Scope and Content
The contents of the album fall into three distinct sections. The volume opens with rhyming couplets entitled 'Retrospective Reflections on revisiting the scenes of Infancy and Childhood' (pp 7-64), followed by poetry (65-86) and ending with notes (87-98) referring by means of a lettered key to the 'Retrospective Reflections'. The various watercolours and drawings are gummed into the volume between pages 9 and 57.
The album was already partially paginated in pencil, but it is impossible to tell if this is contemporary. For ease of reference the album has been repaginated throughout, page numbers appearing in the corner of each leaf. Page references to the rhyming couplets, illustrations and accompanying notes are shown for each lettered section.
'Retrospective Reflections on revisiting the scenes of Infancy and Childhood' (pp 7-64) and Notes (87-98)
Section C (8,16, notes 87-88)
'By Impulse led at length to view the land, where rural cots and lowly structures stand.....'
Arnald visited the place of his birth for the first time for more than twenty years. Left Farndish when about six years of age [c 1770]. Despite enclosure in some parts [c 1801] he remembers things clearly.
Section A (8,15, notes 88-89)
'....As when my sire in spirit unsubdued, By ranckling care; his broken fortunes viewed....' Arnald's father [Thomas] was a gentleman of good fortune. He studied medicine but never practised it except in his family and for the poor.
He relinquished a chancery suit to a Mr Briscoe although he was the undoubted heir of grandmother Margaret Arnald, formerly Longueville. Briscoe left the estate to the Earl of Sussex for his lifetime. Father never lived to enjoy it. It came in due course to Arnald's eldest brother [presumably Richard, baptised Farndish 16 February 1759] who left a will depriving his brethren of the principal and leaving it to their children.
[This section was lettered out of alphabetical order by Arnald.]
(9) CHALGRAVE, 'at Wingfield'. Farm (?), outbuildings and vegetation. Dark watercolour wash 8" x 11" (21 x 29cm). Undated.
(12) FARNDISH Barn (?) at the corner of a field. Windmill on the skyline. Grey watercolour wash 4" x 7" (11Ã¥ x 18Ã¥ cm) 29 August 1827. Two pencil sketches of finials of the above building. 4" x 3" (11 x 7cm), 29 August 1827 and 3" x 2" (8 x 5cm), 23 August 1807. Latter shows datestone : 1775.
(14) FARNDISH church and cottages 'my friend Alderman's house' labelled in pencil. [Arnald was born here]. Dark watercolour wash 4" x 8" (12 x 20cm). Undated.
Section B (15, notes 89)
'But of the Mansion now remains no trace save where rude holes, and hillocks mark the place.' Arnald refers to Farndish Manor. His father held a farm in Farndish but his 'inexperience and benevolence cost him the remainder of his fortune.'
Section D (16,19 notes 89)
'That peaceful cottage I again review, What things impressive pregnant with delight' Arnald mentions Farndish, Wingfield, Houghton Regis and Leighton [Buzzard]. He lived in them all in infancy. The cottage is at Wingfield [parish of Chalgrave] where his 'first attempt was made' [at painting?].Despite being despoiled by the enclosure it is still one of the prettiest hamlets.
(17) CHALGRAVE. Half-timbered cottage 'at Wingfield'. Watercolour 6" x 9" (15 x 23cm). Upper corners cut off. Undated.
CHALGRAVE 'The same cottage' at Wingfield. Rear view. Pencil sketch 4" x 6Ä" (11 x 17cm). 24 October 1826
Section E (19, notes 89-90)
'Witness one seed upon congenial soil, And somewhat practiced in poetic lore'. Arnald refers to his commission from the Director of the British Institution to paint the Battle of Nile for which he received £500, and an extra £50 voted by the Directors. The picture, exhibited in Pall Mall in 1826 was universally approved. Arnald received congratulations from most members of the Royal Academy and two testimonials from Sir Thomas Lawrence, but failed to secure his election or a single commission.
Section F (19-20. notes 90)
'I loosed a tongue to praise, which spake no more, And Orpheus like, yet on a sister lute' This is the year when Arnald exhibited Meleager and Atalanta [date?]. Refers to Mr Thomson who voted for his associate election [1810], at first friendly but later quite the reverse.
Section G (20,25,26 notes 90)
'With awe I record on yonder funeral stone, The names once dear to love and friendship, gone'Refers to Arnald's schoolfriends who died young and were buried in Farndish churchyard.
(22) FARNDISH church with children dancing round the churchyard tree. Cottages in background. Sepia watercolour 6å" x 9Ä" (16å x 24åcm). Undated.
(24) HOUGHTON REGIS 'Village of Houghton'. Half-timbered cottages, church and village pond. Watercolour 8Ã¥" x 11Ã…" (21 x 28cm). Undated.
Section H (26, notes 90)
'Known but by name, For many a 'volving year, Elapsed since any rector serviced here'Refers to the absentee clergymen of Houghton Regis, until the present Mr Donne (Rector 1819-1846) who lived in the village. Arnald alleges that the incumbent of Houghton Regis 'buried my dear father, recited over his grave the while with intoxication' [Arnald's father Thomas was buried at Houghton Regis in 1783 and the offending clergyman was presumably the Rev Edmund Wodley, incumbent 1768-1808].
(27) HOUGHTON REGIS church and churchyard. Includes half-timbered building near churchyard boundary and pond in foreground. Watercolour 7" x 10" (17 x 26cm). Undated.
Section I (26,29, notes 91)
'Glad he to drag some musty record forth, Exempting him from every deed of worth, That delegates to other hands the need to attend his flock, And cheers the sons of need'. Arnald does not elaborate, but mentions that this happened at St Helens, Lancashire.
Section J (29-30, notes 91)
'Where noisy sport at the shrill clarions call, Disturb the morning stillness with their brawl' Arnald criticises the parson riding to hounds while neglecting his flock.
Section K (31, notes 91)
'The master in his rule would seem severe, But duty done, to all who sought his care, Was more than kind and every schoolboys' friend, And in their cheerful sports would oft unbend'. Reference to Arnald's first school at Hockliffe and the master Mr Crane [probably Hockliffe Charity School est 1690].
Section L (30,35 notes 91)
'Long since indeed, but never will that day, From off my memory's tablet fade away' Arnald describes, in very emotional terms, his first sight of Hockliffe school after so many years.
(31) HOCKLIFFE street scene including public house sign and, presumably, Arnald's school which he attended in the 1760s. Sepia watercolour - 4Ä" x 5å" (12 x 13å cm). Undated. HOCKLIFFE. Street scene similar to above. Sepia watercolour. 5" x 6" (12 x 16 cm). Undated
Section M (35-36,39, notes 91)
'Leighton thy market house remembered oft, Where Young the cruel kept his school aloft'. The couplets describe schoolboys stealing baked pears from Young's wife. Arnald attended the school while staying with his Uncle Stone at Leighton Buzzard.
(33) LEIGHTON BUZZARD. Rear view of Market House, [demolished 1851] where Mr Young kept a school in the 1760s looking south towards market cross. Watercolour 6" x 9" (16 x 23cm). Undated.
Section N (39-40, notes 91-92)
'Beyond those brakes where trickling rills unseen, Divide the woodland, from the village green'. Arnald describes his father's declining years in a cottage at Houghton Regis. The property of which he was deprived in a chancery suit was afterwards sold cheaply. He refused to sell his interest in it. He was buried [in 1783] on the north side of Houghton Regis church near the junction of the chancel with the church and near the path.
(38) HOUGHTON REGIS. Cattle drinking at pool in foreground, houses in middle distance, road and public house. Watercolour 7" x 9" (17 x 24cm). Undated.
Section O (40, notes 92)
'Not far from hence along the winding way, That Fossey's hospitable mansion lay'. Arnald writes of the frankness and openness of the farmers of Houghton Regis, Messrs. Fossey and Cumberland, in his boyhood.
(41) HOUGHTON REGIS church. Pencilled note 'Where my father was buried'. Pen-and-ink and grey water colour. 3" x 5" (8 x 13cm). Undated. HOUGHTON REGIS 'Mr Fossey's farm'. Farmhouse, sheep, pond and woman with bundle. Watercolour 5" x 8" (13 x 20 cm). Undated. HOUGHTON REGIS 'Mr Cumberland's farm' sepia watercolour 3" x 5" (8 x 13cm). Undated.
(43) HOUGHTON REGIS 'Mr Anstee's farm yard' sepia watercolour, a little colour added. 6" x 8" (16 x 20cm). Undated.
Section P (47, notes 92)
'Brandreth to thee the elegaic verse, May fertile prove, While I praise rehearse'. Arnald writes of the Anstee, Eames and Brandreth families in glowing terms. He went to school with Mr Brandreth's son.
(46) HOUGHTON REGIS 'Mr Brandreths'. Added in pencil 'now very much altered'. House, cattle and grounds. Grey watercolour and pencil 4" x 7" (12 x 19 cm). Undated.
HOUGHTON REGIS 'Mr Anstees'. Added in pencil 'now pulled down'. Farmhouse; small bridges over culvert, road in foreground. Watercolour 7" x 8" (17 x 21cm). Undated.
Section Q (48, 51, notes 92-93)
'Here the blind lane, imperious to the rays of noontide sun in full meridian blaze'. Arnald refers to the ancient pre-enclosure roads and the practice of burying suicides at crossroads until within these few years.
(50) Man, presumably burying a suicide near a road, heavily wooded in background. Dark watercolour. 6" x 7" (15 x 19cm) undated.
Section R (51-52, 55, notes 93)
'From Blackgroves darksome wood, the tremulous air, Bears the faint shriek! The groan, which stifles there'. Arnald describes the murder of an unknown woman at Blackgrove Wood. Tilsworth, 15 August 1821, and the gravestone erected by the parish in her memory.
(53) TILSWORTH church. Sepia watercolour. 5" x 7" (13 x 19cm). Undated.
Section S (55-56, notes 94)
'Just then the peasant from his straw thatched cot, Proceeds to labour as his daily lot'. Arnald refers to these times as 'comparatively happy'. All men could find work. Wages were low but 'provisings were proportionate to them'. Avaricious landowners, the introduction of machinery and increasing population caused hunger and unemployment.
(57) FARNDISH. Labelled 'Farndish, Northamptonshire'. 'House of my friend Alderman' pencilled in. General view of village and church, labourer with scythe in foreground. Watercolour 7" x 10" (17 x 26cm). Undated.
Section T (56, 59, notes 94)
'The labourer then partook his master's chair, Exchanged his joke and all were jocund here'. In Arnald's youth the harvest was celebrated and the labourers invited to the master's house, but 'this practice is nearly obsolete'.
Section U (59-64, notes 94-98)
'Why should the sordid soil, from those who toil, Take the last glebe away, the orchard spoil'. Arnald condemns the practice of enclosure, particularly at Chalgrave, which deprived the villages of fuel and the right to graze cows. Land is then taken from the poor and given to contigious farms. The introduction of machinery 'draws down the heavy displeasure of Almighty God'.
George III's reign was one of war, blood-letting and avarice. George III was of sober personal habits, but his weakness and obstinacy counteracted his virtues. By the Enclosure Acts George III deprived the poor of their immemorial rights.
Poetry (65-86)
'Departure' (65)'Written during the war between England and France'. Refers to Napoleonic Wars. (66)
'To a young lady on seeing a copy of an infant Christ(?) sleeping on a cross'. (67-69)
'The Birth Day' refers to Arnald's daughter Emma. (69-70)
'On the death of my dear Emma who died on Tuesday March 14 1825'. (71-73)
'The bee and the butterfly. To a young lady'. (74-75)
'The caterpillar'. (75-76)
'Reminiscence of Hornsey'. (77-81)
'England'. (82-83)
Title largely erased but appears to be to 'Mr Pickersgill's charity'. (84)
Untitled poem, referring to the deaths of family and friends. (85)
Invitation to tea in rhyming couplets by J T Smith, 1804, pasted into album. ['Antiquity Smith' (1766-1833) keeper of prints at the British Museum]. Arnald's reply 'Answer Impromptu' is written on the album page below. (86)