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Gentleman's Magazine 1850 part 2 p.44
to mention the existence of this ancient memorial of people
of his name who had lived in the parish to which his family
traced its origin, when he expressed a strong desire to know
more respecting it, and particulary whether it was still in
existence, in whose possession it then was, and whether
there might not be a possibilty that he, a descendant of the
family, might become the possessor of it. To none of these
questions was I then able to return an answer, but I
promised that I would institute the necessary inquiries, and
report to him the result. I did so, and by the assistance of
an old friend, the late Mr. Gamaliel Milner, of Thurlston, a
hamlet of Peniston, it was ascertained that the oak press
had remained at Peniston, in possession of persons, either
Wordsworths or descended from the family, but in reduced
circumstances, till the period from 1780 to 1790, when it
was sold by them to Sir Thomas Blackett, Bart. of Bretton
Hall, and removed by him to that house. On further inquiry
it was ascertained that it was then at Bretton, where it had
descended to Mrs. Beaumont, and her son, the late Mr.
Beaumont, who was then the owner of it.
Some correspondence, I believe, passed between Mr.
Wordsworth, or some one on his behalf, and Mr. Beaumont. Mr.
Beaumont, I have heard indirectly, expressed his sense of
the reasonableness of Mr. Wordsworth's claim, and of the
satisfaction which it would give him to render in any proper
way homage to so distinguished a man, but intimated, at the
same time, the high pecuniary value in the Wardour-street
markets of works of this rare and curious class.
The affair was then laid to rest for several years; but Mr.
Wordsworth's wishes having been made known to a friend and
neighbour of Mr. Beaumont, a lady of whom Dr. Dibdin, in his
Northern Tour, says that her eloquence was so persuasive
that in half an hour she could turn any Whig into a Tory,
she undertook to prevail with Mr. Beaumont, and managed the
affair so successfully that in 1840 the press was removed to
Rydal Mount, and received with great satisfaction by Mr.
Wordsworth.
Yours &c. JOSEPH HUNTER.
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