow Thine ear." He was the author of the large number of eight hundred and thirty hymns.

Stoughton on Beddome

In his History of Religion in England John Stoughton says of 18th century Baptists

It is very remarkable that at this very time the denomination, whether cognizant of it or not, really caught the bracing breeze which had come sweeping down from the hills of Methodism over Baptist meadows, as well as Independent fields. There was Benjamin Beddome, in the middle of the century, at Bourton-on-the-Water, in the county of Gloucester, a man whose life and ministry resembled the streams which refresh the broad street of that pleasant little village. 

"Favoured with the advantage of a learned education, he continued to the last to cultivate an acquaintance with the best writers of antiquity, to which he was much indebted for the chaste, terse, and nervous diction which distinguished his compositions both in prose and verse."

"As a preacher he was universally admired for the piety and unction of his sentiments, the felicity of his arrangement, and the purity, force, and simplicity of his language, all of which were recommended by a delivery perfectly natural and graceful."

"As a religious poet his excellence has long been known and acknowledged in Dissenting congregations, in consequence of several admirable compositions inserted in some popular compilations." (quoting Robert Hall).

Anecdote as originally given

It turns out that the anecdote is from a letter to Rippon at the Annual Register by J T (Joshua Thomas or most likely John Tommas)

The late venerable Mr Beddome, of Bourton on the Water, in Gloucestershire, in a conversation I had with him, some years ago, informed me, that journeying from Bourton to Devizes, in his way, he stopped at an inn at Wotton-Basset, a small borough town in Wiltshire, where he was quite a stranger, to take some refreshment. The person who kept the house, a widow woman, from his appearance, supposed him to be a clergyman of the Church of England, and was willing to do him a pleasure: therefore, after serving him herself with what he called for in a very obliging manner, said to him, "Sir, the inhabitants of this place are a very happy people," "I am glad," replied Mr Beddome, "you are so." " Yes," added the widow, "we do I assure you, Sir, think ourselves some of the most happy people in the world." "For what reason, Madam ?" said Mr B. "Why, Sir," answered his hostess, "we have but one Dissenter in the town, and he is a Roman Catholic; and you know, Sir, they are the best of them! The good man, not willing to confound her, pleasantly passed off the matter, without making himself known.

(Wootton Basset was on a coach route and boasted several inns in Beddome's day)

Another Anecdote

This anecdote appeared in the Evangelical Magazine in 1806 (also in the first issue of the Christian's Penny Magazine 1832).

The late venerable Mr Beddome, minister of the Baptist Church at Bourton on the Water, Gloucestershire, being on a journey, stopped at an inn at Wotton Basset, a small town in Wiltshire, where he was quite a stranger, to take refreshment. A widow woman who then kept the house, concluding from his appearance that he was a clergyman of the Establishment, anxious to please her guest, said, after serving him obligingly with every thing he called for, "Sir, the inhabitants of this place are a very happy people." "I am glad of that," said Mr B "but for what reason are they so happy?" added he. "Why, Sir," answered his hostess, "we have but one Dissenter in the town, and he is a Roman Catholic; and you know, Sir, they are the best of them!" The good man, not willing to confound her, pleasantly passed off the matter, without making himself known.

Interesting anecdote

The London congregation of Rev Mr Wilson, who had been his pastor, and under whom he had united with the Church in 1739, desired to secure Mr Beddome as successor, but he declined to go. The church in Goodman's Fields had not only sent the call, but had deputed a gentleman to carry it, who went down to Bourton on horseback.

A poor parishioner of Mr Beddome, having been intrusted with the care of his horse, discovered the errand, and brought the animal to the door, saying to the London emissary, "Robbers of churches are the worst sort of robbers." He then turned the horse loose, to the discomfiture of its rider, "I would rather honour God," said Mr Beddome, "in a station even much inferior to that in which he has placed me, than intrude myself into a higher without his direction." He died, September 3, 1795, having laboured at Bourton for 52 years. (Not sure how authentic the anecdote is. It is in S W Duffield's 2003 work English hymns: their authors and history and probably relies on Charles Seymour Robinson in 1893).