HOBSON'S CHOICE

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 148, 19 December 1929, Page 28

HOBSON'S CHOICE

ORIGIN OF PROVERB

CARRIER AND HORSE-OWNER

MILTON'S EPITAPHS

Thomas Hobson's assurance of immortal celebrity is the association o£ his name with one of the briefest proverbs in daily use. The old carrier of Cambridge, however, earned his fame in other ways as well; he was one of those rare figures in history who commanded a place in national biography through sheer personality In every history o£ Cambridge and in numerous other publications placed found for Thomas Hobson. Milton wrote epitaphs about him; Cambridge named a street after him; and thousands of people still use his name every day.

The elder Thomas Hobson, says an overseas paper, established the famous earners business in Cambridge, and left to the celebrated Thomas (or Tobias) Hot, son, his eldest son, born about 1544, the foundations of what was developed into a very substantial fortune. Thomas inherited from his father his copyhold lands and, on condition of his being obediently ruled and ordered by his mother, the team ware that he now goeth with ™rf* V°n SaJ\ th° °arfc and e'Sht fcoißM and all the harness and other things thereunto belonging with the nag to be delivered to him at such time and when as he shall attain and come to the ace ot 2o years. fa "THIS OR NONE." As owner of the business Thomas was | remarkably successful. He began the pracjiice of letting out horses for hire, and | -lu-ough this amassed a handsome fortune. Some claim for him that he was i tjie pioneer of this type of business, but ihe Dictionary of National Biography" itnibts it. The scrupulous pertinacity •nth which he refused to allow any horse .« be taken from his stables except in is proper turn, gave rise to the well;:nown proverb which means "this or .lone.

In a paper in the "Spectator" Steele -cave the story of the origin of the proverb, and this version is accepted in Coopers Annals of Cambridge" and most other histories as authentic. Steele complained that the prover"b was, "by vulgar error," used to express reduction to an extremity, whereas the true meaning of it is that, though there be plenty you must make such a choice as not to hurt another who comes after you "Mr Tobias Hobson," wrote Steele, from whom we have the expression, was a very honourable man, for I shall ever call tlie man;so who gets an estate honestly. Air. iobjas Hobson was a carrier, and one that saw where there might good profit rise, though the duller men overlooked it. This ingenious man was the first in this island to let out baekney horses. He lived in Cambridge, and observing that the scholars ride hard his manner was to keep a large stable of horses, with boots, bridles, and whips to imjnish the gentlemen at once, without Soln£ fr? m co!lege to college to borrow as they have done since the death of this u-ortny man. Mr. Hobson kept a stable i>i forty good cattle always ready and fit tor travelling; but when a man came tor a horse he was led into the stable, where there was -a great choice, but he obliged him to take the horse which stood nearest to the stable door, so that every customer was alike well served, according to his chance, and every horse ridden with the same justice. From whence it became a proverb when what ought to be your election was forced upon you to say, 'Hobson's Choice.'"

HOBSON HAS SUPPED,

Hobson became a man of extensive property, owning among other estates the site of the priory of Anglesea, with the manor of Anglesey-cum-Bottishain and the manors of Crowlands, Lisles, and c>anies in Cottenham; and, as lessee of tho Crown, he held the Denny Abbey Estate. Though eccentric in some respects, he was a public-spirited man. He established Hobson's Workhouse, where the poor were taught trades and rogues and beggars were made to earn their living. His most remarkable public action, however, was the donation of "seven leys of pasture land" for the perpetual maintenance of the famous conduit in Cambridge. To 'his bequest is due not only a handsome conduit in the middle of the town, but a rivulet of clear water running through the main streets. Despite advanced years, Hobson continued his regular journeys as letter and goods carrier to London until they were suspended by order in 1630, owing to the plague. The fretful impatience of the old warrior of the road, now in his' 86th year, at his enforced idleness forms the

theme o£ Milton's humorous epitaphs. Tough old man that he was, the plague never came near him, but ennui took him off. Just when the plague was abating and Hobson had the prospect of mounting his wain again, he took to his bed, and on Ist January, 1631, he died, or, as Milton put it, "Hobson has supped, and's newly gone to bed." Though his fortune by that time placed him among the wealthy Hobson's principal legacies were his proverb, his conduit, his workhouse, and his standing advice to students, prompted by love of his horses, that they would get to London early enough if they did not ride too fast.