A Yorkshire Almanac Comprising 365 Historical Extracts, Red-letter Days and Customs, and Astronomical and Meteorological Data
Joseph Hunter. 1819. Hallamshire. London: Joseph Hunter. Get it:
.His conduct at Treeton gave occasion to this epigram:
Hark Satyrs, bring Boanerges down;
A fighting priest, the bully of the gown –
In double offices, he serves the Lord
To fight his battles and to preach his word;
And double praise is to his merits due,
Who thumps the cushion and his people too.
These lines were perhaps the retort of his neighbour Dr Lockyer the rector of Hansworth, whose classical inscription for Lord Molesworth’s dog monument at Edlington Mr Jessop had shamefully but ingeniously parodied.
[Boanerges: son(s) of thunder: Mark 3:17]
Necrology op cit. John Hobson says he was called King Jessop (Hobson 1877). Henry Parke, curate at Wentworth: “Great Jessop is a sound divine, / His sense is strong and masculine” (Parke 1819).
I haven’t found Jessop’s parody, but here is a translation of the original, borrowed from Edward Miller’s Doncaster (Miller 1804):
At the seat called The Wood, near Edlington, in the vicinity of Doncaster, Robert Molesworth, Esq. two years before he was created Viscount, had the remains of a favourite greyhound sent down from London, and buried there; over which animal he placed a small square altar monument with a Latin inscription, thus translated:
Stay, traveller,
Nor wonder that a lamented Dog
Is thus interred with funeral honour.
But ah, what a dog !
His beautiful form and snow-white colour,
Pleasing manners and sportful playfulness,
Affection, obedience, and fidelity,
Made him the delight of his master,
To whose side he closely adhered.
With his eager companions of the chase,
He delighted in attending him.
Whenever the mind of his lord depressed,
He would assume fresh spirit and animation.
A master, not ungrateful for his merits,
Has here in tears deposited his remains
In this marble urn.
M.F.C.Tradition says, the above dog saved his master’s life in the following manner: when going to the privy, he pulled him by the flap of his coat, and would not let him proceed. On a second attempt, the dog behaved in the same manner. Surprised at this interruption, he ordered one of his servants to go to the place, who, on opening the door, was immediately shot dead by a villain there concealed, whose intention was most probably to rob the house when the family had retired to rest (Miller 1820).
Here is a fairly useless photo of the dog monument ca. 1930. Has anyone got something better?
Something to say? Get in touch
I have seen one [sermon of his], fairly transcribed by himself, as if for the press, entitled “A sermon distinguishing between religious and sinful sensuality, proving the religious man to be the greatest sensualist, and thereby confuting the best plea the sinner hath for pursuing his lusts, by Francis Jessop, Master of Arts, rector of Treeton, etc.,” with a dedication to the archbishop of York.
His conduct at Treeton gave occasion to this epigram:
Hark Satyrs, bring Boanerges [son(s) of thunder: Mark 3:17] down;
A fighting priest, the bully of the gown –
In double offices, he serves the Lord
To fight his battles and to preach his word;
And double praise is to his merits due,
Who thumps the cushion and his people too.
These lines were perhaps the retort of his neighbour Dr. Lockyer the rector of Handsworth, whose classical inscription for Lord Molesworth’s dog monument at Edlington Mr. Jessop had shamefully but ingeniously parodied.
172 words.
The Headingley Gallimaufrians: a choir of the weird and wonderful.
Music from and about Yorkshire by Leeds's Singing Organ-Grinder.