The True History of the Kentish Lawyer: with an account of the extraordinary marriage of his son

In Short

This anonymous Christian chapbook recounts the trials of a young gentleman in seventeenth-century Kent whose sudden spiritual awakening clashes with his wealthy, ungodly lawyer father. Determined to cure his son of "melancholy" piety, the father deploys French exile, court service in Whitehall, and an arranged marriage to a worldly beauty. Instead, the son converts his new bride at their wedding feast, prompting his furious disinheritance. Through rural hardship, a miraculous legal loophole, and subsequent trials of faith, the couple perseveres, illustrating divine providence and the heavy cost of unyielding spiritual conviction.

The Story

The narrative opens in Kent with old Mr. Studley, a prosperous lawyer and staunch enemy of godliness, whose son seems destined to follow his unprincipled footsteps. That trajectory shatters when the young man, drunk in London, tumbles headlong into a dark cellar at night. Imagining himself plunging into hell itself, he emerges deeply shaken. Back in Kent, he immerses himself in Scripture and prayer. His father, terrified that his heir will turn puritan, treats him harshly, forcing him to groom horses and stripping away his candle-light, though the young man finds deep spiritual comfort reading by his bedroom fire.

Failing to break his spirit, the father ships him off to France. There, under divine guidance, the youth lodges with a godly Protestant minister with whom he forms a lasting bond. Upon his return, he maintains his devotion. Seeking to cure him through courtly distraction, his father secures him a position as a gentleman attendant to a great lady at Whitehall. Rather than being corrupted, the young man transforms the household through his prudent gravity; unruly servants alter their behavior whenever he approaches. Enraged that his son is making Puritans at court, the father drags him home.

As a final, desperate remedy, the father arranges a marriage with the beautiful daughter of a profane gentleman, hoping worldly romance will extinguish his zeal. Father and son visit the estate, and the young man falls completely in love with the lady. Following a swift three-week courtship, they marry in London. But at the wedding dinner, when the guests begin swearing and drinking healths and the bride herself utters an oath, the bridegroom rises in horror. Without a word to the stunned company, he flees to the stables, rides out to a solitary wood, and spends the afternoon in tearful prayer, agonizing over his lapse in watchfulness and praying desperately for his new bride's conversion.

He returns by evening, leads his tearful bride to her chamber, and recounts his entire life story and his walk with grace. When she asks what "through grace" means, he explains God's unmerited favor and asks if there is grace for her too. They kneel together in deep supplication. At supper, when her father swears again, the bride immediately speaks up: "Father, I beseech you, swear not." Enraged by this sudden transformation, the groom’s father swears he would rather burn his house to the ground than let his son inherit, drafting a new will that leaves him a paltry ten pounds and gives the estate to others, including a Dr. Reeves.

Left with virtually nothing, the couple takes a farm in Sussex, where the high-born bride cheerfully milks cows in a red waistcoat. Years later, a Kentish tenant encounters the husband on the road and addresses him as landlord, revealing that the cunning father could not legally alienate the entail because the son had been made a joint purchaser. Backed by the tenants, he sues and recovers his rightful estate. Surrounded by comfort, the wife briefly doubts her standing with God due to their prosperity, prompting a painful divine correction when their three-year-old son tragically falls into scalding wort and dies. They accept the sorrow as holy discipline and continue their faithful lives.

How It Unfolds

• The cellar awakening: A drunken fall into a London cellar terrifies the young man into a lifelong religious devotion.
• The Whitehall reformation: Sent to court to be distracted, the son instead calms an unruly household through quiet gravity.
• The hasty match: A worldly marriage is engineered by a frustrated father to stifle his son's puritanical seriousness.
• The wedding flight: Disturbed by profanity at his own wedding feast, the groom flees to the woods to pray.
• The bridal conversion: Returning that evening, the husband shares his faith and leads his weeping bride to prayer.
• The fiery disinheritance: A furious father disowns his son, leaving him with ten pounds and a stripped estate.
• The Sussex farm: The couple builds a humble rural life, with the delicate bride cheerfully milking cows.
• The hidden entail: A loyal tenant reveals a legal oversight that allows the son to successfully reclaim his inheritance.

The People

• Old Mr. Studley: A wealthy Kentish lawyer and hardened opponent of godliness who relentlessly schemes to break his son's religious convictions, ultimately disinheriting him in a fit of rage.
• The Son: A pious, steadfast young man who transforms from a reckless youth into a resolute believer, quietly enduring manual labor, exile, and disinheritance while converting his bride.
• The Bride: A high-born beauty raised in a profane household who undergoes a profound conversion on her wedding night and cheerfully adapts to rural poverty and farm labor.
• Dr. Reeves: A trustee and associate of the father who dutifully delivers the meager ten-pound inheritance while chastising the son for perceived disobedience.

In Its Own Voice

The young man was at London, and being drunk in some company, and going in the night towards his lodging, fell into a cellar, and in the fall was seized with horror, and thought he fell into hell at that time.

This opening sentence describes the sudden, terrifying catalyst that initiates the young man's radical spiritual transformation.

He intreated her to sit down upon a couch there by him, and he would give her an account of his doing what he had then done, and tell her the story of his whole life, and what the Lord through grace had done for him.

Upon returning from the woods after fleeing his wedding feast, the groom gently prepares his bewildered bride for a conversation about his faith.

There they lived some years with much comfort, and had the blessings of marriage, divers children.

The narrative summarizes the quiet, hardworking period of domestic stability the couple builds together on a Sussex farm after losing their expected wealth.

What It's Really About

The book explores the absolute sovereignty of divine grace over earthly schemes, parental authority, and human weakness. It questions whether true faith can survive worldly temptation, luxury, and familial persecution, ultimately arguing that genuine spiritual conviction withstands both poverty and prosperity. The narrative examines the friction between worldly custom and strict Puritan piety, highlighting how unexpected trials serve as necessary divine correction for human complacency.

Why Read It Today

Readers drawn to seventeenth-century religious history, folk narratives, or the genealogy of the English chapbook tradition will find this a fascinating artifact. Reading it feels like peering directly into a popular didactic pamphlet of the past, preserving the distinct cadence and unyielding moral seriousness of its era. Modern readers may find the intense theological focus, the patriarchal dynamics, and the stark period attitudes toward wealth and family discipline demanding, yet the narrative pace carries an undeniable storytelling momentum. The striking image of a high-born bride milking cows in a red waistcoat remains with you long after the final page.