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A 



HARVARD COLLEGE 
LIBRARY 



FROM THE BEQUEST OF 

E. PRICE GREENLEAF 

OP OmNCr. MASSACHUSETTS 




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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



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JOHN THOMAS SMITH 

AUTHOR OF "NOLLBKBNS AND HIS TIMES," "A EOOK FOR A RAINT DAY," ETC. 



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A BOOK 
FOR A RAINY DAY 

OR RECOLLECTIONS OF THE 
EVENTS OF THE YEARS 1 766-1 833 

BY 

JOHN THOMAS SMITH 

BDITBDy WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTBS 
BY 

WILFRED WHITTKN 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS PROM CONTEMPORARY PRINTS 



METHUEN & CO. 

36 ESSEX STREET W.C. 

LONDON 



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Ucx. 



XT A. a 



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Tkis BdifioH wis/rsd PublUhed in r^os 



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AUTHOR'S PREFACE 

THE highly flattering maimer in which my work, 
entitled NoUekens and his Times, was generally 
received, induced me to collect numerous scattered bio- 
graphical papers, which I have considerably augmented 
with a variety of subjects, arranged chronologically, accord- 
ing to the years of my life. 

Some may object to my vanity, in expecting the reader 
of the following pages to be pleased with so heterogeneous 
a dish. It is, I own, what ought to be called a salmagundi, 
or it may be likened to various suits of clothes, made up 
of remnants of all colours. One promise I can make, that 
as my pieces are mostly of new doth, they will last the 
longer. Dr. Johnson has said ; 

*'A11 knowledge is of itself of some value. There 
is nothing so minute or inconsiderable, that I would not 
rather know, than not." 

Lord Orrery, in a letter to Dr. Birch, dated November, 
1741, makes the following observation : 

** I look upon anecdotes as debts due to the pubUc, 
which every man, when he has that kind of cash by him, 
ought to pay." 

J. T. Smith. 



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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



^ JOHN THOMAS SMITH FvOtUiSpiece 

From an Engraving by Wxixiam Skslton of 
the Drawing by John Jackson, R.A. 

y NANCY DAWSON Facing page lo 

From a Contemporary Print. 
^ ROYAL ACADEMICIANS REFLECTING ON THE 
TRUE LINE OF BEAUTY AT THE LIFE 
ACADEMY, SOMERSET HOUSE . . „ ,, I4 

From a Drawing by Robsrt Cruikshank. 

y THE DELIGHTS OF ISLINGTON ... „ »f ^7 

From the Eno'aving by Charles Brsthsrton 
of the Caricature by Henry Wixxxam 

BUNBURY. 

" SING TANTARARA— VAUXHALL ! VAUXHALL ! " „ „ 24 

From the Drawing by Rowlandson (Micro- 
eosm of London). 

- GEORGE WHITEFIELD „ »> 32 

From a Painting by Nathaniel Hone, messo- 
tinted by Grbnwoodb. 

V JOHN RANN » » 38 



From a Contemporary Print. 

V LONDON BEGGARS : JOHN MACNALLY . . „ i> 45 

From an Etching by John Tbomas Smith. 

. LONDON BEGGARS *. " A SILVBR*HAIRED MAN " „ ,» 52 

From an Etching by John TKomas Smith. 

J LONDON MATCH BOYS „ „ 58 

From an Etching by John Thomas Smith. 

IMAGES , „ 63 

From an Etching by John Tbomas Smith. 

. THE ROYAL COCKPIT „ „ 68 

From a Drawing by Pugin and Rowlandson. 

DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON „ » 78 

From the Drawing by Thomas Trotter, done 
from life, and engraved by Priscott. 

MRS. SIDDONS t* ?> 85 

From the Portrait by John Keysb Sherwin, 
engraved by the painter. 



' f ■» ' J 



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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS vii 

4 BENJAMIN WEST, p.R.A. .... Facing pogcgj 

From the Painting by Guab&t Stuart in the 
National Portrait Gallery. 

* CAPTAIN FRANCIS GROSE . . . . „ „ IQ5 

From the Drawing by Dancs, engraved by 

RiDUY. 

J COVENT GARDEN n »» I08 

From the Print, " Morning," by Hogarth. 

V UMBRELLAS TO MEND „ ,> 115 

From an Etching by J obn Thomas Smith. 

,. CHRISTIE'S AUCTION ROOM , ,y 120 

From the Drawing by Pugin and Rowland- 
son {Microcosm of London). 

/ AN OLD LONDON WATCH-HOUSE ... „ » 126 

From the Drawing by Pugin and Rowland- 
son {Microcoim of London). 

4 SIR HARRY DINSDALE AND SIR JEFFERY 

DUNSTAN „ „ 129 

From Contemporary Prints. 

* ELIZABETH CANNING'S IMPOSTURE ... „ 1, 135 

From a Contemporary Print. 

^ RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN ... ,, ,» 147 

From the Painting by John Russsll, R.A., 
in the National Portrait Gallery. 

' J. W. M. TURNER, R.A „ „ 152 

From a Water-Colour Drawing by John 
Thomas Smith in the British Museum 
Print Room. 

. GEORGE MORLAND >• »i 157 

From a Drawing by Rowlandson. 

/ THE REV. ROWLAND HILL .... ,. ,• 161 

From a Drawing by Thomas Clark, engraved 
by WiLUAM Bond. 

y JAMES BARRY, R.A „ „ 168 

From the Portrait painted by himself, in the 
National Portrait Gallery. 

' THE OLD HOUSE OF COMMONS ... „ „ 173 

Ftom the Drawing by Pugin and Rowlandson 
{Micfocotm of London), 

^ NEWGATE CHAPEL ON THE EVE OF SEVERAL 

EXECUTIONS I, „ 178 

From the Drawing by Pugin and Rowland- 
son {Microcosm of London). 

. THOMAS AUGUSTINE ARNE „ >> 181 

From a Caricature (based upon a Drawing bv 
Bartoloui) in the National Portrait 
GaUery. 

. LADY HAMILTON >» » 184 

After a Painting by Romnsy. 



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nu 



LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS 



' GIOVANNI BATTISTA BELZONI 

Ftom the Painting by William Brockbdon 
in the National Portrait Gallery. 

^ BARTHOLOMEW FAIR .... 

From the Drawing by Pugin and Rowlanp< 
SON {Microcosm of London), 

y CHARLES TOWNLEY .... 

From a Painting by Jobann Zoffamy, R.A., 
engraved by Wortbington . 

^ JAMES NORTHCOTE, R.A. 

From a Drawing by } akbs Lonspals. 

^ WILUAM HUNTINGTON, " S.S." 

From the Painting by Domxnico Pbllbgrini 
in the National Portrait Gallery. 

J MRS. JORDAN IN THE CHARACTER OF THE 
COUNTRY GIRL .... 

From the Painting by Romnbt, engrared by 
John Ogbournb. 

i HENRY CONSTANTINE JENNINGS (OR NOEL) 
Firom a Contemporary Print. 

« DAVID GARRICK AND HIS WIFE 

From the Painting by Hogarth, engraved by 

H. BOURXB. 

J DR. OLIVER GOLDSMITH 

From the Drawing bv Hbkry Wiluak Bun 
BURY, engraved by Brbtrbrton. 

THE WIG IN ENGLAND : A MACARONI READY FOR 
THE PANTHEON .... 

Flrom a Contemporary Print. 

MATS TO SELL 

From an Etching by John Thomas Smith. 

CHARLES DIBDEN 

From the Painting by Thomas Phillips, R. A., 
in the National Portrait Gallery. 

. A PARTY ON THE RIVER 

From a Drawing by Robbrt Cruikskank. 

4 SIR EDMUND BERRY GODFREY 

From an Engraving by P. Vandrbbanb. 

JOHN FLAXMAN, R.A., MODELLING THE BUST 

OF HAYLEY 

From the Painting by Romnby in the National 
Portrait Gallery. 

, THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH, R.A. 

From the Painting by himaell in the Royal 
Academy. 



Facing page z88 

» 193 

n 198 

», 205 

» u 212 

ff 222 

M 233 

n 243 

.» 257 



ft 


265 


»> 


28z 


f» 


292 


l> 


298 


»» 


303 


If 


309 


>> 


317 



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THIS EDITION 

THE first two editions of A Book for a Rainy Day 
appeared in 1845, twelve years after John Thomas 
Smith's death, and a third appeared in 1861. As these 
editions do not contain half a dozen notes other than Smith's 
own, this may daim to be the first annotated edition. It 
is also the first in which nmnerous original misprints have 
been (as I hope) corrected. 

The lapse of seventy years has made many notes 
necessaiy. I have endeavoured to write these in the spirit 
of the book, making them something more than brief 
cat^orical answers to questions suggested by Smith's 
journal. His own notes were interesting after-thoughts, 
and for this reason, and to avoid confusion, the great 
majority are now incorporated in his text. Where any 
are retained as footnotes, Smith's authorship is indicated. 
If my additions to the book seem profuse, I can only plead 
that the Rainy Day offers to the annotator that abundance 
of material which has long pleased and bewildered its 
*' Grangerisers." And our climate has not improved. 

I wish to acknowledge the use I have made of the 
Dictionary of National Biography^ Notes and Queries^ 
Mr. Wheatlqr's London Past and Present, Mr. George 
Clinch's Bloomsbury and St. Gileses, and his Marylebone 
and St. Pancras, Mr. Warwick Wroth's London Pleasure 
Gardens of the Eighteenth Century, Mr. Percy Fitzgerald's 



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X THIS EDITION 

Life of Garrick, Mr. Austin Dobson's Hogarth, Mr. 
Laurence Binyon's Catalogue of Drawings by British Artists 
in the Print Department, the GenUeman^s Magazine, the 
works of Cunningham and Redgrave, and such auto- 
biographies as those of Heniy Angelo, Thomas Dibdin» 
John Taylor, W. H. Pyne, Sir Nathaniel Wraxhall, B. R. 
Haydon, Madam D*Arblay, Dr. Trusler, and Letitia 
Hawkins. It is remarkable how John Thomas Smith's 
own books supplement each other. His NoUekens and 
his Times is an inexhaustible budget of facts, and its 
usefulness has been increased by the index provided in 
Mr. Gosse's edition of 1895. 

It should be remembered that the year-dates which 
Smith uses as chapter headings do not represent the times 
at which the respective chapters were written. I judge 
that Smith was engaged on the Rainy Day only in the 
last three years of his life. His chronology is rather happy- 
go-lucky. For example, it must not be supposed that 
Dr. Burgess, of Mortimer Street, wore his cocked hat and 
deep ruffles in 1816, or that in that year Alderman Boy- 
dell might have been seen putting his head imder the 
pump in Ironmonger Lane. These men died some years 
earlier. In accordance with the text of the third edition. 
Smith's curious mention of the death of Dr. Johnson will 
be found under the year 1803. 

W. W. 

Jur^ 1905. 



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JOHN THOMAS SMITH 

JOHN THOMAS, or " Rainy Day/' Smith was 
bom in a London hackney coach, on the even- 
ing of the 23rd of June 1766. His mother 
had spent the evening at the house of her brother, 
Mr. Edward Tarr, a convivial glass-grinder of Earl 
Street, Seven Dials, and the coach was conveying 
her back with necessary haste to her home at 
No. 7 Great Portland Street. Sixty-seven years 
later, the man who had entered thus hurriedly 
into the world left it with almost equal unexpected- 
ness in his house. No. 22 University Street, after 
holding for seventeen years the post of Keeper of 
the Prints at the British Museum. 

As a writer John Thomas Smith takes no high 
rank; but he is a delightful gossip, full of his 
two subjects: London and Art. We know him 
when he exclaims to a visitor in the Print Room, 
" What I tell you is the fact, and sit down, and 
I'll tell ye the whole story." Smith's narrative 
manner is always that : " Sit down, and I'll tell ye 
the whole story." Such historians are often found 
in life, mighty recoUectors before the Lord, who 



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xii JOHN THOMAS SMITH 

talk books which no one can inspire them to Mnrite. 
And it is well that when Smith did Mnrite he took 
small pains to be fine or literary. Writing as a 
man^ and not as the scribes^ he produced in his 
NoUekens and his Times one of the most enter- 
taining harum-scanim biographies ever seen, 
and in his Book for a Rainy Day, or Recollections 
of the Events of the Years 1766-1833, a budget 
of memories which has perhaps been less read 
and more quoted than any book of its kind. 

Smith's valuable quality is his interest in the 
life he Uved and saw lived. He was zealous to 
record those trivial facts of to-day which become 
piquant to-morrow, a habit that reveals itself 
in the way he mentions his birth as happening 
'' whilst Maddox was balancing a straw at the 
Little Theatre in the Ha5m[iarket, and Marylebone 
Gardens re-echoed the melodious notes of Tonmiy 
Lowe." In a friend's album he wrote — 

" I can boast of seven events, some of which 
great men would be proud of : 

** I received a kiss when a boy from the beautiful 
Mrs. Robinson ; 

" Was patted on the head by Dr. Johnson ; 

" Have frequently held Sir Joshua Re)molds's 
spectacles ; 

" Partook of a pint of porter mth an elephant ; 

" Saved Lady Hamilton from falling when the 
melancholy news arrived of Lord Nelson's death ; 



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JOHN THOMAS SMITH xiU 

" Three times conversed with King George the 
Third; 

'' And was shut up in a room with Mr. Kean's 
Uon." 

These events are more curious than fateful^ and, 
indeed. Smith's career is Uttle more than a record 
of plates etched and books published. He is enter- 
taining because he was out and about in London 
for sixty years, and looked upon anecdotes as 
"debts due to the pubUc.'' 

Almost as soon as Mrs. Smith's hackney coach 
had brought her to No. 7 Great Portland Street — 
a house whose site is now covered, as I reckon, by 
No. 38 — ^Dr. WiUiam Hunter, brother of the great 
John Himter, arrived from Jerm}^! Street, and 
performed his duties with the skill of a Phjrsidan- 
Extraordinary to the Queen. The attendance of 
such a man proves the material comfort of the 
Smith family. Nathaniel Smith, the flustered 
father, was principal assistant to Joseph Nollekens, 
the sculptor, and he had worked for Joseph Wilton 
and the great Roubiliac. For Wilton he carved 
three of the nine masks, representing Ocean and 
eight British rivers, now seen on the Strand front 
of Somerset House. He had taken to wife a 
Miss Tarr, a Quakeress. Their boy's christening 
was dictated by family history. He was named 
John after his grandfather, a Shropshire clothier, 
whose bust, modellsd by Nathaniel Smithy was 



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xiv JOHN THOMAS SMITH 

the first publicly exhibited by the Associated 
Artists at Spring Gardens ; and Thomas after his 
great-uncle, Admiral Thomas Smith, who had earned 
in Portsmouth Harbour (more cheaply, perhaps, 
than Smith would have allowed) the name of 
'' Tom of Ten Thousand/' 

Smith early went into training to be a gossip- 
ing topographer. Old Nollekens, already a Royal 
Academician, and the most sought-after sculptor 
of portrait busts ("Well, sir, I think my friend 
Joe Nollekens can chop out a head with any of 
them," was Dr. Johnson's tribute to his genius), often 
took his assistant's little son for a ramble roimd 
the streets. One day he led Thomas to the Oxford 
Road to see Jack Rann go by on the cart to Tybum, 
where he was to be hanged for robbing Dr. William 
Bell of his watch and eighteenpence. The boy 
remembered all his life the criminal's pea-green 
coat, his nankin small-clothes, and the inunense 
nosegay that had been presented to him at St. 
Sepulchre's steps. In another walk, Mr. Nollekens 
showed him the ruins of the Duke of Monmouth's 
house in Soho Square. In a Sunday morning 
ramble they watched the boys bathing in Marylebone 
Basin, on the site of Portland Place. And, again, 
they stood at the top of Rathbone Place, while 
Nollekens recalled the mill from which Windmill 
Street was named, and the halfpenny hatch which 
had admitted people to the miUer's grounds. 



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JOHN THOMAS SMITH xv 

In the sculptor's studio, at No. 9 Mortimer 
Street, where at the age of twelve he began to 
help his father, Smith met sundry great people. 
One day, Mr. Charles Townley, the collector of 
the Townley marbles, noticed him, and " pouched " 
him half a guinea to purchase paper and chalk. 
Dr. Johnson, who was sitting for his bust, once 
looked at the boy's drawings, and, laying his hand 
heavily on his head, croaked, " Very well, very 
well." On a February day in 1779, that wag 
Johnny Taylor, who was to be Smith's Ufe-long 
friend, put his head in at the studio door and 
shouted the ne¥^ that Garrick's funeral had just 
left Adelphi Terrace for Westminster Abbey. Away 
flew Smith to see the procession, and to record 
it, in his old age, in the Rainy Day. 

As a youth. Smith wished to learn en- 
graving under Bartolozzi, but the great Italian 
declined a pupil, and it was through the influence 
of Dr. Hinchliffe, Bishop of Peterborough, one 
of his father's patrons, that he entered the studio 
of John Keyse Sherwin, the engraver. Here he 
received his kiss from the beautiful " Perdita " 
Robinson ; and when Mrs. Siddons sat to Sherwin 
for her portrait as the Grecian Daughter, he raised 
and lowered the window curtains to obtain the 
effect of Ught desired by his master. 

Three years later Smith launched out as young 
drawing-master, pencil-portrait draughtsman, and 



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xvi JOHN THOMAS SMITH 

topographical engraver. He found a patron in 
Mr. Richard Wyatt, of Milton Place, Egham. 
Through this gentleman he obtained contunissions 
as a topographical artist from influential collectors 
Uke the Duke of Roxburgh, Lord Leicester, and 
Horace Walpole. Moreover, Sir Joshua Reynolds 
and Benjamin West sometimes engaged him to bid 
for them at print auctions. At this time he was 
a frequent visitor to the drawing-room of Mrs. 
Mathew, in Rathbone Place, where Flaxman was 
often found, and where William Blake read aloud 
his early poems. 

The small artist, and particularly the topo- 
graphical artist, had his chance in the second half 
of the eighteenth century. The productions of 
Wilson, Reynolds, Ronmey, and Gainsborough 
had stirred up the arts of engraving, which allied 
themselves closely to literature and life. It was 
the age of portly topographies and county histories^ 
with their ceremonious array of plates ; of itinerant 
portrait and view painting; and of night-sales 
of books and prints at which sociable collectors 
sat imder eccentric auctioneers, and at which 
noblemen were as conmionly seen as they were 
at boxing and trotting matches fifty years later. 
Shops abounded for the sale of new prints, and 
auctions were frequent for the distribution of old. 
Human types were produced of which we know 
little to-day. Smith has drawn some of them 



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JOHN THOMAS SMITH xvii 

with easy and natural touches in his chapter on 
the print-buyers who attended Langford's and 
Hutchins' sale rooms^ in Covent Garden^ in 1783. 
There he was in his element. Not much passed 
in the art world in the fifty years following that 
date that Smith did not know. 

When twenty-two, he married. The girl of 
his choice was Anne Maria Pickett, who belonged 
to a respectable family at Streatham, and who, 
after forty-five years of married life, was left 
his widow. They had one son and two daughters. 
The son died at the Cape in the same year as his 
father, 1833. One daughter was married to Mr. 
Smith, a sculptor, and the other to Mr. Paul Fischer, 
a miniature painter. Soon after his marriage he 
was invited by Sir James Winter Lake to take 
up his residence at Edmonton, where he taught 
drawing to their daughter, and doubtless had 
other pupils. When he applied (unsuccessfully) 
for the post of drawing-master to Christ's Hospital, 
Sir James and Lady Lake's testimonial made a 
point of the fact that he had never touched up 
their daughter's work, "a practice too often 
followed by drawing-masters in general." At this 
period Smith practised as an itinerant portrait 
painter, a branch of art which then had its vogue, 
and was to number William HazUtt among its pro- 
fessors. At Edmonton it was that he '^ profiled, 

three-quartered, full-faced, and buttoned up the 
b 



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xviii JOHN THOMAS SMITH 

retired embroidered weavers, their crummy wives 
and tight-laced daughters." At Edmonton, too, 
he watched the reception of his first book, the 
Antiquities of London and its Environs. Smith's 
career for the next thirty years may be conveniently 
sketched in a list of his residences and the work 
he accomplished in each. 

In 1797 he was at No, 40 Frith Street, Soho, 
a house which still exists, with its ground floor con* 
verted into a French wine shop. There he pubUshed 
his Remarks on Rural Scenery, consisting of etching 
of cottage and village scenes in the neighbourhood 
of London, with a preliminary essay on drawing. 

In 1800 he was living with his father at 18 May's 
Buildings, or the " Rembrandt Head,*' as it was 
styled, in St. Martin's Lane. In this year the 
discovery of curious paintings during the alterations 
to St. Stephen's Chapel for the enlargement of the 
House of Conunons, attracted Smith's attention, 
and, after making careful copies of these relics, he 
projected his Antiquities of Westminster. 

In February 1806, Smith pubUshed an etching 
of the scene on the Thames when Nelson's remains 
were brought from Greenwich to Whitehall. He 
tells us that on showing it to Lady Hamilton she 
swooned in his arms. The plate is inscribed : 
" Published February 15, 1806, by John Thomas 
Smith, at No. 36 Newman Street." This house 
remains unaltered. 



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JOHN THOMAS SMITH xix 

In 1807 he issued his Antiquities of Westminster, 
his address appearing in the imprint as 31 Castle 
Street £ast^ Oxford Street. 

In 1810^ May's Buildings reappears in the 
imprint of his Antient Topography of London, but 
it may be that this address was not residential. 
The site of this house is merged in Messrs. Harrison's 
printing works. 

In 1815-17, Smith Uved at No. 4 Chandos Street, 
Covent Garden, whence he issued his Vagabondiana, 
or Anecdotes of Mendicant Wanderers through the 
Streets of London. 

In 1816 he succeeded William Alexander as 
Keeper of the Prints, and it is probable that he 
soon afterwards took up his residence at No. 22 
University Street.^ He was Uving here in 1828, 
when he published, through Henry Colbum, of 
New Burlington Street, ** NoUekens and his Times : 
comprehending a Life of that celebrated Sculptor ; 
and Memoirs of Several Contemporary Artists, 
from the time of Roubiliac, Hogarth, and Re3niolds, 
to that of Fuseli, Flaxman, and Blake." This, his 
most ambitious work, must be noticed more par- 

* Two other residences of dates, by Lewis in his History 

Smith's, less definitely associ- of Islington (1842). Frog Lane 

ated with his books or etchings, is now Popham Road, of 

are recorded. The first is No. which Poph^ Terrace appears 

8 Popham Terrace, near the to have been part. In 1809, 

Barley Mow Tavern, in Frog Smith was living at No. 4 The 

Lane, Islington. His sojourn Polygon, Somers Town, 
here is mentioned, without 



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XX JOHN THOMAS SMITH 

ticularly because of its bearing on Smith's life 
and character. Mr. Gosse, who has edited it, 
with the addition of a graceful essay on Georgian 
Sculpture, describes it as "perhaps the most 
candid biography ever published in the English 
language/' In its pages Smith exposes the domestic 
privacies and nuserly habits of the sculptor and 
his wife. There are pages of sordid gossip which 
a dismissed charwoman might probably have found 
unacceptable to her cronies and supporters. Yet 
the book cannot be described as venomous. It is 
cheerily and unscrupulously candid, and this even 
in the matter of the author's own disappointment. 
Nollekens, he assures us, had again and again 
given him reason to believe that he would be 
handsomely remembered in his will. " That you 
may depend upon, Tom," were his words. It is 
easy to see that Smith may have come to expect 
this as the bright event of his later years. His 
Museum appointment had Uf ted him out of drudgery, 
and the promised legacy may have presented itself 
to him as the final deUverance from care. Nollekens 
had been kind to him as a boy, and had remained 
his friend through Ufe. He was a widower, child- 
less, and enormously rich. No artist had known 
better how to make art profitable. His purchases 
of antiques in Rome had been most prudent ; so, 
also, his investments. As a sculptor of portrait 
busts he stood alone, and in his long working life 



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JOHN THOMAS SMITH xxi 

he had " chopped out " the heads of many hundreds 
of wealthy and illustrious persons. When he died 
in April 1823, no one was surprised that his estate 
was declared to be of the value of ^300^000. But 
very little of it went to " Tom," who, to his intense 
chagrin, received a bare hundred pounds as one 
of the three executors. 

Five years later, Smith brought out his hit-back 
biography. Its general veracity cannot be doubted. 
It is a veracity sharpened, not deflected, by malice. 
But it is clear that Smith found other satisfac- 
tions in writing the book than that of exposing 
the weaknesses of his old friend. He enjoyed 
the long and minute chronicle of life in Mortimer 
Street and in the studios and galleries he had 
frequented. Nollekens comes and goes in a world 
of gossip about London, art, and people. True, at 
any moment a mischievous gust may blow aside 
the veils to show us Mrs. Nollekens, in second- 
hand finery, beating down the price of a new broom 
or a chicken with cunning affability, or the sculptor 
pocketing nutmegs at the Royal Academy dinners 
to be added to the Mortimer Street larder. If 
you protest against these and worse freedoms, 
you ari grateful for the hundred little touches 
of locality and custom that accompany them. 
The daily life of the eighteenth century is before 
you : the parlour, the street, the print shop. 

Of Smith's reign in the Print Room not much 



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Koi JOHN THOMAS SMITH 

can be gathered. He was mudi liked and respected 
by those vfbjo consulted him in his department. 
We are told that he was kind to youi^ artists of 
prcmiise^ and gently candid to those of no promise. 
His recdUections and anecdotes were the delight 
of his visitors^ one of whom has left us a racy 
specimen of his flow of humour and gossip. I refer 
to the foUowiog passage of Boswellian reminiscence^ 
appended to the second and third edition, of the 
Rainy Day. 

" His two old friends, Mr. Packer, who had been 
a partner in G)mbe's brewery, and Colonel Phillips, 
who had accompanied Captain Cooke in one of his 
voyages round the world, were constant attendants 
in the Print Room, and contributed towards the 
general amusement. Of the former of these gentle- 
men, who died in 1828, at the advanced age of 
ninety, Mr. Smith used to tell a remarkable story, 
which we are rather surprised not to find recorded 
in his Reminiscences. It was our fortune to be the 
first to communicate to Mr. Smith the fact of his 
old friend's decease, and that he had bequeathed to 
him a legacy of £100. ' Ah, Sir T he said, in a very 
solemn maimer, after along pause, ' poor fellow, he 
pined to death on accoimt of a rash promise of 
marriage he had made.' We humbly ventured to 
express our doubts, having seen him not long before 
looking not only very un«-Romeo like, but very hale 



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JOHl^ THOMAS SMItfe xxin 

and hearty ; and besides, we begged to suggest that 
other reasons might be given for the decease of a 
respectable gentleman of ninety. ^Ko, Sir/ said 
Ifr . Smith ; ' what I teD you is the fact, and sit ye 
down, and FU tell ye the whole story. Many years 
ligo, when Mr. Packer was a young man employed 
in the breW-house in which he afterwards became 
a partner, he courted, and promised marriage to, a 
worthy young woman in his own sphere of life. 
But, as his circtunstances improved, he raised his 
ideas, and, not to make a long story of it, married 
another woman with a good deal of money. The 
injured fair one was indignant, but, as she had no 
written promise to show, was, after some violent 
scenes, obliged to put up with a verbal assurance 
that she should be the next Mrs. Packer. After a 
few years the first Mrs. P. died, and she then 
claimed the fulfilment of his promise, but was again 
deceived in the same way, and obliged to put up 
with a similar pledge. A second time he became a 
widower, and a third time he deceived his unfortun- 
ate iirst love, who, indignant and furious beyond 
measure, threatened all sorts of violent proceedings. 
To pacify her, Mr. P. gave her a written promise 
that, if a widower, he would marry her when he 
attained the age of one hundred years I Now he 
had lost his last wife some time since, and every 
time he came to s^d me at the Museum, he fretted 
and fumed because he should be obliged to marry 



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xxiv JOHN THOMAS SMITH 

that awful woman at last. This could not go on 
long^ and^ as you tell me^ he has just dropped off. 
If it hadn't been for this, he would have lived as 
long as Old Parr. And now/ finished Mr. Smith, 
with the utmost solemnity, ' let this be a warning 
to you. Don't make rash promises to women ; but 
if you will do so, don't make them in writing' " 

Had John Thomas Smith been granted the 
scriptural span of life, he might have read the 
Pickwick Papers. But the implacable call came in 
March 1833, and he left various enterprises im- 
finished. He had collected the materials for a 
gossipping history of Covent Garden; these have 
never been edited. The well-known Antiquarian 
Rambles in the Streets of London^ published in 
1846, originated in Smith's notes, but four-fifths of 
the book was certainly written by its editor. Dr. 
Charles Mackay. 

The book from which Smith has his sobriquet 
was published in 1845. A Book for a Rainy Day 
places its author in that line of London's watchful 
lovers which began with John Stow and has not 
ended with Sir Walter Besant. Now, when London's 
streets are changing as they have not changed 
since the Great Fire, he lies in that bare field of 
the dead behind the Bayswater Road, where, 
on the grave of a greater writer, you read the 
words, " Alas ! poor Yorick." 

W. W. 



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THE Reader is requested to keep in mind that those 
events which I relate of myself when ^* mewling 
in my nm^e's arms," and until my fourth year, were 
conmmnicated to me by my parents, and that my state* 
ments from that period are mostly from my own 
memory; — Miranda proved to Prospero that she recol- 
lected an event in her fourth year. 

1766. 

My father informed me, that in the evening of the 
23rd of June 1766, which must have been much about 
the time when Marylebone Gardens echoed the melodious 
notes of Tommy Lowe,^ and whilst there was The Devil 
to Pay at Richmond with Mr. and Mrs. Love,' my 



^Thomas Lowe had taken 
Marylebone Gardens in 1763, 
at a rent of ^£170. Fresh from 
his trhmiphs as a tenor at 
Vaoxhall, he made concerts 
the principal entertainment. 
In 1768 he compounded with 
his creditors. 

* This theatre at Richmond 
was built two vears before 
Smith's birth, and was opened 
in May 1765, by Mr. Love, who 
spoke a prologue by Garrick. 
Love was the stage name of 



James Dance, who, as a son 
of Geoige Dance, RA., the City 
Architect, adopted it that he 
might not "disgrace his 
family," a proceeding; on whidi 
Genest comments : Shall we 
never have done with this 
miserable cant ? Foote, with 
much humour, makes Pa- 
pillion say, in The Lyar : ' As 
to Player, whatever might 
happen to me, I was deter- 
mined not to bring a disgrace 
upon my family ; and so I re- 



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2 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

mother, on returning from a visit to her brother, Mr. 
Edward Tarr,^ became so seriously indisposed, that she 
most strenuously requested him to allow her to return 
home in a hackney coach, whilst he went to Jermyn Street 
for Dr. Hunter.* Upon that gentleman's arrival at my 
father's door, No. 7, in Great Portland Street,' Marylebone, 
he assisted the nurse in convepng my mother and myself 
to her chamber. Although I dare not presume to suppose 
that the vehicle in which I was bom had been the equipage 
of the great John Duke of Marlborough, or Sarah his 
Duchess, at all events I probably may be correct in the 
conjecture that the hack was in some degree similar to 
those introduced by Kip, in his Plates for Stiype's edition 
of Stowe.* 



solved to turn footman.' '' 
The DevU to Pay, by Charles 
Coffey, was adapted from a 
p^ay by Jevon called The 
Devil of a Wife, first produced 
at Drury Lane in 1731, when 
Love played " Jobson " and 
Mrs. Love " NeU." 

1 " A convivial glass-grinder, 
then residing at No. 6, in 
Earl Street, Seven Dials, and 
who had, for upwards of fifty 
years, worn a green velvet cap," 
IS Smith's note on his uncle. 
In his NoUekens he says : 
'' In the British Museum there 
is a brass medal of Vittore 
Pisano, a painter of Verona, 
executed by himself ... his 
cap, which is an upright one 
with many folds, reminded me 
of that sort usually worn, when 
I was a boy, by the old glass- 
grinders of the Seven Dials." 



« Dr. William Hunter (1718- in 1722* 



83) was elder brother of the 
celebrated Dr. John Hunter, 
to whom in 1768 ne gave up his 
house in Jennyn Street, taking 
possession of the one he had 
Duilt for himself in Windmill 
Street. In 1764 he had been 
appointed Physician Extra- 
orainary to the Queen. He 
became a foundation member 
of the Royal Academy, as Pro- 
fessor of Anatomy. It is re- 
lated that half an hour before 
his death he exclaimed : " Had 
I a pen, and were I able to 
write, I would describe how 
easy and pleasant a thing it 
is to die." 

• Now rebuilt as No. 38. 

*Strype's edition of Stow, 
I720, contains many such 
plates. John Kip, the en- 
graver, was bom in Amster- 
dam. He died at Westminster 



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3 



Hackney chairs were then so numerons, that their 
stands extended ronnd Covent Garden, and often down 
the adjacent streets ; ^ these vehicles frequently enabled 
physicians to approach their patients in a warm state. 
The forms of those to which I allude are also given in 
Kip's prints above mentioned; and who knows but that 
they, in their turn, have conveyed Voltaire from the 
theatre to his lodging in Maiden Lane ? * 

That sedans were of ancient use I make no doubt, 
as I find one introduced in Sir Geoige Staunton's Embassy 
to China.' Pliny has stated that his uncle was much 
accustomed to be carried abroad in a chair.* My parents. 



^ In the miscdlaneous pages 
of lus Nottekens, Smith reports 
Elizabeth Carter, of "Epic- 
tetns'^ fame, as saving to 
a Covent Garden nuiterer, 
named Tvngg (jocularly known 
as the " T^5 of the Garden ") : 
" I recoUect, Sir, when Mr. 
Garrick acted, hackney chairs 
were then so numerous that 
they stood all round the Piazzas, 
down Southampton Street, and 
extended more than half-wav 
along Maiden Lane, so much 
were they in requisition at 
that time." 

* Voltaire first came to 
London in May 1726, after 
his confinement m the Bastille, 
landing at Greenwich on a 
cloudless ni^ht. His first im- 
pressions of London are quoted 
by Mr. Archibald Ballantyne 
in his interesting VoUatre's 
VisU io England. After being 
the gaest of Bolingbroke, Vol- 
taire returned to Paris in a 
state of indecision, but, again 



crossing the Channel, he 
settled at Wandsworth, where 
he found a friend and host 
in Sir Everard Falkener. He 
met Pope, and improved his 
English bv attending the 
theatres. Chetwood says : "I 
furnished him every evening 
with the play of the night 
(at Drurv Lane), which he 
took with him into the orchestra 
(his accustomed seat) : in four 
or five months he not only 
conversed in elegant English, 
but wrote it wifii exact pro- 
priety." Voltaire became a 
well-known figure in London, 
and wrote his Henriade in 
his London lodging at the 
sign of the "White Peruke," 
Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, 
next door to the Bedford Head. 

^ Notes of Proceedings and 
Occurrences during the British 
Embassy to Pekin, 1816. Geo. 
Thos. Staunton, 1824. Printed 
for Private Circulation. 

* Pliny the Younger, in 



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4 



A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



after a fireside debate, agreed that I should have two 
Christian names : John, after my grandfather, a Shropshire 
clothier, whose bust, modelled by my father, was one 
of the first publicly exhibited by the Associated Artists 
in 1763, before the establishment of the Royal Academy ; ^ 
and Thomas, to the honour of our family, in remembrance 
of my great-uncle. Admiral Smith, better known under 
the appellation of ^* Tom of Ten Thousand," ' of whom I 



writing to his friend, Baebius 
Macer, on the habits and life 
of his uncle, C. Plinius Secun- 
dus (Pliny the dder), says: 
"A shorthand writer con- 
stantl3r attended him, . . • 
who, in the winter, wore a 
particular sort of warm gloves, 
that the sharpness of the 
weather might not occasion 
any ioterruption to my uncle's 
studies; and for the same 
reason, when in Rome, he was 
always carried in a chair. I 
recollect his once taking me to 
task for walking. ' You need 
not,' he said, 'lose these 
hours.' For he thought every 
hour gone that was not given 
to study" (Letters of Pliny 
the Younger, bk. iii. letter 
5, p. 82. Bohn's Classical 
Library). 

^Thc Catalogue of this ex- 
hibition is entitled : " A Cata- 
logue of the Paintings, Sculp- 
tures, Architecture, ModeLs, 
Drawings, Engravings, etc., now 
esdiibitmg under the Patronage 
of the Society for the En- 
couragement of Arts, Manu- 
factures, and Commerce, at 
their Great Room in the 



Strand, London." It credits 
Mr. Nathaniel Smith, St. 
Martin's Lane, with the 
following : — 

210. A bnst as la£ge as life. 

211. A figure of Time, imitating 
a bronze. 

* Smith's naval ancestor won 
his sobriquet, "Tom of Ten 
Thousand," very easily. He 
had compelled the French 
corvette Gironde to salute 
the British colours in Ply- 
mouth Sound, for which, on 
complaint, he was dismissed 
the navy for exceeding 
his instructions, but was 
shortly reinstated. The public 
believed that he had fired 
into the Gironde to compel 
its respect to our flag, and 
on this exaggerated report 

fatve him the name " Tom of 
en Thousand." Smith, who 
rose to high rank, but won 
no ^eat personal distinction, 
presided over the court-martial 
whichcondemnedAdmiralByng 

in 1757- 

It may be added that the 
name " Tom of Ten Thousand " 
has been borne by several men. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 5 

have a spirited half-length portrait, painted by the cele- 
brated Richard Wilson, the landscape painter, previous 
to his visiting Rome, when he resided in the apartments 
on the north side of Covent Garden, which had been 
occupied first by Sir Peter Lely, and afterwards by Sir 
Godfrey Kneller.^ From this pictm*e there is an excellent 
engraving in mezzotinto, by Faber. 

notably by Thomas Thjmne of wrong about Kneller. This 
Longleat, who was so called painter's house had been on 
on account of his wealth, the east side of the S(}uare, 
He was murdered in Pall known as the Little Piazza. 
MaU in February 1682, by Its garden, stretching back 
three assassins hired by Coimt to Bow Street, was the scene 
Kdningsmark, The murder is of the famous quarrel between 
realistically portrayed on his Kneller and Dr. Ratcliffe. A 
tomb in the south aisle of tenant who did precede 
Westminster Abbey. Another Wilson was Hogarth, who, 
" Tom of Ten Thousand " was though he did not reside at 
Thomas Hudson, a native of Cock s, had exhibited here 
Leeds, who lost a large fortune his " Manage i la Mode " 
in the South Sea Scheme, gratis, with a view to its sale. 
and, becoming insane, wan- Wilson had a model made 
dered the streets of London of a portion of the Piazza, which 
for years, leaning on a he used as a receptacle for 
crutch. his implements. The rustic 

^ These coincidences of re- work of the pieis was pro- 
sidence seem to be overstated vided with drawers, and the 
bv &nith. It must have been openings of the arches held 
after, not before, his visit pencils and oil bottles. An un- 
to Italy, which he made in bending devotion to his Italian 
his 36^1 year, that Wilson manner of painting (he so 
took apartments in the Piazza Italianised a view of Kew 
on the north side of Covent Gardens that George the 
Garden. He hved above the Third failed to recognise it) 
looms of Cock, the auctioneer, and a rough temper brought 
who was foUowed by Langford, this fine painter to humbler 
and later stiU by George dweUic^ in Charlotte Street, 
Robins. Sir Peter Lely had Great Queen Street, and Foley 
lived in the same house from Place; finally, to a room in 
1662 until hisdeath in 1680, and Tottenham Street. His for- 
hsxe his collections were sold times were mended at the last 
in 1667. Smith seems to be by his appointment as Lib- 



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I have heard my mother relate, that when at Greenwich 
this year for the benefit of her health, an aged pie and 
cheesecake woman Uved there, who was accompanied 
through the town by a goose, who regularly stopped at 
her customer's door, and commenced a loud cackling; 
but that whenever the words " Not to-day *' were uttered, 
off it waddled to the next house, and so on till the business 
of the day was ended. My mother also remarked, that when 
ladies walked out, they carried nosegays in their hands, 
and wore three immense lace ruffle cuffs on each elbow.^ 

In the month of March, this year, died Mary Mogg, 
at Oakingham, the woman who gave rise to Gay's cele- 
brated baUad of " Molly Mogg.*' « 



rarian to the Royal Academy, 
and his succession to a small 
estate in Wales on the death 
of his brother. 

^ See a plate in the Lady's 
Magazine of 1870, in which 
Miss Catley wears such elbow 
ruffles in the character of 
Rosetta in Love in a Village. 

> The death of Molly Moeg 
was thus announced in me 
Gentleman's Magazine : " Mrs. 
Mary Moffg, at Oakingham : 
she was the person on whom 
Gay wrote the song of * Molly 
Mogg.' " This song was first 
printed in Misfs Weekly 
Journal of August 27, 1726, 
with a note stating that " it was 
writ by two or three men of 
wit (who have diverted the 
public both in prose and verse), 
upon the occasion of their 1 ving 
at a certain inn at Ockingnam, 
where the daughter of the 
house was remarkably pretty. 



and whose name is Molly 
Mogg." These " men of wit ^' 
were supposed to have been 
Pope, Swift, and Gay, and 
it was believed that they had 
together concocted the son^, 
but the weight of evidence is 
in favour of Gay's sole author- 
ship. There is, however, enough 
doubt to warrant one in hold- 
ing to the pleasant tradition 
that tibe three poets, over their 
cups at the Rose Inn, made 
the song which began (original 
version) : — 

" Says my Uncle, I pray yoo di8> 
cover 
What has been the canse of 
your woes. 
That you pine and you whine 
like a lover ? 
I've seen Molly Mog of the 
Rose. 

Oh, Nephew I your grief is but 
folly. 
In town you may find better 
prog; 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 7 

In aU ages there has been a fashion in amusements, 
as wdl as in dress : grottoes, which were numerous round 
London, appear by the advertisements to have been 
places of great resort, but above all Finch's, in St. George's 
Fields, was the fcivourite. The following is a copy of one 
of the musical announcements : — 



"6th of May, 1766. 

" Mr. Houghton and Mr. Mitchell's Night. 

" At Finch's Grotto Garden, This Day, will be per- 
formed a Concert of Vocal and Instrumental Music. 
Singing as usual. 

*' N.B. For that Night only, the Band will be enlarged. 
Tickets to be had at the Bar of the Gardens. Admittance 
One Shilling."^ 



Half a crown there wUl get yon 
a Molly, 
A Molly mnch better than Mog. 

The school boya delight in a play- 
day. 
The schoolmaster's joy is to flog ; 
The miUc- maid's dehght is in 
May day, 
Bvt mine is in sweet Molly 
Mog." 

^ Finch's Grotto Garden 
stood on the site now occupied 

Sir ihd headquarters of the 
etropolitan Yiie Brigade. It 
was opened — six years before 
John Thomas Smith was bom 
—on the strength of a spring 
in the grounds which a Dr. 
Townshend was willing to de- 
clare medicinal. Concerts and 
fiieworks were given with fair 



success, and here "Tonuny" 
Lowe accepted engagements 
after his failure in the manage- 
ment of Marylebone Gardens. 
The tavern was burnt down 
in May 1795, and was re- 
placed by another called the 
^'Goldsnuth'sArms/'afterwards 
styled the " Old Grotto New 
Reviv'd." This tavern bore 
the inscription — 

"Here Herbs did grow 
And flowers sweet« 
But now 'tis caU'd 
Saint George's Street." 

All that is known about 
Finch's Grotto is told by 
Mr. Warwick Wroth in his 
admirable London PUasure 
Gardens of the Eighteenth 
Century. 



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8 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

1767. 

Being frequently thrown into my cradle by the servant, 
as a cross little brat, the care of my tender mother induced 
her to purchase one of Mr. Burchell's anod}me necklaces, 
so strongly recommended by two eminent ph3^cians, 
Dr. Tanner, the inventor, and Dr. Chamberlen, to whom 
he had commimicated the prescription ; and it was agreed 
by most of my mother's gossiping friends, that the effluvia 
arising from it when warm acted in so friendly a manner, 
that my fevered gums were considerably relieved.^ 

Go-carts, the old appendages of om: ntirseries, con- 
tinuing in use, I was occasionally placed in one ; and as 



*This famous aid to the 
teething of children was in- 
vented about the year 1717, 
when there appeared a Philo- 
sophical Essay uton the Cele- 
braUd Anodyne Necklace, de- 
dicated to Dr. Paul Chamberlen 
(who died in this year), and 
the Royal Society. This tract, 
(}uoted by Mr. J. Eliot Hodgkin 
in Notes and Queries of Feb. 
16, 1884, argues the advantages 
of the necklace as follows : — 

" For since the difficult 
Cutting of Children's Teeth 
proceeds from the hard and 
strict Closure of their Gums; 
If you get Them but once 
separated and opened, the 
Teeth will of themselves 
Naturally come Forth; Now 
the Smooth Alcalious Atoms 
of the Necklace, by their in- 
sinuating figure and shape, 
do so make way for their Pro- 
trusion by gently softening 



and opening the hard swelled 
Gums, that the Teeth will 
of themselves without any 
difficulty or pain Cut and come 
out, as has been sufficiently 
proved." 

Mr. Hodgkin describes the 
necklace as "of beads arti- 
ficially prepared, smaU, like 
barley-corns," costing five 
shillings. An early depdt was 
Garrawa^s at the Royal Ex- 
change uate. In Smitii's day 
they were sold in Long Acre 
by Mr. Burchell at the sign 
of the Anodyne Necklace, and 
the price was still " 5s. single," 
with " an allowance by the 
dozen to sell again." Burchell 
advertised : *' After the Wear- 
ing of which about their Neck 
but One night. Children have 
immediately cut their Teeth 
with Safety, who but just 
before were on the Brink of 
the Grave." 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 9 

its advantages have been noticed in my work entitled 
NoUekens and his Times, I shall now only refer the reader 
for its form to Number i86 of " Rembrandt's Etchings ; " * 
that being similar, as my father informed me, to those 
used in London in my infantine days.' 

The cradle having of late years been in a great degree 
superseded by what is called a cot,* and its shape not 
being remarkable, I shall for a moment beg leave to deal 
in a foreign market, in order to gratify the indefatigable 
organ of inquisitiveness of some of my readers, who may 
wish to know in what sort of cradle Stratford's sweet Willy 
slumbered. Possibly it might in some respects have 
accorded with the representation of one in a small plate 
by Israel Von Meckenen,^ and this conjecture is not im- 
probable, as that plate was engraved about the sixteenth 
century ; and it is well known that in most articles of 
furniture, as well as dress, we had long borrowed from 

^ According to Daulby's sequently named Liverpool 

numbering. Street." 

'For some curious erudi- 'Hone saj^: "The late 
tion on eo-carts see Smith's King George rv. and his 
Life of rfMekens, where he bromeis and sisters, all the 
says (iSao ed. i. 221) : " When royal family of George iii., 
I was a boy, the go-cart was were rocked. The rocker was 
common in every toy-shop a female officer of the house- 
in London; but it was to be hold, with a salary" {Every 
found in the greatest abundance Day Book), Rocker cradles 
in the once far-famed turners' are to-day made in Ireland 
Aop in Spinning-wheel Alley, by villagers, and sold from 
Hoorfidds : a narrow passage door to door, 
leading from those fields to * Two artists, father and son, 
the spot upon which the bore the name of Israel von 
original Bethlehem Hospital Meckenen. They flomished in 
stood in Bishopsgate Street, the fifteenth and early six- 
In 1825-26, however, both teenth centuries, and appear 
Spinning-wheel Alley and Old to have collaborated on some 
Mthlehem were considerably 250 prints. The British Museum 
altered and widened, and sub- hasafinesetof theirengravings. 



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our continental neighbours, whether good, bad, or in- 
different. It gives me great pleasure to observe that, 
owing to the vast improvements made by our draughts- 
men for English upholsterers, in every article of domestic 
decorative furniture, England has now little occasion to 
borrow from other nations. 

Nancy Dawson, the famous hornpipe dancer, died this 
year. May 27th, at Hampstead ; she was buried behind 
the Foundling Hospital, in the ground belonging to St. 
George the Idartyr, where there is a tombstone to her 
memory, simply stating, ^^Here lies Nancy Dawson." 
Every verse of a song in praise of her, declares the poet 
to be dying for Nancy Dawson ; and its tune, which many 
of my readers must recollect, is, in my opinion, as lively as 
that of ''Sir Roger de Coverley/' I have been informed 
that Nancy, when a girl, set up the skittles at a tavern 
in High Street, Marylebone.^ Sir William Musgrave, in 



^ The stone inscribed " Here 
lies Nancy Dawson " no longer 
exists. H. Dorsay Ansell, the 
obliging keeper of the burial- 
grounds (now laid out as 
one recreation-ground) of St. 
George the Martyr and St. 
Geoige's, Bloomsbury, is fre- 
quently appUed to for infor- 
mation as to its existence. 
Eighteen years ago, when these 
grounds were formed, careful 
search was made for interest- 
ing stones, and the gravestone 
of Zachary Macaulay, among 
others, was discovered by Mr. 
Ansell. That of Nancy Dawson 
was never found, but it may 
be buried out of sight. 

Nancy Dawson is stated 
to have died at Haverstock 



Hill, May 27, 1767. Her 
portrait in oils stOl hangs in 
the Garrick Qub, and the 
print-sellers are fanuliar with 
ner b^oit in theatrical costume. 
She IS believed to have been 
bom about 1730, to have 
been the daughter of a Clare 
Market porter, and to have 
lived in poverty in St. Giles's 
or in a Dmry Lane cellar. 
The rather ill - supported 
narratives of her career spefk, 
as does Smith, of her waiting 
on the skittle - plaj^rs at a 
Marylebone tavern, which Mr. 
Geo^ Clinch thinks (Afory- 
lebane and St. Pancras) may 
have been the old " Rose of 
Normandy " in High Street. 
Nancy Dawson's fortune was 



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NANCY DAWSON 

*' See how she comes to £|ive surprise 
With joy and pleasure in her eyes." 

Old Song, " Nancy Dawson 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



11 



his Adversaria (No. 5719), in the British Museum, says 
that '* Nancy Dawson was the wife of a pabUcan near 
Kebo, oa the borders of Scotland.*' ^ 

1768. 

At the age when most children place things on their 
heads and ay ** Hot pies ! *' I displayed a black pudding 
upon mine, which my mother, careful soul, had provided 
for its protection in case I should fall. This is another 
artide mentioned in Nattekens and his Times ; and having 
there stated that Rubens, in a picture at Blenheim, had 
painted one on the head of a son of his, walking with his 
wife Elenor,* and as the mothers of future d^ys may wish 
to know its shape, I beg to infonn them that there is an 
engraving of it by MacArdell. But as the receipt for a 
pet pudding would be of little use to the maker were one 
ingredient omitted, it would be equally difficult to produce 
a similar black pudding to mine, were I not to state that 
it was made of a long narrow piece of black silk or satin, 
padded with wadding, and then formed to the head accord- 



made in 1759 in the Beggars* 
Opera. The man who danced 
the hornpipe among the thieves 
happeaed to have fallen iU, and 
his place was taken by Nancy, 
who was then a rising young 
actress. From that moment 
her success was secure. Her 
real monument is the song 
beginning — 

" Of aU the girls in our town. 
The black, the lair, the red, the 



That dance and pfance it up and 
down« 
There's none like Nancy Daw- 
son I 



Her easy mien, her shape so neat. 
She foots, she trips, she looks 

so sweet. 
Her ev'ry motion's so complete, 
I die tor Nancy Dawson 1*' 

^ Musgrave's note continues : 
" Whom she deserted upon his 
discovering that she bad an 
intrigue with the exciseman 
of that district." 

*Rubens's beautiful second 
wife, Helena Fourment, who 
was only sixteen when he 
married her. She is the sub- 
ject of not a few of his 
pictures. 



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12 



A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



ing to the taste of the parent, or similar to that of little 
Rubens.^ 

In this year the Royal Academy was founded, consisting 
of members who had agreed to withdraw themselves from 
various clubs, not only in order to be more select as to 
talent, but perfectly correct as to gentlemanly conduct. 
It would have been a valuable acquisition to the History 
of the Fine Arts in England, had Mr. Howard favoured us 
with the Rise and Progress of the Royal Academy.' 



^ NoUekens, the sculptor, 
highly approved of pudoings 
for diildren, and would say, 
"Ay, now, what's your 
name ? " " Mrs. Rapworth, 
sir." " WeU, Mrs. Rapworth, 
you have done right; I wore 
a pudding when I was a little 
boy, and all my mother's 
children wore puddings." 

•The parent of the Royal 
Academy, as an exhibitmg 
body, was the Foundling Hos- 
pital in Guilford Street. A 
number of painters, including 
Hogarth, Rejmolds, Richard 
Wilson, and Gainsborough, 
agreed to present pictures to 
Captain Coram's charity. 
These were shown with sudx 
success, that the possibility 
of holding remunerative ex- 
hibitions was perceived, and 
in 1760 a free exhibition was 
opened in the rooms of the 
Society of Arts. In following 
years exhibitions were held 
m Spring Gardens. In 1765 
the Incorporated Society of 
Artists of Great Britain" 
obtained its charter; but dis- 
putes arose, and three years 



later twenty or more painters 
successfully petitioned George 
m. to establish the "Roj^ 
Academy of Arts in London." 
So many of the original 
members of the Royal Aca- 
demy are mentioned by Smith, 
that it will be useful to insert 
their names. They were all 
nominated by George m.: 

Sir ][08htia Reynolds. 
Benjaxnin West. 
Thomas Sandby. 
Francis Cotes. 
John Baker. 
Mason Chamberlin. 
John Gwynn. 
Thomas 6ainsboroagh» 
J. Baptist Cipriani. 
Jeremiah Meyer. 
Francis Mihier Newton. 
Paul Sandby. 
Francesco BartolouL 
Charles Catton. 
Nathaniel Hone. 
WiUiam Tyler. 
Nathaniel Dance. 
Richard Wilson. 
G. Michael Moser. 
Samuel Wale. 
Peter Toms. 
Angelica Kau£Eman. 
Richard Yeo. 
Mary Moser. 
WiUiam Chambers. 
Joseph Wilton, 
George Barret. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



IS 



Perhaps no one could have been more talked of than 
Mr. Wilkes, particularly on May loth, when a riot took 
place on account of his imprisonment.^ His popularity 
was carried to so great an extent, that his friends in all 
classes displayed some article on which his effigy was 
portrayed, such as salad or punch bowls, ale or milk jugs, 
plate, dishes, and even heads of canes. The squib engrav- 
ings of him, published from the commencement of his 
notoriety to his silent state when Chamberlain of 
London, would extend to several volumes. Hogarth's 
portrait of him, which by the collectors was considered 



Edward Penny. 
Agostino Carlinl. 
Fzancis Haymaa. 
Dominic Smes. 
John Richards. 
Francesco Znccarelli. 
George Dance. 
William Hoare. 
Johan ZofEany. 

A year and a day after the 
foundation of the Royal 
Academy, it was resolved : 
" There shall be a new order, 
or rank of members, to be 
called Associates of the Royal 
Acadany." Of the first 
twenty Associates, the follow- 
ing are mentioned in the Rainy 
Day: Richard Cosway, John 
Bacon, James Wyatt, Joseph 
NoDekens, James Barry (aU 
of whom were afterwards 
RA's) ; and Antonio Zucchi, 
Michael Angelo Rooker, and 
Biagio Rebecca. 

The first Royal Academy 
exhibition was opened to the 
public in Pall Mall " immedi- 
ately east of where the United 
Service Club now stands" 



(Wheatley) on the 26th of 
April, 1769. Two years later, 
the King assigned rooms in 
Somerset House to the Aca- 
demy, but his offer was not 
utilised until the new Somerset 
House was ready, in z^8o. 
Here the annual exhibitions 
were held for fifty-eight years. 
The Academicians then mi- 
grated to the eastern half of 
the National Gallery building 
in Trafalgar Square. In 1869 
the removal to Burlington 
House was made. The his- 
tory of the rise and progress 
of the Ro}ral Academy, which 
Smith wished might have been 
undertaken by its secretary, 
Henry Howard, R.A., has 
been written very fully by 
William Sandby, and again 
recently by the late J. E. 
Hodgson, R.A., and Mr. F. A. 
Eaton in collaboration. 

^ In this riot in St. George's 
Fields, five or six people were 
killed by the Guards, and 
about fifteen wounded. 



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14 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

a caricature, my father recommended as the best 
likeness. 

The foUowing memoranda respecting Heniy Fiiseli, 
R.A., are extracted from the Mitchell Ifanuscripts in the 
British Museum. The letter is from Mr. Murdock, of 
Hampstead» to a friend at Berlin, dated Hampstead, 
I2tb June 1764 : — 

** I like Fuseli very much ; he comes out to see us at 
times, and is just now gone from this with your letter to 
A. Ramsay, and another from me. He is of himself dis- 
posed to all possible economy ; but to be decently lodged 
and fed, in a decent family, cannot be for less than three 
shillings a day, which he pays. He might, according to 
Miller's wish, live a little cheaper ; but then he must have 
been lodged in some garret, where nobody could' have 
found their way, and must have been thrown into ale- 
houses and eating-houses, with company every way unsuit- 
able, or, indeed, insupportable to a stranger of any taste ; 
especially as the conmion people are of late brutalised. 

'' Some time hence, I hope, he may do something for 
himself; his talent at grouping figures, and his faculty 
of execution, being really surprising." 

In the same volume, in a letter dated Hampstead, 
I2th Jan. 1768, the same writer says to the same friend — 

"Fuseli goes to Italy next spring, by the advice of 
Reynolds (our Apelles), who has a high opinion of his 
genius, and sees what is wanting to make him a first-rate." ^ 

* Henry Fuseli (1741-1825) in Italy— I studied in Zurich 

had come to London in 1763. — I am a native of Switzerland 

On presenting himself before — do you think I should study 

Sir Joshua Re3niolds, the in Italy ? and, above all, is 

following dialogue occurred : it worth while ? " " Young 

" How long have you studied man, were I the author of 

in Italy ? " "I never studied these drawings, and were I 



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o 

X 



< 
> 



< 



o 



X 



55 

o 
o 

H 
U 
Cd 

u. 

X 
< 



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A BOOK FOR A KAINY DAY 15 

In another, dated Hampstead, 13th December 1768 : 
'' Fnseli is still here ; but proposes to set out for Italy as 
soon as his friends can secure to him fifty pounds yearly, 
for a few years. Dr. Armstrong,^ who admires his genius, 
has taxed himself at ten pounds, and has taken us in for as 
much more ; and indeed it were shameful that such talents 
should be sunk for want of a little pecuniary aid.'* 

The ladies this year wore half a flat hat as an eye-shade. 

1769. 

Lord North, in a letter addressed to Sir Eardley Wilmot 
from Downing Street, bearing date this year, April ist, 
says — 

'^My friend Colonel Luttrell having informed me 
that many persons depending upon the Court of Conunon 
Pleas are freeholders of Middlesex, etc., not having the 
honour of being acquainted with you himself, desires me 
to apply to you for your interest with your friends in his 
behalf. It is manifest how much it is for the honour of 
Parliament, and the qtiiet of this country in future times, 
that Mr. Wilkes should have an antagonist at the next 
Brentford election ; and that his antagonist should meet 
with a respectable support. The state of the country 
has been examined, and there is the greatest reason to 
bdieve that the Colonel will have a very considerable 
show of legal votes, nay, even a majority, if his friends 

offered ten thousand a year author of a few stanzas in 

noi to practise as an artist, Thomson's Castle of Indole 

I would reject the proposal ence describing the morbid 

with contempt." effects of indotence. Ha3^on 

^ Dr. J(rim Armstrong, whose writes of Fuaeli : " He swore 

poem, ** The Art of Preserving roundly, a habit which he told 

Healtii," was long famous, is me he contracted from Dr. 

now best remembered as the Armstrong." 



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16 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

are not deterred from appearing at the poll. It is the 
game of Mr. Wilkes and his friends to increase those alarms^ 
but they cannot frighten the candidate from his purpose ; 
and I am very confident that the voters will run no risk. 
I hope, therefore, you will excuse this application. There 
is nothings I imagine, that every true friend of this country 
must wish more than to see Mr. Wilkes disappointed in 
his projects ; and nothing, I am convinced, will defeat 
them more effectually, than to fill up the vacant seat for 
Middlesex, especially if it can be done for a fair majority 
of legal votes. 

^' I am. Sir, with the greatest truth and respect, your 
most faithful, humble servant, '* North.'* 

The Judge, in his answer, dated on the following day, 
observed, " It would be highly improper for me to inter- 
fere in any shape in that election.'* (See the Wilmot 
Letters, in the British Museum.) ^ 

This year ladies continued to walk with fans in their 
hands. 

1770. 

Most of the citizens who had saved money were very 
fond of retiring to some country-house, at a short distance 
from the Metropolis, and more particularly to Islington, 
that being a selected and favourite spot. Charles 
Bretherton, Jun., made an etching, from a drawing by 

^Sir John Eardley-Wilmot, at the poll, the House of 

Chief Justice of the Common Commons declared that Colonel 

Pleas, dedded several cases Luttrell ought to have been 

arising out of Wilkes's libels : elected, and his name was 

his reply to Lord North's substituted for Wilkes's in 

extraordinary letter was the the return, a proceeding 

only one he could make. In which inflamed the sitoa- 

spite of Wilkes's easy victory tion- 



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NVkeREAS t^y Mew Paj^oc/a. hdS l/^en c/dnc/c>f^i'rtf(fy Cari^ueC 

of^^d, -neny hacr of OOlP^ ! !^f,S tAken jrorn tAt tv^ of 6 he 

dortdi deal of TiraBER kdS Utn cut doi^n ^Qa)frUd 
oi^oy ftofn,ihi OldORoVB Thai ^as pldnUcC Ust iSpyim 
'^FLvrh %tpH.O^ZK'PlNE thrown into my BASQJ^ . ft^oyyi 
henceforth. SteeC'Trdp^ y.Sprtnn(7Un^ n^'/i U constantly 
set for the Oetier exUtpdtron of <fuch a KesC oj VHld^nj 
Oy m.g JEREMIAH SaGO . 



"THE DELIGHTS OF ISLINGTON" 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 17 

Mr. Banbury,^ of a Londoner, of the above description, 
whose waistcoat-pockets were large enough to convey a 
oonple of fowls from a City feast home to his family. The 
print is entitled, "The Delights of Islington,'* and bears 
the following inscription at the top : — 

WHEREAS my new Pagoda has been clandestinely 
carried off, and a new pair of Dolphins taken from the 
top of the Gazebo, by some Bloodthirsty Villains ; and 
vrtiereas a great deal timber has been cut down and 
carried away from the Old Grove, that was planted last 
Spring, and Pluto and Proserpine thrown into my Basin : 
from henceforth, Steel Traps and spring guns wiU be 
constantly set for the better extirpation of such a nest of 
villains. By me, Jeremiah Sago. 

On a garden notice-board, in another print, also 
after Btmbury, published at the same time, is 
inscribed, 

THE NEW PARADISE. 

No Gentlemen or Ladies to be adnutted with nails in 
their shoes.* 

^ Henry William Bunbury 'For almost a century the 

stands apart from his feUow- exodus of the London citizens 

caricaturists as a wealthy to the outlying country was 

amateur. He was the second considered fau* game for 

son of the Rev. Sir William satire. Bunbury's caricature 

Bunbury, Bart., of Great of 1772 only records the 

Barton, Suffolk, and married humours which Robert Lloyd 

Catherine Homeck, the " Little had touched in " The Cit's 

Comedy " of Goldsmith. Country Box," printed in No. 

Bretherton was an engraver 135 of the Connoisseur. 

and printseller in Bond Street. " The trav'ler with amazement sees 
He engraved nearly all Bun- A temple, Gothic or Chinese, 
bmy's drawings, and it was ^**^ "^^'^y * ^^ ^^^ tawdry 
saidfttat he alone could do And^eSlld with a sprawling 
90 with good effect. dragon. 



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18 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

For the information of the collectors of Bunbury's 
prints, I beg to state that there is in lifrs. Banks's collection 
of visiting cards, etc., in the British Museum, a small etch- 
ing said to have been his very first attempt when at West* 
minster School. It represents a fellow riding a hog, 
brandishing a birch-broom by way of a baster, with another 
at a short distance, hallooing. 

As Mr. Walpole is silent as to Jonathan Richardson's 
place of interment, the biographical cdlector will find 
the following inscription in the burial-ground behind the 
Foundling Hospital, belonging to the parish of St. Geoige 
the Martyr : — 

Elizabeth Richardson, 
Died 24th Dec. 1767, 

Aged 74 years. 

Jonathan Richardson, 

Died loth June, 1771, 

Aged 77 ; both of this parish.* 

A wooden arch is bent astride Even Cowper saw littie but 
A ditch of water four feet wide; absurdity m the demand for 
With^angles, curves, and «g*ag ^^ J^ " summer-houses." 

From Halfpenny's exact deagns. ** Suburban villas, highway-side 

In front a level lawn is seen, retreats. 

Without a shrub upon the That dread th' encroachment 

grttn. ; of our growing streets. 

Where taste would want its Tight boxes neatly sash'd, and 

first great law, in a blaze 

But for the skulking sly Ha-Ha ; With all a July sun's coUected 

By whose miraculous assistance rays. 

You ^ain a prospect two fields Delight the citizen, who, gaap- 

distance. Ing there. 

And now from Hyde Park Breathes clouds of dust, and 

Comer come calls it country air." 

The gods of Athens and of Rome : •* c -au t ^ -d 

Here squabby Cupids take their Horace bmitn, Lord Byron, 

places, and Thomas Hood all touched 

With Venus and the clumsy more or less satirically on this 

^^4r?'''' "'''' "^"^ "^ "^^Thiie is a confusion heie. 
Stretcheshisleadenbowforever." Walpole in his Anecdotes of 



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A BOOK FOR A BAINY DAY 



19 



1771. 

The gaiety during the merry month of May was to me 
most delightful ; my feet, though I knew nothing of the 
positions, kept pace with those of the blooming milkmaids, 
who danced round their garlands of massive plate, hired 
from the silversmiths to the amount of several hundreds 
of pounds, for the purpose of placing roimd an obelisk, 
covered with silk fixed upon a chairman's horse. The 
most showy flowers of the season were arranged so as to 
fill up the openings between the dishes, plates, butter- 
boats, cream-jugs, and tankards. This obelisk was carried 
by two chairmen in gold-laced hats, six or more handsome 
milkmaids in pink and blue gowns, drawn through the 
pocket-holes, for they had one on either side : yellow or 
scailet petticoats, neatly quilted, high-heeled shoes, mob- 
caps, with lappets of lace resting on their shoulders ; 
nosegays in their bosoms, and flat Woffington hats, covered 
with ribbons of every colour. But what crowned the 
whole of the display was a magnificent silver tea-urn 



Painting deals only with 
Jonathan Richardson the 
elder (1665 -1745), portrait 
painter and cntic; Smith 
refers to his son (1694-1771). 
The two were greatly attached 
to each other. There was a 
story that they sketched each 
othor's faces every day. Old 
Richardson, who wrote a 
treatise on Paradise Lost, was 
able to study the classics 
only through his son, on 
whran he doted. Hogarth 
made a caricature, whidi he 
suppressed, of the father using 



his son as a telescope to read 
the writers of Greece and 
Rome. W. H. P3me says of 
Old Richardson in Wine and 
Walnuts : " He seldom rambled 
city-ways, though sometimes 
he stepped in at the 'Rain- 
bow,' where he counted a few 
worthies, or looked in at Dick's 
and gave them a note or two. 
He would not put his foot 
on the threshold of the ' Devil,' 
however, for he thought ihe 
sign profane. Fielding would 
run a furlong to escape him ; 
he called him Doctor Fidget/' 



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20 



A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



which surmounted the obeliski the stand of which was 
profusely decorated with scarlet tulips. A smart, slender 
fellow of a fiddler, commonly wearing a sky-blue coat, 
with his hat profusely covered with ribbons, attended ; 
and the master of the group was accompanied by a con- 
stable, to protect the plate from too close a pressure of the 
crowd, when the maids danced before the doors of his 
customers.^ 

One of the subjects selected by Mr. Jonathan Tyers, 
for the artists who decorated the boxes for supper-parties 
in Vauxhall Gardens,* was that of Milkmaids on May-day. 



^ The milkmaids' chief haunt 
was Islington, whence hundreds 
of them carried the milk into 
London every morning. In 
his print ** Evening," the scene 
of which is laid outside the 
"Middleton Head," Hogarth 
has an Islington milkmaid milk- 
ing a cow, and in his " Enraged 
Musicians," a milkmaid with 
her cry of Milk Belouw con- 
tributes to the town noises. 
The "garlands of massive 
plate" which the milkmaids 
carried roimd on May Day 
were borrowed of pawnbrokers 
on security. One pawnbroker, 
says Hone, was particularly 
resorted to. He let his plate 
at so much per hour, under 
bond from housekeepers for its 
safe return. In this way one 
set of milkmaids would hire 
the garland from ten o'clock 
till one, and another from one 
till six, and so on during the 
first three days of May. These 
customs had all but passed 
away when Smith wrote his 



Rainy Day, but long after 
the milkmaids had ceased to 
celebrate the London May Day 
the chimney-sweepers brought 
out their Jacks-in-the-green, 
specimens of which have been 
seen in the streets in the 
last twenty years. In 1825, 
Hone speaks of the dances 
round me "garland" as a 
"lately disused custom." 

*The boxes and pavilions 
at VauxhaU were decorated 
with paintings at the suggestion 
of Hogarth, who permitted his 
"Four Times of the Day" to 
be copied by Francis Hayman. 
He aJso presented T3^rs with 
a picture from his own hand, 
"Henry viii. and Anne 
Bolejm," receiving in acknow- 
ledgment a gold ticket in- 
scrioed " In perpetuam Bene- 
ficii memoriam, and giving 
admission to "a coachfoU 
of people. The Vauxhall 
paintings chiefly represented 
sports and sentimental scenes. 
Among Hayman's works were. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 21 

In that picture (which, with the rest painted by Hayman 
and his pupils, has lately disappeared) the garland of 
plate was carried by a man on his head ; and the milk- 
maids, who danced to the music of a wooden-legged fiddler, 
were extremely elegant. They had ruffled cufis, and their 
gowns were not drawn through their pocket-holes as in 
my time ; their hats were flat, and not unlike that worn 
by Peg WofiSngton, but bore a nearer shape to those now 
in use by some of the fish-women at Billingsgate. In 
Captain M. Laroon's Cries of London, published by Tempest, 
there is a female entitled " A Merry Milkmaid." ^ She 
is dancing with a small garland of plate upon her head ; 
and from her dress I conclude that the Captain either 
made his drawing in the latter part of King William iii.'s 
reign, or at the commencement of that of Queen Anne. 

1772. 

My dear mother's declining state of health urged my 
father to consult Dr. Armstrong,' who recommended her 
to rise early and take milk at the cowhouse. I was her 
companion then ; and I well remember that, after we 
had passed Portland Chapel, there were fields all the way 
on either side. The highway was irregular, with here 

"The Game of Quadrille/* London, where he painted 

" ChildreD Playing at Shuttle- draperies for Sir Godfrey 

cock," "Leap Frog," "Fal- Kneller and executed his 

sta£f s Cowardice Detected," " ^jy^ ^^ London," engraved 

etc In November 1841, bv Tempest. His son. Captain 

twenty-four of these pictures, Marcellus Lauron, or Laroon, 

all in a dirty condition, was soldier, artist, and actor, 

were sold in the Gardens at and a friend of Hogarth. 

prices varying from 30s. to ' Probably Dr. George Arm- 

£10. strong, brother of Dr. John 

^Haroettus Lauron, or Armstrong, author of the 

Laroon (1653-1702), was bom poem, "The Art of Preserving 

at the Hague, and came to Health." 



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22 



A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



and there a bank of separation ; and that when we had 
crossed the New Road, there was a turnstile (called in an 
early plan, which I have seen since, " The White House "), 
at the entrance of a meadow leading to a little old public- 
house, the sign of the " Queen*s Head and Artichoke " : 
it was much weather-beaten, though perhaps once a 
tolerably good portrait of Queen Elizabeth. The house 
was reported to have been kept by one of Her Majesty's 
gardeners.^ 

A little beyond a nest of small houses contiguous, was 
another turnstile opening also into fields, over which we 
walked to the Jew's Harp House, Tavern and Tea Gardens.* 
It consisted of a large upper room, ascended by an outside 



^ In Smith's boyhood the 
"Queen's Head and Arti- 
choke" was a rural tavern 
and tea-garden in Marvle- 
bone Park, quarter of a 
mile north of the New Road, 
now Marylebone Road. The 
Marylebone Gardens were 
in decline, and their place 
was taken by three smaDer 
resorts, the Queen's Head 
and Artichoke," the " Jew's 
Harp," and the "Yorkshire 
Stingo." The two first-named 
places were connected by a 
zigzag path Imown as Love 
Lane, in his NoUekens Smith 
has this choice morsel : " Mrs. 
NoUekens made it a rule to 
allow one servant — as they 
kept two — to go out on the 
alternate Sunday; for it was 
Mrs. NoUekens' opinion that 
if they were never pennitted 
to visit the 'Jews Harp,' 
' Queen's Head and Artichoke,' 



or Chalk Farm, they never 
would wash thetrsdves." The 
site of the " Artichoke " was 
covered by Decimus Burton's 
Colosseum. 

•The "Jew's Harp," dubi- 
ously explained as a corruption 
of jeu trampe, i.e. toy-trumpjet, 
stood near ^e lower portion 
of the Broad Walk in Regent's 
Park. Its arbours and tea- 
garden were long an attraction 
to the London youth. Here 
Arthur Onslow, when Speaker, 
was accustom^ to sit in an 
evening smoking his pipe, 
and sharing in the tavern talk. 
The landlord's discovery that 
his guest was the SpeaJcer of 
the House of Commons cost 
him his customer, for when 
Onslow found himself received 
at the "Jew's Harp" with 
ceremony, he discontmued his 
visits. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 28 

staircase, for the accommodation of the company on ball 
nights; and in this room large parties dined. At the 
south front of these premises was a large semicircular 
endosore with boxes for tea and ale drinkers, guarded by 
deal-board soldiers between every box, painted in proper 
colours. In the centre of this opening were tables and 
seats placed for the smokers. On the eastern side of the 
house there was a trapball-ground ; the western side served 
for a tennis-hall ; there were also public and private 
skittle-grounds. Behind this tavern were several small 
tenements, with a pretty good portion of ground to each. 
On the south of the tea-gardens a number of summer- 
houses and gardens, fitted up in the truest Cockney taste ; 
for on many of these castellated edifices wooden cannons 
were placed ; and at the entrance of each domain, of 
about the twentieth part of an acre, the old inscrip- 
tion of "Steel -traps and spring -guns aU aver these 
grounds," with an "N.B. Dogs trespassing will be 
shot.'* 

In these rural retreats the tenant was usually seen on 
Sunday evening in a bright scarlet waistcoat, ruffled shirty 
and silver shoe-buckles, comfortably taking his tea with 
his family, honouring a Seven-Dial friend with a nod on 
his peregrination to the famed Wells of Kilbum. Willan's 
fann,^ the extent of my mother's walk, stood at about a 
quarter of a mile south ; and I remember that the room 
in which she sat to take the milk was called " Queen 
Elizabeth's Kitchen," and that there was some stained 
glass in the windows. 

On our return we crossed the New Road ; and, after 

^ This farm in the possession the formation of Regent's 
of Thomas Willan was taken Park in 1794. It contained 
by order of the Treasury for about 288 acres. 



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24 



A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



passing the back of Maiylebone Gardens,^ entered London 
immediately behind the elegant mansions on the north 
side of Cavendish Square. This Square was enclosed by 
a dwarf brick wall, surmounted by heavy wooden railing. 
Harley Fields had for years been resorted to by thousands 
of people, to hear the celebrated Mr. George Whitefidd, 
whose wish, like that of Wesley, when preaching on execu- 
tion days at Kennington Common, was to catch the ears 
of the idlers. I should have noticed Kendall's &rm,* 
which in 1746 belonged to a farmer of the name of Bilson, 
a pretty large one, where I have seen eight or ten immense 
hay-ricks all on a row ; it stood on the site of the com- 
mencement of the present Osnabuig Street, nearly opposite 
the "Green Man," originally called the "Farthing Pie 
House." « 



^Marylebone Gardens had 
their main entrance in High 
Street, Marylebone, and ex- 
tended eastward to Harley 
Street. 

' Richard Kendall's farm, 
comprising about 133 acres, 
was absorbed in Regents Park. 

« The " Green Man " (rebmlt) 
stands east of Portland Road, 
Metropolitan Railway Station, 
on the site of the '^ Farthing 
Pie House," at which scraps 
of mutton put into a crust 
were sold for a farthing. The 
rural state of this neighbour- 
hood, and the regrets which the 
spread of London awakened, 
are set forth in Dr. DucareFs 
speech in the chapter, " No- 
tningtoEat," in EphraimHard- 
castle's (William Henry Pyne's) 
delightful Wine and Walnuts:— 



" * Verily I cannot get this 
mighty street out of my head,' 
said the Doctor. ' And then 
there is the new park— what 
do you call it ? Mary-le-bone 
— ^no, the Regent's Park : it 
seems to be an elegant, well- 
planned place, metninks, and 
will have a fine effect, no 
doubt, with its villas and 
what not, when the shrubs 
and trees have shot up a Uttle. 
But I shall not Uve to see it, 
and I care not; for I remember 
those fields in their natural, 
rural p;arb, covered with herds 
of kme, when you might 
stretch across from old Willan's 
farm there, a-top of Portland 
Street, right away without 
impediment to Samt John's 
Wood, where I have gathered 
blackberries when a boy — 



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< 
s 



z 

X 

D 

I 
■«; 

'^ 

c 

7. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



25 



To the honour of our dimate, which is often abusedi 
perhaps no country can produce instances of longevity 
equal to those of England of this year, viz. : — ^at loo, 2 ; 
loi, 5 ; 102, 6; 103, 3 ; 105, 4 ; 106, 3 ; 107, 4 ; 108, 5 ; 
109, 4; no, 2; III, 2; 112, 3; 114, I ; "8, i; 
125, Rice, a cooper in Southwark ; 133, Mrs. Keithe, at 
Newnham, in Gloucestershire ; 138, the widow Chun, 
at Ophurst, near Lichfield.^ 

1773- 
The ''Mother Red-cap," at Kentish Town, was a 
house of no small terror to travellers in former times. 



whidi pretty place, I am soiry 
to see, these orick-and-mortar 
gmtry have trenched upon. 
Why, Ephraim, you metro- 
politans will have half a day's 
journey, if you proceed at 
this rate, ere you can get a 
mouthful of fc&h air. Where 
the houses are to find inhabit- 
ants, and, when inhabited, 
where so many mouths are 
to find meat, must be found 
oat by those who come 
after."^ 

^ Smith seems to have 
understated the facts. James 
Easton, the author of a curious 
work, entitled "Human Lon- 
geoityy recording the name, 
age, place of residence, and 
year of the decease of 1712 
persons, who attained a cen- 
tury and upwards, from a.d. 
66 to 1799, etc." (Salisbury, 
1799), enumerates sixty-one 
cases in this year as against 
Smith's forty -eight. He 



gives the following particulars 
of the three cases named by 
Smith : — 

" Mrs. Keithe — 133, of 
Newnham, Gloucestershire. 
She, lived modemtely, and 
retained her senses till within 
fourteen days of her death. 
She left three daughters, the 
eldest aged one hundred and 
eleven; the second one hun- 
dred and ten; the youngest 
one hundred and nine. Also 
seven great, and great great 
grandchildren. 

"Mr. Rice— 115, of South- 
wark, cooper. 

" Mrs. Chun — 138, near 
Litchfield, StafEordshire ; re- 
sided in the same house one 
hundred and three years. By 
frequent exercise, and tem- 
perate living, she attained 
so great longevity. She left 
one son and two daughters, 
the youngest upwards of one 
hunmed years." 



« 

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26 



A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



This house was lately taken down, and another inn built 
on its site ; however, the old sign of ^' Mother Red«cap " 
is preserved on the new building. It has been stated 
that Mother Red-cap was the ^'Mother Damnable" of 
Kentish Town in early days ; and that it was at her house 
the notorious " Moll Cut-purse/' the highway-woman of 
the time of Oliver Cromwell, dismounted and frequently 
lodged.^ 

As few persons possess so retentive a memory as m3rself , 
I make no doubt that many will be pleased with my recol- 
lections of the state of Tottenham Court Road at this 
time. I shall commence at St. Giles's churchyard, in 



^Acooiding to one story, 
Mother Danmable was Jinney, 
the daughter of a Kentiw 
Town brick - maker, named 
Jacob Bingham. After living 
with a marauder named Gipsy 
George, who was hanged for 
sheep-stealing, Jinney passed 
from the protection of one 
criminal to another, until she 
was left a lonesome and em- 
bittered woman. She hved in 
her own cottage, built on 
waste land by her father, and 
abused everyone. 

" 'Tis Mother Damnable I that 
monstrous thing, 

Unmatch'd by Macbeth's way- 
ward women's ring. 

For cursing, scolding* fuming, 
flinging fire 

I' the face of madam, lord, 
knight, gent, dt, squire." 

The story went that on the 
night of her death hundreds 
of persons saw the Devil enter 
her house. On the site rose 



the inn which bore her portrait 
as its sign. Smith's mention 
of the terror with which it 
was regarded may have refer- 
ence to its loneliness and grue- 
some traditions. In his own 
day the inn was a pleasant 
resort. " Then the old Mother 
Red Cap was the evening 
resort of worn-out Londoners, 
and many a happy evening 
was spent in the green fields 
round about the old wayside 
houses by the children of poorer 
dasses. At that time the 
Dairy, at the junction of the 
Hampstead and Kentish Tovm 
roads, was not the fashionable 
building it is now, but with 
forms for the pedestrians to 
rest on, they served out milk 
fresh from the cow to all who 
came" (John Palmer, St. 
Pancras). Thisdairv,solonga 
landmark to North Londoners, 
has just disappeared in favour 
of a " Tube railway station. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 27 

the northern wall of which there was a gateway of red 
and brown brick. Over this gate, under its pediment, 
was a carved composition of the Last Judgment, not 
borrowed from Michael Angelo, but from the workings of 
the brain of some ship-carver.^ This was and is still admired 
by the generality of ignorant observers, as much as Mr. 
Charles Smith* the sculptor's ^'Love among the Roses" 
is by the well-informed ; and, perhaps, a more correct 
assertion was never made than that by the late worthy 
Rev. James Bean,' when speaking of an itinerant musician, 
'* that bad music was as agreeable to a bad ear as that of 
Corelli or Pergolesi was to persons who understood the 
science." 

At this gate stood for many years an eccentric but 
inoffensive old man called ** Simon," some account of 
whom will be found in a future page. Nearly on the 
site of the new gate, in which this basso reUevo has been 
most conspicuously placed, stood a very small old house 
towards Denmark Street, tottering for several years 
whenever a heavy carriage rolled through the street, 

^ This curious work may was paid for the carving to an 
stOl be seen in Little Denmark artist named Love. In 1900, 
Street, where its forty or the present Tuscan gate in 
fifty writhing figures, incrusted Little Denmark Street was 
witii grime, look at a little erected with the old carving 
distance like some ordinary inserted, 
floral desi^. The original ' Probably Charles Harriot 
" Resurrection Gate " was Smith, the architect, who was 
erected about the year 1687, at first a stone-carver. He 
in accordance with an order died in 1864. 
of the vestry. The bill of • The Reverend James Bean 
expenses is extant, and its was Vicar of Olney, Bucking- 
terms were contributed by hamshire, and assistant hb- 
Dr. Rimbault to Notes and rarian at the British Museum. 
Queries of Jtme 23, 1864, show- He died in 1826, and was buried 
mg the cost to have been in St. Georee's, Bloomsbury, 
£185, 14s. 6d., of which £27 burial-ground. 



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28 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

to the great terror of those who were at the time passing 
by. 

I must not f oiiget to observe that I recollect the building 
of most of the houses at the north end of New Compton 
Street (Dean Street and Compton Street, Soho, were 
named in compliment to Bishop Compton, Dean of St. 
Paul's, who held the living of St. Anne), and I also remem- 
ber a row of six small almshouses, surrounded by a dwarf 
brick wall, standing in the middle of High Street.^ 

On the left-hand of High Street, passing on to Tottenham 
Court Road, there were four handsomely finished brick 
houses, with grotesque masks on the key-stones above 
the first-floor windows, probably erected in the reign of 
Queen Anne. These houses have lately been rebuilt 
without the masks ; fortunately my reader may be gratified 
with a sight of such ornaments in Queen Square, West- 
minster.* There is a set of engravings of masks, of a 
sm^ quarto size, considered as the designs of Michael 
Angelo; and in the sale of Mr. Moser, the first keeper 
of the Royal Academy, which took place at Hutchinson's 
in 1783, were several plaster casts, considered to be taken 
from models by him. The next object of notoriety is a 
large circular boundary stone, let into the pavement in 
the middle of the highway, exactly where Oxford Street 
and Tottenham Court Road meet in a right angle. When 
the charity boys of St. Giles's parish walk the boundaries, 
those who have deserved flogging are whipped at this 
stone, in order that, as they grow up, they may remember 

^Stryne says these alms* * Originally Queen Anne's 
houses Dore the inscription, Square and now Queen Anne's 
''St. Giles's Almshouse, anno Gate, 
domino 1656." They were 
removed in 1782. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 29 

the place, and be competent to give evidence should any 
dispute arise with the adjoining parishes. Near this 
stone stood St. Giles's Pound.^ Two old houses stood 
near this spot on the eastern side of the street, where the 
entrance gates of Meux's breweiy have been erected: 
between the second -floor windows of one of them the 
following inscription, was cut in stone : ** Opposite this 
house stood St. Giles's Pound." This spot has been 
rendered popular by a song, attributed to the pen of a 
Mr. Thompson, an actor of the Drury Lane Com- 
pany: 

** On Newgate steps Jack Chance was found, 
Bred up near St. Giles's Pound." • 

* The Pound stood, as Smith At twelve years old, I have been 

indicates, in the broad space -,. ^ *^;. ,^. .f„rH^ •♦^«# ««^ 

where St. Giles Hkh StJ^ ^^'Sw? ^' ' 

Tottenham Court Road, and He leam'd to curse, to swear, and 
Oxford Street met; it was figi»t. 

removed in 1765. ^^^ everything but read and 

•This song, entitled "Just '^^*^- 

the Thing," is valuable as a But when he came to man's 
portrait of the eighteenth- estate, 

century "hooligan," ancestor of ^^ "^5* it ran on something 

Mr. Clarence RTOk> nineteenth A-thS^g then he scom'd to 
century "Alf m Hooligan tramp; 

Nights: — So hir'd a pad and went on the 

scamp. 

" On Newgate steps Jack Chance At clubs he aU Flash Soup did 
was found. sing. 

And bred up near St. Giles's And they all aUow'd he was just 

Pound. the thing. 

My story is true, deny it who can. 

By saucy, leering Billingsgate His manual exercise gone through. 

Nan. Of BrideweU. Pump, and Horse 
Her bosom glowed with heartfelt Pond too, 

joy His back had often felt the smart 

When first she held the lovely Of Tyburn strings at the tail of 

boy, a cart. 

Then home the prise she straight He stood the patter, but that's 

did bring, no matter. 

And they all sdlow'd he was just He gammon'd the Twelve, and 
the thing. work'd on the water. 



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80 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

The ground behind the no]1ii*we6t end of Russell 
Street was occupied by a farm occupied by two old maiden 
sisters of the name of Capper. They wore riding-habits, 
and men's hats ; one rode an old grey mare, and it was 
her spiteful delight to ride with a large pair of shears 
after bo3rs who were flying their kites, purposely to cut 
their strings ; the other sister's business was to seize the 
clothes of the lads who trespassed on their premises to 
bathe*^ 

From Capper's farm were several straggling houses; 
but the principal part of the ground to the '' King's Head," 
at the end of the road, was unbuilt upon. The '' Old King's 
Head" forms a side object in Hogarth's beautiful and 
celebrated pictiure of the "March to Finchley," which 
may be seen with other fine specimens of art in the Foundling 
Hospital, for the charitable donation of one shilling. 

I shall now recommence on the left-hand side of the 
road, noticing that on the front of the first house, No. i, 
in Oxford Street, near the second-floor windows, is the 

Then a pardon he got irom his to think that a portion at 

graciouf King. jgast of Capper's farm stiU 

And tmaggermg fack was just the ^^^^^^^ /^^ furniture 

Uke a captain bold, weU arm'd ^tablishment at Nos. 195-198, 

lor war. Tottenham Court Road, ex- 

With bludgeon stout, or iron bar. hibits on a wall in the rear 

At hei^ng a mob. he never did two tablets marking the 

At burning a mass-house. or gut- ^^^ ?« St. Pancras and 

ting a jail ; St. Gues-in-the-Fields, and 

But a victim he fell to his country's bearing eighteenth - century 

. ^^y^' .... ,. . , dates. An old lease of the 

And died at last m rehgion's cause, -.-^-^-x,, w- ri;«/*u f^AAt, 

No PoPBRY I made tEe bUde to Property, Mr. Chnch adds, 

swing. contains a clause bmding the 

And when tnck'd up he was just tenant to keep stabling for 

the thing." forty head of cattle, and it 

^Mr. George Clinch, in his is known that the premises 

MaryUbane and St, Pancras, were once used as a large 

says tluLt there is some reason livery stable. 



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31 



foUowisg inscription cot in stone : Oxford Strbbt, 1725. 
In Aggas*s plan of LcMidon, engraved in the beginning 
of the leign of Queen Elizabeth, the commencement of 
this street is designated "" The Waye to Uxbridge " ; 
farther on in the same plan the highway is called " Oxford 
Road." Hanway Street, better known by the vulgar 
people under the name of Hanover Yard, was at this 
time the resort of the highest fashion for mercery and 
other articles of dress. The public-house, the sign of the 
'' Blue Posts," at the comer of Hanway Street, in Tottenham 
Court Road, was once kept by a man of the name of Stuiiges, 
deq) in the knowledge of chess, upon which game he pub- 
lished a little work, as is acknowledged on his tombstone 
in St. James's burial-ground, Hampstead Road.^ From 



^ Hanway Street now boasts 
only one milliner, but has 
several art and curiosity shops 
of the kind Smith loved. The 
''Blue Posts" (rebmlt) is 
still at the comer of Hanway 
Street Mr. Joshua Sturges' 
book, published in 1800, was 
on draughts, not chess. It 
was entitled Guide to the Game 
of Draughts^ and was dedicated 
by permission to the Prince 
of Wales. It has an engraved 
frontispiece, " Figure of the 
Draught Table," 

Storges was probably not 
buried, as Smith states, in the 
Hampstead Road, but in St. 
Fancras cemetery (see Notes 
and Queries, Series II. x. 64). 
Lovers of draughts may be 
glad to have a copy of 
his epitaph. It ran thus : 
"Sacrbd to the Mbmory of 
Ha. Joshua Stusges. Many 



years a Respectable licensed 
ViCTUALLEB in this Parish; 
who departed this life the 
I2th of August, 1813. Aged 
55 years. He was esteemed 
for the many excellent Qualities 
he possessed, and his desire 
to improve the Minds, as also 
to benefit the Trade of his 
Brother Victuallers. His 
Genius was also eminently 
displayed to create innocent 
ana rational amusement to 
Mankind, in the Production 
of his Treatise on the diffi- 
cult ^ame of Draughts, which 
Treatise received the Approba- 
tion of his Prince, and many 
other Distinguished Characters. 
In private Life he was mild 
and unassuming ; in his public 
capacity neither the love of 
Interest or domestic ease, 
could separate this faithful 
Friend from the Society of 



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32 



A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



the '' Blue Posts " the houses were irregularly built to a large 
space called Gresse's Gardens, thence to Windmill Street, 
strongly recommended by physicians for the salubrity 
of the air. The premises occupied by the French diarity 
children were held by the founders of the Middlesex Hos- 
pital, which were established in 1755, where the patients 
remained until the present building was erected in Charies 
Street. Colvill Court, parallel with Windmill Street 
northward, was built in 1766 ; and Goodge Street,^ farther 
on, was, I conjecture, erected much about the same time. 
Mr. Whitefidd's chapel was built in 1754, upon the site 
of an immense pond, called The Little Sea. This pond, 
so called, is inserted in Pine and Tinney*s plan of London, 
published in 1742, and also in the large one issued by the 
same persons in 1746.' Beyond the chapel' the four 



which he was a Member, in 
the perfonnance of Duties 
which his Mind deemed Para- 
mount to all others. His 
example was worthy of Imita- 
tion m this World. May his 
Virtues be rewarded in the 
next. Peace to his Soul, and 
respected be his Memory." 

^ Goodee Street (named 
after a Marylebone property 
owner) still retains some of 
its original houses, but no 
house whose groimd floor has 
not been converted into a shop. 
Windmill Street, on the other 
hand, is a quaint Uttle street 
of artificers in wood and metal, 
instrument makers, etc., many 
of its houses remaining in 
their first state, with fore- 
courts. The rund traditions 
of this street are supported 
at No. 40 by a vine, bearing 



bunches of unripened 
in August 1903. Colvill 
Court is now odled Colvill 
Place, but it is essentially 
a court. The name Gfesse's 
Gardens (after the father of 
Alexander Gresse the water- 
colour painter) survives in 
Gresse street, a queer little 
dusty, dusky byway, easy to 
enter from Rathbone Place, 
but difficult to quit at its 
southern end by Tudor Place. 
Here His Majesty's mail vans 
are stabled. 

'This pond is plainly 
marked sJso in Rocque^ 
map of 1745. Considering 
its interesting name, it has 
obtained singularly little 
mention by topographers. 

* Whitefield built his chapel 
— ^in 1756, not 1754 — on land 
leased for seventy -one years 



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GEORGE WHITEFIELD 
" Fain would I die preaching." 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



33 



dwdliiigs, then called *' Paradise Row," almost tenninated 
the houses on that side. A turnstile opened into Crab-tree 
Fidds.^ They extended to the " Adam and Eve ** public- 
house, the original appearance of which Hogarth has also 
introduced into his picture of the ''March to Finchley." 
It was at this house that the famous pugilistic skill of 
Broughton and Slack was publicly exhibited, upon an 
uncovered stage, in a yard open to the North Road.' 



from General Fit^ov. He 
opened it on November 7th 
0! the same year, preaching 
a sennon from the text, " Other 
foundation can no man lay 
than ^at is laid, which is 
Jesus Christ." A house for 
the minister and twelve alms- 
houses were added, and the 
chapel enlarged. Whitefield 
proposed to be buried in its 
vaults, and told to his con- 
gregation, " Messrs. John and 
Charles Wesley shall also be 
buried there. We will all he 
together." AU three were 
bimed elsewhere, but Mrs. 
Whitefield was buried here : 
her remains and those of all 
other persons, except Augustus 
Toplady, were removed to 
Chmgford cemetery when the 
present building was begun. 
A remarkable monument was 
that to John Bacon, R.A., 
the sculptor, with its impressive 
inscription : " What I was as 
an artist seemed to me of some 
importance while I Uved, but 
what I really was, as a beUever 
in Jesus Christ, is the only 
thing of importance to me 
now." After a serious fire 



in 1837, the original brick 
building was altered out of 
knowledge, and was finally 
demolished in 1889. For 
some years an iron chai>el and 
an appeal for subscriptions 
occupied the ground. In 
1892 the present ornately 
fronted chapel, inscribed 
''Whitefield Memorial," was 
built In 1903, the present 
minister, the Reverend C. Sil- 
vester Home, received " recog- 
nition" as the thirteenu 
minister in succession to 
Whitefield. 

^More correctly, Crab and 
Wahiut Tree Field. 

'Smith makes a slip in 
locating the historic fight 
between Broughton and Slack 
in April 1750, at the " Adam 
and £ve^' tavern. It took 
place in Broughton's own 
Amphitheatre near Adam and 
Eve Court in the Oxford Road. 
Smith correctly states the 
position of this Amphitheatre 
m his Antieni Topography of 
London (1810) : " Broughton's 
Amphitheatre is still standmg ; 
it is at the south-west comer 
of Castle Street, Wells Street ; 



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The rare and beautiful etching of the before*mentioned 
picture by Hogarth was the production of Luke SuUivan,^ 
a native of Ireland, but how he acquired his knowledge 
of art I have not been able to learn ; most probably he 
was of Dame Nature's school, where pupils can be taught 
gratis the whole twenty-four hours of every day as long 
as the world lasts. Sullivan's talents were not confined 
to the art of engraving ; he was, in my humble opinion, 
the most extraordinary of all miniature painters. I have 
three or four of his productions, one of which was so particu- 
larly fine, that I could almost say I have it on my retina 
at this moment. It was the portrait of a most lovely 
woman as to features, flesh, and blood. She was dressed 
in a pale green silk gown, lapelled with straw-coloured 



the lower part is a coal shed, 
the upper a stage for timber." 
Its site is now occupied by 
No. 62 Castle Street East, 
close to Adam and Eve 
Court. 

Here it was that the 
foimder of the modem prize- 
ring, whose " Broughton 
rules" were observed every- 
where until 1838, met disaster 
in his fight vdth the plucky 
Norwich butcher. The result 
was his retirement from the 
ring, and the loss by his backer, 
the Duke of Cumberland, of 
a bet of £10,000. In his 
later years, Broughton lived 
in Walcot Place, Lambeth, 
where he died, aged 85. He 
was buried in Lambeth Church. 
A monument to him in the 
West Walk of the Cloisters 
of Westminster Abbey de- 
scribes him as " Yeoman of 



the Guard " ; and it is stated 
in the DicUonary of National 
Biography that a place among 
the Yeomen was obtained for 
him by the Duke of Cumber- 
land. In his Historical 
Memorials of Westminster 
Abbey, Dean Stanley says : 
" After his name on the grave- 
stone is a space, which was to 
have been filled up with the 
words ' Champion of England.' 
The Dean objected, and the 
blank remains." But the 
blank does not lemain. It 
was filled in 1832 with the 
names of Roger Monk, another 
Yeoman of the Guard, and 
his wife. It is worthy of 
note, too, that the earliest 
name on the tablet is that 
of Broughton's wife, Eliza- 
beth, who was actually buried 
here. 
* See note p. 105. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 85 

satin ; and in order to keep np a sweetness of tone, the 
artist had placed primroses in her stomacher; the sky 
was of a warm green, which blended harmoniously with 
the carnations of her complexion ; her hair was jet, and 
her necklace of pearls. 

Lord Orford, whose early attachment to the sleepy- 
eyed beauties of King Charles ii.'s Court, and those with 
the lascivious leer of that of Louis xrv., as may be inferred 
by their numerous portraits in the cabinets at Strawberry 
Hill, would no doubt have preferred his favourites, Cooper 
and Petitot — names eternally, and many times unjustly, 
extolled by the admirers of their works to the injury of 
our artists, whose talents equal, if not surpass, those of 
every country put together, in, I think I may say, every 
branch of the fine arts. Upon this too general opinion 
of the pre-eminence of Petitot, I have now and then 
had a battie with Mr. Paul Fischer, the miniature 
painter, who certainly has produced some most 
highly finished and excellent likenesses of the Royal 
Family and several persons of fashion, particularly 
of King George iv. and Sir Wathen Waller, 
Bart.^ 

Notwithstanding Tottenham Court Road was so in- 
fested by the lowest order, who kept what they called a 
Gooseberry Fair,* it was famous at certain times of the 
year, particularly in summer, for its booths of regular 
theatrical performers, who deserted the empty benches 
of Drury Lane Theatre, under the mismanagement of Mr. 

^Fischer had the further the suppressed Tottenham 

distinction of beii^ married to Fair. Both were held in 

a dau^ter of J. T. S., whose and about the Adam and 

other daughter married a Mr. Eve Tavern. Richard Yates 

Smitii, a sculptor. and Ned Shuter appeared to- 

' Gooseberry Fair followed gether at various London fairs. 



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36 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

Fleetwood,^ and condescended to admit the audience at 
sixpence each. Mr. Yates, and several other eminent per- 
formers, had their names painted on their booths. 

The whole of the groimd north from Capper's farm, 
at the back of the British Museum, so often mentioned 
as being frequented by duellists, was in irregular patches, 
many fields with turnstiles. The pipes of the New River 
Company were propped up in several parts to the height 
of six and eight feet, so that persons walked under them 
to gather watercresses, which grew in great abundance 
and perfection, or to visit the " Brothers' Steps," well 
known to the Londoners. Of these steps there are many 
traditionary stories; the one generally believed is, that 
two brothers were in love with a lady, who would not 
declare a preference for either, but coolly sat upon a bank 
to witness the termination of a duel, which proved fatal 
to both. The bank, it is said, on which she sat, and the 
footmarks of the brothers when pacing the ground, never 
produced grass again. The fact is that these steps were 
so often trodden that it was impossible for the grass to 
grow. I have frequently passed over them ; they were 
in a field on the site of Mr. Martin's chapel, or very nearly 
so, and not on the spot as communicated to Miss Porter, 
who has written an entertaining novel on the subject.' 

^ Charles Fleetwood threw impudent rascal " from his 

Dmry Lane into confusion box, and was embarrassed 

botii behind and before the by the enthusiastic approval 

scenes, by his unpunctual pay- of the audience, 

ment of salaries, and by 'The exact site of the 

attempting to introduce famous Footsteps is not easily 

pantomimes against the wishes determined. Dr. Rimbault 

of the old play-goers. This (Notes and Queries, February 

led to noisy scenes in 1744, 2, 1850) says that it was 

in one of which Horace Walpole reputed to be " at the extreme 

stigmatised Fleetwood as '' an termination of the north-east 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



37 



Aubrey, in bis Miscellanies, states : ^' The last summer, 
on the day of St. Jobn Baptist (1694), I accidentally was 
walking in the pasture bdiind Montague House ; it was 
twelve o'clock. I saw there about two or three and 
twenty young women, most of them well habited, on 
their knees very busie, as if they had been weeding. I 
could not presently learn what the matter was ; at last a 
young man told me that they were looking for a coal 
under the root of a plantain to put under their heads 
that night, and they should dream who would be their 
husbands. It was to be found that day and hour." ^ 



end of Upper Montague 
Street." It is placed a little 
farther west by Robert Hill, 
the water-colour painter, who 
stated in a letter, quoted by 
Mr. Wheatley in his London : 
" I well remember the Brothers' 
Footsteps. They were near a 
bank that divided two of the 
fields between Montague House 
and the New Road, and their 
situation must have been, if 
my recollection serves me, 
what is now Torrington 
Square." Smith says the 
Footsteps were "on the site 
of Mr. Martin's chaoel, or 
nearW so." Mr. John Martin, 
the Baptist minister, had the 
chapel in Keppel Street. It 
still exists. This brings the 
Footsteps a few yards south, 
but &nith's indefiniteness 
must be taken into accoimt. 
That these markings were 
visible as late as 1800 is 
proved by the following entry 
in the Commonplace Book 
of Joseph Moser : " June 16th, 



1800. Went into the fields at 
the back of Montague House, 
and there saw, for the last 
time, the Forty Footsteps : 
the building materials are 
there to cover them from 
the si^ht of man." The feel- 
ing with which these curious 
marks were regarded by edu- 
cated people may be judged 
by a letter quoted in the 
(fenileman's Magazine of 
December 1804, in which the 
writer expresses his convic- 
tion that " the Almighty has 
ordered it as a standing monu- 
ment of his great displeasure 
of the horrid sin of duelling," 
an opinion in which the poet 
Southey concurred. In 1828, 
Miss Jane Porter published 
her novel, The Field of the 
Forty Footsteps. 

^ Nearly a hundred years 
later, a similar superstition 
survived in London, and is thus 
noted by Brand in his Popular 
Antiquities : " In the Morning 
Post, Monday, May 2nd, I79i,it 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



1774. 
I well remember when, in my eighth year, my father's 
playfellow, Mr. Joseph NoUekens, leading me by the hand 
to the end of Jolm Street, to see the notorious terror of 
the king's highways, John Rann, commonly called Sixteen- 
string Jack, on his way to execution at Tyburn, for robbing 
Dr. Bell, Chaplain to the Princess AmeUa, in Gunnesbury 
Lane. The Doctor died a Prebendary of Westminster. 
It was pretty generally reported that the sixteen strings 
worn by this freebooter at his knees were in allusion to 
the nmnber of times he had been acquitted. Fortunately 
for the Boswell illustrators, there is an etched portrait 
of him ; for, be it known, thief as he was, he had the 
honour of being recorded by Dr. Johnson.^ Rann was 
a smart fellow, a great favourite with a certain description 
of ladies, and had been coachman to Lord Sandwich, 
when his Lordship resided in the south-east comer-house 
of Bedford Row. The malefactor's coat was a bright 
pea-green ; he had an immense nosegay, which he had 
received from the hand of one of the frail sisterhood, 
whose practice it was in those days to present flowers to 
their favourites from the steps of St. Sepulchre's church. 



was mentioned ' that yesterday, 
being the first of May, accord- 
ing to annual and superstitious 
custom, a number of persons 
went into the fields and 
bathed their faces with the 
dew on the grass, under the 
idea that it would render them 
beautiful.' " 

^ The occasion was a dinner 
at Tom Davies's in 1762. 
" BoswELL : Does not Gray's 
poetry, sir, tower above tiie 



common mark ? Johnson : 
Yes, sir; but we must attend 
to the difference between what 
men in general cannot do if 
they would, and what every 
man may do if he wouldf. 
Sixteen-string Jack towered 
above the conunon mark." 
Dr. William Bell, whom Rann 
robbed, was Rector of Christ 
Church, London, 1780-99, 
and treasurer of St. Paul s 
Cathedral. 



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/•: 






JOHN RANN 
"Sixteen Siring Jack." 



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39 



as the last token of what they called their attachment 
to the condemned,^ whose worldly accounts were generally 
brought to a close at Tyburn^ in consequence of their 
associating with abandoned characters. On our return 
home, Mr. NoUekens, stooping dose to my ear, assured 
me that, had his father-in-law, Mr. Justice Welch, been 
high constable, we could have walked all the way to Tyburn 
by the side of the cart.* 

At this time houses in High Street, Marylebone, par- 
ticularly on the western side, continued to be inhabited 
by families who kept their coaches, and who considered 
themselves as living in the country, and perhaps their 
family affairs were as well known as they could have been 
had they resided at Kilbum.* In Marylebone, great and 



^ Probably a mistake. These 
nosegays were given to con- 
demned criminals on their way 
to Tyburn by the St. Sepul- 
chre authorities. Rann was 
one of the last to receive the 
gift. 

* Saunders Welch, the father 
of lbs. NoUekens, was educated 
in Aylesbury workhouse, and 
for many years was a «-ocer 
in Museum Street, then Queen 
Street He succeeded Fielding 
as a Justice of the Peace for 
Westminster. Smith says in 
his NoUekens that he met 
many people who recollected 
seeing him as High Constable 
of Westminster, " dressed in 
black, with a large, nine- 
stoiey George the Second's wig 
highly powdered, with long 
flowing curls over his shoulder, 
a hifh three-cornered hat, and 
his black baton tipped with 



silver at either end, riding 
on a white horse to Tyburn 
with the malefactors." A 
long and warm friendship ex- 
istea between Saunders Welch 
and Dr. Johnson. " Johnson, 
who had an eager and unceas- 
ing curiosity to know human 
Ufe in aU its variety, told me 
that he attended Mr. Welch 
in his office for a whole winter, 
to hear the examinations of 
the culprits " (Boswell). 

» To - day, High Street, 
Marylebone, is perhaps the 
most perfect High Street left 
in London. Neither from its 
north end in Marylebone Road 
nor from Oxford Street does it 
receive heavy traffic ; its shops 
exist for the fine streets and 
souares around it, and it 
offers them the best of most 
things, from a tender chicken 
to a county history. 



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40 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

wealthy people of former days could hardly stir an inch 
without being noticed ; indeed, so lately as the year 1728^ 
the Daily Journal assured the public that *' many persons 
arrived in London from their country-houses in ICaiyle- 
bone '' ; and the same publication, dated October 15th, 
conveys the following intelligence : — 

'' The Right Hon. Sir Robert Walpole comes to town 
this day from Chelsea.** 

The following lines were inserted by the late Sir William 
Musgrave, in his Adversaria (No. 5721) : — 

"Sir Robert Walpole in great haste 
Cryed, * Where's my fellow gone ? ' 
It was answered by a man of taste, 
* Your fellow, Sir, there's none.* " 

One Sunday morning my mother allowed me, before 
we entered the little church ^ in High Street, Marylebone, 
to stand to see the young gentlemen of Mr. Founta}aie's 
boarding-school cross the road, while the bell was chiming 
for sacred duties. I remember well a summer's sun shone 
with full refulgence at the time, and my youthful eyes 
were dazzled with the various colours of the dresses of 
the youths, who walked two and two, some in pea-green, 
others sky-blue, and several in the brightest scarlet ; 
many of them wore gold-laced hats, while the flowing 
locks of others, at that time allowed to remain uncut at 

^ " In the year 1741, the place in the present edifice 

old church in which Hogarth must acknowledge their error, 

has introduced his "Rake at if they will take the trouble 

the Altar with the Old Maid" to refer to Hogarth's fifth 

was taken down, and the plate of the Rake's Progress, 

present one built on its site ; where they will find its publi- 

so that the writers who have cation to have taken place 

stated that the scene took June 25, 1735." — S. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 41 

schoob, fell over their shoulders. To the best of my 
recollection, the scholars amounted to about one hundred. 
As the pleasurable and often idle scenes of my schoolboy 
days are pictured upon my retina whenever Crouch End, or 
the name of my venerable master, Norton,^ are mentioned, 
and as others may feel similar delight with respect to the 
places at which they received their early education, I shall 
endeavour to gratify a few of my readers by a description 
of the house and playground of Mr. Fountayne's academy. 
For this purpose it may not be irrelevant to notice something 
of the antiquity of that once splendid mansion, in which so 
many persons have passed their early and innocent hours. 
Topographers who mention Marylebone Park inform 
us that foreign ambassadors were in the time of Queen 
Elisabeth and James i. amused there by hunting, and 
that the oldest parts of this school were the remains of 
the palace in which they were entertained. The earliest 
topographical representation which I am enabled to 
instance, is a drawing made by Joslin, dated 1700, formerly 
in the possession of his Grace the Duke of Buckingham, 
of which I published an etching. It comprehends the 
field-gate and palace, its surrounding walls and adjacent 
buildings in Marylebone to the south-west, including a 
large mansion, which in all probability had been Oxford 
House, the grand receptacle of the Harleian Library. 
Fortune, I am sorry to say, has not favoured me with 
the power of continuing the declining history of the 
palace to the period at which it became an academy, 
nor can I discover the time in which Monsieur de la Place 
first occupied it.' A daughter of De la Place married 

* Probably Christopher Nor- « Tradition reports that 
ton, of the St. Martin's Lane from Elizabeth it came to the 
Academy. Forsyths, and thenoe to the 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



the Rev. Mr. Fountasme,^ whose name the school retained 
until its final demolition in 179I9 at which period I remember 
seeing the large stone balls taken from the brick piers of 
the gates. 

Of this house, when a school, I recollect a miserably 
executed plate by Roberts, probably for some magazine ; 
there is also a quarto plate displasdng a knowledge in 
perspective, engraved by G. T. Parkyns, from a drawing 
by J. C. Barrow ; * but the most interesting, and I must 
consider the most correct, are four drawings made by 
Michael Angelo Rooker,* formerly in my possession, but 
now in the illustrated copy of Pennant's London in the 
British Museum.^ These have enabled me to insert the 



Duke of Portland. In his 
Marylebone and SL Pancras^ 
Mr. Clinch writes : "In 
the year 1703 a large 
school was established here 
by Mr. De la Place. That 
gentleman's daughter married 
the Rev. John Fountayne, 
Rector of North Sidmouth, 
in Wiltshire, and the latter 
succeeded Mr. De la Place 
in the school. The school is 
said to have obtained a con- 
siderable reputation among 
the nobility and gentry, 
whose sons there received an 
educational training previously 
to their removal to the uni- 
versities." 

^ " Mr. Fountayne had one 
son, afterwards Dean of York, 
and three daughters, viz, Mrs. 
Hargrave, Mrs. Jones, and 
Mrs. Metz. Mrs. Hargrave was 
latd^ livinfi^ ; she was the wife 
of Counsellor Haigrave, and 



was esteemed a great beauty. 
Another daughter of Monsieur 
De la Place married the Rev. 
Mr. Dyer, brother to the 
author of Grongar HiU^ to 
whose nephew, the late Mr. 
Dyer, the printseller, I am 
obliged for some parts of the 
above information." — S. 

* Reproduced in Mr. Clinch's 
Marylebone and SL Pancras 
(1890). 

* Michael Angelo Rooker 
(1743-1801), the water-colour 
psunter and engraver. "His 
works are drawn with con- 
scientious accuracy, and show 
a sweet pencil" (Redgrave). 
He died March 3, 1801, in 
Dean Street, Soho, and was 
buried in the groimd belonging 
to St. Martin-in-the*Fields, in 
the Kentish Town Road. Ex- 
amples of his work are hung 
at South Kensington. 

* The wonderful extra- 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 43 

foUowing description of a few parts of the mansion. 
The first drawing is a view of the principal and original 
front of the palace, or manor-house, with other buildings 
open to the playground ; it was immediately within the 
wall on the east side of the road, then standing upon 
the site of the present Devonshire Mews. This house 
consisted of an immense body and two wings, a projecting 
porch in the front, and an enormously deep dormer roof, 
supported by numerous cantiUvers, in the centre of which 
there was, within a very bold pediment, a shield surmounted 
by foliage with labds below it. The seomd drawing 
exhibits the back, or garden front, which consisted of a 
flat face with a bay window at each end, glazed in quarries ; ^ 
the wall of the back front terminated with five gables. 
In the midst of some shrubs stands a tall, lusty gentleman 
dressed in black, with a white Busby*wig and a three- 
cornered hat, possibly intended for the figure of the Rev. 
Mr. Fountayne, as he is directing the gardener to distribute 
some plants. The third drawing, which is taken from 
the hall, exhibits the grand staircase, the first flight of 
which consisted of sixteen steps ; the hand-rails were 
supported with richly carved perforated foliage, from 
its style, probably of the period of Inigo Jones. The 
fourth drawing consists of the decorations of the staircase, 
which was tessellated. This mansion was wholly of 
brick, and surmounted by a large turret containing the 
dock and bell. Mr. Founta}aie was noticed by Handel 
as well as Clarke, the celebrated Greek scholar.* These 

illustrated copy presented to by Handel; the two men 

the Museum oy John Charles were intimate. A grandson of 

Crowle, and valued at £5000. Fountayne wrote in 1832 : 

^ That is to say tOed. " One evening as my grand- 

'The Rev. John Founta3me father and Handel were walking 

was more than " noticed " together and alone, a new piece 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



gentlemen frequently indulged in musical parties, which 
were attended by persons of rank and worth, as well as 
fashion and folly. 

Mrs. Fountayne was a vain, dashing woman, extremely 
fond of appearing at Court, for which purpose, as was 
generally known, she borrowed Lady Harrington's jewels.^ 
Indeed, her passion for display was carried to such an ex* 
treme, that she kept her carriage, and that without the know- 
ledge of her husband, by the following artful manceuvre. 
As the scholars were mostly sons of persons of title and 
large fortunes, she professed to have many favourites, 
who had behaved so well that she was often tempted to 
take them to the play, which so pleased the parents that 
they liberally reimbursed her in the coach and theatrical 
expenses, though she actually obtained orders upon 
those occasions from her friend Mrs. Yates, by which 
contrivance she was enabled to keep the vehicle in 
which they were conveyed to the theatres; Mrs. 



was struck up by the band. 

* Come, Mr. Fountajme,' said 
Handel, ' let us sit down and 
listen to this piece — I want 
to know your opinion of it.' 
Down they sat, and after 
some time the old parson, 
turning to his companion, said, 
' It is not worth listening to 
— ^it's very poor stuff.' ' You 
are right, Mr. F.,' said Handel, 

* it is very poor stuff — I thought 
somyself when I hadfinishedit.' 
The old gentleman, being taken 
by surprise, was beginning 
to apologise ; but Handd 
assured him there was no 
necessity; that the music was 
really bad, having been com- 
posed hastOy, and his time 



for the production limited ; 
and that the opinion given 
was as correct as it was 
honest" (Hone's Year Book). 
"Clarke" was doubtless Dr. 
Adam Clarke, the Wesleyan, 
who died in Bayswater in 
1832, and was well known for 
his bibliographical and theo- 
logical works. 

^ Lady Harrington might 
well lend her jewels, since 
she often borrowed. Horace 
Walpole tells how, at the 
Coronation of George iii., she 
appeared " covered with all 
the diamonds she could borrow, 
hire, or seize, with the air of 
Roxana, the finest figure at a 
distance." 



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John Mac Nally . 



LONDON BEGGARS 

ETCHED BY J. T. SMITH 

, "well known about Parliament Street, and the Surrey foot of 
Westminster iJridge." 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 45 

Yates,^ however, was amply repaid for her orders by 
the number of tickets which Mrs. Fomitayne prevailed 
on the parents of the scholars to take at her 
benefits.' 

Previous to a consultation of physicians respecting 
the doubtful case of a young gentleman boarder, one of 
Mr. Fountayne's daughters overheard something like the 
following dialogue by placing herself behind the window 
hangings : — Doctor : " You look better." — " Yes, sir ; I 
now eat suppers, and wear a double flannel jacket.'* At 
this time the lady behind the curtains tittered. '' Hark ! 
what noise is that ? " interrogated an old member of 
Warwick Lane's far-famed coU^e.* " Oh," said another 
of the faculty, '* it's only the sneezing of a cat." After 
this, instead of saying a word about magnesia, Gaskin's 
powder, or oil of sweet almonds, they resumed their con- 
versation upon their indulgences, and finally ended with 
some severe philippic upon Lord North's administration. 
This occupied a considerable portion of their time before 
the house-apothecary (who had called them in) was 
questioned as to what he had given the patient. His 
draught being perfectly consistent with the college phar- 
macopceia, they all agreed that he could not do better 

^The great actress. She to enter the school, arranged 

Syed Violante to Garrick's that he shoidd do so under 

Q Felix in the actor's last the name of the Prince De 

appearance. Chimmay. When Mrs. Foirn- 

' In his Memoirs, the Rev. tayne discovered that his father 

JobnTnisler, who was educated made tarts a mile from the 

at Dr. Fountavne's school, does school door, " she had the 

not spare lus. Founta3me's laugh so much against her, 

toft -hunting tendencies. In that she could not show her 

one instance she was covered face for months." 
with ridicule through the action 'The Royal College of 

of a Soho pastry-cook named Physicians, then housed in 

Jenkins, who, wishing his son Warwick Lane. 



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46 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

than repeat it as often as he thought proper; and thus 
the important consultation ended. 

In the hall of this house was a parrot, so aged that 
its few remaining feathers were for years confined to its 
wrinkled skin by a flannel jacket, which in very cold 
weather received an additional broadcloth covering of 
the brightest scarlet, so that Poll, like the Lord Mayor, 
had her scarlet days. Poll, who had been long accustomed 
to hear her mistress's general invitation to strangers who 
called to inquire after the boarders, relieved her of that 
ceremony by uttering, as soon as they entered, *' Do 
pray walk into the parlour and take a glass of wine ! " 
but this she finally did with so little discrimination, that 
when a servant came with a letter or a card for her mistress, 
or a fellow with a summons from the Court of Conscience, 
he was greeted by the bird with equal liberality and polite- 
ness. 

In this 3rear the houses of the north end of Newman 
Street commanded a view of the fields over hillocks of 
ground now occupied by Norfolk Street,^ and the north 
and east outer sides of Middlesex Hospital garden-wall 
were entirely exposed. From the east end of Union 
Street, where Loccatelli the sculptor subsequently had 
his studio," the ground was very deep ; and much about 

^ Norfolk Street was the representing Theseus ofiering 

northern continuation of New- assistance to Hercules. Walpole 

man Street ; it is now merged refused to take this work, 

in Cleveland Street. although he had already paid 

■ John Baptist Locatelli, a the sculptor £350 on account, 

native of Verona, had his and was probably justified, 

studio in Union Street, Totten- since Nollekens said the 

ham Court Road, from 1776. group looked "like the dry 

He was befriended by Horace skins of two briclmiakers 

Walpole, with whom he quar- stufied with clotted flocks 

relied bitterly over a group from an old mattress." Loca- 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



47 



that spot, more to the east, stood a cottage with a garden 
before it, with its front to the south. This was kept by 
John Smith, one of Ifr. Wilton the sculptor's oldest 
labourers; immediately behind this cottage was a rope- 
walk, which extended north to a considerable distance 
under the shade of two magnificent rows of elms. Here 
I have often seen Richard Wilson the landscape painter 
and Baietti walk.^ At the right*hand side of this rope- 
walk there was a pathway on a bank, commencing from 
the site of the foundation of the present workhouse, 
belonging to St. Paul's, Covent Garden. This house 
was then planned out, and finished in the ensuing year, 
according to the date on its western front. 

The bank extended northwards to the *' Farthing 
Pie House/' now the sign of the '* Green Man," and was 



teUi worked also for the 
brothers Adam, and he super- 
intended the carving of the 
basso-relievos put up by 
NoUekens on the outside of 
the Sessions House, Clerken- 
well Green. In 1796 he left 
England for Milan, where 
Buonaparte employed him and 
granted him a pension. (See 
&nith's Life of NoUekens, 1820, 

Bp. 119-123, and Thombury s 
fiHsh AftisiSj vol. ii. pp. 
^16). 

^ Wilson, upon whom a note 
has been given under the 
year 1766, lived at No. 36 Char- 
lotte Street, Fitzroy Square, 
within a few minutes' walk 
of this group of efans. He was 
accustomed of a fine evening, 
says Redgrave, to throw open 
his window and invite his 



friends to enjoy with him 
the glowine sunset behind the 
Hampstead and Highgate 
hills. Fitzroy Square was 
not begun until 1790-94. 
To-day the miles oetween 
Charlotte Street and these 
northern heights are filled by 
streets. Nevertheless, Hamp- 
stead church can still be seen 
from Charlotte Street, piercing 
the northern distance, and, but 
for the slight deflection of 
Rathbone Place, it would be 
visible from Oxford Street. 
John Constable afterwards 
lived in the same street* The 
elms under which Wilson and 
Baretti walked must have 
had their roots in the |;round 
on which the east side of 
Cleveland Street is built. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



kept by a person of the name of Price, a famous player 
on the salt-box.^ Of this highly respectable publican 
there is an excellent mezzotinto ^igraving by Jones, 
after a picture by Lawranson. It commanded views of 
the old ''Queen's Head and Artichoke/' the old " Jew's- 
Harp House/' and the distant hills of Highgate, Hamp- 
stead, Primrose, and Harrow. I was then in my eighth 
year, and frequently played at trap -ball between the 
above-mentioned sombre elms. 

The south and east ends of Queen Anne * and Maryle- 



^ It is difficult to form an 
idea of this instrument. It 
was beaten with a rolling-pin, 
and appears to have been used 
as a drum in such a way 
(according to the manner in 
which it was struck) as to 
produce something like notes. 
This is indicated in Bonnell 
Thornton's burlesque, Ode to 
St. Cedlia's Day, in which 
occur the well-known lines 
which amused Dr. John- 
son : — 

" In strains more exalted the 

salt-box shall join. 
And clattering and battering 

and clapping combine ; 
With a rap and a tap whUe the 

hoUow side sounds. 
Up and down leaps the flap, and 

with rattling rebounds." 

The character of the neigh- 
bourhood round the " Farthing 
Pie House" (Portland Road 
Station) in Smith's boyhood, 
may be judged by Smith's 
statement in his Vagabondiana, 
that " when the sites of Port- 
land Place, Devonshire Street, 



etc., were fields, the famous 
Tommy Lowe, then a singer 
at Mary - le - bone Gardens, 
raised a subscription, to enable 
an unfortunate man to run a 
small chariot, drawn by four 
muzzled mastiffs, from a pond 
near Portland Chapel, called 
Cockney Ladle, which supplied 
Mary-le-bone Bason with 
water, to the 'Farthing Pie 
House' ... in order to 
accommodate children with a 
ride for a halfpenny." 

•By Queen Anne Street 
Smith means the street which 
has borne the successive 
names of Little Queen Anne 
Street, Queen Anne Street 
East, Foley Place, and (now) 
Langham Street. The present 
Queen Anne Street is on the 
west side of Portland Place; 
it was originally Great Queen 
Anne Street, then Queen Anne 
Street West. A curious in- 
terest attaches to these streets, 
neither of which runs, as it 
seems destined to do, into 
Portland Place. Thus:— 



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49 



bone Streets were then unbuilt, and the space consisted 
of fields to the west comer of Tottenham Court Road ; 
thence to the extreme of High Street, Marylebone Gardens, 
Haiylebone Bason, and another pond called Cockney-ladle.^ 



Q. AxNB St. 



Langham 

HOTBL. 



Langham St. ' *^t^l5i.f "''' 



Their failure to run directly 
into Portland Place (see dotted 
lines) is a retic of Foley House 
whidi occupied the site of the 
langham Hotel, and inter- 
posed its gardens where these 
streets would have joined. It 
was afterwards intended to 
build a Queen Anne Square 
at the foot of Great Portland 
Street, but this project fell 
through. 

* There were many ponds in 
the fields on which the streets 
of St. Pancras and Marylebone 
are built. In an earlv view of 
Whitefield's Tabemade, a pond 
is delineated on a spot now 
covered, as nearly as may be 
judged, by Torrington Square. 
Farther west, on the site of 
Duke Street, Portland Place, 
was the Cockney Ladle, in 
which small boys bathed at 
the risk of having their clothes 
seized by the parish beadles. 
Close by this--on the site of 
the badcs of the east side of 



Harley Street — ^was the Mary- 
lebone Basin, a dangerously 
deep water. Many drownings 
occurred in ponds of whidi 
no trace or memory remains. 
Thus, the St. James's Chron- 
icU of August 8, 1769, says : 
"Two young chairmen [ue. 
carriers of SMan chairs] were 
unfortunately drowned on 
Friday Evening last, in a 
Pond behind the North-Side 
of Portman - Square. They 
had been beating a Carpet in 
the Square, and being thereby 
warm and dirty agreed to bathe 
in the above Pond, not being 
aware of its great Depth. The 
Man who first went in could 
swim, and while he was 
swimming his Companion 
went in, but being presently 
out of his Depth he sunk. 
The Swimmer immediately 
made to the Place to save his 
Companion ; but he, coming 
u^ again under the Swimmer^ 
hud fast hold of him, and 



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50 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

I recollect the building of the north side of Maiylebone 
Street, the whole of that portion of Portland Street north 
of Portland Chapel, the site of Cockney-ladle, Duke Street, 
Portland Place, and the greatest part of Harley Street, 
Wimpole Street, and Portland Place, and Devonshire 
Place when Marylebone Bason was the terror of many 
a mother.^ Of this Bason Chatelain executed a spirited 
etching, of a quarto size, which is now considered by the 
topographical collectors a great rarity. The carriage and 
principal entrance to Marylebone Gardens was in High 
Street ; the back entrance was from the fields, beyond 
which, north, was a narrow, winding passage, with garden- 
palings on either side, leading into High Street. In this 
passage were numerous openings into small gardens, 
divided for the recreation of various cockney florists, 
their wives, children, and Sunday smoking visitors. These 
were called the *' French Gardens," in consequence of 
having been cultivated by refugees who fled their country 
after the Edict of Nantes.* I well remember my grand- 
mother taking me through this passage to Marylebone 
Gardens, to see the fireworks, and thinking them pro- 
digiously grand. As the following notices of Marylebone 
Gardens have given me no small pleasure in collecting, 
and as they afford more information of that once fashion- 
able place of recreation than has hitherto been brought 
together, or perhaps known to any other individual, I 
without hesitation offer my gleanings' to the reader, 

they both sunk down together {Daily Advertiser, June i8, 

and were drowned." I744)« 

^ " On Friday last, Mr. ' And from their contiguity 

Carlile, a Quaker of about to a French Protestant chapet 

17 years of age, had the mis- founded in 1756. 

fortune to fall into Maryle- ' The difficolty of writing re- 

bone-Bason, and was drowned" cent history is exempUfira by 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



51 



chronologically arranged, conunendng with Pepys's 
visit in 

1668. — "'Then we abroad to Marrowbone, and there 
walked in the garden; the first time I ever was there, 
and a pretty place it is." ^ 

1691. — ^Long's bowling-green at the " Rose," at Maryle- 
bone, half a mile distant from London, is mentioned in 
the London GazettCy January 11.* 

1718. — " This is to give notice to all persons of quahty, 
ladies and gentlemen, that there having been illmninations 
in Maiybone bowling-greens on his Majesty's birthday 
every year since his happy accession to the throne ; the 
same is (for this time) put ofE till Monday next, and will 
be performed, with a consort of musick, in the middle 
green, by reason there is a Ball in the gardens at Ken- 
sington with illuminations, and at Richmond also." (See 
the Daily Courant, Thursday, May 29.) 

1738-9. — Mr. Gough enlarged the gardens, built an 
orchestra, and issued silver tickets at 12s. for the season, 
eadi ticket to admit two persons. From every one without 



Smith in his account of Mary- 
tebone Gardens, which is far 
excdled by Mr. Warwick 
Wroth's chapter on Maryle- 
bone Gardens in his London 
Pleasure Gardens of the 
EighUenth CetUury (1896). 
Ftilly to annotate Smim's 
chronology of these gardens 
would require many pages, 
and the result would be un* 
satisfactory. I shall there- 
fore deal with only the more 
prominent names hie mentions. 

» May 7, 1668. 

«M. Wroth says: "Ini69i 



the place was known as Long's 
Bowling Green at the Rose, 
and for several years {circ. 
1670-1736) persons of quality 
mignt nave been seen bowling 
there during the summer-time. 

' At the Groom Porters battered 
bullies play ; 
Some Dukes at Marybone bowl 
time away.' " 

These lines, often erroneously 
attributed to Lady Mary 
Wortley Montague, occur in 
Pope's The Basset- table, an 
Eclogue. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



a ticket 6d. was demanded for the evening ; but after- 
wards, as the season advanced, the admission was is. for a 
lady and gentleman. The gardens were open from six till ten. 

1740. — ^An organ, built by Bridge, was added to the 
band, admittance 6d. each ; but afterwards, when the 
new room was erected, the admission was increased to is. 

1741, May 23. — ^A grand martial composition of music 
was performed by Mr. Lampe, in honour of Admiral Vernon, 
for taking Carthagena. 

1742. — ^The proprietor of the Mulberry Garden, Clerken- 
well, indulged in the following remarks upon five places 
of similar amusement : — 

*^ RuckhauU has found one day and night's alfresco 
in the week to be inconvenient.* 

'* Ranelagh House, supported by a giant, whose legs 
will scarcely support him.* 

'* Mary le Bon Gardens down on their marrow-bones. 

" New WeUs at low water.' 



* Rockhoult, or Rockholt 
House, was at Leyton, in 
Essex, and was " for a short 
period an auxiliary place of 
amusement for the Summer 
to the established Theatres" 
{Gentleman's Magazine, July 
1814). It was opened about 
1742, and was apparently 
regarded as '' the place to 
spend a happy day." A ballad 
to " Delia exclaimed — 

" Delia, in whose form we trace 
AU that can a virgin grace. 
Hark where pleasure, blithe as 

May, 
Bids us to Rockholt haste away." 

* " The principal shareholder 
and manager of Ranelagh at 



this date was Sir Thomas 
Robinson, Bart., H.P., whose 
gigantic form was for many 
years familiar to frequenters 
of the Rotunda; a writer of 
1774 calls him its Maypole, 
and Garland of Delights. 
Robinson lived at Prospect 
Place, adjoining the gardens." 
•The New Wells belonged 
to the Islington group of 
pleasure rardens, and stood 
on ground now occupied by 
Lower Rosomon Street, Clerk- 
enwell. It flourished 1737- 
50, and numbered a collection 
of rattlesnakes among its at- 
tractions. 



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LONDON BEGGARS 

ETCHED UY J. T. SMITH 

•' A silver haired man of the name of Lilly." 



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53 



''At Cuper's the fire almost out."i (See the Daily 
Posi, July 28.) 

1743. — ^The holders of Marybone Garden tickets let 
them out at reduced prices for the evening. Ranelagh 
tickets were also advertised to be had at Old Slaughter's 
Coffee-house at is. 3d. each, admitting two persons. 
Vauxhall tickets were likewise to be had at the same 
place at is. each, admitting two persons. (See the Daily 
Advertiser for April 23.) 

1744. — ^Bfiss Scott was a singer, Mr. Knerler played 
the violin, and Mr. Ferrand an instrument called the 
Pariton.* 

1746. — ^Robberies were now so frequent and the thieves 
so desperate, that the proprietor of the gardens was obliged 
to have a guard of soldiers to protect the company to and 
from London. The best plan of the gardens has been given 
in Plate I. of Rocque's Plan of London, published in 1746. 

1747. — ^Ifiss Falkner, singer ; * Heniy Rose, first violin ; 



^Cuper^s Gardens, a great 
resort The Feathers Tavern 
at the end of Waterloo Bridge 
is the successor of the tavern 
originally in the gardens, the 
site of which is traversed by 
the Waterloo Road. They 
were dosed in 1759, after 
which Dr. Johnson, passing 
them in a coach with Langton, 
Beaaderk, and Lady Sydney 
Beaoderk (mother of his 
triend), jokingly proposed, to 
Lady Sydney's norror, that 
thr^ should lease them : " She 
had no notion of a joke, sir ; 
she had come late into life, 
and had a mighty unpliable 
understanding." 



* Advertised as " the Pariton, 
an instrument never played in 
publick before." 

'Mary Ann Palkner was 
a niece of George Falkner, 
the Dublin printer, whom 
Foote caricatured on the stage. 
She appeared at Marylebone 
from 1747 to about 1752, 
giving such songs as '' Amoret 
and Phyllis," "The Happy 
Couple," and "The Faithful 
Lover." Much sought after, 
she remained faithful to her 
husband, a linen draper named 
Donaldson, tmtil his conduct 
threw her under the protec- 
tion of the second Earl of 
Hsdifax. 



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54 A BOOK FOR A BAINY DAY 

and Mr. Philpot, organist. — ^Admittance to the garden, 6d. ; 
to the concert, 2s. 

1748. — Miss Falkner, singer. No persons to be ad- 
mitted to the balls unless in full dress. 

1749. — It appears by the advertisements that dress- 
balls and concerts were the only amusements of this year. 

I750* — li^^ Falkner, Mr. Lowe» and Master Phillips, 
were the singers. 

1751. — ^John Trusler was sole proprietor of the Gardens.* 
Singers, Miss Falkner, Master Phillips, and Master Ame. 
On the 30th of August there was a ball ; and as the road 
had been repaired, coaches drove up to the door — ^a ten* 
and-sixpenny ticket admitted two persons. The doors 
opened at nine o'clock. 

1752. — Miss Falkner and Mr. Wilder singers. 

1753. — ^The Public Advertiser of May 25, June 20, 
September 10 and 24, states that the gardens were much 
more extensive by taking in the bowling-green, and con- 
siderably improved by several additional walks ; that 
lights had been erected in the coach-way from Oxford 
Road, and ako on the footpath from Cavendish Square 
to the entrance to the gardens ; and that the fireworks 
were splendid beyond conception. A large sun was 
exhibited at the top of a picture, a cascade, and shower 
of fire, and grand air-balloons (perhaps these were the 
first air-balloons in England) were also most magnificently 
displayed ; and likewise that red fire was introduced. 
This is the earliest instance of Red fire I have been able 
to meet with. Mrs. Chambers and Master Moore were 
singers. 



* M. Wroth sa3^, on good proprietor only in 1756. 
evidence, that Trusler be^me 



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55 



X7S6. — TWO rooms were opened for dinner-parties. 
Troslar, the proprietor of the gardens, was a cook. 

1757- — ^' Thomas Glanville, Mr. Kear, Mr. Reinhold, 
and Mr. Champneys were singers. 

1758. — ^The Gardens opened on May the i6th; the 
singecs were, Signora Saratina, Miss Glanvil, and Mr. Kear. 
No persons were admitted to the ball-rooms without five- 
shilling tickets, which admitted a gentleman and two 
ladies; and only twenty-six tickets were delivered for 
each night. Mr. Trusler's son produced the first burletta 
that was perfbnned in the Gardens; it was entitled 
"La Serva Padrona," for which he only received the 
profits of the printed books.^ 



^ The career of yonng John 
Tnisler, af terwarcb the Rev. 
Dr. Tmsler, is interesting. 
Without a coU^iiate training, 
he took Holy Orders, and 
officiated as a curate in London. 
His e^ for business revealed 
to him the possibilities of 
sennon-mongering, and he was 
soon making a respectable 
income by supplying der^- 
men all over the country with 
semions in script characters. 
His operations became some- 
thing of a scandal, and Cowper 
scoul^himin "The Task"— 

" He grinds divinity of other 

Down into modem nse, trans- 

fonns old print 
To sigzag manuscript, and cheats 

the eyes 
Of gaUery critics by a thousand 

arts. 
Are there who purchase of the 

doctor's ware ? 
Oh, name it not in Gath 1 It 

cannot be 



That grave and learned clerks 

should need such aid. 
He doubtless is in sport, and does 

but droU, 
Assuming thus a rank unknown 

before—- 
Grand caterer and dry-nurse of 

the Church 1 " 

Trosler also issued the morning 
and evening services so printed 
and punctuated as to indicate 
to incompetent readers how 
they should be delivered. 
Cowper writes — 

" He teaches those to read, whom 
schools dismiss'd. 

And coUeges, untaught ; sells 
accent, tone. 

And emphasis in score, and gives 
to prayer 

The adagio and andante it de- 
mands." 

Prospering at this business, 
Trader set up a publishing 
establishment in Wardour 
Street, from which he issued 
manufth of all kinds, including 
his most respectable work, 



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56 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

1759. — ^The Gardens were opened for breakfasting; 
and Miss Trusler made the cakes. Mr. Reinhold and 
Mr. Gaudrey were the singers. 

1760. — ^The Gardens, greatly improved, opened on 
Monday, May 26th, with the usual musical entertainments. 
The Gardens were opened also every Sunday evening 
after five o'clock, where gented company were admitted 
to walk gratis, and were acconmiodated with cofEee, tea, 
cakes, etc. 

The following announcement appears in the Daily 
Advertiser of May 6th, this year : — 

'* Mr. Trosler's daughter begs leave to inform the Nobility 
and Gentry, that she intends to make Fruit-Tarts during 
the fruit Season ; and hopes to give equal satisfaction 
as with the rich Cakes, and Almond Cheesecakes. The 
Fruit wiU alwa}^ be fresh gathered, having great quantities 
in the Garden ; and none but Loaf Sugar used, and the 
finest Epping Butter. Tarts of a Twelvepenny size will 
be made every day from One to Three o'clock ; and those 
who want them of larger sizes to fill a Dish, are desired 
to speak for them, and send their dish or the size of it, 
and the Cake shall be made to fit. 

"The Almond Cheesecakes will be alwa}^ hot at 
one o'clock as usual ; and the rich Seed and Plum-cakes 
sent to any part of the town, at 2s. 6d. each. Coffee, 
Tea, and Chocolate, at any time of the day ; and fine 
Epping Butter may also be had." * 

Hogarth Moralised^ in which ajudjgmentonMrs.Comdysfor 

Mrs. Hogarth became a partner keeping an obiectionable house, 

and collaborator. At the age Sir John Fielding sagely re- 

of 85 he died in his villa at marked that her Soho assem* 

Englefidd Green, Middlesex. blies were unnecessary, having 

^ Miss Truster's seed and regard to the many attractions 

plum cakes were famous. In elsewhere, such as "Ranelagh 



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57 



1761. — ^An excellent half-sheet engraving, after a 
drawing made by J. Donowdl, published this year, repre- 
sents Marybone Gardens, probably in their fullest splen- 
dour. The centre of this view exhibits the longest walk, 
with regular rows of young trees on either side, the stems 
of which received the irons for the lamps at about the 
height of seven feet from the ground. On either side 
this walk were latticed alcoves : on the right hand of 
the walk, according to this view, stood the bow-fronted 
orchestra with balustrades, supported by columns. The 
roof was extended considerably over the erection, to 
keep the musicians and singers free from rain. On the 
left hand of the walk was a room, possibly for balls and 
sappers. The figures in this view are so well drawn and 
characteristic of the time, that I am tempted to recom- 
mend the particular attention of my reader to it. 

The Gardens were opened gratis this year, and the 
organ was played while the company took their tea. 

1762. — The Gardens were in fine order this year, and 
visited by the Cherokee Kings — admittance sixpence.^ 



with its music and fireworks, 
and Marylebone Gardens, with 
music, wine, and plum-cake." 

*Thc arrival of three 
Cherokee Indian chiefs in the 
spring of 1762 roused the 
liveliest interest in London. 
These braves came over in 
token of friendship after the 
ratification of a treaty of 
peace at Charlestown, ^uth 
Candina. They were well- 
made men, six feet in 
height, and were dressed, 
savs the Genileman's Magaxine 
(May 1762), "in their own 
country habit with only a 



shirt, trousers, and mantle 
round them; their faces are 
painted of a copper colour, 
and their heads adorned with 
shells, feathers, ear-rings, and 
other trifling ornaments. They 
neither of them can speaK 
to be understood, and very 
unfortunately lost their inter- 

Eeter in their passage. A 
use is taken for them in 
Sufiolk Street, and deaths 
have been g^en them in the 
English fashion." Among the 
thousands of Londoners who 
went to see the " Cherokee 
Kings '' was Oliver Goldsmith. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



Mr. Tnisler took care to keep out improper company ; 
Miss Trusler continued to make the cakes. 

1763. — ^The Gardens were taken by the famotis Tommy 
Lowe,^ who engaged Mrs. Vincent, Mrs. Lampe, Jnn., 
Miss Mays, Miss Hyat, Miss Catley, and Mr. Sqmbb, as 
singers. 

August I2th, Mr. Storace had a benefit ; * the singers 
were, Brother Lowe, Miss Catley, Miss Smit, and Miss 
Plenius. Music. Mr. Samuel Arnold. A large room 
was deared in the great house for the brethren to 
dress in. 

Miss Catley's night was on the i6th of August. Tickets 
were sold at Miss Catley's, facing the Gardens.' 

1764. — ^The Gardens opened on the 9th May ; singers, 
Mr. Lowe, Mrs. Vincent, Mrs. Lampe, Jun., Miss Moj^se, 
Miss H3rat, and Mr. Squibb. Mr. Trusler left the 
Gardens this year, and went to reside in Boyle Street, 
where his daughter continued to make her cakes, 
etc. 

Mr. Lowe returned public thanks to the nobility and 
gentry for patronising the Gardens. 



^By an indenture dated 
Au^t 30, 1763. This docu- 
ment, whidi smith's namesake 
Thomas Smith quoted in his 
History of the Parish of Mary- 
lebone, shows that the Gardens 
were attached to the Rose 
Tavern, and that they con- 
tained walks, statuary, boxes, 
benches, and musical appliances 
and books. Lowe's lease was 
for fourteen years at the annual 
rent of £170. 

Not the well-known Stephen 
Storace (who was bom only 



in this year), but his father, 
a Neapolitan, described by 
Geoige Hogarth as "a eood 
performer on the double bass 
m the band of die Opora 
House." 

*Nan Catley won hearts 
by her breezy manner and air 
of camaraderie. Hers ''was 
the singing of tmequaUed 
animal spirits ; it was Mrs. 
Jordan's comedy carried into 
music. . . . She was bold, 
volatile, audacious" (Boaden: 
Life of Mrs. Siddons), 



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LONDON STREET MERCHANTS: MATCH BOYS 

KTCHED BY J. T. SMITH 



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A BOOK FOR A KAINF DAY 59 

This year a stop was pnt to tea-drinking in the Gardens 
on Sunday evenings. 

Ifr. Lowe offered a reward of ten guineas for the appre- 
hension of any hi^wayman found on the road to the 
Gardens.^ 

1765. — This year, Mrs. CoUett, Miss Davis, and Mrs. 
Taylor were the singers. 

1766. — £1, IIS. 6d. was the subscription for two persons 
for the season. The doors opened on the ist of May, 
at six o'clock, and the Gardens closed on the 4th of October, 
for the season. The principal singers were. Tommy Lowe, 
Taylor, Raworth, Vincent, and Miss Davis. I have an 
engraving of a Subscription Ticket, inscribed *' No. 222, 
Marybone, admit two, 1766." As this ticket is adorned 
by two palm-branches, surmounted with two French- 
horns, and has also 9. music book, I conclude it must 
have been used on a concert night. This year an exhibi- 
tion of bees took place in the Gardens, and the public 
were again accommodated with tea at eightpence per 
head. 

1767. — Mrs. Gibbons was a singer there this 
season. 

1768. — ^Lowe gave up the Gardens, declaring his loss 
in the concern to have been considerable.* 

^Long before this, Dick *Lowe was now glad to 
Turpin had appeared in the obtain singing engagements at 
Garden itself, and had sur- Sadler's Wells and other tea- 
prised Mrs. Fountajme, the gardens. His career from 
wife of the Marylebone school- riches to poverty is illustrated 
master, with a kiss. He im- in the story, told by John 
pudentlv remarked, "Be not Taylor in his Records of My 
alarmed, madam ; you can Life, that, soon after becoming 
now boast that you have master of Marylebone Gardens, 
been kissed by Didc Turpin. he was seen riding thither 
Good-morning!" in his chariot with a lai^ 



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60 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

Mr. Phillips, a singer, in the announcement of his 
benefit this season, states that tickets were to be had 
at his house, the '' Ring and Pearl," St. Martin's Court ; 
and also at Young Slaughter's Coffee-house, in St. Martin's 
Lane. The following are the titles of a few of the Marybone 
Garden songs of this year : — 

Young CoUn. A Hunting Song. 

Dolly's Petition. Jockey — ^a favourite Scotch song. 

The Invitation. Freedom is a real Treasure. 

The Rose. Jenny charming, but a Woman. 

The Moth. Oh, how vain is every Blessing. 

Polly. Damon and Phillis. 

The composers of the above songs were Heron and 
James Hook (father of Theodore Hook) ; the singers, 
Re3moldson, Taylor, and Miss Froud. During the time 
I was collecting the titles of these and other songs, I noticed 
an immense number which were dedicated to Chloe. Of 
this I took the titles of no fewer than thirty-five published 
between the years 1724 and 1740. Why to Chloe ? I 
have no Stephen Weston now to apply to.* Dibdin tells 
us, when praising the good ship Nancy, that Nancy 
was his wife, and that being the fact, accounts for the 
number of songs he has left us of his '* Charming Nan." ^ 

iron trunk behind it, which Day suggests that this name 

he explained he had purchased was made popular by Prior's 

"to place the profits of the '' Chloe." This seems probable. 

Gardens in." Taylor adds for Prior gave all the vogue 

that he had last seen Lowe of an ideal to this woman, 

in a lane near Aldersgate who, in real life, was the wife 

Street, coming outof a butcher's of a coachman in Long Acre, 

shop, with some meat in a and was described by Johnson 

checked handkerchief. as " a despicable drab of the 

^An editorial note in the lowest species." 

third edition of the Rainy * See note on Weston, p. 208. 



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61 



[1769. — In this year, omitted by Smith, the Gaidens 
were taken over by Dr. Samad Arnold, the musician. 
The years 1769-73 were their best period.] 

1770. — On June i8th, there was a concert of vocal 
and instrumental music. First violin, and a concerto, 
by Mr. Barthdemon; concerto organ, llr. Hook. The 
fireworks were under the direction of Signor Rossi. The 
principal singers this season were, llr. Reinhold, Mr. 
Bannister,^ Mrs. Thompson, Mrs. Barthdemon, and Master 
Cheney. The music by Signor Pergdesi,* with alterations 
and additional songs by Mr. Arnold. In July, an awning 
was erected in the garden for the better accommodation 
of the visitors ; and books of the performance were sdd 
at the bar, price sixpence. 

1771. — ^Mr. Bannister, Mrs. Thompson, Miss Catley, 
and the highly respected Mrs. John Bannister (then Miss 
Harper) were the singers of this year. 

1772. — ^This season the singers were, Mr. Baxmister, 
Mr. Rdnhold, Mrs. Calvert, Mrs. Forbes, Mrs. Cartwrig^t, 
and Mrs. Thompson. Music by Signor Giardani,* Mr. 
Hook, and Mr. Arnold. 



^ Charles Bannister, die 
vocalist and actor, father of 
the more femous John Ban- 
nister. 

^Sisnor Giovanni Battista 
Peigoksi, bom near Ancona 
in the first decade of the 
ej^teenth century, composed 
nmnerous operas and ora- 
torios. Of the fonner his 
La Seroa Padrona was revived 
in London as late as 1873. 

* Felix Giardini, a I^- 
montese musician, came to 
Eag^boid in 1750, and met with 



encoma^emenL He died in 
Russia m 1793. After hear- 
ing him play at Bath, Gains- 
IxHOugh bought his viol-di- 
gamba^ but was soon disgusted 
to find that the music remained 
with the Italian. Horace 
Walpole was not enthusiastic 
about Giardini as a composer, 
and advised Mason to employ 
Handel to set his Sappho. 
" Your Act is classical Atnen- 
ian; shall it be subdi-di-di- 
vi-vi-vi-ded into modem 
Italian?' 



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62 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

For the convenience of the visitors, coaches were 
allowed to stand in the field before the back entrance. 
Mr. Arnold was indicted at Bow Street for the fireworks.^ 
Tott6, the fire-worker, divided the receipts at the door 
with the proprietor. 

1773. — ^Proposals were issued for a subscription evening 
to be held every Thursday during the summer, for which 
tickets were deUvered to admit two persons. The Gardens 
were opened for general admission three eveninp in the 
week only. On Thursday, May 27th, Acts and Galatea 
was performed, in which Mr. Bannister, Mr. Reinhold, 
Mr. Phillips, and Miss Wilde were singers. Signor Torr6, 
the fire-worker, was assisted by Monsieur Caillot of Rane- 
lagh Gardens. 

On Friday, September 15th, Dr. Ame conducted his 
celebrated catches and glees. On the i6th of September, 
Mr. Clitherow was the fire-worker, for the benefit of the 
waiters, who parted with their unsold tickets at the doors 
of the Gardens for whatever they could get. Mr. Winston 
was in possession of an impression of an admission ticket 
for this season. 

1774. — The Gardens opened on May 20th. The 
principal singers were, Mr. Dubellamy, Miss Wewitzer 
(sister of the dramatic performer), and Miss Trelawny. 
The Gardens were opened this year on Simday evenings 
for walking recreation, admittance sixpence. The receipts 
of one evening were at the Town-gate £10, 7s. 6d., at the 
Field-gate £11, 7s.* This year Signor Torr6, one of the 

^ Dr. Arnold's appearance [secretary to the Garrick Qub, 

at Bow Street was m respect and several times mentioned 

of a rocket-stick which nad in the diary of John Payne 

descended in the sacrosanct Collier], I am obliged for the 

garden of Mrs. Fountayne. above notices ; indeed, to that 

* " To James Winston, Esq. gentleman's disinterested in- 



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LONDON STREET MERCHANTS: IMAGES 

ETCHED BY J. T. SMITH 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



63 



fire-workeis of the Gardens, had a benefit ; the admission 
was 3s. 6d.^ Signor Caillot i¥as then also a fire-worker in 
the Gardens ; and I find by two shop-bills, in Miss Banks's 
collection in the British Museum, that Benjamin Clitherow 
and Samuel Clanfidd had also been employed as fire-workers. 

Doctor Kenrick delivered his lectures on Shakspeare in 
these Gardens this year.* 

^775* — ^After frequent inquiries, and a dose examina- 
tion of the newspapers of this year, I could not find any 
advertisement like those of preceding times with singing 
and fireworks. The Gardens are thus mentioned during 
the first part of the season, in the Morning Chronicle and 
London Advertiser of Monday, May 29th : — 

"AT MARYBONE GARDENS, 
To-morrow, the 30th instant, will be presented 

THE MODERN MAGIC LANTERN, 

" In three Parts, being an attempt at a sketch of the 



dnlgence I am also indebted 
for many other curious parti- 
culars introduced in this work, 
selected from his most extensive 
and valuable library of English 
Theatrical Biograpny, bom in 
manuscript and in print, a col- 
lection formed by himself dur- 
ing the last thirty years." — S. 

* "Torr6 was a printseller in 
grtnership with the late Mr. 
Thane, and lived in Market 
Lane, Haymarket" — S. 

*Dr. WiDiam Kenrick, the 
rampageous critic and play- 
wright His comedy The 
DnelUd is his best-xemembered 
work. In July 1774 he 
hcgan a coarse of lectures 
in the "Theatre for Burlet- 
tas " at Marylebone Gardens, 



which he termed "a School 
of Shakespeare/' an entertain- 
ment which he also gave at 
the Devil Tavern in Fleet 
Street. Kenrick attacked 
Dr. Johnson's Shakespeare. 
On Goldsmith saying tluit he 
had never heard of Kenrick's 
writings, the doctor replied : 
"Sir, he is one of the many 
who have made themselves 
public, without making them- 
selves known." 

It is curious that Smith 
omits to mention Dr. John- 
son's rampageous visit to the 
Gardens to see Torre's fire- 
works, with his friend George 
Steevens, the Shakesperian 
commentator. It may have 
taken place in this year, 1774. 



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64 



A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



Times in a variety of Caricatures, accompanied with a 
whimsical and satirical Dissertation on each Character. 

By R. Badd£L£Y» Comedian.* 

•' BILL OF FARE. 

Exordium. 

part the first. 



A Sergeant at Law. 
Andrew; Marvel, Lady 

Fribble. 
A bilking Courtesan. 



A Modem Widow. 

A Modem Patriot. 

A Duelling Apothecary, and 

A Foreign Quack. 



PART THE SECOND 

A Man of Consequence. 
A Hackney Parson. 
A Macaroni Parson. 
A Hair-dresser. 
A Robin Hood Orator. 



Lady Tit for Tat. 

An Italian Tooth-drawer. 

High Life in St. Giles's. 

A Jockey, and 

A Jew's Catechism. 



And Part the Third will consist of a short Magic Sketch 
called 

" Punch's Election. 

^'Admittance as. 6d. each, Coffee or Tea included. 
The doors to be opened at seven, and the Exordium to 



be spoken at eight o'clock. 



" Vivant Rex et Regina." 



^ Robert Baddeley began 
his connection with the stage 
as cook to Foote. He was 
the original Moses in the 
School for Scandal. It was 
he who bequeathed j^ioo to 
provide the cake and wine 
which actors and journalists 



still consume on Twelfth 
Night. He is stated by Dr. 
Doran to have been the last 
actor to wear the royal liveiy 
of scarlet, which, as "His 
Majesty's Servants," the 
Dmiy Lane players were en- 
titled to assume. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 65 

At the foot of llr. Badddey's subsequent bills the 
Gardens are announced to be still open on a Sunday 
evening for company to walk in. Some of the papers of 
this year declare, under Mr. Baddeley's advertisements, 
that " no person going into the Gardens with subscription 
tickets will be entitled to tea or coffee." 

The next advertisement was on Tuesday, June 2oth. 

"MARYBONE GARDENS. 
This Evening will be delivered 

A IXCTURE ON MIMICRY, 
BY GEORGE SAVIIXE CARY.^ 

In which will be introduced 

" A Dialogue between Small Cole and Fiddle-stick ; 
Billy Bustle, Jerry Dowlas, and Patent ; with the char- 
acters of Jerry Sneak in Richard the Third, Shylock in 
Macbeth, Juno in her Cups, Momus in his Mugs, and the 
Warwickshire Lads. To conclude with a dialogue between 
Billy Buckram and Aristophanes, in which Nick Nightingal, 
or the Whistler of the Woods, wiU make his appearance, 
as he was lately shown at the Theatre Roysl, in the char- 
acter of a Crow. 

** Admittance 2s. 6d., coffee or tea included. 

"The Lecture wiU be repeated To-morrow, Thursday, 

and Saturday.'* 

^A posthumous son of daughter, Nance Carey, bore 

Henry Carey, author of "Sally to one Kean, a tailor, or a 

in oar Alley." " Saville Carey builder, a child whom she 

I have heard sometimes touch neglected and abandoned. 

Nan Catley's manner feebly This boy became Edmimd 

in the famous triumph of hear Kean, the great actor 

hOaiity, 'Push about the (Doran's Their Majesfys^ 

Jomm ' '* (Boaden : Life of Servants, vol. ii. pp. 523- 

Mrs. Siddons). His worthless 26). 

5 



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66 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

" June 2ist. 

BfARYBONE GARDENS. 

This Evening will be delivered 

A LECTURE ON MIMICRY, 

by 

GEORGE SAVILLE GARY. 

*' After a new Poetical Exordium, a variety of theat- 
rical DELINEATIONS wiU be introduced. 

**llr. Fiddle-stick, Mr. Small Coal, Mrs. Artichoke, 
Mrs. H— 1— y; Bustle the Bookseller; Mr. Patent, Mr. 

G ^k ; Jerry Sneak, Richard III., Mr. W ; another 

Richard, Mr. S — ^th ; Shylock, in Macbeth, M— n — . 

"*What, alas I shaU Orpheus do?' Sig. M— U— o; 
*Juno in her Cups,' Miss C— t— y; •The Early Horn,' 
Mr.M.D B ^y ;* This is. Sir, a Jubilee,' Mr. B—n—r; 

• Where, Which, and Wherefore,' Sig. L— at-^ii ; * Within 
my Breast,' Mr. V. ; * Sweet Willy O,' Mrs. B— d— y ; 

* The Mulberry Tree,' M— k— r ; • Ye Warwickshire Lads,' 
Mr. V. and Mr. D. 

Scene in Harlequin's Invasion, Mr. D— d, Mr. P ^ns, 

and Mr. B — n — ^by, 

Othello, Mr. B y ; Nurse, Mrs. P ^t ; Cjmibeline, 

Mr. H st ; lachimo, Mr. P ^r ; Mr. Posthumous, 

Mr. R h ; Pantomime, Mr. F ^t and Mr. W n.* 

The Doors to be opened at Seven o'clock, and to begin 

at Eight. 

^ These initials thinly dis- Mr. Darley, Mr. Vernon, and 

guise such well-known enter- Nan Catley, all of whom were 

tainers as Garrick, Bannister, imitated by the versatile 

Mrs. Baddeley, and the singers Carey. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 67 

** Admittance 2s. 6d. each, coffee or tea included. 
" The Lecture will be repeated to-morrow and Saturday 

next." 

"June 23rd. 

HARYBONE GARDENS. 

" By Virtue of a Licence from the Board of Ordnance, a 

MOST BIAGNIFICENT FIREWORK 

will be exhibited on Tuesday next at 

BIARYBONE GARDENS, 

In honour of His Majesty's Birthday. 

"Further particulars will be advertised on Monday next." 

** Indeed, Sir i " is the general exclamation of a pas- 
senger in a stage coach, whenever any one observes that 
he had seen Garrick perform ; at least, such an observa- 
tion has fallen from many of my fellow-travellers, when 
I have asserted that I had had the pleasure of seeing 
that great actor. On the 25th of November, 1775, my 
father first took me to a play, and it was with one of Mr. 
Garrick's orders, when he performed in The Alchemist,^ 

1776. — ^Marylebone Gardens opened this year on the 
nth of May, by authority. The "Forge of Vulcan" was 
represented.* On the i6th of the same month the Fan- 
toccini was introduced; on June 3rd Breslaw exhibited 
his sleight of hand, and also his company of singers, upon 
which occasion handbills were publicly distributed. Ad- 
mittance 2s.' On the 25th Mrs. Stuart had a ball, ank 

^ As Abel Drugger, one of less relevant circumstances of 

his finest parts. flame and lava. 

* The "Forge of Vulcan "was 'Fantocdno, the Italian 

Signer Torrl's masterpiece; puppet - entertainment, was 

in it appeared Venus and mtroduced to France by an 

Cupid in dialogue, in more or Italian named Marion (hence 



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68 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

Signor Rebecca (well known for his productions at the 
Pantheon) painted some of the transparencies.^ 

Subscription tickets to the Gardens were issued at 
;fi, IIS. 6d. to admit two persons every evening of per- 
formance. The Gardens were opened on Sunday evenings, 
with tea, coffee, and Ranelagh rolls. Caillot was the fire- 
worker this season. 

This, as well as the preceding year, was particularly 
famous for the breed of Canary birds, consisting of Junks, 
Mealies, Tumcrowns, and the Swallow-throats. They 
were all **fine in feather and full in song," and could 
sing in the highest perfection many delightful strains, 
such as the nightingale's, titlark's, and woodlark's, by 
candle-light as well as day. The breeders lived in Nor- 
wich, Colchester, Ipswich, etc. The sellers in London 
were principally publicans, and those most in vogue 
kept the signs of the " Queen's Arms," Newgate Street ; 

"marionettes"), and then into Breslaw to inquire. The fol- 
England. The great London lowing dialogue ensued. 
Fantoccini show of the eight- " Mr. Mayor, I have distri- 
eenth century was Flockton's. buted the money myself." 
Breslaw, the conjurer, b^;an " Pray, sir, to whom ? " 
his London appearances in *' To my own company, than 
1772, in Cockspur Street. In whom none can be poorer." 
1774 he gave his entertain- " This is a trick I 
ment on alternate days here and "Sir, we live by tricks." 
at the "King's Arms" oppo- ^ Baggio Rebecca, decorat- 
site the Royal Exchange. It ive painter, died in 1808. Of 
is told of falm while perform- his election as Associate of 
ing at Canterbury, he promised the Royal Academy in 1771, 
the Mayor that if the duration Leslie says : " Academic ad- 
of his licence were extended vancement was rapid in those 
he would give one night's days. Every man who dis- 
receipts to the poor. The played the least ability was 
Mayor agreed, and the con- certain of election." Rebecca 
jurer had a full house. Hear- had a small share in decorating 
mg nothing further of the the Royal Academy lecture- 
money, the Mayor called on room at Somerset House. 



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A BOOK FOR A BAINY DAY 69 

the " Green Dragon/' Narrow Wall, Lambeth ; the 
"Crown and Horse-shoe," Hdbom ; the " Wheatsheaf /' 
Fleet Market ; the '' Marquis of Granby," Fleet Market ; 
the " Old George," Little Drury Lane ; and the " Black 
Swan," Brown's Lane, Spitalfields.^ 

It appears by the various advertisements from the 
numerous owners of cockpits, that the cruel ^)ort of 
cock-fightii^ afforded high amusement this year to the 
unfeeling part of London's inhabitants. Of the number 
of cockpits half a dozen will be quite enough to be re* 
corded on this page. 

1. The " Royal Cockpit," in the Birdcage Walk, St. 
James's Park. This Royal Cockpit afforded Hogarth char- 
acters for one of his worst of subjects, though best of plates. 

2. In Bainbridge Street, St. Giles's. 

3. Near Gray's Inn Lane. 

4. In Pickled-Egg Walk. 

5. At the New Vauxhall Gardens, in St. Geoige's 
in the East. 

6. That at the " White Horse," Old Gravel Lane, near 
Hughes's late riding-school, at the foot of Blackfriars 
Bridge.' 

^Most of these localities Bainbridge Street survives 
have ceased to be the resort as a narrow lane behind New 
of bird-fanciers. To-day the Oxford Street, leading from 
chief London quarters for Dyott Street to the back 
song-birds are St. Giles's, of Meux's brewery. 
Leadenhall Market, and, above At the beginning of the 
aU, Sdater Street in Spital- eighteenth century the cock- 
fields, known as " Club Row." pit behind Gray's Inn (its 

'The sights in this famous exact locality is not easily 

cockpit are recorded by discovered), enjoyed " the 

Hogarth in his print of 1759, only vogue " (Hatton). Mr. 

and by Rowlandson in Acker- William B. Boulton {The 

mann^ Microcosm of London Amusements of Old London, 

(1808). 1901) quotes a description 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



Disputes having frequently occurred as to the char- 
acters in which Garrick last appeared, by persons not 
sufficiently in possession of documents at hand to enable 
them to decide their controversies, I am induced to con- 
clude that such disputants will be pleased to see a statement 
of the nights of his actii^, the titles of the plays in which 
he performed, and the names of the characters which 
he represented, as well as those of the principal actresses 
who performed with him during the last year of his ap- 
pearance on the stage. The original play-bills of the 
time, collected by the late Dr. Bumey, now in the British 
Museum, have enabled me to give this information in 
the following chronological order : — 



Night of 
Acting* 

Jan. i8. 



Title of Play. 

The Alchemist 



Names of 
Characters. 



Abel Drugger, Mr. Garrick. 
(Doll C<Mnmon, by Mrs. 
Hopkins.) 



of it by Von Uffenbach, a 
German traveller, who says 
it was specially built for the 
sport. 

Pickled -E« Walk, after- 
wards Crawford's Passage (now 
Crawford Passage, Ray Street, 
Clerkenwell), was named after 
the proprietor of the Pickled- 
Egg Tavern, who brought from 
the West of England a recipe 
for pickled eggs and supplied 
this novel cate to his customers. 
Pink mentions a tradition that 
Charles ii. once paused here 
in a suburban journey and 
ate a pickled egg. The mains 
fought at the cockpit here 
were regularly advertised in 
the newspapers. 



Charles Hughes and Charles 
Dibdin, the song-writer, ^^ened 
the *' Royal Circus and Eques^ 
trian Philharmonic Academy" 
in 1782. 

Cock - fiffhting was made 
illeged in 1849, but a statement 
in Cocking and Us Votaries 
(1895), by S. A. T. (for 
private circulation), " makes it 
quite manifest that "not a 
&w wealthy men in England 
still follow up this sport, 
stealthily but with much zeal 
— a fact that is as discreditable 
to the guardians of the law 
as it is to themselves." I 
quote Mr. J. Charles Cox in 
bis admirable edition of Strutt's 
Sports and Pastimes (1903). 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



71 



Nights Of 
Actii^. 


TitlM of Plays. 


Names of 
Characters. 


Jan. 20. 


The Discovery . 


Sk Anthony Branville. 
(Lady Flutter, by Mrs. 
Abington.) 


22. 


Ditto. 


Ditto. 


34- 


Ditto. 


Ditto. 


26. 


Ditto. 


Ditto. 


29. 


Ditto. 


Ditto. 


30. 


The Provoked Wife Sir John Brute. (Lady 






Brute, by Miss Younge.) 


31. 


Ditto. 


Ditto. 


Feb. 3. 


Zara 


Lusignan. (Zara, by Miss 
Younge.) 


5. 


The Provoked Wife Sir John Brute. (Lady 






Brute, by Miss Younge.) 


7- 


The Discovery . 


Sir Anthony Branville. 
(Lady Flutter, by Mrs. 
Abington.) 


9- 


Every Man in his 


Kitely. (Mrs. Kitdy, Mrs. 




Humour. 


GreviUe.) 


12. 


Much Ado about 


Benedict. (Beatrice, by Mrs. 




Nothing. 


Abington.) 


14- 


Rule a Wife and 


Leon. (Estifania, by Mrs 




have a Wife. 


Abington.) 


March 6. 


Zara . 


Lusignan. (Zara, by Miss 
Younge.) 


7- 


Zara . 


Lusignan. (Zara, by Miss 
Younge.) 


April II. 


The Alchemist . 


Abel Drugger. (Doll Com- 
mon, by Mrs. Hopkins.) 


16. 


Much Ado about 


Benedict. (Beatrice, by Mrs. 




Nothing. 


Abington.) 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



Nights of 
Acting. 


Titles of Plays. 


Names of 
Characters. 


April 25. 


Every Man in his 


Kitely. (Mrs.Kitely,byMrs. 




Humour. 


Greville.) 


27. 


Hamlet 


Hamlet. (Ophelia, by Mrs. 
Smith.) 


30. 


The Provoked 


Sir John Brute. (Lady 




Wife. 


Brute, Miss Younge.) 


May 2. 


Rule a Wife and 


Leon. (Estifania, Mrs. Ab- 




have a Wife. 


ington.) 


7. 


The Stratagem 


Archer. (Mrs. Sullen, Mrs. 
Abington.) 


9. 


Much Ado about 


Benedict. (Beatrice, by Mrs. 




Nothing. 


Abington.) 


13. 


King Lear 


King Lear. (Corddia, Miss 
Younge.) 


16. 


The Wonder. 


Don Felix. (Violante, by 
Mrs. Yates.) 


21. 


King Lear . 


King Lear. (Cordelia, by 
Miss Younge.) 


23- 


The Suspicious 


Ranger. (Mrs. Strickland, 




Husband. 


Mrs. Siddons; Qarinda, 
Mrs. Abington.) 


27. 


King Richard the 


King Richard. (Lady Anne 




Third. 


(first time), Mrs. Siddons.) 


30. 


Hamlet . 


Hamlet. (Ophelia, by Mrs. 
Smith.) 


31. 


The Suspicious 


Ranger. (Mrs. Strickland, 




Husband. 


Mrs. Siddons ; Clarinda, 
Mrs. Abington.) 


June I. 


Ditto. 


Ditto. 


3 


. King Richard the 


King Richard. (Lady Anne, 




Third. 


by Mrs. Siddons.) 



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73 



^^°« Tide, of Plays. 


Names of 
Characters. 


June 5. King Richard the 


King Richard. (Lady Anne, 


Third. 


by Mrs. Siddons.) By 




command of their Ma- 




jesties. 


8. Kingl^ear 


King Lear. (Cordelia, Mrs. 




Younge.) 


10. The Wonder . 


Don Felix. (Violante, by 




Mre. Yates.)! 



! Behind this formal entrv 
lies the most affecting f arewdU 
scene ever enacted on a London 
stage. The doors of Drury 
Lane Theatre were opened 
at '* half after five " on that 
evening of June 10, 1776, 
and the profits of the perform- 
ance were announced to be 
eiven to the Theatrical Fund. 
It was but the last of a series 
of farewell nights in which 
Gaxrick had played his great 
parts for the last time to 
densely crowded houses. As 
Mr. rercy Fitzgerald says: 
" Other actors retire in one 
nifi^t, Garrick's departure 
filled a whole season and only 
culminated on this last night. 
"Last night," he wrote, "I 
idayed Abel Dru^r for the 
last time. I thought the 
audience were cracked, and 
they almost turned my brain." 
On June 5, King G^rge and 
his Queen attended to see 
Garrick's last "Richard." Dis- 
tinguished people were turned 
ni^tly from the doors, and 
many became almost frantic 



to thmk that they must see 
Garrick now or never again. 
Hannah More wrote : " I pity 
those who have not seen him. 
Posterity will never be able 
to fonn the slightest idea 
of his perfections. ... I have 
seen him within three weeks 
take leave of Benedick, Sir 
John Brute, Kitely, Abel Drug- 
ger, Archer, and Leon." 

On the last night, of all, 
Garrick played Don Felix in 
Mrs. Centilivre's comedy, which 
he chose, perhap, as a foil 
to the tragedy of his farewell. 
In his Life of the actor Mr. 
Fitzgerald thus describes the 
supreme moment : "He retired 
slowly — up — up the sta^, 
his eyes fixed on them with 
a lingerinjg longing. Then 
stopped. The shouts of ap- 
plause from that brilliant 
amphitheatre were broken 
by sobs and tears. To his 
ears were borne from many 
quarters the word 'Fare- 
well! Farewell!' Mrs. Gar- 
rick was in her box, in an 
agony of hysterical tears. The 



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74 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

Notwithstanding it has been said that Mr. Ganick 
spoke slightingly of Mrs. Siddons's talents, the above list 
incontrovertibly proves that he considered her powers 
sufficiently great to appear in principal characters with 
him no fewer than six nights of the last nine in which he 
performed. 

I shall now subjoin a similar list of Mrs. Siddons's 
nights of performance at Droiy Lane Theatre, during the 
last year of Mr. Garrick's acting.^ 

Jan. 13, 15, 17. Epicoene, or The Silent Woman (as a 

Collegiate Lady). 
Feb. 1, 2, 3. The Blackamoor Washed White. 
Between Feb. 15 
and April 18 

(22 nights). The Runaway (as Miss Morley). 
May 23. The Suspicious Husband (as Mrs. Strick- 

land). 
24. The Runaway (as Miss Morley). 

27. King Richard the Third (as Lady Anne). 

31. The Suspicious Husband (as Mrs. Stiick- 

June I. land). 

3. King Richard the Third (as Lady Anne). 

5. Ditto. Ditto. 

By command of their Majesties. 

Of six plays of which there were no bills in the Bumey 
collection, I was enabled to add instances of the performance 

wonderful eyes, still brilliant, ^Garrick's last season at 

were tumea wistfully again Drury Lane was Mrs. Siddons* 

and again to that sea of first. She was but twenty-one 

sympathetic faces, one of the years of age, and made no 

mostbrilliantaudiencesperhaps striking success, thou^ "her 

that ever sat in Drury Lane; tjme was enlarged in the bill " 

and at last, with an effort, he (Boadley). 
tore himself from their view." 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



76 



of Mrs. Siddons on those nights from a portion of that 
tmly rare and valuable library purchased by Government 
of the late Dr. Bumey's son for the British Museum. 

Ladies this year wore goloshes, four distinct falls of 
lace from the hat to the shoulders, and rolled curls on 
either side of the neck : they continued to carry fans.^ 

1777. 

I remember well that in an autumn evening of this 
year, during the time my father lived in Norton Street,* 
going with him and his pupils cm a sketching party to what 
is now called Pancras Old Church ; and that Whitefidd's 
Chapel in Tottenham Court Road, Montague House, 
Bedford House, and Baltimore House,* were then unin- 



^A single short fall of lace 
from the hat has been far 
from unfashionable in recent 
years. Fans were carried 
later than 1776. A print of 
two ladies in outdoor costume 
in the Gallery of Fashion^ pub- 
lished in May 1796, is repro- 
duoedbyFairholt^who remarks : 
"Both ladies carry the then 
indispettsable article — a fan." 
Indeed, the fashion-plates of 
the eighteenth century disclose 
haidly any period m which 
fans were not carried out of 
doors. 

* NcMton Street is now Bol- 
sover Street, running south 
from near Portlandf Road 
Station, parallel east of Great 
Portland Street. In the 
eighteenth century it had 
considerable pretensions. From 
it Sir William Chambers's 
fnaeral proceeded to the Abbey 



in March I7g|6. Wilson, Turner, 
and Willae all painted 
here. It is now a dull nuic- 
adunised street in whose 
houses upholstering, steel- 
cutting, etc., are carried on. 

* Smith erroneously notes 
that " this house, subsequently 
inhabited by the Ducness of 
Bolton, Sir John NichoU, Sir 
Vicary Gibbs, and by Sir 
Charles Flower, Bart., has been 
recently pulled down, and 
several houses built upon the 
site." The premises remain to 
this day, but they form several 
houses. As early as 1776 
Northouck noted that Balti- 
more House was "either built 
without a plan, or else has 
had very whimsical owners; 
for the door has been shifted 
to different parts of the house, 
being now carried into the 
stabfe«yard." 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



terruptedly seen from the churchjrard, which was at that 
time so rural that it was only enclosed by a low and very 
old hand-railing, in some parts entirely covered with docks 
and nettles. I recollect also that the houses on the north 
side of Ormond Street conunanded views of Islington, 
Highgate, and Hampstead, including in the middle dis- 
tance Copenhagen-house, Mother Red-cap's, the Adam and 
Eve, the Farthing Pie House, the Queen's Head and Arti- 
choke, and the Jew's Harp House.^ 

Early in this year Spiridione Roma,* who had cleaned 
the pictures of the Judges then hanging in Guildhall, 
published a prospectus for Bartolozzi's print from the 
portrait of Mary Queen of Scots in Drapers' HaU, said 
to have been painted by Zucchero.* 



1778. 

At this period I began to think there was something 
in a prognostication announced to my dear mother by 
an old star-gazer and tea-grauUr^^ that, through life, I 
should be favoured by persons of high rank ; for, in this 



^The map engraved for 
Northouck's History of London 
in 1772 shows that Smith 
was justified in these state- 
ments. The unexpected break 
in the houses which still 
occurs on the south side of 
Guilford Street is a relic 
of the desire to leave this 
square open to Highgate. 
This intention was defeated 
when the north side of 
Guilford Street was built. 
Thenceforward the north-west- 
ward growth of London was 
rapid, and bv 1845 ruralitv 
had been pushed up to Chalk 



Farm by advancing brick and 
mortar. 

*This Italian painter ex- 
hibited portraits and water 
colours at the Royal Academy 
from 1774 to 1778. He painted 
the pnndpal ceiling at the old 
East India House. 

*This painting is said to 
represent Mary, and her son 
James (afterwards James i. 
of England) as a boy four 
years of age. Doubts have 
been thrown on its history. 
(See GtmJAemaWs Magazine^ 
vols, xlviii. and xlix.) 

*A fortune-teller by tea- 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 77 

year, Chailes Townley, Esq. (the collector of the valuable 
marbles which now bear his name in the British Museum), 
first noticed me when drawing in Mr. Nollekens' studio, 
and pouched me half a guinea to purchase paper and 
chalk.^ This kindness was followed up by Dr. Samuel 
Johnson, who was then sitting for his bust. The Doctor, 
after looking at my drawing, then at the bust I was copying, 
put his hand heavily upon my head, pronouncing '* Very 
well, very well." Here I frequently saw him, and recollect 
his figure and dress with tolerable correctness. He was 
tall, and must have been, when young, a powerful man : 
he stooped, with his head inclined to the right shoulder : 
heavy brows, sleepy eyes, nose very narrow between the 
eye-brows, but broad at the bottom ; lips enormously 
thick; chin, wide and double. He wore a stock and 
wristbands ; his wig was what is called a ^* Busby^** but 
often wanted powder. His hat, a three-cornered one ; 
coats, one a dark mulberry, the other brown, inclining to 
the colour of Scotch snuff, laiige brass or gilt buttons ; 
black waistcoat and small-clothes — sometimes the latter 
were corduroy ; black stockings, large easy shoes, with 
buckles ; his gait was wide and awkwardly sprawling ; 
latterly he used a hooked walking-stick, in consequence of 
his having saved the life of a young man as he was 
crossing from Queenhithe to Bankside. 



leaves, the leaves being among others, Sir Joshua 

" grouted " or turned over in Reynolds, NoUekens, and 

the cup. Johann Zoffany. The Town- 

^At this time Charles ley collection of Greek and 

Towndey (1737-1805) was Roman statues, altars, urns, 

living at No. 7 Park Street busts, etc., now in the British 

(now, with Queen Anne's Museum, was freely shown to 

Square, named Queen Anne's the public in Park Street. 
Gate), where he entertained. 



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78 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

One of the Doctor's sticks of this shape brought me 
into a scrape. It was given to me by the late William 
Tunnard, Esq., of Bankside ; ^ he received it from his 
friend Mr. Perkins ; ' it was one of many that the Doctor 
kept at Thrale's. This stick I promised to my worthy 
and liberal friend the Rev. James Beresford, of Kibworth, 
Market Harborough ; * but, alas I when I went to ** stick- 
comer" somebody had walked it off. However, if this 
page should meet the eye of its present possessor, I hope, 
even should the ** Bannister " I now rest upon be deemed 
useless by Time's sandy-glass, his conscience may order 
the Johnsonian rdic to be delivered to the above-named 
gentleman, whose property I declare it unquestionably 
to be. My present strong stick, named ** Banmster,^* was 
given to me when afflicted with the gout, by a fellow- 
sufferer, universally known under the friendly appellation 
of '' Honest Jack:' 

I once saw him follow a sturdy thief, who had stolen 
his handkerchief in Grosvenor Square, seise him by the 
collar with both hands, and shake him violently, after ^diich 
he quickly let him loose ; and then, with his open hand, 
gave him so powerful a smack on the face, that sent him 
off the pavement staggering. 



^ It was from Mr. Tunnard's son's presence, asked him ^y 

house, on Bankside, that he had done so, he replied. 

Smith etched the river pro- "Because, madam, I wish to 

cession which brought Nelson's have one wise man there.'* 

body to Whitehall, mentioned " Sir," said Johnson, " I thank 

in Smith's note, p. 182. you. It is a very handsome 

*The manager, and after- compliment, and I bdieve yoa 

wards part proprietor, of speak sincerely." 

Thrale's brewery. He hung a • The Rev. James Beresford 

fine mezzotint portrait of became Rector of Kibworth 

Johnson in the countinjg-house, Beauchamp, Lincoln, in 1812. 

and when Mrs. Thrale, in John- He died in 1840. 



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DR. SAMUKL JOHNSON 
• i'ockets which might have almost held the two volumes of his folio diciionary." 



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■♦> 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



n 



Ladies appeared for the first time in riding-habits of 
men's doth, only descending to the feet ; they also walked 
with whips like short canes, with a thong at the end. The 
elderly ladies continued to wear goloshes. Fans were in 
general use. 

For the honour of female genius, be it here recorded, 
that, in the Ladies^ Pocket-book, published this year, an 
engraved group of nine whole-length female figures was 
published, viz. Miss Carter, Mrs. Barbauld, Angelica 
Kau£Eman, Mrs. Sheridan, Mrs. Lenox, Mrs. Montagu, 
Miss More, Mrs. Macaulay, and Mrs. Griffith, each lady 
in the character of a Muse. Four Pocket-books appeared 
tbis year, entitled Ladies* Pocket-book, Ladies* own Memo- 
randum Book, Ladies* Annual Journal, and Ladies* Complete 
Pocket4H>ok.^ 



^ Elizabeth Carter, of " Emc- 
tetos " fame, the friend of Dr. 
Johnson. See note, p. 231. 

Anna Letitia barbauld, 
the well-known miscellaneous 
writer, whose poem "Life! 
I know not whlat thou art" 
is ho: one imperishable com- 
position. 

Angelica Kauffman, the 
painter (1741-1807). See 
smith's account of li^ under 
the year 1807. 

Mis. Sheridan was the beauti- 
ful, dever, and faithful wife 
of Ricfaaxd Brinsley Sheridan, 
whom she assisted in the 
management of Drury Lane 
Theatre. 

Chariotte Lenox, bom in 
New York, 1720, was the 
author of The Life of Harriot 
Slmii, in which she portrayed 
her own youth. She found 



interest in high quarters, and 
was given apsurtments in 
Somerset House, which, how- 
ever, she lost when that build- 
ing was demolished. Dr. 
Johnson insisted on his friends 
sitting up all night at the Devil 
Tavern to celebrate Mrs. 
Lenox's '' first literary child " 
(Harriot Siuari), an immense 
apple pie being part of the 
entertamment. In the morn- 
ing the waiters were so sleepy 
that . the party had to wait 
two hours for their reckoning. 
Mrs. Montague, the original 
''blue stocking," had uttle 
womanlv taste, but her mind 
was well stored and active; 
she lived in an atmosphere of 
Eneliah and foreign talent, 
and her assemblies at Montague 
House, in Portman Square, are 
historical. Dr. Jotmaon was 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY BAY 



1779. 

On Monday, February ist, Taylor, the facetious pupil 
of Frank Ha}mian, and the old friend of Jonathan Tyers, 
lifted NoUekens' studio door-latch, put in his head, and 
announced, ^' For the information of some of the sons of 
Phidias, I beg to observe, that David Garrick is now on 
his way to pay his respects to Poet's Comer. I left him 
just as he was quitting the boards of the Addphi."^ I 
am now employing the exact words he made use of, though 
certainly the levity was misapplied on so solenm an 
occasion. 

I begged of my father, who then carved for Mr. Nollekens, 
to allow me to go to Charing Cross to see the funeral pass, 
which be did with some reluctance. I was there in a few 
minutes, followed him to the Abbey, heard the service, 
and saw him buried.* 



severe on her Essay an the 
Writings and Genius of ShaJte- 
speare^ remarking : " Rey- 
nolds is fond of her book, and 
I wonder at it ; for neither I 
nor Beauclerk nor Mrs. Thrale 
could get through it." 

Haimah More had appeared 
in the London literary firma- 
ment in 1774; her tragedy 
Percy had just been given by 
Garrick, and her star was in 
brkhtest ascension. 

Such was the fame of Mrs. 
Catherine Macaulay, author of 
a forgotten History of England, 
that Dr. Wilson, Rector of St. 
Stephen's, Walbrook, erected 
a statue to her in the 
chancel of that church dur- 
ing her lifetime. It was very 



properly removed by his 
successor. 

Mrs. Elizabeth Griffith wrote 
several plays which Garrick 
presented with success. The 
Letters of Henry and Frances, 
which she wrote in collabora- 
tion with her husband, a 
dramatist, were popular. 

^At No. 5 (now No. 4) 
Adelphi Terrace, Garrick lived 
between 1772 and 1779. Hedied 
at about 8 a.m* Tne house is 
distinguished by a commemor- 
ative tablet, as also (recently 
and more artistically) is his 
previous residence in South- 
ampton Street, Strand* 

«Boswell says: "Garrick's 
funeral was talked of as extra- 
vagantly expensive, but Dr. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



81 



Mr. Garrick died on the aoth of January, in the back 
room of the first floor, in his house in the Addphi. The 
ceiling of the drawing-room was painted by Zucchi : the 
sabject, Venus attired by the Graces. The chinmeypiece 
in this room is said to have cost £800.^ 

On a night when Mr. Garrick was acting the part of 
Lear, one of the soldiers who stood on the stage blubbered 
like a child. Mr. Garrick, who was as fond of a compliment 
as most men, when the play was over, sent for the man 
to his room, and gave him half a crown. It was the 
custom formerly for two soldiers to stand on the stage 
during the time of performance, one at either end of the 
proscenium. 

Johnson, from his dislike to 
exaggeration, would not al- 
low that it was distinguished 
by an extraordinary pomp. 
" ' Were there not six horses to 
each coach P ' said Mrs. Bumey. 
Johnson : ' Madam, there 
were no more six horses than 
six phoenixes.' " On this 
Croker notes: "There cer- 
tainly were, and Johnson him- 
self went in one of the coach 
and six." Richard Cumber- 
land saw Johnson standing 
beside the grave, at the foot 
of Shakespeare's statue, bathed 
in tears. Horace Walpole 
wrote to the Countess of 
Ossory, February i, 1770: 
" Yes, madam, I do think tne 
pomp of Ganick's funeral per- 
fectly ridiculous," and he gave 
his reasons with epigrammatic 
force. Otiiers were of the same 

r'on ; and John Henderson, 
actor, wrote "a rather 
bitter impromptu on Mr. 
6 



Garrick's Funeral," in which 
Garrick is represented as 
directing the pageant. 

"'CaU aU my carpenters— bid 

George attend. 
And ransack Monmouth Street 

from end to end ; 
Buy aU the black, deirand the 

starving moth, 
Or let him. if he will, defile the 

cloth: 
Bring moth and aU — ^we have 

no time to lose — 
If there's not black enough, 

then buy the blues/ 

Thus far he spoke, in an imperial 

tone. 
And quite forgot the funeral was 

lus r — " 



^ Antonio Zucchi, A.R. A.» who 
became Angelica Kaufmann's 
second husband, was employed 
by the brothers Adam, the 
architects of the Addphi. The 
cost of the mantelpiece is given 
by Mr. Wheatley as £300, the 
probable figure. Mrs. Garrick 
died in the same house in 1822. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



This year the Grotto Garden, Rosamond Row, near 
the London Spa, was kept by Jackson, a man famous for 
grottoes and fireworks. He had made great additions 
to it, viz. a new Mounted Fountain, etc. The admittance 
was sixpence.^ 

1781. 

Although I could model and carve a little, I longed 
to be an engraver, and wished much to be placed under 
Bartolozzi, who then lived in Bentinck Street, Berwick 
Street.* My father took me to him, with a letter of intro- 
duction from Mr. Wilton, the sculptor. Mr. Bartolozzi, 
after looking at my imitations of several of Rembrandt 
and Ostade's etchings, declared that he should have been 
glad some years previous to take such a youth, but that, 
in consequence of ill-treatment from some of his pupils, 
he had made up his mind to take no more. The Bishop 
of Peterborough (Dr. HinchUffe),' one of my father's 



1 The " English Grotto," as 
it was called, was one of the 
Islington group of tea-gardens. 
Its proprietor, Jackson, pleased 
his public by an ingenious 
water - mill, an ' ' enchanted 
fountain," and a display of 
gold and silver fish. A 
pleasingly rustic view in the 
Grace collection is reproduced 
by Mr. Wroth in London 
Pleasure Gardens of the Eight- 
eenth Century. 

* Francesco Bartolozzi, R.A., 
was an original member of 
the Rojral Academy, and he 
engraved its diploma. His 
rapid rise, and his appoint- 
ment to be engraver to the 



King at £300 a year, were 
disturbing to Sir Robert 
Strange, who treated him with 
misplaced contempt. " Let 
Strange beat that if he can," 
exclaimed Bartolozzi, on 
executing his "Cljrtia." Un- 
fortunately he was impro- 
vident, and his studio became 
a manufactory of facile chalk 
studies, to many of which he 
put only the fimshing touches. 
After a brilliant career in 
England, he went to Lisbon, 
where he was knighted, and 
died there in 1815, in his 
88th year. 

• John Hinchliffe (1731- 
94), the son of a livery- 



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"PERDITA" ROBINSON 
' She imprinted a kiss on my cheek, and said, ' There, you little rogue.' " 

/. T. SM.'tk 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 88 

patrons, then prevailed on Sherwin to let me in at half- 
price; and under his roof I remained for nearly three 
years. Here I saw all the beautiful women of the day ; 
and» being considered a lively lad, I was noticed by several 
of them. Here I received a kiss from the beautiful Mrs. 
Robinson. 

This impression was made upon me nearly as I can 
recollect in the following way : — It fell to my turn that 
moming,as a pupil, to attend the visitors, and Mrs. Robinson 
came into the room singing. She asked to see a drawing 
which Mr. Sherwin had made of her, which he had placed 
in an upper room. When I assured her that Mr. Sherwin 
was not at bome, " Do try to find the drawing of me, and 
I will reward you, my little fellow,'' said she. I, who had 
seen Rosetta, in Lave in a Village^ the preceding evening, 
hiunmed to msrself, as I went upstairs, ** With a kiss, a 
kiss, and I'll reward you with a kissl" 

I had lio sooner entered the room with the drawing 
in my band, than she imprinted a kiss on my cheek, and 
said, "There, you little rogue." I remember that Mrs. 
Darby, her mother, accompanied her, and had brought a 
miniature, painted by Cosway, set in diamonds, presented 
by a high personage, of whom Mrs. Robinson spoke with 
the highest respect to the hour of her dissolution.^ The 

stable keeper in Swallow ^In 1781, Mary Robinson 
Street, was bom in West- (1758-1800), known as " Per- 
nuDster, and educated at West- dita," had ceased to be the mis- 
minster School. He was con- tress of the Prince of Wales, 
secrated Bishop of Peter- afterwards George iv., whose 
borough, Dec. 17, 1769. He bond for £20,000, never paid, 
bought some of Smith's vouth- was exchanged for the pen- 
fol imitations of Rembrandt sion of £500 a year awarded 



and Ostade. A note on her by Fox in 1783. She was 
Sherwin will be found under portrayed by Reynolds twice, 
1782. and by Ronmey, Gains- 



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84 



A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



colour of her carriage was a light blue, and upon the centre 
of each panel a basket of flowers was so artfully painted, 
that as she drove along it was mistaken for a coronet.^ 

1782. 

Early in the month of December, this year, Sherwin 
painted, engraved, and published a glorious portrait of 
Mrs. Siddons, in the character of the Grecian Daughter. 
That lady sat in the front room of his house, St. James's 
Street. I obeyed Mr. Sherwin's orders in raising and 
lowering the centre window-curtains, the shutters of the 
extreme ones being closed for the adjustment of that fine 
light and shade upon her face which he has so beautifully 
displayed in the print. This print, in consequence of a 
purse having been presented to Mrs. Siddons by her 
admirers in the profession of the Law, was dedicated to 
" The Gentlemen of the Bar." « 



borough, Hoppner, ZofFany, 
and twice by Cosway. 

The original name of Mrs. 
Robinson's family had been 
M'Dermott, which had been 
changed by an ancestor to 
Darby. Mrs. Darby had 
brought up her (Jaughter 
under diffioilt circumstances. 
Obliged to earn her own living 
during her husband's absence 
in ^jnerica, she started a 
ladies' boarding school in 
Little Chelsea, m which the 
future " Perdita " (as we learn 
from her autobiography) 
taught English literature to 
the daughters of the well-to-do 
citizens, and read to them 
"sacred and moral lessons 
on saints' days and Sunday 



evenings." The " hi§h 

personage " referred to m 
this para^ph is of course 
the Pnnce, in whom 
Richard Cosway, the courtly 
miniaturist, fotmd a lavish 
patron. 

^Anticipating, on a higher 
scale, Dickens^s servant-girl 
bride, who, on stepping into 
a hackney • coach after the 
ceremony, " threw a red shawl, 
which she had, no doubt, 
brought on purpose, negligently 
over the number on the door, 
evidently to delude pedestrians 
into the belief that the 
hackney-coach was a private 
carriage " (Sketches by Box), 

* Smith's first master, John 
Keyse Sherwin, had be^ a 



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MRS. SIDDONS 
'A glorious portrait." 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 85 

By the liberality of my amiable friend» William 
Henderson, Esq.,^ I am in possession of a cast taken 
by Lochee, the modeller, from the face of this wonder- 
ful actress, which I intend leaving to that invaluable 
gallery of theatrical portraits, so extensively formed by 
that favourite ofispring of Nature, Charles Mathews,* 
Esq., at Kentish Town; but should that collection ever 
be duqiersed, which I most heartily trust it never will 
be, then I desire that it may go to the Green-room of 



pupQ of Bartolozzi. In his opening with Isabella in 
stiKlio in St. James's Street, Garrick's version of The 
he was patronised by the Fatal Marriage^ she jpla^ 
Duchesses of Devonshire and Euphrasia in The urecian 
Rutland, Lady Jersey, and Daughter. 
other ladies of rank, many of ^ William Henderson, a 
whom were eager to figure in collector, lived at No. 33 
his drawing of " The Finding Charlotte Street, Fitzroy 
of Moses, in which the Square, where he was the 
Princess Ro3ral appeared as neighbour of Constable. 
Pharaoh's daughter. He was > Mathews' collection, the 
a wonderfully skilful portrait formation of which had been 
artist : '' I have often seen the passion of his later years, 
him," says Smith, '* hepn at was not dispersed. It con- 
the toe, draw upwards, and sisted almost entirely of 
complete it at the top of the portraits, and on these he 
head in a most correct and is said to have laid out about 
masterly manner. He had £5000. For their accom- 
also an extraordinary com- modation the youn§[er 
mand over the use of both Mathews built a special 
his hands." He was an ir- gallery for his father at Ivy 
regular worker, however, and Cottage, Kentish Town, from 
debt and dissipation helped a design by Pugin. In gratify- 
to kill him at the age of ing his tastes, Mathews found 
39. that he had sacrificed his 
The sitting given to privacy to sight-seers; the 
Sherwin by Mrs. Siadons took rural cottage in which he 
place soon after her re-appear- had sought peace became a 
ance at Drury Lane Theatre, show -place. The collection 
the beginning of her real ultimately passed to the 
fame, October 10, 1782. After Garrick Club. 



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86 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

Dniry Lane Theatre. To this bequest I subscribe my 

name, 

John Thomas Smith. 

wM X XI.- J 1 X- f John Bannister. 

Witnesses to thismy declaration, 1 _ tj i x 

1783. 
One of the numerous subjects which I drew this year 
for Mr. Crowle,* was the old brick gateway entrance to 
St. Giles's churchyard, then standing opposite to Mr. 
Remnent's timber-yard, in which drawing I introduced 
the figure of old Simon, a very remarkable b^gar, who, 
together with his dog, generally took their station against 
one of the gate-piers. This man, who wore several hats, 
at the same time suffered his beard to grow, which was 
of a dirty yellow-white. Upon his fingers were numerous 
brass rings. He had several waistcoats, and as many coats, 
increasing in size, so that he was enabled by the extent of 
the uppermost garment to cover the greater part of the 
bundles, containing rags of various colours ; and distinct 
parcels with which he was girded about, consisting of 
books, canisters containing bread, cheese, and other articles 
of food ; matches, a tinder-box, and meat for his dog ; 

^Apparently Smith refers lawyer and antiquaiv, was a 

to his will, as it then existed ; member of the Dilettanti 

but, as a matter of fact, he Society, and its Secretary, 

left no will. On his death, 1774-78. He was a noted 



letters of administration were joker and boon companion, 
granted to his widow, the value and left a tangible proof of 
of his estate being only £100. his interest in art and antiquity 
The second of the two witnesses in the illustrated and inter- 
was doubtless John Pritt Har- leaved copy of Pennant's 
ley. See note, p. 321. History of London which he 
* John Charles Crowle of bequeathed to the British 
Fryston Hall, Wakefidd, Museum. He died in i8zi. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 87 

cattings of curious events from old newspapers ; scraps 
from Fox's Book of Martyrs, and three or four dog's-eared 
and greasy thumbed numbers of the GenOeman^s Magazine. 

From these and such like productions he gained a 
great part of the information with which he sometimes 
entertained those persons who stopped to look at 
him. 

When I knew him, — ^for he was one of my pensioners, — 
he and his dog lodged under a staircase in an old shattered 
building called ''Rats' Castle," in Dyot Street, men- 
tioned in NoUekens and his Times as that artist's rendez- 
vous to discover models for his Venuses. Dyot Street has 
disappeared, and George Street is built on its site.^ His 
walks extended to the entrances only of the adjacent 
streets, whither he either went to make a purchase at the 
baker's or the cook's shops. Rowlandson drew and 
etched him several times ; in one instance Simon had a 
female placed before him, which the artist called '' Simon 
and Iphigenia." There is a lai^e whole-length print of him, 
published by John Seago, with the following inscription : — 

SiuoN Edy, bom at Woodford, near Thrapston, North- 
amptonshire, in 1709 : died May 18, 1783.* 

^ Rats' Castle is described calash, at the Fan Tavern 

by Smith in his NoUekens as in Dyot Street. This street 

'* a shattered house then stand- was named after Richard Dyot, 

ing on the east side of Dyot a parishioner of St. Giles-in* 

Street, and so called from the-Fields. " The name was 

the rat-catchers and canine changed to George Street in 

soackers who inhabited it, consequence of a filthy song 

and where they cleaned the which attained wide popu- 

skins of those unfortunate larity, but the original name 

stray dogs who had suffered was restored in 1877 " 

death the preceding night." (Wheatley) 



NoUekens obtained models for * This mscription appears to 
bis Venuses from Mrs. Lobb, be incorrect. An editorial note 
an elderly lady in a green to the 1845 (second) edition 



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88 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

Respecting his last dog, for he had possessed several, 
which wicked boys had beguiled from him, or the skinneis 
of those animals had snatched up, the following anecdote 
is interesting : — ^A Smithfield drover, whose dog's left eye 
had been much injured by a bullock, solicited Simon to take 
him under his care till he got well. The mendicant cheer- 
fully consented, and forthwith, with a piece of string, 
confined him to his arm ; and when, by being more quiet, 
he had regained his health sufficiently to resume his services 
to his master, old Simon, with the most affectionate reluct- 
ance, gave him up, and was obliged to content himself with 
the pleasure of patting his sides on a market-day, when he 
followed his master's drove to the slaughter-house in Uni<ni 
Street. These tender and stolen caresses from the hand 
which had bathed his wound. Rover would rq^ularly stop to 
receive at St. Giles's porch, and then hastily run to get up 
with the bullocks. Poor Simon, after missing the dog as 
Veil as his master for some weeks, was one morning most 
agreeably surprised to see the faithful animal crouch 
behind his feet, and with an uplifted and sorrowful eye^ 
for he had entirely lost the blemished one, implore his pro- 
tection by licking his beard, as a successor to his departed 
and lamented keeper. Rover followed Simon, according 
to Dr. Gardner's idea, to " his last and best bedroom *' ; * 

of the Rainy Day points out clouted shoes, three old hats 

that this well-known beggar upon his head, and his fingers 

died April 25, 1788, and that full of brass rings. On the 

the Gentleman s Magazine following day, the Coroner's 

recorded his death thus : " In Inquest sat on his body, and 

Bridewell, where he was con- brought in their verdict, 

fined a second time as a ' Died by the visitation of 

vagrant, the man known by God.' " 

the name of Old Simon, who ^ Dr. John Gardner, a well- 

for many years has gone about known character, erected his 

this city covered with rags, tomb in the churchyard of 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



89 



or, aoomliiig to Ftmeial Weever,^ his '*bed of ease." 
Shortly before Simon's death, I related to Mrs. NoUekens 
s^eral instances of Rover's attachment. ^^ I think, Sir," 
observed that lady, ** you once told me that he had been a 
shqiheid's dog from Harrow-on-the-Hill. I don't like a 
shq>herd's dog : it has no tail,* and its coat is as rough as the 
bristles of a cocoanut. No, Sir, my little French dog is my 
pet" However, fortunately for poor Simon, the Hon. Daines 
Barrington* was present when Dr. Johnson's Peknah^ 



St Leonard's, Shoredttch, 
some years before his death, 
and inscribed it : 
Ds. John Gardner's Last 

AND Best Bedroom, 
bat fin#^ing that he was as- 
smned to be already dead, 
and that his practice as a 
wonn-doctor in Norton Folgate 
was declining, he interpolated 
the word " intended '^ thus : 
Dr. John Gardner's In- 
tended Last and Best 

Bedroom. 
A cociespondent of Noies 
ttni Queries^ Aug. 25, i860, 
wrote : '* I remembor him 
wdl; a stoat, burly man 
with a flaxen wig: he rode 
daily into London on a large 
roan-coloored horse.'* It was 
said that he was buried in 
an erect i>o5ition by his own 
wish. Gardner's tombstone is 
still carefully preserved, and 
is a cariosity of the Hackney 
Road, whence the inscription 
can be read through the church- 
yard railings. It now runs : 
1807 
Dr. John Gardner's 
Last and best Bedroom 



Who departed this life the 8th 

Of April, i83$» in his 84th year. 

Also are here Interred two of His 

Sons and Two of His Giand- 

danghters. 

1 "Funeral Weever": John 
Weever (1576-1632), poet and 
antiquary ; author of Ancient 
Funeral Monuments, 1631. 

* " I know not whether Mrs. 
Nollekens was of Lord Mon- 
boddo's opinion, that men 
originally had tails; but I 
comd have informed her that 
it has been asserted that the 
species of monkeys that have 
no tails are mare inclined to 
show tricks than those that 
have/'— (Smith.) 

*The antiouaiy, and cor- 
respondent of White of Sel- 
borne. He joined this year 
(1783) the dub founded by 
Johnson at the Essex Head 
m Essex Street, Strand. 

^ Mrs. NoUekens was Marv, 
second daughter of Ifr. 
Saunders Wekh, the poUce 
magistrate. Her fli^tiness 
and parsimony are Smith's 
endless sport in his Life of 
her husrand, and he was 
willing to bdieve that her 



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made this silly remark, for he never after passed the kind- 
hearted mendicant without giving him sixpence. There 
was an elegy printed for poor Simon, with a woodcut 
portrait of him. 

Ugly and deficient in sight and tail as Rover certainly 
was, it is also as equally unquestionable that Simon never 
had occasion to carry him to Fox Court, St. James's Street, 
for the recovery of his health, under the direction of Dr. 
Norman,^ the canine phsrsidan, so strenuously reconunended 
upon all occasions by George Keate, the poet,* and far- 



character resembled that of 
Pekuah, the favourite at- 
tendant of the princess, in 
Rassdas. Miss Hawkins says 
in her Anecdotes, that Johnson 
drew Pekuah from Mary Welch, 
and that she had this from 
Anne Welch. In any case, 
the Doctor found " Pekuah's " 
vivacity agreeable. Smith 
relates: "I have heard Mr. 
NoUekens say that the Doctor, 
when joked with about her, 
observed, * Yes, I think Mary 
would have been mine, if 
little Joe had not stepped 
in.' " 

^ "The name of Norman was 
so extensively known, that I 
consider it hardly possible for 
many of my readers to be 
ignorant of nis fame ; indeed, 
so much was he in requisition, 
that persons residing out of 
Town would frequently order 
the carriage for no other pur- 
pose than to consult Dr. 
Norman as to the state of 
Biddy's health, just as people 
of rank now consult Partmgton 



or Thompson as to the insu- 
larities of their children's 
teeth" (Smith: NoUekens). 

^Geoige Keate was a man 
of miscdlaneous tal^it. His 
best-known literary works are 
his serio-comic poem "The 
Distressed Poet " (1787), and 
his "Account of tne Pelew 
Islands from the Journal of 
Captain Henry Wilson." He 
enjoyed the friendship of 
Voltaire at Geneva, and was 
careful that the world should 
know it. In her Early Diary, 
Miss Bumey gives a good 
portrait of Keate as she met 
him "at the house of six 
old maids, all sisters, and all 
above sixtv." She found him 
a " slug^sh " conversationalist 
who amied continually at 
making himself the subject 
of discussion, "while he 
listened with the greatest non- 
chalance, reclining his person 
upon the back of his chair 
and kicking his foot now 
over, and now under, a gold- 
headed cane." 



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BENJAMIN WEST, P.K.A. 
' Sir, 1 was once a Quaker, and have never left their principles.*' 



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famed connoissear. No, poor Rover was kept in health 
by being allowed to range the streets from six tiU nine, 
the hours in which the nightly stealers of the canine race, 
and the dexterous of all dentists, were on their way to 
Austin's, at Islington,^ to dispose of their cruel depredations 
npon many a true friend to the indigent blind, ^'to whom 
the blackbird sings as sweetly as to the fairest lady in the 
land." 

1784. 
Mr. West, to whom I had sat for the head of St. John 
in his picture of the Last Supper, for the altar of St. Geoige's 
Chapel, Windsor,* frequently engaged me to bid for him at 



^ This dealer probably 
bought dog-skins. '* The dex- 
terous of all dentists" may 
be explained b]^ the following 
passage in Smith's Vagabon- 
diana (1817) : " It is scarcely to 
be believea that some few years 
ago a woman of the name 
o{ Smith regularly went over 
London early in me morning, 
to strike out the teeth of dead 
dogs that had been stolen and 
kiUbd for the sake of their 
skins. These teeth she sold 
to bookbinders, carvers, and 
gilders, as burnishing tools." 

*The Last Supper was one 
of many religious subjects 
which the Quaker artist 
painted for his uncritical 
patron, Geotge m. It was 
a transparent painting, and 
was let into the east window, 
which was structurally altered 
for its accommodation ; but it 
was long ago removed, and the 



window restored. It is a 
commonplace that . West's 
powers lagged far behind his 
ambition. " Twenty years 
after his death," says Mr. 
£. T. Cook, "some of his 
pictures, for which he had 
been paid 3000 guineas, were 
knocked down at a public 
sale for £10 ; and such of his 
pictures as had been pre- 
sented to the National Gallery 
have now been removed to 
the provinces." West's work 
for George in. is represented 
by seventeen paintings in the 
Queen Anne's Drawing-Robm 
at Hampton Court. These 
include "Haimibal Swearing 
never to make Peace with 
Rome," "The Death of 
Epaminondas," "The Death 
01 General Wolfe " (a picture 
of some value), "The Final 
Departure of Regulus from 
Rome," etc. 



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auctions, an honour also occasionally conferred on me for 
similar services by Sir Joshua Reynolds. It was during 
one of these conunissions in this year, that the late Richard 
Wyatt, Esq., of Hilton Place, Egham, Surrey, noticed me ; 
he was then starting as a collector of pictures, prints, and 
drawings.^ That gentleman kindly invited me to his house, 
and not only introduced me to his amiable family, but to his 
most intimate neighbours. He allowed me the use of a 
horse, to enable me more readily to visit the beauties of 
Windsor Park and Forest, the scenery of which so attracted 
and delighted me, that during one month's stay I made 
nearly one hundred studies. The two Sandbys were 
visitors to my patron ; and to Thomas, then Deputy 
Ranger of Windsor Great Park, a situation given to him 
by his Royal Highness William, Duke of Cumberland 
(Thomas Sandby had been engineer draughtsman to his 
Royal Highness at the battle of Culloden), I am indebted 
for my knowledge of lineal perspective. The Misses Wy^it 
were delightful persons, and much noticed at the Egham 
Balls, for one or two of which occasions I had the pleasure 
of painting butterflies on a muslin dress, and also imitating 
the " Sir Walter Raleigh," the " Pride of CuUoden," and 
other curious and rare carnations, on tifEany, for their 
bouquets, which were then scented and much worn. 

I was here introduced to Viscount Maynard, to whom 
Mr. Wyatt had been guardian. His Lordship married 
the celebrated Nancy Parsons,* and was a most spirited 

^ Richard Wyatt of Egham ' Anne, or Nancy, Parsons 

was a well-known amateur, is supposed to have been the 

and the patron of John Opie. daugnter of a Bond Street 

He mamed PrisciUa, daughter tailor. She Uved under the 

of John Edgell of Milton protection of a Mr. Horton, 

Place» and had three sons a West India merchant, with 

and four daughters. whom she went to Jamaica. 



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draugfatsinaii of a horse. Among other gentlemen, I 
was also introduced to the late Sir Richard Colt Hoare, 
Bart.,^ and the late Rev. Geoige Huddesford,* of Oxford, 
Kett*s satirist, and the witty author of poems entitled 
Saimaginndi^ dedicated to Mr. Wj^tt. Several of these 
I have often heard him most humorously sing, par- 
ticolarly those of ''the renowned Histoiy and rare 
Achievements of John Wilkes." The chorus ran 
thus: — 

" John Wilkes he was for Middlesex, 
They chose him knight of the shire ; 
And he made a fool of Alderman Bull, 
And call'd Parson Home a liar." 



On her return she lodged in 
Brewer Street, and, after liv- 
ing with Duke of Dorset and 
othets, became tiie mistress of 
the Duke of Grafton. Junius 
bitteriy says : "The name of 
Miss Persons would hardly 
have been known if the first 
Lord of the Treasurv had 
not led her in triumph mrough 
the Opera House, even in the 
presence of the Queen. When 
we see a man act in this 
raamier, we may admit the 
shameless depravity of his 
heart, but wnat are we to 
think of his understanding ? " 
Ultimately Nancy Parsons 
married Charles, second Vis- 
count Maynard. 

^Sir Richard Colt Hoare, 
second baronet (1758-1838), 
b^gan life in the family bank^ 
but, bong made independent 
of business, be married a 



daughter of William Henry, 
Lord Lyttelton, and devoted 
himself to travel, study, and 
his art collections. He com- 
pleted histories of ancient and 
modem Wiltshire, and smaller 
works, and was an excellent 
example of the wealthy anti- 
qua^. 

* George Huddesford (1740- 
1809) was an artist in early 
life, studying under Reynolds ; 
in middle life he took to 
scribbling, and showed a turn 
for satire. A collected edition 
of his works appeared in 1801, 
entitled: "The Poems of 
George Huddesford, M.A., late 
Fellow of New CoU^e, Oxford. 
Now first collected, includ- 
ing Salmagundi, Topsy-Turvy, 
Bubble and Squetdc, and 
Crambe Repetita, with cor- 
rections and original addi- 
tions." 



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** The Barber's Nuptials," which may be seen in the ElegatU 
Extracts, and ahnost eveiy other collection of fugitive 
poetry, was also written by him.^ 

Mr. Huddesford had studied under Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
and had copied many of the President's pictures with 
tolerable ability, with an intention of pursuing the arts, 
but his master-talent was more conspicuously displayed 
in compositions of fruit, in which his representations of ripe 
and melting peaches, and the rich transparent grape, were 
inimitable. The late Sir George Beaumont, Bart., with 
whom Mr. Huddesford had been extremely intimate, was 
in possession of a remarkably fine specimen by him, which 
the worthy baronet frequently allowed to be copied. 

Huddesford, after the death of Warton, chalked on the 
walls of the College — 

" The glorious sun of Trinity is set. 
And nothing left but farthing-candle Kett."* 

He published The Elements of General Knowledge, which were 
called at Oxford ^'The Elements of General Ignorance"; 
and his last work, Emily, procured him the name of Emily 



1 These verses begin — 

" In Liqnorpond-street, as is well 

known to many, 
An Artist resided who shaved for 

a penny. 
Cut hair for three-halfpence, for 

three pence he bled. 
And would draw, for a groat, 

every tooth in your head. 

What annoy'd other folks never 

spoil' d his repose, 
'Twas the same thinr to him 

whether stocks fell or rose; 
For blast and for mildew he 

car'd not a pin, 
ma crops never fail'd, for they 

grew on the chin." 



"Henry Kett (1761-1825) 
was a frequent subject of 
caricatures. The learned 

Thomas Warton's comment 
on his '' Juvenile Poems " 
was — 

" Our Kett not a poet ! 

Why, how can you say so? 
For if he's no Ovid 
I'm sure he's a Naao." 

From his long face he was 
known as "Horse" Kett, 
and, enjoying the joke, he 
would say tluit he was going 
to " trot down the 



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Kett. His supposed resemblance to a horse was the 
occasion of much academical waggery: — his letter-box 
was often filled with oats ; and when he wished to have his 
portrait taken, he was sent to the famous Stubbs,^ the horse 
paiater, who, on receiving him, and expecting to hear 
whether his commission was to be for a filly or a colt, was 
much surprised to find Kett pompously announce that he 
expected the likeness to be in full canonicals. 

Samuel Woodforde (afterwards a Royal Academician) ' 
was employed by Mr. Wyatt, in consequence of an introduc- 
tion by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Bart., to paint trees and land- 
scapes on the panels of his drawing-room, mostly from scenes 
in Windsor Park and Forest. Mr. Wyatt was one of Opie's 
early friends. He painted for that gentleman several of 
the Burrell and Hoare family ; indeed, he was instrumental 
in bringing that artist out of his humble and modest lodging 
in Orange Court, Leicester Fields,' to his house in Queen 
Street, next door to that for many years occupied by that 
comic and most exemplary child of Nature, the late Miss 
Pope,^ whose inimitable acting as Miss Allscrip, in The 



^ George Stubbs, A.R.A., 
the ^reat horse -painter of 
the eighteenth century. He 
painted sixteen race-horses, in- 
cluding Eclipse, for the Turf 
Review. His physical strength 
was such that he was said 
to have carried a dead horse 
op three fights of stairs to 
his dissecting attic. His 
"Fall of Phaeton" was popu- 
lar, and showed him capable 
of gieat things. Many of 
Stubbs's finest pictures are now 
in the possession of the King, 
the Duke of Westminster, 
Lord Rosebery, and Sir Walter 



Gilbey, who has produced an 
important work on his life and 
art. Stubbs lived for forty 
years at 24 Somerset Street, 
Fortman Square. 

* Woodforde was a dull but 
correct painter of historical 
subjects. He died at Ferrara. 

• In Horwood's map of 
London, of 1799, Orange Court 
is seen behind the King's 
Mews. 

*Miss Pope lived in Great 
Queen Street for forty years. 
Among her friends she was 
known as Mrs. Candour, from 
her playing that character. 



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Heiress, not only delighted the paUic, but was 
deservedly complimented by its author, General Bur- 
go3me, who at one time lived in Hertford Street, May 
Fair, in the house that had been inhabited by Lord 
Sandwich, and subsequently by R. B. Sheridan and Mr. 
Dent.i 

This year, Mr. Flaxman, who then lived in Wardour 
Street, introduced me to one of his early patrons, the Rev. 
Henry Mathew, of Percy Chapel, Charlotte Street, which 
was built for him ; ' he was also afternoon preacher at 
St. MartinVin-the-Fields. At that gentleman's house, in 
Rathbone Place, I became acquainted with Mrs. Mathew 
and her son, the late John Hunter's favourite pupil. 
With that gentleman, in his youthful days, I had many an 
innocent frolic. I was obliged to him in several instances, 
and can safely say no one could excel him as an amiable 
friend, a dutiful son, or excellent husband. At Mrs. 
Mathew's most agreeable conversaziones I first met the 



and from her habit of taking 
the part of any person spoken 
against in company. " I 
never heard her speak ill of 
any human being. ... I have 
sometimes been even exasper- 
ated by her benevolence/' says 
James Smith, who writes 
delightfully about her in his 
Memoirs. Churchill sang her 
praises — 

" See lively Pope advance in jig 
and trip, 
Corinna, Cnerry, Hone3rccMnbe, 
and Snip." 

The actress did not die in 
Great Queen Street, but at 
17 Michael's Place, Brompton, 
July 30, i8z8. 



1 General John Bnrgoyne 
(1722-92) took part in the 
war of Independence, and 
surrendered wim 5000 men at 
Saratoga on October 15, 1777. 
After a term as Commander- 
in-Chief in Ireland, he gave 
rein to his Uterary tastes, 
and wrote, among other pla^i 
his ddightfol comedv, The 
Heiress. He died at No, 10 
Hertford Street, August 4, 

•It stood m Charlotte Street, 
looking east alonR Windmill 
Street. Robert Montgomery, 
of " Satan " memory, became 
minister of this chapel in 
1843. 



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late William Blake,^ the artist, to whom she and Mr. 
Flaxman had been truly kind. There I have often heard 
him read and sing several of his poems. He was listened 
to by the company with profomid silence, and allowed 
by most of the visitors to possess original and extraordinary 
merit. A time will come when the numerous, though now 
very rare, works of Blake (in consequence of his taking 
very few impressions from the plates before they were 
nibbed out to enable him to use them for other subjects) 
will be sought after with the most intense avidity.* He 
was considered by Stothard and Flaxman (and will be by 



^ Krs. Mathew, wife of the 
Rev. Henry Mathew, of Percy 
Chapel, was famous for her 
assemblies at her house, No. 27 
Rathbone Place, and her en- 
couragement of artists. Here 
were seen Mrs. Barbauld, Mrs. 
Cbapone, Mrs. Carter, the 
trai^tor of Epictetus, and 
Mrs. Edward Montagu. Mrs. 
Mathew "was so extremely 
zealous in promoting the 
celebrity of Blake, that, upon 
hearing him read some of his 
early efforts in poetry, she 
thought so well of them as 
to request the Rev. Henry 
Mathew, her husband, to join 
Mr. Flaxman in his truly kind 
effort in defraying the expense 
of printing them" (Smith: 
NoUekms). Mr. Mathew con- 
sented, and wrote the " ad- 
vertisement" for the volume, 
which was entitled PoeHcal 
Sketches, by W. B., and bore 
the date 1783. Not a few of 
the old houses in Rathbone 
Place remain, with their ground 



floors turned into shops. In 
these or similar houses lived 
Nathaniel Hone, R.A., who 
died here in 1784; Ozias 
Humphry, R.A., at No. 29; 
E. H. Bailey, the sculptor; 
and Peter de Wint. 

> Smith's prediction was 
strikin£^ly borne out at the 
sale of the Earl of Crewe's 
collection of the produc- 
tions of Blake, held at 
Sotheby's rooms March 30, 
1903. The lUusiraiions of 
the Book of Job, containing 
twenty - two engravings, 
twenty-one original designs 
in colours, and a portrait 
of Blake by himself, was 
keenly contested. Bidding 
be^an at £1500, and ended at 
/5000, at which price the 
Job passed to Mr. Quaritch. 
Blake's original inventions 
for Milton^s " L' Allegro " 
and " n Penseroso " brought 
£1960, and all the remaimn^ 
sixteen lots fetched high 
prices. 



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those of congenial minds, if we can reasonably expect such 
again) with the highest admiration. These artists allowed 
him their most imquaMed praise, and were ever anxious 
to recommend him and his productions to the patrons 
of the Arts ; but alas ! they were not so sufficiently 
appreciated as to enable Blake, as every one could wish, 
to provide an independence for his surviving partner Kate, 
who adored his memory. The late Sir Thomas Lawrence 
has been heard to declare that England would be for ever 
immortalized by the productions of Sir Joshua Reynolds, 
Flaxman, and Stothard. 

Mrs. Mathew was not only a great encourager of musical 
composers, particularly the Italians, but truly kind to 
young artists. She patronized Oram, Loutherbourg's 
assistant : he was the son of Old Oram, of the Board of 
Works, an artist whose topographical pictures possess 
considerable merit, and whose name is usually introduced 
in picture catalogues under the appellation of " Old Oram.'* ^ 

Mr. Flaxman, in return for the favours he had received 
from the Mathew family, decorated the back parlour of their 
house, which was their library, with models (I think they 
were in putty and sand) of figures in niches, in the Gothic 
manner; and Oram painted the window in imitation of 
stained glass ; the bookcases, tables, and chairs were also 
ornamented to accord with the appearance of those of 
antiquity. 

Rathbone Place, at this time, entirely consisted of 
private houses, and its inhabitants were all of high respect- 

1 Edward Oram, son of Old " Old " WilUam Oram, " of the 

Oram, assisted Philip James Board of Works," was Surveyor 

De Loutherbourg, R.A., in to that body. He was much 

the management of the Drury employed in panel decoration. 
Lane scenery and stage effects. 



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ability. I have heard llrs. Mathew say that the three rebel 
lords, Lovat, Kihnaniock» and Balmerino, had at different 
times resided in it ; and that she had also been informed 
that the floor of her parloms, which is now some steps 
above the street, was even with the floor of the recess wider 
the front pediment of St. Paul's Cathedral. 

1785- 
Many a sunmer's evening, when I have been enjosring 
Ronnymede, and its far surromiding variegated meadows, 
from the wooden seat of Cooper's Hill (upon which were 
engraven numerous initials of lovers, and the dates of their 
eternal vows),littledid I think that in my future da)^ it would 
be in my power to state that I had made drawings of most 
of the parish churches as well as family mansions which 
were then in view, for the topographical collections of the 
Duke of Roxborough, Lord Leicester, the Hon. Horace 
Walpole, Mr. Bull, Mr. Storer, Dr. Lort, Mr. Haughton 
James, Mr. Crowle, and Sir James Winter Lake, Bart.^ 
Several of these, which have since been distributed, I now 



^ John Ker, third Duke of 
Roxburgh, the book collector. 
—Sir John Fleming Leicester, 
first Baron de Tabley (1762- 
1827), ^"^^ ^ patron of artists, 
and a good draughtsman. The 
public were freely admitted 
to his collection of British 
pictures at his house at 24 Hill 
Street, Berkeley Square. — ^Mr. 
Richard Bull was a well-known 
figure at the print sales and a 
subscriber to Smith's pubUca- 
tioos. — ^Anthony Morris Storer, 
an ardent collector and 
" Gnui^eriser," extra - illus - 
trated Grainger's Biographical 



History of England, and left 
the work to Eton College. A 
rather candid sketch of Storer 
is drawn by Rev. J. Richardson 
in his entertaimng Recollect 
lions of ihe Lasl Half Cenlury. 
— ^A note on Dr. Lort wiU 
be found elsewhere. — Mr. 
Haughton James, F.R.S., was 
bom in Jamaica; he became 
a memb^ of the Dilettanti 
Society in 1763. — ^Mr. Charles 
John Crowle and Sir James 
Winter Lake, Bart., so 
frequently mentioned by 
Smith, are the subjects of other 
notes. 



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and then meet with in the portfolios of more modern 
illustrators, and they bring to my recollection some truly 
pleasing periods. It was in the old house at Ankerwycke 
that I was introduced by Lady Lake to Lady Shouldham. 
It was at Old Windsor that I dined with Mrs. Vassal, and 
at Staines Bridge with the beautiful Bliss Towry, since Lady 
EUenborough. It was at Chertsey I was first introduced 
to Mr. Douglas, Colonel St. Paul, and those truly kind- 
hearted characters, Mr. Fox and Mrs. Chamberlain Clark. 
At Staines I was benefited by the skill of Dr. Pope ; — at 
Harrow made known to Dr. Drury ; — at Southgate to Alder- 
man Curtis ; — ^at Trent Park to Mr. Wigston ; — at Forty 
Hill, Enfield, to the antiquary Gough ; — ^at Bull's Cross to 
the facetious Captain Horsley, brother to the Bishop of 
Rochester, and the Boddams ; — ^at the '' Firs," Edmonton, 
to my ever-to-be-revered friend the late Sir James Winter 
Lake, Bart. ; — ^at Weir Hall to the benevolent and highly 
esteemed Mr. Robert Jones, Mr. Webster and his friendly 
son ; — ^at Bruce Castle to Mr. Townsend ; — ^at Tottenham 
to Mr. John Snell, and to Mr. Samuel Salt. This gentleman 
informed me that he was one of the four who buried Sterne.^ 



^ In this list of Smith's 
patrons the foUovdng are of 
interest :— The " beautiful Miss 
Towry" was Anne, daughter 
of daptain George Phillips 
Towry, R.N., commissioner of 
victuaQing, who became the 
wife of Lord EUenborough, 
afterwards Lord Chief Justice 
of 'England, Oct. 17, 1782. 
Her beauty was so great that 
passers-by would linger to 
watch her watering the flowers 
on the balcony of their house 
in Bloomsbury Square. Lady 



EUenborough bore thirteen 
cluldren, and, surviving her 
husband many years, died in 
Stratford Place, Oxford Street, 
Aug. 16, 1843, aged 74. Her 
portrait was painted by 
Reynolds. 

Mr. Douglas was James 
Douglas, author of Nenia 
Bfitannica, a Sepulchral His- 
tary of Greai Britain. As a 
youth he helped Sir A^ton 
Lever to stun birds for his 
museum. His abilities in 
painting were considerable. 



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Of the friendly inhabitants of these houses, and many others 
to whom I had the pleasure of being known, within the 
extensive view from Cooper's HiU, very few are now 
living. 

During the Races on Rimn}miede, I have often seen 
their late Majesties George the Third and Queen Charlotte 
driving about in an open four-wheeled chaise, en]03ang the 
pleasures of the course on equal terms with the visitors. 
I remember to have been spoken to three times by his 
Majesty; once on a very foggy morning at a stile near 
Clewer, when I stepped back to give a gentleman, who had 
nearly approached it in the adjoining field, the preference 



and we owe to him a full- afterwards occupied by Row- 
length portraitof Captain Grose, land HiU, who brought hither 
His Travelling Anecdotes is an his school, disciplined on the 
interesting b<x>k. " Hazlewood " svstem, before 

By Mr. Chamberlain he became a public man and 

Clark " Smith means Mr. the founder of penny postage. 
Richard Clark, but he ante- The Mr. Samuel Salt, 

dates his title of City Chamber- whose name comes last * in 

lain, to which i)ost he was Smith's list of his patrons, 

ai>pointed only in 1798 ; he is no other than Charles 

held it until 1831, and was Lamb's Samuel Salt of the 

Lord Mayor in 1784. Inner Temple. " July 27. 

Dr. Joseph Drury was Head- At his chambers in Crown 

master of Harrow for twenty Office Row, Inner Temple, 

years, 1785-1805. He wiU Samuel Salt, Esq., one of 

always be remembered as Lord the benchers of that hon. 

Byron's headmaster. society, and a governor of 

John Wigston figures in the South Sea Company" 

Smith's notes under the year {Gentleman* s Magazine, July 

1796 as a patron of Morland. 1792). — ^Lawrence Sterne, at 

Information concerning Cap- whose burial he assisted, 

tain Horsley and the Boddams was laid in the St. George's 

wiU be found in Robinson's (Hanover Square) burial- 

Hisiary of Enfield. ground, facing Hyde Park, 

Mr. Henry Hare Townsend March 22, 1788. Sterne's 

was the owner of Bruce Castle, grave is well kept, 
which he sold in 1792 ; it was 



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102 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

of coining over first ; but upon his sasong, '" Come over, 
come over," I knew the voice to be the King's, consequently 
I took off my hat, and obeyed. His Majesty observed in 
his quick manner, when getting over, " A thick fog, thick 
fog." Another time, when I was drawing an old oak in 
Windsor Park, the King and Queen drove very near me in 
their chaise, and one of his Majesty's horses shied at my 
paper ; upon which the King called out to me, " Shut your 
book, sir, shut your book I " 

The last time I was noticed by the King, I must say his 
Majesty appeared to be a little startled, as well he nught. 
It was under the following circumstances. Wishing to make 
a drawing of one of the original stalls in St. George's Chapel, 
Windsor, before they were finally taken down, a shilling 
prevailed upon one of the workmen to lock me in during 
his dinner-hour. However, it so happened that his Majesty, 
who frequently let himself into the Chapel at that time to 
look at the progress of the works, did not perceive me, as 
I stood in a comer, but on his return from the altar, he 
asked, ^' Who are you, sir ? Oh ! you startled my horse 
in the park the other day. What are you about ? " I then 
held up my drawing ; and his Majesty, who must have 
noticed my embarrassment, did me the honour to say, 
" Very correct ; I believe you are at Mr. Wyatt's, — a very 
good man ; — ^I have a high regard for him and all his 
family." 

During the time I was stud3ang the scenery of Windsor 
Park, Mr. Thomas Sandby, who was busily engaged in 
placing the numerous stones to form the representation 
of rocks and caverns at the head of the Virginia Water, 
in Windsor Park, frequently dug for stones in Bagshot 
Heath. Fortunately he discovered one of an immense 
size, which he thought would afford him a massive breadth 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 103 

in his composition, but it was so large he was under the 
necessity of breaking it with gunpowder ; however, for- 
tune favoured his design by blowing it into two nearly 
equal parts, so that he was enabled to join them on their 
destined spot to great advantage as to general effect. 
This was Mr. Thomas Sandby's second attempt at the 
water-head ; ^ he had in the first instance failed by using 
only sand and clay, for which failure that worthy man 
was not only nicknamed ^' Tommy Sandbank,'' but 
roughly scourged by the thong of Huddesford, who 
composed a song upon the occasion, from which I have 
selected the following verses : — 

I. 

When Tom was employ'd to construct the Pond Head, 
As he ponder'd the task, to himself thus he said : 
** Since a head I must make, what's a head but a noddle ? 
So I think I had best take my own for a model." 

Deny down, etc. 
2. 

Then his work our projector began out of hand. 
The outside he constructed with rubbish and sand ; 
But brains on this head had been quite thrown away. 
Those he kept for himself, so he lined it with day. 



^The formation of Virginia of the Virginia Water occupied 

Water was carried out at the him for several yeais^ but 

instance of the Duke of Cum- it was completed long before 

beriand, as Ranger of Windsor the birth of Smith. The 

Forest. Thomas Sandby, works were entirely destroyed 

his Deputy Ranger, lived m by a storm in September 1768, 

the Lonrer Lodge, where he and Smith witnessed in this 

was soon joined by his brother year, 1785, only the finishing 

Paul, the eminent water- touches to the then recon- 

odourist. The construction structing lake. 



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104 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



But the water at length, to his utter dismay, 
A bankruptcy made, and his head ran away ; — 
'Twas a thick head for certain ; but, had it been thicker. 
No head can endure that is always in liquor. 

12. 

Hence, by way of a Moral, the fallacy's shown 
Of the maxim that two heads are better than one ; — 
For none e'er was so scurvily dealt with before, 
By the head that he made and the head that he wore. 

Deny down, etc. 

For many years the back parlour of the " Feathers " ^ 
public-house (a sign complimentary to its neighbour, 
Frederick, Prince of Wales, who inhabited Leicester 
House), which stood on the side of Leicester Fields, had 
been frequented by artists, and several well-known 
amateurs. Among the former were Stuart,* the Athenian 
traveller ; Scott,' the marine paiiiter ; old Oram, of the 



^ In 1796, the Feathers 
Tavern, on the east side of 
the square, made way for 
Charles Dibdin's '* Sans Souci " 
theatre, in which he gave a 
single - handed entertainment. 
Here he produced his song, 
'* My Name d'ye see's Tom 
Tough." 

*The wealthy and talented 
" Athenian " Stuart (1713- 
88) had his sobriquet from 
his journey to Athens, and 
his account of Greek archi- 
tecture embodied in The An- 
tiquities of Athens Measured 



and Delineated, compiled by 
himself and his fellow-traveller, 
Nicholas Revett, and com- 
pleted by Newton and 
Reveley. Hogarth satirised 
Stuart's first volmne (1762) 
in his print, " The Five 
Order of Perriwigs as they 
were worn at the Late 
Coronation, measured Archi- 
tectonically." 

' Samud Scott, whose paint- 
ings, "Old London Bridge," 
" Old Westminster Bridge,"and 
a *' View of Westminster," are 
in the National Gallery, was 



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FRANCIS GROSE 
* A chiel's amani; ye takin* notes." 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 105 



Board of Works ;^ Luke Sullivan,* the miniature painter, 
who engraved that inimitable print from Hogarth's picture 
of the '' March to Finchley/' now in the Foundling Hospital ; 
Captain Grose,' the author of Antiquities of England^ 
History of Armour ^^ etc. ; Mr, Heame,* the elegant and 
correct draughtsman of many of England's Antiquities 
(so beautifully engraved by his amiable friend Byrne), 
Nathaniel Smith, my father, etc. The amateurs were 
Henderson, the actor ; Mr. MorriSi a silversmith ; Mr. 
John Ireland, then a watchmaker in Maiden Lane, and 
since editor of Boydell's edition of Dr. Trusler's work. 



one of Hogarth's companions 
in the famous "Tour/' described 
in Gosthng's verses. 

"Sam Scott and Hogarth, for 
their share. 
The proepecta of the sea and 
land did." 

Scott's portrait by Hudson is 
in the National Gallery. 
^ See note, p. 98. 

* Luke Suuivan engraved 
several of Hogarth's works, 
and among them his '' Paul 
before Felix " (now in Lincohi's 
Inn), to which he sat as model 
for the angd. He was a 
handsome, dissipated Irish- 
man, and lodged at the " White 
Bear" in Piccadilly. His 
etching of the "March to 
Finchley" is superb. Ireland 
says tHat Hogarth had diffi- 
culty in keeping him at work 
on this plate. Sullivan was 
destroyed by his habits, and 
died prematurely. 

• Francis Grose (1731 - 
01), the famous antiquary, 
humorist, and spendthrift, 



who is inmiortalised by 
Bums — 

"A chield's amangyoa takin' notes. 
And. faith, he'U prent it." 

* Valuable as this book cer- 
tainly was for a number of 
vears, it is now superseded 
by the elaborate work pro- 
duced by Dr. Meyrick \A 
Critical inquiry into Ancient 
Armour, by Sir Samud Rush 
Meyrick, 1024], an inestimable 
ana complete treasure to the 
historian, the artist, and the 
stage. — ^S. 

* Thomas Heame (1744- 
1817) belonged to that group 
of artists whose tinted topo- 
graphical drawings initiated 
water-colour. He died in Mac- 
clesfield Street, Soho, April 
13, 1817, and was buried in 
Bushey churchyard by Dr. 
Monro, Turner's *' good 
doctor" of the Adelphi, who 
used to set Turner and Girtin to 
make drawings for him in the 
Adelphi at the price of " half a 
crown apiece and a supper." 



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106 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

Hogarth Moralized ; and Mr. Baker, of St. Paul's Church- 
yard, whose collection of Bartolozzi's works was unequalled.^ 
When this house, the sign of the " Feathers/' was taken 
down to make way for Dibdin's Theatre, called the 
^' Sans Souci," several of its frequenters adjourned to the 
*^ Coach and Horses " public-house in Castle Street, Leicester 
Fields ; but in consequence of their not proving customers 
sufficiently expensive for that establishment, the land- 
lord one evening venturing to light them out with a 
farthing candle, they betook themselves to Gerard Street, 
and thence to the "Blue Posts" in Dean Street, where 
the club dwindled into two or three members, viz. Edridge, 
the portrait draughtsman ; Alexander, of the British 
Museum ; and Edmunds, the upholsterer, who had been 
undertaker to the greater part of the dub.* 

Mr. Baker, the gentleman before mentioned, being 
a single man, and sometimes keeping rather late hours, 
was now and then accompanied by a friend half way 
home, by way of a walk. It was on one of these nights, 
that, just as he and I were approaching Temple Bar, 
about one o'clock, a most unaccountable appearance 



^See note on Mr. Baker, 
p. 115. 

* Henry Edridge, A.R,A. 
(1769-1821), was bom in Pad- 
dington, established himself as 
a portrait painter in Dufour's 
Place, Golden Square, ia 1789, 
and died in Margaret Street, 
Cavendish Sauare. He was 
the fnend ana pupil of Thomas 
Heame, and, like him, was 
buried ia Bushey churchyard 
by the benevolent Dr. Monro. 
Tne British Museum Print 
Room has pencil portraits by 



Edridge, and three of his 
sketch-books. — William Alex- 
ander (1761-1816) preceded 
Smith as Keeper of the Prints 
and Drawings in the British 
Museum. He was a skilful 
water-colourist, and the Print 
Room has his origpal sketches 
for the illustrations in the 
officially published Andeni 
Terra - coUas and Ancient 
Marbles, dealing with the 
Museum collections. — Ed- 
munds was an upholsterer in 
Compton Street, Soho. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 107 

claimed our attention, — ^it was no less an object than 
an elephant, whose keepers were coaxing it to pass through 
the gateway. He had been accompanied by several 
persons from the Tower Wharf with tall poles, but was 
principally guided by two men with ropes, each walking 
on either side of the street, to keep him as much as pos- 
^ble in the middle on his way to the menagerie, Exeter 
Change ; to which destination, after passing St. Clement's 
Church, he steadily trudged on with strict obedience 
to the commands of his keepers. I had the honour 
afterwards of partaking of a pot of Barclay's Entire with 
this same elephant, which high mark of his condescension 
was bestowed when I accompanied my friend the late 
Sir James Winter Lake, Bart., to view the rare animals 
in Exeter Change — that gentleman being assured by 
the elephant's keeper that if he would offer the beast a 
shilling, he would see the noble animal nod his head and 
drink a pot of porter. The elephant no sooner had taken 
the shilling, which he did in the mildest manner from 
the palm of Sir James's hand, than he gave it to the keeper, 
and eagerly watched his return with the beer. The 
elephant then, after placing his proboscis to the top of 
the tankard, drew up nearly the whole of the then good 
beverage. The keeper observed, "You will hardly be- 
Heve, gentlemen, but the Uttle he has left is quite warm ; " 
upon this we were tempted to taste it, and it really was 
so. This animal was afterwards disposed of for the sum 
of one thousand guineas.^ 

^The elephant was Chunee, and Mr. Baker could have 

the " Jumbo " of the Georgian seen Chunee coming from the 

era. Smith writes of his docks. This famous elephant 

arrival under 1785, but it stood deven feet in height, 

was not until 1809 that he and was the attraction at Mr. 



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108 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



1786. 

Possibly the present frequenters of print sales may 
receive some little entertainment from a description of 
a few of the most singular of those who constantly at- 
tended the auctions during my bo}dsh days. The elder 
Langford* of Covent Garden, introduced by Foote as 
Mr. Puffy in his farce of The Minor ^^ I well remember; 
yet by reason of my being obliged to attend more regularly 
the subsequent evening sales at Paterson's and Hutchins's 
— next-door-neighbour auctioneers, on the north side 
of King Street, Covent Garden,* I am better enabled 



Cross's menagerie until March 
1826, when his death was 
ordered. Chunee's carcass 
was valued at £1000. Lord 
Byron must have seen Chunee 
when he ''saw the tigers 
sup" in i8i3» and Thomas 
Hood's lament on his death 
is well known. Exeter Change, 
which stood at the Strand 
end of Burleigh Street, did 
not lon^ survive its elephant : 
in April 1829 ^^ ^^^^ ^^^ 
out of existence by George 
Robins. 

^Abraham Langford (1711- 
74), the most fashionable 
auctioneer of his day, had 
his rooms in the Piazza, 
Covent Garden. He was 
buried in St. Pancras church- 
yard, and identical laudatory 
verses were cut on both sides 
of his tombstone — 

" His spring was such as should 
have Deen, 
Adroit and gay, unvexed by Care 
or Spleen, 



His Summer's manhood, open. 

fresh, and fair, 
His Virtue strict, his manners 

debonair," etc. 

Foote satirised Langford in 
The Minor as Smirke (not 
Puff) the auctioneer, wbo 
raises a Guido from " forty- 
five" to "sixty-three ten" 
by declaring that " it only 
wants a touch from the torch 
of Prometheus to start from 
the canvas." 

* Samuel Paterson (1728- 
1802), orimially a stay-maker, 
became a bookseller, and about 
X753 opened auction rooms 
in what remained of Essex 
House, which stood much on 
the site of Devereux Court, 
Essex Street. He afterwards 
removed to Covent Garden. 
He would have succeeded 
better in business had he 
been less fond of reading the 
books he sold. He was the 
first auctioneer who sold books 
in lots. — HasseU Hutchins, 



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COVENT GARDEN THROUGH HOGARTH'S EYES 
" The first square inhabited by the great." 

7. T. Smith 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 109 



to speak to the peculiarities of their visitors than those 
of Mr. Langford. 

It was in 1783, during the sales of the extensive col- 
lection of Mr. Moser, the first keeper of the Ro}^ Academy,^ 
and Mr. MiUan, bookseller at Charing Cross,* that I noticed 
the following remarkable characters. I shall, however, 
first endeavour to describe the person of Paterson, a man 
much respected by all who really knew him ; but perhaps 
by none with more sincerity than Doctor Johnson, who 
had honoured him by standing godfather to his son 
Samuel, and whom he continued to notice as he grew 
up with the most affectionate regard, as appears in the 
letters which the doctor wrote in his favour to his friends 
Sir Joshua Reynolds and Mr. Humphrey, printed by 
Boswell.' Mr. Paterson was in height about five feet 



the auctioneer of Kin^ Street, 
Covent Garden, died m 1795. 
^ It was Geoige Michael 
Moser (1704-83) who made 
the historic interruption : 
"Stay, stay, Toctor Shonson 
is going to say something." 
Bom at SchafDiausen, he rose 
from cabiaet-maldng (in Soho) 
and the chasing of watch- 
cases and cane heads, to be 
the First Keeper of the Royal 
Academy. oir Joshua Rey- 
nolds pronounced him the first 
Sdd-cnaser in the kingdom, 
e eoamdled trinkets for 
watches with so much skiU 
as to set a fashion, and it was 
said that George 11. once 
(vdered him a hat full of 
money for some of his works. 
Moser Uved in Craven Build- 
ings, which have lately been 
demolished to make way for 



Aldwych and Kingsway. He 
died, however, in his official 
keeper's residence at Somerset 
House. 

* John Millan had a book- 
shop at Charing Cross for 
more than fifty years. Richard 
Gough, the antiquary, fre- 
quented Millan's s^op, which 
he describes as "encrusted 
with Literature and Curiosities 
like so many stalactitical exu- 
dations." Behind sat " the 
deity of the place, at the head 
of a Whist party." 

'Johnsons letter to Sir 
Joshua Reynolds on behalf of 

foung Paterson was dated 
une 2, 1783 ; his three letters 
to Ozias Humphrey, April 5, 
April 10, and May 31, 1784. 
He asks Humphrey to allow 
the boy to frequent his studio 
and see turn paint. The 



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no A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

eight inches, and stooped a little in the shoulders. When 
I first knew him, he was a spare man, and wore a powdered 
clubwig, similar to that worn by Tom Davies, the book- 
seller and biographer of Garrick, of whom there is an 
engraved portrait. Paterson was really a walking hbraiy, 
and of manners precisely coinciding with the old school. 
I remember that by a slight impediment in his speech, 
he always pronounced the letter R as a V ; for instance. 
Dart's History of Cantcrbevy, and a dromedary, he pro- 
nounced a dwommedafy; notwithstanding this defect, 
he publicly lectured on the beauties of Shakspeare. 

Mr. Gough,^ the Editor of Camden's Britannia, was the 
constant frequenter of his book-sales. This antiquary was 
about the same height as the auctioneer, but in a wig very 
di£Eerent, as he wore, when I knew him, a short shining 

Doctor had chosen good pied him seven years, and 

teachers for the youth, nis investigations led him all 

" Humphrey's miniatures, over the country. It is said 

before those of any other, that during the seven years 

remind us of the excellences in which he was translating 

andgracesof Reynolds" (Red- it he remaiaed so accessible 

^ve : A Century of Painters, to his family at Enfidd, that 

1. 421). Humplurey had him- no member of it was aware 

self been greatly encouraged in of his undertaking. He was 

his youth by Reynolds, who esteemed by Horace Walpole, 

said to him : " Bom in my who, however, often made a 

country, and your mother a j<^t of his antiquary mind, 

lace-maker ! — ^why, Vandyck's Thus : " Gough, speaking of 

mother was a maker of lace," some Cross that has been 

and he lent him some of lus renowned, says ' there is now 

pictures to copy. an unmeaning market-house in 

1 Richard Gough (1735- its place.' Saving his reverence 

1809), the antiquary whose and our prejudices, I doubt 

British Topography, Sepulchral there is a good deal more 

Monuments, translation of meaning in a market-house 

Camden's Britannia, and other than in a cross " (Letter to 

works, are in every great Rev. W. Cole, Nov. 24, 1780). 
library. The Britannia occu- 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY HI 

curled one. His coat was of ** formal cut/' but he had no 
round beUy; and his waistcoat and smallclothes were 
from the same piece. He was mostly in boots, and carried 
a swish-whip when he walked. His temper I know was not 
good, and he seldom forgave those persons who dared to bid 
stoutly against him for a lot at an auction : his eyes, which 
were small and of the winky-pinky sort, fully announced 
the fretful being. As for his judgment in works of art, 
if he had any it availed him little, being as much satisfied 
with the dry and monotonous manner of Old Basire,^ as 
our late President West was with the beautiful style of 
WooUett and Hall. 

Dr. Lort,* the constant correspondent of Old Cole,' 



^ There were four Basires 
in direct succession. Smith 
refers to the second in the line, 

James Basire (1730-1802), the 
lustrator of vdusta Monu- 
menia. He compares him 
un&vourably with William 
WooUett (1735^5) and John 
Hall (1730-97), but it is not 
dear tiiat West despised Basire, 
who, indeed, engraved his 
Pylades and OresUs. 

*Dr. Lort was Librarian, 
not Chaplain, to the Duke of 
Devonshire. He moved in the 
Johnson set For nineteen 
years he held the Rectory of 
St. Matthew's, Friday Stieet, 
in which church (now de- 
molished) there was a tablet 
to his memory. He died at 
6 Savile Row, Nov. 5, 1790, 
after a carriage accident at 
Colchestor. A water-colour 
portrait of him, by Sylvester 
Harding, is in the British 



Museum Print Room. In 
her diary Madam D'Arblay 
gives an entertaining picture 
of Dr. Lort as he appeared in 
the Thrale circle at btreatham, 
where on one occasion he 
talked against Dr. Johnson 
to his face without, it seems, 
any tragic results. " His 
manners, she says, " are some- 
what blunt and odd, and he is 
alt(^ether out of the common 
roadC without having chosen a 
better path." 

« OW Cole, U. William Cole 
(1714-1782), was pronounced 
by Horace Walpole an " oracle 
in any antique difficulties." 
The two travelled France to- 
gether. Cole, who for many 
vears was in Holy Orders, 
had filled forty folio volumes 
with notes on Cambridgeshire, 
concerning which he wrote to 
Walpole : " They are my only 
delight — they are my wife ana 



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112 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

was a man of his own stamp, broad and bony, in height 
nearly six feet, of manners equally morose, and in every 
respect just as forbidding. His wig was a large Busby, 
and usually of a brown appearance, for want of a dust of 
powder. He was chaplain to the Duke of Devonshire; 
and as he wore thick worsted stockings, and walked any- 
how through the mud, considered himself in no way obliged 
to give the street-sweepers a farthing. He had some wit, 
however, but it was often displayed in a cowardly manner, 
being mostly directed towards his little opponent, Doctor 
Gossett,^ who was unfortunately much afflicted by de- 
formity, and of a temper easily roused by too frequent a 
repetition of threepenny biddings at Paterson's. Paterson 
sold his books singly, and took threepence at a bidding. 

Hutchins was about five feet nine inches, but in appear- 
ance much shorter by reason of his corpulency. His high 
forehead, when compared with a perpendicular, was at an 
angle of forty-five. He was what Spiu'zheim would call a 
simple honest man : his wife was of the same build, but most 
powerfully possessed the organ of inquisitiveness, which 
induced her to be a constant occupant of a pretty large and 
easy chair, by the side of the fire in the auction-room, in 
order that she might see how business was going on. Mr. 

children." He earned such bibliophile was Gossett, that an 
nicknames as Old Cole, Cole illness which kept him from 
of Milton (where he lived), and the sale of the Pinelli collection 
Cardinal Cole (from his leanings vanished when he was given 
to Romanism). Cole's " wife permission to inspect one of 
and children " are now in the the volumes of the first Corn- 
British Museum MSS. Depart- plutensian Polyglot Bible of 
ment. Cardinal Ximenes, on vdlum, 
^ The Rev. Dr. Isaac Gossett and in the original binding, 
was proud of his long series Dr. Gossett died in Newman 
of pnced catalogues. Every Street, December i6, 1812, 
booKseller knew his fad for and was buried in Old Maryle- 
milk-white vellum. So keen a bone cemetery. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



113 



and Mrs. Hutchins appeared so affectionately mutual in 
all their public conclusions, that Caleb Whitefoord, the 
witty wine-merchant| one of the print-sale visitors, at- 
tempted to flourish off the following observation as one 
of his invention : " You see," said he to Captain BaiUie, 
*' Cocker is not alwaj^ correct ; one and one do not in this 
instance make tero." ^ 

Caleb Whitefoord* was what is usually called a slight- 



^ Edward Cocker (1631- 
7 ?), writing master and 
arithmetidan, is referred to 
in the phrase " according to 
Cocker.'^ The Didionary of 
National Biography rives 1675 
as the date of nis death, but 
Mr. Wheatley (London Past and 
Present) quotes the Register 
of Burials at St. George the 
Martyr's, Southwark: "Mr. 
Edward Cocker, Writing Mr. 
Aug. 26, 1676." 

' The wine and wit of Caleb 
Whitefoord (1734-1810) were 
both Rood. Smith reports 



Mrs. Nollekens as saying : My 
dear Mrs. Pardice, you may 
safdy take a ^lass of it, for 
it is the last of twelve which 
Mr. Caleb Whitefoord sent us 
as a present ; and everybody 
who talks about wine should 
know his house has ever been 
famous for daret/' Smith, who 
of ten acidulates his ink, sug- 
gests that Whitefoord's little 
presents and constant attend- 
ance on the NoUekens' house- 
hold showed the covetous col- 
lector rather than the kin<Uy 
man. Burke, who thought 
meanly of Whitefoord's ser- 
8 



vices as secretary of the 
Commission for concludinfi| 
peace with America, described 
him as a "diseur de bons 
mots." Goldsmith mourns 
his wasted abilities in his 
" Retaliation "— 

" Here Whitefoord reclines, deny 

it who can ; 
Tho' he merrily Uved, he is now 

a grave man. 
What pity, alas ! that so lib'ral 

a mind 
Should so long be to Newspaper 

Essays confin'd 1 

Whose talents to fit any station 

were fit, 
Yet happy if Woodfall confessed 

him a wit." 

Whitefoord's Cross Readings of 
the newspapers — a form of 
humour that has been revived 
somewhat recently — delighted 
the town in 1766; Gold^ith 
envied him the idea, and 
Johnson praised his pseudonym 
— '* Papyrius Cursor." The 
following are specimens of these 
Cross Readings : — 

" Yesterday Dr. Pretyman preached 
at St. James's— 



And performed it with 

less than sixteen minntes*' 



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114 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

built man, and much addicted when in conversation to 
shrug up his shoulders. He had a thin face, with little eyes ; 
his deportment was gentlemanly, though perhaps sometimes 
too high for his situation in life. His dress, upon which he 
bestowed great attention, was in some instances singular, 
particularly in his hat and wig, which were remarkable 
as being solitary specimens of the Ganick School. He 
considered himself a first^ate judge of pictures, always 
preferring those by the old fttasters, but which he en- 
deavoured to improve by touching up ; and when in this 
conceited employment, I have frequently seen him fall back 
in his chair, and turn his head from one shoulder to the 
other, with as much admiration of what he had done, as 
Hogarth's sign-painter of the Barley-mow in his inimitable 
print of Beer Street. 

Captain William BaOlie ^ was also an amateur in art ; 



" Several changes are talked of at 
Court- 
Consisting of 9050 triple bob- 
majors." 

** Sunday night many noble families 
were alarmea — 
By the constable of the watch» 
who apprehended them at 
cards.''^ 

The wealthy wine -merchant 
and art lover lived to be the 
patron in David Wilkie's 
painting, " The Letter of Intro- 
duction." He died in Argyll 
Street, and was buried in me 
churchyard of St, Mary's, 
Paddington, where lie Nolle- 
kens Mrs. Siddons, Haydon, 
and many others of note. 

^Captain William Baillie's 
copies of Rembrandt's etch- 
ings are still bought — by the 



simple — in the print-shops. 
The captain quitted the lolh 
Lij^ht Dragoons in 1761, and 
joined the Covent Garden 
Colonv of artists. He knew 
everybody. Hemy Angdo 
heard him say that for more 
than half a century he had 
passed his mornings in going 
from one apartment to an- 
other over the Piazza. His 
works, which have now little 
value, were issued by Boydell 
in 1792, and re-issued in 1803. 
One of his exploits, mentioned 
by Redgrave, was to purchase 
for £70 Cuyp's fine View of 
Dort" and convert it into 
two separate pictures called 
"Morning" and "Evening." 
which were afterwards piously 
purchased for ^^2200 and re- 



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LONDON STRKKT iMKRCHANTS: UMBRELLAS TO MEND 

KTCHKO BV J. T. SMIJH 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 115 

he safiered from an asthma, which often stood his friend 
by allowing a lengthened fit of coughing to stop a sentence 
whenever he found himself in want of words to complete 
it. When not engaged in his duties as a commissioner of 
the Stamp Office, he for years amused himself in what he 
c^Sied etching ; but in what Rembrandt, as well as every 
trae artist, would call scratdung. He could not draw, 
nor had he an eye for effect. To prove this assertion, I will 
'' end him at a tdow" by bringing to my informed reader's 
recollection the captain's execrable plate, which he con- 
sidered to be an improvement upon Rembrandt's *' Three 
Trees." Mr. West classed him amongst the conceited men. 
—"Sir," said the venerable President, "when I requested 
him to show me a fine impression of Rembrandt's Hundred 
Guilder print, he placed one of his own restored impressions 
before me, with as much confidence as my little friend 
Edwards^ attempts to teach Perspective in the Roysl 
Academy." Captain Baillie commonly wore a camlet 
coat, and walked so slowly and with such measured steps, 
that he appeared like a man heavily laden with jack-boots 
and Munchausen spurs ; and whenever he entered an 
auction-room, he generally permitted his cough to announce 
his arrival. 

Mr. Baker,' an opulent dealer in lace, was nightly 

united. Captain Baillie died now a recreation ground, 
Dec. 22, 1810, aged eighty- where his name, however, 
seven, at Lisson Green, Pad- does not appear on tiie 
dington. He was for many memorial erected by the 
years a commissioner of Stamp Baroness Burdett-Coutts to 
Duties. those whose graves were ob- 
* Edwards' Anecdotes of literated. His portrait in 
Painters is a useful little sup- chalk is in the Print Room, 
plement to Walpole's larger * Mr. George Baker, the lace- 
work. He was buried in man, died in St. Paul's Church- 
old St. Pancras churchyard, yard in z8zi. He compiled 



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116 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

to be found bidding for the choicest impressions, which 
he seldom allowed any antagonist, however powerful, 
to carry away. He was well-proportioned, and though 
sometimes singular in his manner, and too n^ligent in his 
dress, was a most honourable man. 

Mr. Woodhouse, of Tokenhouse Yard, was also a bidder 
for fine things ; he did not possess so much of the miUc of 
human kindness as Mr. Baker ; indeed, his manners were at 
times a little repulsive, although he had been many years 
principal cashier in Sir George Prescott's banking-house. 
He was an extensive collector of Cipriani's drawings.^ 

Mr. Musgrave,' of Norfolk Street, frequently attended 
auctions of prints, but particulai^ly those of pictures ; he 
was an accomplished gentleman in his address, and^most 
feelingly benevolent in his actions. His figure was short, 
his features pleasing, and he seldom went abroad without 
a rose in his button-hole. When I state that no man could 
have had fewer enemies, I think even the descendants of 
" Vinegar Tom " • will never haunt my bedside. 



" A Catalogue of Books, Poems, 
Tracts, and small detached 
Pieces, printed at the Press 
at Strawberry Hill, belonging 
to the late Horace Walpole, 
Earl of Orford," 4to. Twenty 
copies only were printed, ana 
were distnbuted in Mav i8zi. 
Mr. Baker made a lifelong 
hobby of print-collecting, and 
his Hogarths, Woolletts, and 
Bartoloszis were scarcely sur- 



^ Woodhouse's pictures and 
drawings were sold in 1801 ; 
the catalogues are in the 
British Museum. 

* Joa^h Musgrave, Esq., 



was a subscriber to Smith's 
Antiquities of Westminster, 

''^The most acid of all 
Manningtree's evil and jealous- 
minded spirits, ormnaUy held 
in the service of uiat famous 
witch-finder-general, Matthew 
Hopkins" (Smith). — Hopkins, 
after bringing old women to 
execution as witches, was him- 
self "swum" and handed in 
1647 f o^ witchcraft. ' ' Vmegar 
Tom " was one of the *' imps " 
which a one-legged beggar 
woman named Elizabeth 
Clarke was persuaded by 
Hopkins to declare was undo: 
her controL Hopkins had 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 117 

There was another truly polite and kind-hearted 
attendant at Hutchins's sales, Mr. Pitt, of Westminster. 
The manners of this gentleman were precise, and he wore 
a large five-story white wig. 

The next collector at this period was Mr. WodhuU,^ 
the translator of Euripides. He was very thin, with a long 
nose and thick lips; of manners perfectly gentlemanly. 
The great singularity of his appearance arose, perhaps, from 
his closing his coat from the first button, immediately 
under his chin, to the last, nearly extending to the bottom 
of his deep-flap waistcoat-pockets. He seldom spoke, nor 
would he exceed one sixpence beyond the sum which he 
had put down in his catalogue, to give for the articles he 
intended to bid for ; and though he frequently went away 
without purchasing a single lot, or even spealdng to any 
one during the whole evening, he always took o£E his hat, 
and bowed low to the company before he left the auction- 
room. 

Mr. Rawle, an accoutrement-maker, then living in 
the Strand, was a visitor: he was the friend of Captain 
Grose, and the executor of Thomas Worlidge,* the etcher. 
In his early days he had collected many curious and 

originally been a lawyer at Rembrandt, and illustrator of 

Manningtree. a book on antique gems, wias 

^ Samud Wodfaull, who lived nicknamed " Scritch-Scratch." 
wealthfly in Berkelev Square, He is said to have had thirty- 
is best rememberea for his three children by his three 
translaticm of Euripides (1774- marriages. He lived in the 
82), the first complete famous house in Great Queen 
rendering of the Greek Street (now divided and 
tragedian in English. He numbered 55-56) in which 
was buried at Thenford, his Reyaolds had been the pupil 
native place, in Northampton- of Thomas Hudson, and which 
sbire. now bears a tablet prodaim- 

* Thomas Worlidge (1700- ingitoneof thehomesofSheri- 
66), a sldlful etdier after dan. 



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118 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

valuable articles. His cabinets contained numerous in- 
teresting portraits in miniature of Elizabethan characters. 
He was a professed Commonwealth man, and possessed 
many of the Protector's, or, according to some writers, 
the usurper's letters. He also prided himself upon having 
the leathern doublet, sword, and hat in which Oliver 
dissolved the Parliament, and showed a helmet that he 
could incontrovertibly prove had belonged to him. He 
likewise frequently expatiated for a considerable time 
upon a magnificent wig, which he said had been worn 
by that Merry Monarch, King Charles the Second.^ This 
singular character never would allow more than a half* 
penny-worth of vegetables to be put upon his table, though 
they were ever so cheap ; and when they were above 
his price, he went without.* 

Another singular character of the name of Beauvais, 



^ After Rawle's death, his 
effects were sold at Hutchins', 
Covent Garden, where this 
Charles the Second wig was 
bought by Suett, the actor, 
who, says Smith, " to prove 
to the company that it would 
suit him better than his 
harum-scarum opponent, put 
it upon his head, and, thus 
dignified, went on with his 
biddings, which were some- 
times sarcastically serious, and 
at others ludicrously comic. 
The company, however, 
though so highly amused, 
thought it ungenerous to pro- 
long the biddmgs, and there- 
fore one and all declared that 
it ought to be knocked down 
to him before he took it off 
his head. Upon this Suett 



immediately attempted to take 
it off, but the ivory hammer, 
with the rufSed hand of the 
auctioneer, after being once 
flourished over his head, gave 
it in favour of the eccentric 
comedian." Suett appeared 
in this wig in Fielding's Tom 
Thumb, and we are told that 
'' sick men laughed themselves 
well to see him peeping out 
of the black forest of hair." 
Finally this wonderful wig 
was lost in the fire which 
destroyed the theatre at 
Birmingham. Mrs. Booth, the 
mother of the actress, was met 
by Suett, and all he said was : 
'' Mrs. Booth, my wig's gone." 
'Rawle died November 8, 
1789 {GenUeman's Magazine^ 
1789). 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 119 

^o at one time had flourished at Tunbridge Wells as 
a miniature-painter,^ attended the evening auctions. 
This man. who was short and rather lumpy in stature, 
indeed nearly as wide as he vras high, was a native of 
France, and through sheer idleness became so filthily 
dirty in his person and dress, that few of the company 
would sit by him. Yet I have seen him in. a black suit 
with his sword and bag, in the evening of the day on 
which he Jiad been at Court, where for years he was a 
constant attendant. This ''Sack of Sand," as Suett 
the actor generally called him, sat at the lower end of 
the table ; and as he very seldom made purchases, few 
persons ventured to converse with him. He frequently 
much annoyed Hutchins by the loudest of aU snoring ; 
and now and then Doctor Wolcot would ask him a question, 
in order to indulge in a laugh at his mode of uttering an 
answer, which Peter Pindar declared to be more like the 
gobbling of a turkey-cock than anything human. He 
lived in a two-pair-of-stairs back room in St. James's 
Market ; and, after his death, Hutchins sold his furniture. 
I recoUect his spinet, music-stool, and a few dog's-eared 
sheets of lessons sold for three-and-sixpence. 

Mr. Matthew Mitchell,* the banker, frequently joined 

^ From the Public Adver- sons of the least capacity to 

tiser^ July 12, 1774 : " Minia- take a Likeness in India Ink, 

ture Painting. — Mr. Beauvais, or with a black lead pencil, 

wdl known at Tunbridge Wells in a short time. To be spoke 

to several of the nobility with at Mr. Brj^an's, the 

and gentry for taking a strik- ' Blue Ball,' St. Martin's Street, 

ine fikeness, either in water Leicester Fields, from eleven 

(^ours or India ink. Miniature to one o'clock." 
pictures copied by him from * " A most facetious, fat 

laige pictures, to any size, gentleman," is Henry Apgdo's 

and pictures repaired if description of Mr. Mitchell, 

damaged. He also teaches, the wealthy partner in the 

by a peculiar method, Per- bank of Hodsol & Company, 



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120 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

these parties, and seldom went away without a purchase 
of prints under his arm. He was extremely well-pro- 
portioned, and walked in what I have often heard the 
ladies of the old school style a portly manner. He was 
remarkable for a width of chin, which was full as large 
as Titus Oates's, and a set of large white teeth. His 
features altogether, however, bespoke a good-natured 
and liberal man. This gentleman was very kind to me 
when I was a boy, and I never hear his name mentioned 
but with unspeakable pleasure. 

Mr. Mitchell had a most serious antipathy to a kitten. 
He could sit in a room without experiencing the least 
emotion from a cat ; but directly he perceived a kitten, 
his flesh shook on his bones, like a snail in vin^ar. I 
once relieved him from one of these paroxj^sms, by taking 
a kitten out of the room ; on my return he thanked me, 
and declared his feelings to be insupportable upon such 
an occasion. Long subsequently I asked him whether 
he could in any way account for this agitation. He said 
he could not, adding that he experienced no such sensa- 
tions upon seeing a full-grown cat ; but that a kitten. 



and the unstinting; patron of 
Rowlandson. Mitcnell lived 
in Beaufort Buildings, in the 
Strand, which two years ago 
were demolished for the ex- 
tension of the Savoy Hotel. 
Here the worthy banker loved 
to gather roimd him such 
choice spirits as Thomas 
Rowlandson, John Nixon, and 
Thomas Wolcot (Peter Pindar). 
" Well do I remember," says 
Henry Angdo, '* sitting in 
this comfortable apartment, 
listening to the stories of 



mv old friend Peter Pindar, 
whose wit seemed not to 
kindle until after midnight, 
at the period of about his 
fifth or sixth glass of brandy 
and water. Rowlandson, 

too, having nearly accom- 
plished his twelfth ^lass of 
ptmch, and replenismng his 
pipe with choice Oronooko, 
would chime in. The tales 
of these two gossips, told in 
one of those nights, each 
delecti^le to hear, would make 
a modem Boccaccio." 



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A BOOK PCMR A RAINY DAY 121 

after he had looked at it ior a minute or two, in his im- 
agination grew to the size of an overpowering elephant. 

At this period Hogarth's prints were in such high 
request, that whenever anything remarkable appeared, 
it was stoutly contested : for Mr. Packer, of Combe's 
Brewhouse, was one of the most enterprising of the Hogarth 
coOectors. This gentleman, though his manners some- 
times appeared Uunt, was highly respected by all who 
really knew him : it was at this time he became my 
friend.* 

He was tall, of good proportion, and well-favoured. 
He had his peculiarities in dress, particularly as to his 
hat, which was an undoubted original. Mr. Packer's 
opponents in Hogarth prints were two persons, one of 
the name of Vincent, a tall, half-starved-looking man, 
who walked with a high gilt chased-headed cane (he had 
been a chaser of milk-pots, watch-cases, and heads of 
canes, and he always walked with this cane as a show- 
article), and the other of the name of Powdl, better known 
under the appellation of '* Old black wig" 

Henderson, the player,* who was also a collector of 



iWiUiam Packer of Great 
Baddow, and of Charlotte 
Street, Bloomsbury, was many 
years in the brewery of Comb^ 
Delafield, & Company in 
Castle Street, Long Acre. This 
brewery was the nucleus of 
Watney, Combe, Reid, & Co.'s 
present establishment. 

• John Henderson (1747- 
85) was known as the " Bath 
Rosdus" from his success at 
Bath under John Palmer. 
After a great career at Drury 
Lane, he died at his house 



in Buckingham Street, Adelphi« 
November 25, 1785, it was 
said from a |)oison accidentally 

fiven to him by his wife, 
n addition to his Hogarths, 
he collected books mating 
to the drama. His Ubrary was 
described by the auctioneer 
who dispersed it as " the 
completest assemblage of 
English dramatic authors that 
has ever been exhibited for 
sale in this country." It con- 
tained many books of crimes 
and marvels. 



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122 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

Hogarth's works, seldom made his appearance on these 
boards — John Ireland being his deputy-manager.^ 

I must not omit to mention another singular but 
most honourable character, of the name of Hej^wood, 
nicknamed *'01d Iron Wig.'' His dress was precise, 
and manner of walking rather stiff. He was an extensive 
purchaser of every kind of artide in art, particularly 
Rowlandson's drawings; for this purpose he employed 
the merry and friendly Mr. Seguier,* the picture-dealer, 
a schoolfellow of my father's, to bid for him. 

I shall now dose this list by observing that my early 
friend and fellow-pupil, Rowlandson, who has frequently 
made drawings of Hutchins and his print-auctions, has 
produced a most spirited etching, in which not only many 
of the above-described characters are introduced, but 
also most of the printsellers of the day. There is another, 
though it must be owned very indifferent, plate, con- 
taining what the publisher called ** Portraits of Printsellers," 
from a monotonous drawing by the late Silvester Harding, 
whose manner of delineation made persons appear to 



ijohn Ireland (died 1808) 
must not be confounded with 
the Shakespearian impostor. 
He was brou^^ht up to watch- 
making in Maiden Lane. With 
Henderson he frequented the 
Feathers Tavern in Lei- 
cester Fidds, and he wrote 
the actor's biography. He is 
best known by his lUustra- 
dons io Hogarth^ published 
by Boyddl, and containing 
his portrait by Mortimer as 
frontispiece to the third vol- 
ume. 

• The employee is better re- 



membered than the employer. 
William S^uier (1771-1843), 
topographical landscape-paiin- 
ter and picture restorer, was 
appointed Keeper of the Royal 
lectures by Geoige iv. He 
was also the first director of 
the National Gallery. Haydon 
pays him this tribute : " June 
19, 1811. Seguier caUed, on 
whose judgment Wilkie and I 
so mucn rdy. If Seguier coin- 
cides with us we are satisfied, 
and often we are convinced 
we are wrong if Siguier 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 128 

be aU of one &inily, particularly his sleepy-eyed and 
gaudily-coloured drawings of ladies. 

1787. 

At this time my mimic powers induced Delpini the 
down,^ who had often been amused with several of my 
imitations of public characters, to mention me to Mr. 
John Palmer,* who, after listening to my specimens, pro- 
mised me an engagement at the Royalty Theatre, which 
was then erecting ; but as that gentleman was too sanguine. 



^ Carlo Antonio Ddpini, the 
best down of his day, played 
at Drury Lane and Covent 
Garden. He devised many 
stage mechanisms for panto- 
mimes. In 1783 he arranged a 
masauerade at the Pantheon 
in cdebration of the coming of 
age of the Prince of Wales, 
from whom in his old age he 
received a gift of ^^200. Ddpini, 
we axe told, had a presenti- 
ment that he should not die 
tin the year "eight," which 
was realised, for he died in the 
year 1828, at the age of 88. 
He was bom in the parish of 
St Martin, at Rome, and drew 
his last breath in the parish 
of St. Martin, London (to be 
precise, in Lancaster Court, 
Strand). 

• John Palmer (1742-98), 
the original Joseph Surface, 
was known off the sta^e 
as Jade Plausible. Once, m 
Datching up a auarrel with 
Sheridan, he said : " If vou 
could see my heart, Mr. 
Sheridan," and was answered. 



"Why, Jack, you foiget I 
wrote it." The Royalty 
Theatre, at which Smith hoped 
to be employed by him, was 
the ill-staurred house in Wdl 
Street, in St. George's in the 
East. The opposition of the 
great theatres caused its de- 
generation to a house for 
rantomimes and concerts. 
Pahner fdl into debt and into 
Surrey Gaol. Neverthdess 
he appeared at Drury Lane as 
late as 1798. He is described 
by Charles Lamb as " a gentle- 
man with a slight infusion of 
the footman," for which reason 
" Jack in Dick Amiet was 
insuperable." Palmer died on 
the stage. His last uttered 
words, spoken in The Stranger, 
are said to have been : " There 
is another and a better world," 
but this has been disputed: 
it is contended that the words 
really uttered by him as he 
fell were those m the fourth 
act : "I left them at a small 
town hard by." 



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124 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

and failed in procuring a licence, I, as weU as many other 
strutting heroes, was disappointed. 

After this my friends advised me to resume the arts ; 
and, with the usual confidence of an unskilful b^[inner, 
I at once presumed to style mysdi ** drawing-master." 
However, my slender abilities, or rather industry, were 
noticed by my kind patrons, who soon recommended 
me to pupils, and by that pursuit I was enabled, with 
some increase of talent, to support myself for several 
years. It is rather extraordinary that mimiciy with 
me was not confined to the voice, for I could in many 
instances throw my features into a resemblance of the 
person whose voice I imitated. Indeed, so ridiculous 
were several of these gesticulations, that I remember 
diverting one of my companions by endeavouring to 
look like the various lion-headed knockers as we passed 
through a long street. Skilful, however, as I was de- 
clared to be in some of my attempts, I could not in any 
way manage the dolphin knockers in Dean Street, Fetter 
Lane. Their ancient and fish-like appearance was cer- 
tainly many fathoms beyond my depth; and as much 
by reason of my being destitute of gills, and the nose of 
that finny tribe, extending nearly in width to its tre- 
mendous mouth, I was obliged to give up the attempt. 

When first I saw these knockers, which were all of solid 
brass, seventeen of the doors of the four-and-twenty houses 
in Dean Street were adorned with them, and the good 
housewives' care was to keep them as bright as the chimney- 
sweeper's ladle on May-day. As my mind from my earUest 
remembrance was of an inquisitive nature, my curiosity 
urged me to learn why this street, above all others, was 
thus adorned ; and my inquiry was, as I then thought, at 
once answered satisfactorily. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 125 

This ground and the houses upon it bdong to the Fish- 
mongers' Company, was the answer returned by one of the 
oldest inhabitants ; and the heraldic reader will recollect 
that the arms of that worshipful and ancient body axe 
dolphins. Not being satisfied with this assertion, however, 
I went to Fishmongers' Hall, and was there assured that 
the Company never had any property in Dean Street, 
Fetter Lane. On the 17th of May, 1829, I visited this 
street in order to see how many of my brazen-faced acquaint- 
ances exposed themselves, and I found that Dean Street 
was nearly as deficient in its dolphin knockers as a church- 
yard is of its earliest tombstones, for out of seventeen only 
three remained.^ 

In the commencement of this year I took lodgings in 
Gerrard Street, and acquiesced in the r^;ulations of my 
landlady ; one of the principal of which was, that I never 
was to expect to be let in after twelve o'clock, unless the 
servant was apprised of my staying out later, and then she 
was to be permitted to sit up for me. Being in my twenty- 
first year, of a lively disposition, and moreover fond of 
theatrical representations, I did not at all times ** remember 



^Just forty years after 
Smith's visit, m 1869, a corre- 
spondent of Notes and Queries 
had the curiosity to make a 
sinular journey of discovery. 
He found omy one of the 
dolphin knockers remaining, 
that on the door of No. o. 
In Jvme 1903 I found that 
this had gone the way of all 
men and Imockers, but I am 
told it was there up to the early 
nineties. The neighbourhood 
can still show a few door- 
knockers of ancient types. 



There are old lion's head-and- 
ring knockers in Gunpowder 
Alley and Hind Court. At 
No. 3 Red Lion Court is a 
^ood knocker, into which is 
mtroduced a bat with out- 
stretched wings. The old 
knocker of No. 9 Bell's Build- 
ings, Salisbury Square, is 
adorned with the figuxe of a 
naked boy playing on a 
pipe. There is a fine example 
of a dolphin knocker at 25 
Queen Anne's Gate. 



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126 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

twelve " ; for although Mrs. Siddons sounded it so emphatic- 
ally upon my ear, I could never quit the theatre till half an 
hour after. My finances at this period being sometimes 
too slender to afford an additional lodging for the night, 
and not often venturing to expose m}^self to insult, or the 
artful and designing, by perambulating the dty, unless 
the moon invited me, I fortunately hit upon the following 
expedient, which not only sheltered me from rain, but 
afforded me a seat by the fireside. I either used to go to 
the watch-house of St. Paul, Covent Garden, or that of St. 
Anne, Soho ; so, having made myself free of both by agreeing 
with the watch-house keeper to stand the expense of tvra 
pots of porter upon every nocturnal visit, I was enabled 
to see what is called ** life and human nature." 

One of the curious scenes witnessed ugon a more recent 
occasion afforded me no small amusement. Sir Hany 
Dinsdale, usually called Dimsdale, a short, feeble little 
man, was brought in to St. Anne's watch-house, charged 
by two colossal guardians of the night with conduct most 
unruly. " What have you, Sir Harry, to say to all this ? " 
asked the Dogberry of St. Anne. The knight, who had 
been roughly handled, commenced like a true orator, in a 
low tone of voice, "May it please ye, my magistrate, I 
am not drunk ; it is languor. A parcel of the bloods of the 
Garden have treated me cruelly, because I would not treat 
them. This day, Sir, I was sent for by Mr. Sheridan to 
make my speech upon the table at the Shakspeare Tavern, 
in Common Garden ; he wrote the speech for me, and always 
gives me half a guinea, when he sends for me to the tavern. 
You see I didn't go in my Ro)^ robes ; I only put 'um on 
when I stand to be member." Constable — " Well, but Sir 
Harry, why are you brought here ? " One of the watch- 
men then observed, " That though Sir Harry was but a 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 127 

little skaftMing fellow, he was so upsiroppotus and kicked 
him about at such a rate, that it was as much as he and his 
comrade could do to bring him along." As there was no one 
to support the change, Sir Harry was advised to go home, 
which, however, he swore he would not do at midnight 
without an escort. ^* Do you know," said he, " there's a 
parcel of rafs now on the outside waiting for me." 

The constable of the night gave orders for him to be 
protected to the public-house opposite the west end of St. 
Giles's Church, where he then lodged. Sir Harry hearing 
a noise in the street, muttered, ** I shall catch it ; I know I 
shall." ** See the conquering hero comes " (cries without). 
'' Ay, ihey always use that tune when I gain my electicm at 
Garrett." 

Although many of my readers may recollect Sir Harry 
Dinsdale, yet it may be well for the information of others 
to state who and what he was. Before I commence his 
histoiy, however, I should observe that the death of Sir 
Jeffery Dunstan, a dealer in old wigs, who had been for 
many years returned member for Garrett, first gave popu* 
larity to Harry Dinsdale, who, from the moment he stood 
as candidate, received mock knighthood, and was ever after 
known under the appellation of ** Sir Harry." ^ There 

^ The Garrat mock elections profits; while Foote spread 

have often been described, the fame and vogue of the 

Garrat was a rural spot between elections by his farce The 

Wandsworth and Tooting. A Mayor of Carrot. A mock 

committee organised to protect knighthood was given, as a 

the village common from en- matter of course, to each 

croachments developed into a mayor on his election. The 

roaring municipal farce which first recorded mayor was Sir 

was repeated after every John Harper, a retailer of 

General Election. The pub- brick-dust, and the next, the 

hcans of the southern villages most famous of all. Sir Jeffery 

willingly subscribed to the car- Dunstan, a humorous vaga- 

nival, and reaped handsome bond whose ostensible trade 



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X28 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

are several portraits of this singular little object, by some 
called " Honeyjuice," as well as of his more whimsical pre- 
decessor. Sir Jeffexy Dtmstan, better known as ** Old Wigs." 
Sir Harry exercised the itinerant trade of a mnffinman 
in the afternoon ; he had a little bell, which he hdd to 
his ear, smiling ironically at its tingling. His cry was 
'^ Muffins ! mufSns I ladies come buy fne / pretty, hand- 
some, blooming, snuling maids." Flaxman the sculptor, 
and Mrs. Mathew, of blue-stocking memory, equipped 
him as a hardware man, and as such I made two etchings 
of him. 

Many a time when I had no inclination to go to bed 
at the dawn of day, I have looked down from my window 
to see whether the author of the Sublitne and BeauHful 
had left his drawing-room, where I had seen that great 
orator during many a night after he had left the House of 
Commons, seated at a table covered with papers, attended 
by an amanuensis who sat opposite to him.^ Major Money, 
who had nearly been lost at sea with his balloon, at that 
time lodged in the same house. Of the Major's perilous 



was in old wigs. He was 
constantly portrayed, or used 
as the basis of caricature. In 
one print he is seen standing 
on a stool, asking '' How far is 
it from the first of August to 
Westminster Bridge?" "Sir 
Jeffery " used his tongue with 
great freedom, and the authori- 
ties were so destitute of humour 
as to arrest him and obtain 
his imprisonment. The next 
Mayor of Garrat was Sir Harry 
Diivsdale. He was bom in 
Shug Lane, Haymarket, in 
1758, and appears to have 



haunted the Soho neighbour- 
hood, for he married a woman 
out of St. Anne's workhouse. 
He died in z8ii. 

^ It must have been from his 
house No. 37, on the north side 
of Gerrard Street, now a 
restaurant, but retaining its 
old appearance and marked by 
a commemorative tablet, that 
Burke went to Westminster 
Hall on May 10, 1787, to 
impeach Warren Hastings. Of 
Burke's life in Gerrard Street 
we have no nearer glimpse than 
that given by Smith. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 129 

situation at sea, the elder Reinagle made a spirited picture, 
of which there is an engraving.^ 

In this year I had the honour for the first time of 
exhibiting at the Royal Academy. My production was a 
portrait of the venerable beech-tree which stood within 
memory at a short distance fr<Hn Sand-pit Gate, in Windsor 
Forest, and which tree has been so admirably painted by 
West. This picture, which measures five feet in height and 
seven' in length, was sold by auction at Mr. West's house, 
in May 23rd, 1829. My drawihg, as well as many of my 
studies made from that delightful display of forest scenery, 
was highly finished in black chalk ; it was purchased by 
the late Earl of Warwick, who was not only an admirable 
draughtsman himself, but kind to young artists. By that 
noUeman I was introduced to the Hon. F. Charles Greville 
[the Earl's brother and a Vice-President of the Royal 
Society], whose taste for the Fine Arts is too well known 
to need any eulogium from me.* This gentleman gave 
Cipriani above one hundred guineas for an elaborate 
drawing of the famous Barberini vase, broug^it to England 
by Sir William Hamilton.* Several learned writers have 



1 General John Money (1752- 
1817) ^><^^ one of the earUest 
of English aeronauts. It was 
in an ascent from Norwich, 
Juljr 22, 1785, that he was 
carried out to sea, where he 
"remained for seven hours 
stmgejing with his fate" be- 
fore ne was rescued. — ^Phihp 
Reinagle, R.A. (1749-1833), 
was an animal, landscape, and 
dead game painter. Examples 
of Us lanoscape work are at 
South KcnsingtcMu 

The Charl^ Greville here 



referred to was an earlv 
patron of Lawrence at Oxford, 
when the artist was a mere 
boy ; also of Romn^, whose 
portrait of Wortley Montague, 
the eccentric pseudo-Turk, he 
both bought and copied. 

' Sir William Hamilton 
(1730-1803), who married 
Emma Hart, Nelson's Lady 
Hamilton, was a keen arclue* 
ologist, and made a mag- 
nificent collection of Gredc 
vases, which he sold to the 
British Museum. He pur- 



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130 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

given their conjectures as to the subject so beautifully 
sculptured on this vase; but I understand that nothing 
has been adduced as yet that sufficiently elucidates it. 
This vase is deposited in the British Museum. 

This grey and silver beech was the loftiest in the for^t, 
and particularly beautiful when the sun shone upon its 
ancient limbs ; his capacious and hollow trunk, with a small 
additional hut, afforded acconmiodation for a woodman, 
his wife, four children, a sow and a numerous litter of pigs. 
This happy fanuly retreat, which had frequently been 
noticed by King George iii., was at last unavoidably 
obliged, from the symptoms it exhibited of falling, to 
submit to the woodman's axe — ^that woodman whose family 
had weathered many a storm, and had been screened from 
the scorching sunbeamis under its majestic branches, 
several of which, by reason of its ^' bald and high antiquity,'* 
had not issued foliage for many a smnmer. The King, 
however, who never suffered the humblest of his subjects 
whose industry he had noticed, to sigh under calamity, 
ordered a snug, neat brick cottage to be built for the 
honest occupant and his dependents, which was erected in 
the same forest, and at as short a distance as possible from 
the former residence. 

One curious and interesting discovexy resulted from 
the demoUtion of this venerable tree. The woodman, 
who had allowed the smoke from his peat-piled fire to 

chased the Barberini, or after its acquisition by the 
" Portland," vase from Byres, British Museum (Montagu 
the architect, and sold it for House), it was wantonly broken 
1800 guineas to the Duchess in pieces by a visitor named 
of Portland, in the sale of William Lloyd, who was sen- 
whose prop^y it was bought tenced to a fine or imprison- 
by the &mily in 1829 for ment. The fine was paid 
^£1029. On February 7, 1745, anonymously. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 131 

pass throngh one of the hollow limbs of the tree for several 
yeais without sweeping it, had, by accumulated incrusta- 
tions, produced a mass of the finest brown colour, re- 
sembling the present appearance of that used by Rem- 
brandt, so much coveted by the English artists. The 
discovery was made by Mr. Paul Sandby, who was 
fortunately passing at the time the timber was on the 
ground, who immediately secured a tolerable quantity 
to enable him to prove that the smoke from forest fuel, 
united with the heated branch of a hollow and aged beech, 
produced the finest bistre : his son, the present Mr. Sandby, 
gave me a lump of it, which I presented to the late Sir 
George Beaumont.^ Having mentioned this bistre to 
several Roman artists, they informed me that a strong 
decoction of the sap of the ilex, or evergreen oak, pro- 
duces a colour nearly similar; and of this I have had 
satisfactory proof. These, and suchlike bistres, would 
be much safer for the artist to use than that called sepia, 
which is made from the ink of the cuttle-fish, which, 
being a marine production, ever retains its saline and 
pemidons qualities, as may be seen in several of the 
numerous drawings made by Guercino, where the colour 

* Smith's little present to "Ah! then if mine had been the 

Sir George Beamnont is the xo^e«wh^hen I saw; and 

more mterestmg to us, be- ^dd the gleam, 

cause of that painter's well- The Ught that never was on sea 

known love of broMm, and his or land, 

dictum that " there ought to '"*« consecration, and the Poet's 

be at least one brown tree '^*"°' 

in every landscape." Beau- j ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ 

monf s name is mseparably hoary pile. 



associated with the Nationsu Amid a world how different from 

Gallery, and also with Words- ^ .}^®* 

worth's noble poem on his Beside a^^that could not cease 

picture of Pede Castle in a On tranquil land, beneath a sky 
Stonn, containing the lines — of bliss." 



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182 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

has left a blot, which has completely eaten through the 
paper. However, after all the trials of our experiment- 
alists to match the present tint of Rembrandt's drawings, 
and however pleasingly ingenious their discoveries have 
been, still I am inclined to believe that much, if not the 
whole, of the effect of old drawings is owing to that pro- 
duced by time ; and in this idea I am borne out by a 
small drawing which the ever-to-be-revered Flaxman 
made with a pen in common writing-ink : he drew it 
when I was a lad, and it is now a deep rich brown. May 
we not also fairly conclude, from the brown tint of most 
of our old manuscripts, that time has thus operated upon 
the ink ? if so, the question is, what will the future colour 
of that which we now use in imitation, consisting of many 
ingredients, be, after fifty-five years, the elapsed time 
since I received my drawing from the kind hand of Flax- 
man ? It is a curious fact, however, that the ink used 
by the ancient Egyptians on nearly two hundred specimens 
of the written inscriptions on papyrus collected by Mr. 
Salt,^ now in the British Museum, are as jet a black as 
Cozens's' blotting-ink, or Day and Martin's far-famed 

blacking. 

1788. 

Although not considered an Adonis by the ladies, 
yet most of those to whom I had the pleasure to be known, 
noticed me as a favourite, and by some my appearance 
in company was cordially greeted, "Friend Thomas,** 

* Henry Salt, the great • Smith evidently refers to 

traveller and British consul- the plan affected by Alexander 

general in Egypt. He sold (not the greater John Ro^er) 

antiquities to the British Cozens, of throwing a blot^ 

Museum, and had dealings, and then working it into a 

resulting in a quarrel, with landscape composition. 
Belzoni. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 133 

asked one, '* pray what play didst thou see last night ? '' 
With this appellation I was frequently addressed, in 
ocmseqaence of my mother having been a member of the 
Society of Friends. "Low's Labour Lost^*^ being my 
answer to the pre-engaged iair one, uttered perhaps with 
a smile, she was induced to rejoin, " If you had not hitherto 
been so blind a son of Venus, you would not have lost 
my smiles." After this rebuke, my pursuit became 
brisker, and I at last fixed my heart upon my first wife.^ 
Upon becoming a Benedict, I partly recovered the use of 
my senses, gave up my dubs, dissolved many connections, 
and in order to be faithful to my pledge, " to love and 
to cherish," I applied myself steadily to my etching- 
table, and conunenced a series of quarto plates, to illustrate 
Mr. Pennant's truly interesting account of our great 
city (entitled Sotne Account of London), which I dedicated 
to my patron. Sir James Winter Lake, Bart. 

Sir James was a governor of the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany, — a situation, it is well known, he filled with credit 
to himself as well as the satisfaction of every one con- 
nected with that highly-respected body. Sir James most 
kindly invited me to take a house near him at Edmonton, 
where I had the honour, for the space of seven years, 
of enjoying the steady friendship of himself and family. 
Lady Lake, who then retained much of her youthful 
beauty, by her elegance of language and extreme affability 
charmed every one. To clever people of every description 
she was kind, and benevolent to the poor. 

The Lake family consisted of Sir James, his lady, 
their sons, James, Willoughby, Atwill, and Andrew, — 

^ Smith expresses himself being Anne Maria Prickett, 
rather oddly here, for he who, after a union of forty-five 
married only onoe, his wife years, was left his widow. 



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134 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

their daughters, Mary, Charlotte, and Anne.^ Their 
residence, which had long been their family mansion, 
was distant about a mile from the Angel Inn, and was 
called "The Firs," in consequence of the approach to 
the house being planted on either side with double rows 
of that tree, 

1789. 

This year proved more lucrative to me than any pre- 
ceding, for at this time I professed portrait painting both 
in oils and crayons ; but, alas ! after using a profusion 
of carmine, and placing many an eye straight that was 
misdirected, before another season came, my exertions 
were mildewed by a decline of orders, owing not only 
to the salubrity of the air of Edmonton, but to the r^- 
larity of those who had sat to me, for they would neither 
die nor quit their mansions, but kept themselves snug 
within their King-William iron gates and red-brick- 
crested piers, so that there was no accommodation for 
new-comers ; nor would the red land-owners allow one 
inch of ground to the Tooley Street Camomile Cottage 



^Sir James Winter Lake, 
Bart., a man of wealth and 
culture, compiled " BibUotheca 
Lakeana" (a catalogue of his 
library) in 1808, and '' British 
Portraits and Historical Prints, 
collected by J. W. L." in 
the same year. His extra- 
illustrated Grange/s History 
extended to forty large foUo 
volumes. 

Lady Lake is mentioned 
in one of the many amusing 
dialogues recorded by Smith 
in bis Life of ifolUkens. 
Panton Betew, the silversmith 



of Old Compton Street, Soho, 
talking to Nollekens of their 
common memories, says : "Ay, 
I know there were many very 
clever things produced there 
(at Bow) ; what very curious 
heads for canes they made 
at that manufactory! I 
think Crowther was ttie pro- 
prietor's name; he had a 
very beautiful daughter, who 
is married to Sir James Lake. 
Nat. Hone painted a portrait 
of her, in the character of 
Diana, and it was one of his 
best pictures.'* 



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/, ,/ f .r, ,.;. 



ELIZABETH CANNING 
• For my own part, I am not at all brought to believe her story." 

Horace Wal^oU 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 135 



builders.^ However, I experienced enough to convince 
me that, had I diverged along the cross-roads towards the 
Bald-faced Stag, the highway to the original Tulip-tree 
at Waltham Abbey, or the green lanes to Homsey Wood 
House, I might have considerably increased my income ; 
but this would have been impossible without a conveyance. 
Nevertheless, as it was, the reader will hardly believe 
that my marches of fame were far more extensive than 
those of Major Sturgeon ; * his were confined to marches 
and counter-marches, from Ealing to Acton, and from 
Acton to Ealing, next-door neighbours : now, my doves 
took a circuitous flight from Tottenham to *' Kicking 
Jenny " at Southgate ; then to Enfield, ay, even to its 
very Wash, rendered notorious by Mary Squires and Bet 
Canning ; • thence over Walton's famed river Lea : thence 



^ Smith's general meaning is 
plain, but I cannot with con- 
fidence explain the reference 
to Tooley Street It may be 
no more than a slightly con- 
temptuous way of referring 
to villa - buildmg tradesmen 
(nobodies, like the three 
Tooley Street tailors) who at 
that time were building their 
Camomile Cottages in the 
country. 

* The part of Major Sturgeon, 
J.P., " the fishmonger from 
Brentford," was played by 
Foote in his own comedy, 
The Mayor of GarraU (1763). 
Sturgeon brags : " We had 
some desperate duty, Sir 
Jacob . . . such marchings 
and counter-marchings from 
Brentford to Ealing, from 
Ealing to Acton, from Acton 
to Uxbridge. Why, there was 



our last expedition to Houns- 
low ; that day's work carried 
off Major Molassas." . . • 
Zoffany painted Foote in this 
character. 

'Elizabeth Canning (1734- 
73), a domestic servant in 
Aldermanbury, startled Lon- 
don in 1753 by the drcum- 
stantial story she told of her 
capture in Moorfidds, and her 
subsequent imprisonment and 
ill-treatment at Enfield by 
" Mother Wells " and a gipsy 
woman, Mary Squires. After 
Squires had- been condemned 
to death, and Wells had been 
burned in the hand, the case 
was revised, with the result 
that Squires was pardoned 
and her accuser transported 
for perjury. The affair, which 
had origmally come before 
Henry Fielding, the novelist. 



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136 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

up to Chingford's ivy-mantled tower ; down again, crosang 
the Lea with the lowing herd, to Tottenham High Cross* 
finishing where they put up on the embattlements of the 
once noble Castle of Bruce. 

It was in the centre of the above vicinities, at '* Edmon- 
ton so gay," the rendezvous of Shakspeare's merry devil,^ 
that / profiled, three-quartered^ fuU-faced^ and htOUmed 
up the retired embroidered weavers, their crummy wives, 
and tightly-laced daughters. Ay, those were the days 1 
my friends of the loom, as Tom King declared in the 
prologue to Bon Ton^ when Mother Fussock could ride 
in a one-horse chaise, warm from Spitalfields, on a 

Sunday ! * 

1790. 

Many a rural walk have I and my beloved enjoyed, 
accompanied by our uninvited, pla3rful, tailed butterfly- 



at Bow Street, aroused an 
incredible amoimt of feeling 
in London. 

^The Merry Devil of Ed- 
tnonton was for long care- 
lessly attributed to Shake- 
speare. Mr. Sidney Lee, 
in his Shakespeare's Life and 
Work, says : " It is a delight- 
ful comedy . . . but no si^ 
of Shakespeare's workmanship 
is a^arent." 

* Thomas King (1730- 
X805) was a clever comedlEm. 
His stage career in London 
lasted fifty -four years. In 
November 1789 he played the 
part of Sir John Trotley in 
Garrick's Bon Ton, or High 
Life above Stairs. ** "Sis 

acting," says Charles Lamb, 
"left a taste on the palate 



sharp and sweet as a quince; 
with an old, hard, rough, 
withered face, like a John- 
apple, puckered up into a 
thousana wrinkles ; with 
shrewd hints and tart replies." 
The prologue of Bon Ton has 
these lines : — 

"Ahl I loves life, and aU the 

joys it yields— 
Says Madam Fussock, wann 

from Spital-fields. 
Bone Tone's the n>ace * twist 

Saturday and Monday, 
And riding in a one*horse chair 

o' Sunday 1 
'Tis drinking tea on summer 

afternoons 
At BagnigRc-Wells, with China 

and gilt spoons 1 
Tis laying by our stufia, red 

cloaks, and pattens. 
To dance Cow-tiiUcns, all in silks 

and sat tins t *' 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 137 



hunter, through the lonely honeysuckled lanes to the 
"Widow CoUey's," whose nut-brown, mantling home- 
brewed could have stood the test with that of Skelton's 
far-famed Elyn — the ale-wile of England, upon whose 
October skill Henry viii.'s Poet Laureate sang.^ Some- 
times our strolls were extended to old Matthew Cook's Ferry, 
by the side of the Lea, so named after him, and well known 
to many a Waltonian student. Matthew generally contrived 
to keep sixteen cats, all of the finest breed, and, as cats go, 
of the best of tempers, all of whom he had taught distinct 
tricks ; but it was his custom morning and evening to make 
tbem regularly, one after the other, leap over his hands 
joined as high as his arms could reach : and this attention 
to his cats, which occupied nearly the whole of his time, 
afforded him as much pleasure as Hartry, the cupper in 
May's Buildings,* and his assistant could receive in phle- 
botomizing, in former days, above one hundred customers 
on a Sunday morning, that being the only leisure time the 
industrious mechanic could q)are for the operation. 



^Skdton says of Eleanor 
Rtmuning — 

" She breweth noppy ale, 
And maketh thereof lut sale 
To travellers, to tinkers. 
To sweaters, to swinkers. 
And all good ale-drinkers." 

The woman k^t an ale- 
house at Leatherhead, which, 
it is thought, Skelton may 
have visited when staying with 
his royal master at Nonsuch 
Palace. It has been claimed, 
however, on interesting evi- 
dence, that her alehouse was 
" Two-pot House," between 
Cambndge and Hardwicke. 
(See GenUeman's Magaxine^ 



Nov. 1794, and Chambers' Book 
of Days under June 21.) 

* This passage in St. Martin's 
Lane was built by a Mr. 
May, who lived in a house of 
his own design in St. Martin's 
Lane. Here Smith himself 
lived at his father's house, 
the Rembrandt Head, No. 18, 
for some years; the house is 
now absorbed in Messrs. 
Harrison's printing establish- 
ment. I have foimd no trace 
of Hartry, the valiant cupper, 
but only of a dentist of that 
name, who may have been 
his son. 



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138 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

Melancholy as Cook's Feny is during the winter, 
it is still more so in the time of an inundation, ^en it 
is ahnost insupportable ; and had not Matty enjoyed the 
society of his cats, who certainly kept the house tolerably 
free from rats and mice, at the accustomed time of a high 
flood he must have been truly wretched. In this year» 
during one of these visitations, in order to gratify my 
indefatigable curiosity^ I visited him over the meadows, 
partly in a cart and partly in a boat, conducted by his 
baker and Tom Fogin, his barber. We found him standing 
in a washing-tub, dangling a bit of scrag of mutton before 
the best fire existing circumstances could produce, in a 
room on the ground floor, knee-deep in water, whilst he 
ever and anon raised his voice to his cats in the room above, 
where he had huddled them for safety. 

The baker, after delivering his bread in at the window, 
and I, after fastening oiur skiff to the shutter-hook, waited 
the return of Fogin, who had launched himself into a tub 
to shave Matthew, who had perched himself on the coroneted 
top of a tall Queen Anne's chair, and drawn his feet as much 
imder him as possible, and then, with the palms of his 
hands flat upon his knees to keep the balance true, was 
prepared to suck in Fogin's tales in the tub during his 
shave. Tom retailed all the scandal he had been able to 
collect during the preceding week from the surrounding 
villages ; how Dolly alias Matthew Booth, a half-witted 
fellow, was stoutly caned by old John Adams, the astro- 
nomical schoolmaster, for calling him " a moon-hauler," — 
how Mr. Wigston trespassed on Miss Thoxley's waste, — 
of the sisters Tatham being called the "wax dolls" of 
Edmonton, whose chemises Bet Nun had declared only 
measured sixteen inches in diameter,— of old Fuller, the 
banker, riding to Ponder's End with a stone in his mouth 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 139 

to keep it moist, in order to save the expense of drink, — 
upon Fanner Bellows's and old Le Grew's psalm-singing, — 
of Alderman Curtis and his Southgate grapery, and of his 
neighbour, a divine gentlem — man, I had very nearly called 
him, who had horsewhipped his wife. 



1791. 

I remember on a midsummer mom of this year making 
one of a party of pleasure, consisting of the worthy baronet 
Sir James Lake, the elder John Adams,^ schoolmaster of 
Edmonton, Samuel Ireland,* author of the Thames, Med- 
way, etc. We started from my cottage at Edmonton, and 
took the road north. The first house we noticed was an 
old brick mansion at the extreme end of the town, erected 
at about the time of King Charles i., opposite butcher 
Wright's. This dilapidated fabric was let out in tenements, 
and the happiest of its inmates was a gay old woman who 
lived in one of its numerous attics. She gained her bread 
by spinning, and as we ascended she was singing the old 
song of " Little boy blue, come blow me your horn " to a 



* John Adams, teacher of 
mathematics, published The 
MaOtemaifcian's Companion 
(1796). " The following use 
was made of Hogarth's plates 
of the Idle and Industrious 
Apprentices, by the late John 
Adams, of Edmonton, school- 
master. The prints were 
framed and htmg up in the 
schoolroom, and Adsons, once 
a month, after reading a lecture 
upon their vicious and virtuous 
examples, rewarded those boys 
who had conducted them- 
. selves well, and caned those 



who had behaved ill " (Smith : 
NoUekens). 

* Samuel Ireland was father 
of William Henry Ireland, who 
forged Shakespearean MSS. and 
put forward the spurious play 
vortigem. In his well-known 
Graphic lUustraUons of Hogarth 
he proves himself rather " a 
snapper-up of unconsidered 
trifles than a contributor 
of serviceable information" 
(Austin Dobson : William 
Hogarth: enlarged ed. 1898). 
This work must not be confused 
with John Ireland's Hogarth 
lUustraled. 



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UO A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

neighbour's child, left to her care for the day. "'Well, 
Mary," quoth the a-b-c-darian, *' you are always gay ; 
what is your opinion of the lads and lasses of the present 
time, compared with those of your youthful days ? " 
" r faith," answered Mary, " they are pretty much the 
same." She was then considerably beyond her eightieth 
year. We then proceeded to Ponder's End, where I 
conducted my fellow-travellers to a field on the left, behind 
the Goat public-house, to see " King Ringle's Well," but 
why so called even Mr. Grough has declared he was unable 
to discover.* 

The next place we visited consisted of extensive moated 
premises, called *' Durance," on the right of the public 
road. This house, as tradition reported, had been the 
residence of Judge Jeffreys ; and here it is said that he 
exercised some severities upon the Protestants.* 

We then returned through Green Street; and at a 
cottage we discovered an Elizabethan door, profusely 
studded with flat-headed nails. This piece of antiquity 
Samuel Ireland stopped to make a drawing of, which 
circmnstance I beg the reader will keep in mind, as it will 



* Perhaps it was an ordnance 
map mistake. " On the south 
side of Nag's Head Lane, near 
Ponder's End, is a deep well, 
probably the brick conduit 
noted in Ogilby's roads 1698, 
and known by the name of 
Tim Ringer's Well (King's 
Ring Well, 2076 in the ordnance 
map), which was formerly con- 
sidered infallible as a remedy 
for inflammation of the eyes 
(Hodson and Ford : History of 
Enfield, 1873). 

' Diuance, or Diurants, was 



visited by James i. when it was 
the home of Sir Henry Wroth, 
to whom Ben Jonson wrote 
his lines — 

" How blessed art thou, canst love 
the country. Wroth 

And though so near the City and 

the Court, 
Art ta'en with neither's vice or 

sport." 

Wroth's executors sold the 
manor to Sir Thomas Stringer, 
who married a daughter of 
Judge Jefibeys. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 141 

be mentioned hereafter. We then, after descanting upon 
the beauties of Waltham Cross, proposed to visit the 
father of the Tulip-trees, an engraving of which appeared 
in Farmer's History of WaUham Abbey > We looked in 
vain for a portion of King Harold's tomb. There were 
remains of it in Strutt's early days : he made a drawing of 
them. Our next visit was to a small ancient elliptic 
bridge in a field a little beyond the pin-manufactory ; this 
bridge has ever been held as a great curiosity, and one of 
high antiquity. As we returned through Cheshunt, we 
rummaged over a basket of old books placed at the door of 
the barber's shop, where Sir James Lake bought an excellent 
copy of Brooke's Camden^s Errors for sixpence, and also 
an imperfect copy of Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy^ 
for the sake of a remarkably fine impression of a portrait 
of its author on the title-page. After dining at the Red 
lion, we visited another old moated mansion, the property 
of Dr. Mayo, said to have been originally a house belonging 
to Cardinal Wolsey, or in which he had at one time resided.* 
After crossing a drawbridge, and passing through the iron 
gates, the gardener ushered us into a spacious hall, and 
showed us a curiously constructed chair, in which he said 



^ " But above all, I must not Smith visited it in 1791, it had 

forget the Tulip Tree, the been much modernised. There 

largest and biggest that ever is no evidence, says Thome 

was seen ; there being but one {Environs of London), that 

more in Great Britain (as I the o'er great Cardinal ever 

am informed), and that at lived there. Ten years after 

the Lord Peterborough's. It Smith's visit, the Rev. Charles 

blows with innumerable flowers Mayo pulled down the larger 

in the months of June and part of the building in order 

July" (John Farmer: His- to repair the remainder. After 

tory of Waltham Abbey). his time it remained desolate 

* Known as Cheshunt House and neglected, 
or the Great House. When 



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142 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

the Cardinal's porter usually sat. Of this singular chair 
above mentioned I made a drawing, and had the honour 
to furnish the late Marquis of Lansdowne with a copy, 
to enable his Lordship to have a set made from it. In an 
adjoining room was a bedstead and furniture, considered 
to be that in which the Cardinal had slept ; it was of a 
drab-coloured cloth, profusely worked over with large 
flowers in variously coloured silks. We were then con* 
ducted to an immense room filled with old portraits. I 
recollect noticing one in very excellent preservation of 
Sir Hugh Myddelton, with an inscription on the back* 
ground totally differing from the one by Cornelius Janssen, 
engraved by Vertue.^ Thus ended this pleasant excursion. 

1792. 

That Vandyke did not possess that liberal patron in 
King Charles i. which his biographers have hitherto 
stated, is unquestionably a fact, which can be proved 
by a long bill which I have lately seen (by the friendly 
indulgence of Mr. Lemon* and his son), in the State Paper 
Office, docketed by the King's own hand. For instance, 
the picture of his Majesty dressed for the chase (which 
I conjecture to be the one engraved by Strange),* for 

1 Cornelius Janssen (1590- the words : *' Pontes Fondina." 

1665) is b^t remembered for This portrait was presented to 

his portrait of Milton as a boy, the Company by Lady Myd- 

engraved in the first voliune delton. 

of Professor Masson's Life of * Robert Lemon, the archi- 

thepoet. His orimnal portrait vist. He discovered Milton's 

of Sir Hugh Myddelton, now "De Doctrina Christiania,'' 

in ihe committee room of and gave assistance to Sir 

the Goldsmiths' Hall, repre- Walter Scott, 

sents the great engineer with •Sir Robert Strange was 

his left hand resting on a conch engraver to Prince Charles, 

from which a stream of water His distinguished career was 

gushes ; over this are inscribed chequered by his political sym- 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 143 

which Vandyke had charged ^200, the King, after erasing 
that snm, inserted £100 ; and down in proportion, nay, 
in some instances they suffered a further reduction. 
Of several of the works charged in the bill, which his 
Majesty marked as intended presents to his friends, I 
recollect one of two that were to be given to Lord Holland 
was reduced to the sum of £60. Other pictures in the 
biU the King marked with a cross, which is explained 
at the back by Endjnnion Porter, that as those were to 
be paid for by the Queen, the King had left them for her 
Majesty to reduce at pleasure. 

That a daughter of Vandyke was allowed a pension 
for sums owing by King Charles i. to her father, is also 
true, as there is a petition in consequ^ice of its being 
discontinued still preserved in the State Paper Office, 
in which that lady declares herself to be plunged into 
the greatest distress, adding that she had been cheated 
by the purchaser of her late father's estate, who never 
paid for it.^ 

It would be the height of vanity in me to offer any- 



pathies, and by his bitter 
criticism of the Royal Aca- 
demy, in consequence, partly, 
of its exclusion of engravers. 
Knighted by George iii. (after 

osis of tiie three ro^ chmiren), 
he died in his last London 
home in Great Queen Street, 
July 5, 1792. See note, p. 82. 
^ The bill of which Smith 
e;ives particulars is quoted in 
full by William Hookham 
Carpenter in his Pictorial 
Nciices of Sir AfUhony Van 
Dyck (1844). " It is more 



than probable that the accoimt 
had been submitted to the 
supervision of Bishop Tuxon, 
who, by the influence of Arch- 
bishop Laud, was appointed 
to the office of Lord Treasurer 
ill 1635, which he held till 1641 ; 
and Anthony Wood tells us 
'he kept the King's purse 
when necessities were deepest, 
and clamours were loudest.' " 
Vandyke had from Charles, 
in addition to payments against 
pictures, an annuity of ^£200 
a yeaj and houses at Black- 
friars and Eltham. 



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144 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

thing beyond what the author of The Sublime and Beautu 
fid has said of Sir Joshua ReynoWs, who died this 3rear 
at his house in Leicester Square.^ As Mr. Burke's char- 
acter of this most powerful of painters may not be in 
the possession of all my readers, I shall here reprint it.* 

'' The illness of Sir Joshua Reynolds was long, but borne 
with a mild and cheerful fortitude, without the least 
mixture of anything irritable or querulous, agreeably to 
the placid and even tenor of his whole life. 

'*He had, from the beginning of his malady, a dis- 
tinct view of his dissolution ; and he contemplated it 
with that entire composure which nothing but the in- 
nocence, int^rity, and usefulness of his life, and unaffected 
submission to the wiU of Providence, could bestow. In 
this situation he had every consolation from family tender- 
ness, which his own kindness to his family had indeed 
well deserved. 

**Sir Joshua Rejmolds was, on very many accounts, 
one of the most memorable men of his time. He was 
the first Englishman who added the praise of the elegant 
arts to the other glories of his country. In taste, in grace, 
in facility, in happy invention, and in the richness and 
harmony of colouring, he was equal to the great masters 
of the renowned ages. In portrait he was beyond them ; 
for he conununicated to that description of the art, in 
which English artists are the most engaged, a variety, 
a fancy, and a dignity derived from the higher branches, 

^On February 23* After Christopher Wren. The pall 

lying in state m the Royal was borne by ten peers, and 

Academy, the remains of Sir the Archbishop of York took 

Joshua Keynolds were interred, part in the service, 

on Saturday, March 3, in the * Burke's tribute had ap- 

crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral, peared in the Annual Register. 
near the resting-place of Sir 



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J. M. W. TURNER, R.A. 

FBOM A WATER-COLOUR SKETCH BY J. T. SMITH 



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146 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

" Dear Sir, — ^If it was not for having you older than 
your friends would wish you, I should be §^ad you had 
been of the party, where I heard an aigument between 
Dr. Johnson and Sir Joshua Reynolds, on the wonderful 
power of the human eye. Dr. Johnson made a quotation 
which I do not remember. *Sir,' said Sir Joshua, in 
reply, * that divine efEect is produced by the parts apper- 
taining to the eye, and not from its globe, as is generally 
supposed ; the skull must be justly, proportioned.' 

"Mrs. Cholnumdeley.^ — *My dear Sir Joshua, was 
there nothing in the magic of Garrick's eye ? its comi- 
cality. The Duke of Richmond, the Duke of Dorset, 
and young Sheridan * have superb eyes ; but I don't 
know what effect they would have on the stage.' 

** Sir Joshua. — ' Little or none. Madam ; the great 
beauty of the Duke of Richmond's eye proceeded from 
its fine and uncommon colour, dark blue, which would 
be totally lost on the stage, the light being constantly 
either too high or too low. Garrick's eye, unaccompanied 
by the action of his mouth, would not fascinate. When 
you are near a person, a pretty woman for instance, and 



G)ok on his last voyage. His 
marriage in 1782 to Susannah 
Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. 
Charles Bumey, and sister of 
Fanny Bumey, brought him 
into the Johnson set. He 
escorted Ittiss Bumey to West- 
minster Hall to hear Warren 
Hastings on his defence. Lamb, 
recalling his old whist-playing 
friends m his "Letter of Eba to 
Robert Southejr/' names him as 
" the high - minded associate 
of Cook, the veteran Colonel, 
with his lusty heart still send- 



ing cartels of defiance to dd 
Time." He died in 1832. 

^ Mrs. Cholmondeley, who 
appears several times in 
Boswell's Life, was a younger 
sister of P^ Wofi&ngton, and 
the wife of the Hon. and Rev. 
George Chohnondeley. 

' " Sheridan had very fine 
eyes, and he was very vain 
of them. He said to Rogers 
on his deathbed, 'Tell Lady 
Besborough that my eyes 
wiU look up to the coffin-lid 
as brightly as ever.' " 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 153 



most sing according to our contract." I recollect that 
the singer was handsome, most dashingly dressed, im- 
mensely plnmed, and villainously rouged ; she smiled as she 
sang, but it was not the bewitching smile of Mrs. Wrighten,^ 
then applauded by thousands at Vauxhall Gardais. As 
soon as the Spalady had ended her song, Keyse, after joining 
me in applause, apologised for doing so, by observing that, 
as he never suffered his servants to applaud, and as the 
people in the road (whose ears were close to the cracks in 
the paling to hear the song), would make a bad report if 
they had not heard more than the clapping of one pair of 
hands, he had in this instance expressed his reluctant 
feelings. 

As the lady retired from the front of the orchestra, 
she, to keep herself in practice, curtsied to me with as much 
respect as she would had G>lonel Topham been the patron 
of a gala night.* ** This is too bad," again observed Keyse ; 
** and I am sure you caimot expect fireworks ! " However, 
he politely asked me to partake of a bottle of Lisbon, 
which upon my refusing, he pressed me to accept of a 
catalogue of his pictures. 

Blewitt' (who at that time lived in Bermondsey 



i^'His. Wrighten had a 
vivacious manner and a be- 
witching smile, and her ' Hunt- 
ing Song' was popular" 
(Wroth : London Pleasure 
Gardens). 

* Captain Edward Topham 
-(1751-1820), after a brilliant 
regimental career in the Horse 
Guards, gave himself up to 
fashion and drama. He pro- 
duced several plays, and in 
1787 founded the World, a 
scurrilous daily paper, which 



brought him into the law 
courts. In Rowlandson's 
wdl - known Vauxhall, the 
foremost figure in the crowd 
is an eldeny beau, standing 
bolt uprijght, and defying 
through his glass the stare of 
a gaudv female of mature 
years who has found another 
cavalier. This is Captain, after- 
wards Major, Topham. He 
wrote the life of Elwes, the 
miser. 
•Jonas Blewitt, who died 



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154 A BOOK FOR A RMNY DAY 

Square), the scholar of Jonathan Battishill,^ was the comr 
poser for the Spa establishment. The following verse is the 
first of his most admired oomposition, — '" In lonely cot by 
Humberts side." 

My old and worthy friend Joseph Caulfield,* Blewitt's 
favourite pupil, of whom he learned thorough bass, related 
to me the following anecdote of a musical composer, as 
told him by his master : — " When I was going upstairs/' 
said Blewitt, '' to the attics, where one of my instructors 
lived (for I had many), I hesitated on the second-4oor 
landing-place, upon hearing my master and his wife at hig^ 
words. * Get you gone ! ' said the lofty paper-ruffled com- 
poser, * retire to your apartments ! ' This command of 
her lord she did not immediately obey ; however, in a short 
time after, I heard the clattering of plates against the wa]l» 
and upon entering the room, I discovered that the lady 
had retired, but not before she had covered the white- 
washed wall profusely with the unbroiled sprats." 

^' I was at a mu^cal party," continued my friend 
Joseph, " at Lord Sandwich's,* in Hertford Street, Majrfair, 



in 1805, lived at Bermondsey, 
near &e Spa Gardens, for 
which he wrote many songs. 
He wrote a Treatise on the 
Organ, and must not be con- 
fu^ with his son, the better- 
known Jonathan Blewitt, the 
musical director of the Surrey 
Theatre. 

1 Jonathan Battishill (1738- 
1801), composer, organist of 
Cluist Church, Newgate Street, 
and St. Clement's, Eastcheap, 
first became known by his 
music to the song "Kate of 
Aberdeen." His anthems were 



sung in St. Paul's Cathedral, 
and he set many of Charles 
Weslej^s hymns to music. 

* Smith underlines Joseph to 
distinguish him from his better- 
known brother, James Caul* 
field, who was the author 
and printseller, and the pub- 
lisher of much " Remarlcable 
Persons " literature. Jos^h 
Caulfield was a musical en- 
graver, and a capable teacher 
of the pianoforte. He lived 
in Camden Town. 

' John Montagu, fourth 
Earl of Sandwich (i7i8-*92)» 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 155 

when, among other spedxnens of the best masters, I heard 
Battishill's beaotifal composition of 

"Amidst the m5n:tles as I walk, 
Love and myself thus entered talk, 
'Tell me,' said I, in deep distress, 
* Where I may find my Shepherdess/"* 

Upon expressing my pleasure at hearing the above per* 
fomied in so superior a style, his Lordship told me he 
had written a sequel, which he thus repeated :— 

" Love said to me, * Thou faithful swain. 
Thy search in myrtle groves is vain ; 
Examine well thy noblest part, 
Thou*lt find her seated in thy heart.* '* 

It appears that in poetry, as well as in painting and 
prints, and also in dwellings, decorations, and dress, 
there has ever been a fashion for a time. Battishill was 
the onnposer of that justly celebrated glee, commencing 
with "Underneath this fftyrtle shade." M}nrtles, after 
having had a great run, were succeeded by Cupid's darts ; 
and that little rogue Love played old gooseberry with 
the hearts of Chloes and Colins, Robins and Robinets ; 
then the ever-blooming lasses of Patterdale and Rich- 
mond Hill attracted our giddy notice. These were suc- 

"was the soul of the Catch nickname, Jemmy Twitcher, 

Qnb, and one of the Directors taken from Macheath's words 

of the Concert of Ancient in ihe Beggafs Opera; *' That 

Mnsic, but he had not the least Jemmy Twitcher should peach 

real ear for music, and was me, I own surprised me." 
equally insensible of harmony ^ About the year 1770 Battis- 

and melody" (Charles Butler's hill wrote this glee in a com- 

Reminiscences). It was his petition for a gold medal 

treachery to Wilkes that gave offered by the Noblemen's 

Lord Sandwich his popular Catch Club. 



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156 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

ceeded by " Bacchus in green ivy bound," giving " Joy 
and pleasure all around." After that, moonlight meetings 
were preferred, and " Buy a broom, ladies," was continu- 
ally dinning our ears '* through and through." 

1796. 

In the summer of this year, the late John \^ngston, 
Esq., then of Millfield House, Edmonton, having repeatedly 
expressed a wish to see the famous George Morland before 
he conunenced a collection of his pictures, I having been 
known to that child of nature in my bo3dsh days, offered 
to introduce them to each other.^ Morland then resided 
in Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square, in the house formerly 
inhabited by Sir Thomas Apreece. He received us in 
the drawing-room, which was filled with easels, canvases, 
stretching-frames, gallipots of colour, and oil-stones; 
a stool, chair, and a three-legged table were the only 
articles of furniture of which this once splendid apart- 
ment could then boast. Mr. Wigston, his generous- 
hearted visitor, immediately bespoke a picture, for which 
he gave him a draft for forty pounds, that sum being 
exactly the money he then wanted ; but this gentleman 
had, Uke most of that artist's employers, to ply him close 
for his picture. 

As Mrs. Wigston had a great desire to see Morland, 
he was invited to take a day's sport with the hounds, 
which the artist accepted, with a full assurance of punctu- 
ality. However, as usual with that eccentric man, he 
only arrived time enough for dinner, accompanied by 

^ Smith had been Morland's Among his innumerable ad- 

fdlow- student at the Roval dresses, Morland had sevc^ 

Academy, and they had n:e- in the Fitzroy Square r^on. 
quently walked home together. 



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GEORGE MORLAND 
"There ? go back and tell the pawnbroker to advance me five guineas more upon iL* 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 157 

eight of those persons denominated his friends. Mrs. 
Wigston, an elegant and most accomplished lady, was in 
consequence deprived of a sight of this far-famed genius. 
I was deputed by my honoured friend Mr. Wigston to 
take Mrs. Wigston's abdicated chair, and carved for this 
pretty set, consisting of persons unaccustomed to sit 
at such a table. Our worthy host soon discovered their 
strong propensity for spirituous liquors, three of them 
even during dinner, instead of taking wine, of which 
there were many sorts on the table, calling for a glass of 
brandy. After hearing several jokes and humorous songs 
from some of the party, Geoige Morland declared he 
must go, having an engagement with Mrs. Laye, and 
other friends, at " Otter's Pool." » 

When Morland and his party entered the stable-yard, 
the following altercation took place between Mr. Wigston 
and his groom. 

Mr. Wigston. — " Bring out these gentlemen's horses." 
Groom. — " Horses, horses I they'll find 'um at the 
* Two Jolly Brewers.' Horses, indeed ! " 

Mr. Wigston. — " And why. Sir, were they sent there ? " 
Groom. — "Why, I would not suffer such cattle to 
come near your stud ; for I never saw such a set-out in 
my life ! " 

The party accordingly betook themselves to the 
** Brewers " ; but upon our return to the honest though 
rough diamond of a groom, he observed that it was past 
two o'clock, and that the dog ought to have been let 
loose two hours ago ! 

^ Otter's Pool was a country the seat of Sir James Shaw 
house at Aldenham, Herts, Willes, the judge of common 
afterwards for many years pleas. 



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158 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



1797. 

Although my mother continued till the time of her 
death in the habit of the Society of Friends, and my father 
followed most of the popular Methodists, I, from my 
earliest days of reflection, gave a preference to the Es- 
tablished Church of England. Notwithstanding this, my 
inquisitiveness now and then induced me to hear cdebrated 
preachers of every sect. I remember one Sunday morning 
in this year, after intending to enter some church on 
my way to dine with my great-aunt on Camberwell Green, 
my ears were most agreeably greeted with the swelling 
pipes of the Surrey Chapel oigan.^ Why, thinks I to 
myself, should not I hear Rowland Hill ? Stirely it 
must be now full twenty years since I saw him in Moor- 
fields, at my last visit to the Tabernacle. In I accord- 
ingly went ; and though a smile with me was always 
deemed highly indecorous during divine worship, yet 
the truth must out ; I could not help sometimes laughing 
— ^as heartily, though not so loudly, I hope, as all of us 
when led into the enjojmient of Momus's strongest fits 
by the inimitable Mathews. 

No sooner was the sermon over and the blessing 



* Surrey Chapel is now oc- 
cupied by a large machinery 
firm. Rowland Hill used to 
say, in allusion to its octagonsd 
form, that he liked a round 
building because there were 
no comers for the devil to 
hide in. Here he won the 
devotion of his congregation 
and the esteem of the many 
distinguished people who 
came to hear hun. Sheridan 



said : " I go to hear Rowland 
Hill because his ideas come red- 
hot from the heart." Dean 
Milner said to him, "Mr. 
Hill ! Mr. HiU ! I felt to-day 
'tis this slap-dash preaching, 
say what they will, that does 
all the ^ood." He died at his 
house m Blackfriars Road, 
April II, 1833, aged 88, and 
was buried in a vault imder his 
pulpit. 



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A BOOS FOR A RAINY DAY 159 

bestowed, than Rowland dectrified his hearers by vociferat- 
ing, '* Do<Mr-keepers, shut the doors ! " Slam went one 
door ; boonce went anoth^ ; bang went a third ; at last, 
all being anxiously silent as the most importantly unex* 
pected scenes of Sir Walter Scott could make them, the 
pastor, with a slow and dulcet emphasis, thus addressed 
his congr^;ation : — ** My dearly beloved, I speak it to 
my shame, tiiat this sermon was to have been a charity 
sermon, and if you will only look down into the green 
pew at those— let me see — ^three and three are six, and 
Que makes seven, young men with red mon)cco prayer* 
books in their hands, poor souls t they were backsliders, 
for they went on the Serpentine River, and other far 
distant waters, on a Sabbath; they were, however, as 
you see, all saved from a watery grave. I need not tell 
ye that my exertions were to have been for the benefit 
of that benevolent institution the Humane Society. — 
What / I see some of ye already up to be gone ; fie I fie I 
fie ! — ^never heed your dinners ; don't be Calibans^ nor 
mind your pockets. I know that some of ye are now 
attending to the devil's whispers. I say, listen to me I 
take my advice, give shiUings instead of sixpences ; and 
those who intended to give shillings, display half-crowns, 
in order not only to thwart the foul fiend's mischievous- 
ness, but to get your pastor out of this scrape; and if 
you do, I trust Satan will never put his foot within this 
dide again. Hark ye! I have hit upon it; ye shall 
leave us directly. The Bank Directors, you must know, 
have called in the dollars; now, if any of you happen 
to be encumbered with a stale dollar or two, jingle the 
Spanish in our dishes ; well take them, thejrHl pass current 
here. Stay, my friends, a moment more. I am to dine 
with the Humane Society on Tuesday next, and it would 



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160 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

shock me beyond expression to see the strings of the. 
Surrey Chapel lay dangle down its sides like the tags 
upon Lady Huntingdon's servants' shoulders. Now, 
mind what I say, upon this occasion I wish lor a bumper 
as strenuously as Master Hugh Peters did, when he re- 
commended his congregation in Broadway Chapel to 
take a second glass." It is recorded that when he found 
the sand of his hour-glass had descended, he turned it, 
saying, "Come, I know you to be jolly dogs, we'll take 
t'other glass." ^ I understand that Rowland Hill is 
not made up of veneer, but of solid weIl*seasoned stuff, 
with a heart of oak, and ever willing to exercise kindness 
to his fellow-creatures, upon the system of my friend 
Charles Lamb.* 

In May this year I applied to my worthy friend, Mr. 
John ConstaUe, now a Royal Academician, for any par- 
ticulars which he might be able to procure respecting 
Gainsborough, he being also a Suffolk man ; and I had the 
pleasure of receiving the following letter : — 

"East Bergholt, 7th May, 1797. 
"Dear Friend Smith, — If you remember, in my 
last I promised to write again soon, and tell you what 
I could about Gainsborough. I hope you will not 
think me negligent when I inform you that I have not 
been able to learn ans^thing of consequence respecting 
him : I can assure you it is not for the want of asking 
that I have not been successful, for indeed I have 

^ This fanatical advocate of * Smith is nowhere men- 
Charles the First's execution tioned by Lamb, and other 
(at St. Margaret's, West- evidence of their acquaintance 
minster) was one of the is wanting, 
regicides executed in i66o. 



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ROWLAND HILL 
''His ideas come red hot from the heart." 

Sheridan 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 161 

talked with those who knew him. I believe in Ipswich 
they did not know his value till they lost him. He belonged 
to something of a musical club in that town, and painted 
some of their portraits in a picture of a choir ; it is said to 
be very curious. 

*' I heard it was in Colchester ; I shall endeavour to see 
it before I come to town, which will be soon. He was 
generally the butt of the company, and his wig was to them 
a fond of amusement, as it was often snatched from his 
head and thrown about the room, etc. ; but enough of this. 
I shall now give you a few lines verbatim, which my friend 
Dr. Hamilton, of Ipswich, was so good as to send me ; 
though it amounts to nothing, I am obliged to him for taking 
the commission. 

" ' I have not been neglectful of the inquiries respecting 
Gainsborough, but have learned nothing worth your notice. 
There is no vale or grove distinguished by his name ia this 
neighbourhood. There is a place up the river-side where 
he often sat to sketch, on account of the beauty of the 
landscape, its extensiveness, and richness in variety, both 
in the fore and back grounds. It comprehended Bramford 
and other distant villages on one side ; and on the other 
side of the river extended towards Nacton, etc. Friston 
alehouse must have been near, for it seems he has iatro- 
duced the Boot signpost in many of his best pictures. 
Smart and Frost * (two drawing-masters in Ipswich) often 
go there now to take views; whether they be inspired 

* George Frost (1754-1821) " His genius lov'd his Country's 

is remembered as the intimate t**^*^^* yieyrs; 

friend of Constable. Smart 'VtKit^lirSsT ' 

was John Smart (1740-1811), He touched each scene with 

the miniature painter. He Nature's genuine hues. 

died in London. ^^^ «a^« \^^ 1"*^^^ ^^• 



scape all its charms.' 



II 



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162 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



from pressing the same sod with any of tins great pdnter's 
genius, you are a better judge than I am. Farewell.' 

** This, my dear friend, is the little all I have jrert gained, 
but though I have been unsuccessful, it does not foUow 
that I should relinquish my inquiries. If you want to 
know the exact time of his birth, I will take a ride over to 
Sudbury, and look into the register.* There is an exceed- 
ing fine picture of his painting at Mr. Kilderby's, in Ipswich. 

'' Since I last wrote to you I have made another attempt 
at etching ; have succeeded a little better, but yet fall very 
short. I shall send you an impression soon. 

^' I doubt there is nothing in my last pared of cottages 
worth your notice ; am obliged to you for the little sketch 
after Hobbima. I understand the present exhibition is 
a very good one ; I understand Sir G. Beaumont excels. 
My friend Gubbins informs me that you have finished Lady 
Plomer's Palace,' and that you have made a sketch from 
the fire in the Minories ; surely it must have put our 

friend C ^h to the rout.* Thine sincerely, 

" John Constable." 



^ Smith had evidently asked 
Constable to ascertain for him 
the exact date of Gains- 
borough's birth. This is still 
uncertain : it took place in 
Sepulchre Street, Suabury, at 
the end of April or beginnin£| 
of May 1727. He was baptized 
on 14th May of that year in 
the Independent meeting-house 
in Sudbury. 

« James Gubbins was a sub- 
scriber to Smith's Remarks on 
Rural Scenery (1797), a vol- 
tune of etchings of cottage and 
rural scenes around London. 
One of its drawings represents 



a squatter's shanty in Epping 
Forest, bowered in trees, and is 
entitled " Lady Plomer's Palace 
on the summit of Hawke's 
Hill Wood, Epping Forest" 

'The Minones drawing re^ 
ferred to by Constable was 
Smith's etchmg in his Aniient 
Topography of the north and 
east wails of the Convent of 
St. Clare, the remains of which 
were destroyed by fire on 
March 23, 1797. Only a year 
before, Mr. John Cranch (the 

C h of Constable's letter) 

had presented Smith with a 
sketch of the convent. Con- 



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A BOOK FOR A BAINY DAY 



163 



Mis. Pope, the actress, died this year in Half Moon 
Street, Piccadilly, and was buried in the cloisters of West- 
minster Abbey.* 

Being anxious to add something more to the memory of 
this amiable character, I appUed to h^ surviving husband ; 
when that gentleman very obligingly favoured me with 
the following copy of a record, which he made soon after 
her death : — 

*' The best of women and the best of wives drew her last 
breath at half-past two o'clock on Wednesday morning, 
the 15th of March, 1797. 

^* Her iUness lasted about seven weeks ; her complaint 
palsy,beginninginher head, and depriving her of the use of 
her left hand. Her death was an awful lesson ; her loss 
irreparable." * 



stable, therefore, refers to the 
swift supersession of Cranch's 
sketch by Smith's drawing 
after tbe fire. 

* Elizabeth Pope died on 
15th March of this year, aged 
52. The funeral to the 
Abbey was met everywhere 
by great crowds. Her abiUties 
had not be^i dimmed by 
those of Garrick, Mrs. Siddons, 
and Miss Farren, and her 

K'vate Ufe was blameless, 
e resemblance she bore to 
Lady Saiah Lennox was such 
that George ni., seeing her 
act late in her career, ex- 
claimed to his queen, ''She 
is Uke Lady Sarah still." 
There is a fine story of her 
parting with Garrick. On 
Junes, 1776, his last appear- 
ance but one, when he was 
playing Lear to her Cordelia, 



Garrick said to her with a 
sigh : " Ah, Bess ! this is the 
last time of my being your 
father; you must now look 
out for someone else to adopt 
you." "Then, sir," she ex- 
claimed, dropping on her 
knees, ''give me a father's 
blessing." Garrick, deeply 
touched, raised her, and said, 
" God bless you ! " 

• Nevertheless Pope married 
two more wives. His most last- 
ing affections appear to have 
been set on table delicacies. 
Once, when Kean asked him 
to act with him at Dublin, 
and take a benefit there, he 
declined, saying : " I must be 
at Plymouth • at the time ; 
it is exactly the season for 
mullet." H!e maintained that 
there was but one crime : 
peppering a beef-steak. 



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164 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

In the room with the bow-window on the first-floor 
of the same house, Mr. Pope ^ produced some excellent 
portraits in crayons, of persons of the first fashion, many 
of them little inferior in every respect to those of the 
celebrated Francis Cotes ; • the inimitable whole-length 
portrait of Grattan, of which there is an engraving, will 
be a lasting and mutual record of the artist and patriot. 
The following letter, given to me by my late worthy friend 
Dr. Mathew, was written by Mrs. Pope, to her friend Mrs. 
Mathew, of Rathbone Place : — 

"Dublin, July 6th. 
" I flatter myself that my ever loved and most highly 
esteemed friends will be pleased to receive the assurance of 
my health, and to know that I am in the possession of as 
much comfort as my mind is capable to receive out of 
England. Thank God, all things as yet go on well, and 
the exertions of business do not seem to do that injury to 
my health which I had great reason to fear. We have 
acted six nights, Jane Share first, a very great house, weU 
received^ and Pope's speech to Gloster twice repeated. 
which I think proves in a great degree the loyalty of the 
people. 

^ Pope had b^;un Uf e as himself a house in Cavendish 

a crayon portrait painter in Square (No. 32), in which 

his birthplace, Cork. A Romney afterwards Uved for 

highly finished water-colour twentv-one years, followed by 

portrait of Henry Grattan, Sir Martin A. Shee. It was 

from his hand, is in the demolished in 1904. The 

British Museum Print Room. British Museum has four 

* Francis Cotes, bom in Cork portrait subjects by Cotes 

Street, 1725, was a founda- m crayon. He is poorly 

tion member of the Royal represented in the National 

Academy, and famous for his Gallery by a small portrait 

crayon portraits. He built of Mrs. Brocas. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 165 

" Ghster^s speech, thus : — 

" * What if some patriot for the public good 
Should vary from your scheme, — ^new mould the State ? 

" * Hastings. — Curse on the innovating hand that 
'tempts it ! 
Remember him, the villain, righteous Heaven, 
In thy great day of vengeance : blast the traitor 
And his pernicious counsels ; who for wealth, 
For power, the pride of greatness, or revenge, 
Would plunge his native land in civil wars.' 

'* It is impossible to describe the effect this speech 
had on the audience. I think you would have been gratified 
to have heard it ; it is the first time a speech in a tragedy 
was ever repeated. Perhaps it proves the lo5ralty of this 
city. I hear there are sad doings in the country parts of 
Ireland ; I trust we shall meet with nothing of it : we stay 
in Dublin all this month, then go to Cork. Our second 
characters were Mr. and Mrs. Beverley^ highly esteemed 
and greatly spoken of ; third, Behidera and Jaffier — ^with 
good success. Their last new play. Haw to grow Rich, twice ; 
and yesterday Elizabeth and Essex, which, by the way. 
Pope acted well. Next week Columbus. I count the 
nights, though now I trust I shall be able to go through 
them all. So much for m3^self . 

** And now, my friends, let me beg that you will favour 
me with a little account of yourselves. I ardently wish 
to hear that you are all well and happy, in the full posses- 
sion of that true felicity, which your goodness of heart 
so justly merits. God bless you both ! Mr. Pope unites 
with me in respectful remembrance to the Baron, and 
affectionate esteem to the whole family, particularly in 
respect and affection to Mrs. and Miss Mathew. Adieu : 



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16S A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

I don't like to leave off, and yet I hardly think you can read 
what I have already written. 

" Ever your most affectionate 

" E. Pope." 
1798. 

This year, in consequence of the death of Mr. Green,* 
who had been drawing-master to Christ's Hospital, I stood 
candidate for the situation ; and, though I was unsuccess- 
ful, my testimonials being so flattering,.! caimot withstand 
the temptation of printing them, whatever may be said by 
my enemies, who may not be able to produce anything 
half so honourable. 

" May loth, 1798. 

" We whose names are subscribed, having seen speci- 
mens of drawings by John Thomas Smith, are of oi^nion 
that he is qualified for the office of drawing-master in 
the school of Christ's Hospital. 

I not only think him qualified as an artist, bat greatly to be 
reelected as a man. 

Benjamin West, Prsst. R.A. 

Being not personally acquainted with Mr. J. T. Smith, I have 
examined his performances, and I think him well qualified for the 
above office. 

J. F. RiGAUD, R.A. 

I have known him from a child, and think him an honest man 
and well qualified for the office. 

Joseph Nollbkbns, R.A. 

^ Benjamin Green, bom at the illustrations in Morant's 

Halesowen, became a drawing- History and Antiquities of the 

master at Christ's Hospital, Coumty of Essex (1768). His 

and member of the Incor- drawings of Canonbury Tower 

porated Society of Artists, and Highbury Bam are in 

He published many topo- the Bntish Museum Print 

graphical plates, and engraved Room. He died about i8oa 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 167 

I have long been acquainted with Mr. J. T. Smith's merits as 
a good artist and a worthy man. 

John Flaxman, Jun., 
Sculptor, Associate R.A. ; R.A. of Florence and Carrara. 

We subscribe to the above opinion. — 

W. Bbechby, R.A. elect. John Opie, R.A. 

W. Hamilton, R.A. R. Cosway, R.A. 

Thomas Stothard, R.A. Jambs Northcotb, R.A. 

John Russell, R.A. Jos. Farington, R.A. 

J. Bacon, R.A. Richard Westall, R.A. 

T. Banks, R.A. Henry Fuseli, R.A. 

Jambs Barry, R.A., H. Coplby, R.A. 
Ptofessor of Painting. 

I have long known Bir. Smith as an artist and respectable man, 
and believe him to be perfectly capable of filling the office be solicits 
with hononr. 

P. Rbinaglb, a. 
We subscribe to the above opinion. 

Francis Bartolozzi, R.A. 
Richard Collins. 
Calbb Whitbfoord, 

We have known Mr. Smith for upwards of fourteen years, and 
we have found him an able drawing-master to our daughter, whose 
drawings he has never touched upon ; a practice too often followed 
by drawing-masters in general : and we believe him to be a truly 
valuable member of society, as a husband, father, and good man. 

Jambs Winter Lakb. 
Jessy Lake. 

We can never subscribe our names with greater satisfaction, 
than in signifying the very high opinion we have of Mr. Smith, 
both as to his talents and character. 

Jambs Lakb. 
Atwill Lake. 
I lolly subscribe to the above opinion, 

Richard Wyatt, Milton Place. 

I befieve Mr. Smith to be a very deserving man, and well qualified 
for the situation he is ambitious of obtaining. 

John Charles Crowlb. 

Thomas Allen has a great respect for Mr. Smith, both as a 
Land an artist. 

J08BPB WnxxAMSON, AJi., Vicar ol St. Dunstan 

[in the West. 



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168 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

I am personally acquainted with Mr. J. T, Smitfa» and esteem 
him one of the best of men. 

John Boydbll» Alderman. 

I am happy to bear testimony to the character of Mr. Smith 
as a man, and to find him so hig^y respected as an artist 

T. TBoicaoK. 

I have long known Mr. Smith to be an ingenious artist, an 
able instructor, and a benevolent and honest man. 

John Cranch. 

I have known Mr. Smith many years, and believe him very 
capable of filling the office of drawing-master to Christ's Hospital 
with credit to himself and advantage to the charity. 

Hbnry Howahd. 

j. swainson. 

T. Whittingham. 

J. Nixon, Basinghall Street. 

Hbnry Smith, Drapers' HalL 

Albx. Lban Smyth, the Hudson's Bay Company. 

Arthur Ball,i__ , , « tt 
John BRooMB.}H«<i«>n's Bay House. 

Gborgb Whitbhbad, Cateaton Street. 

Providence, which placed me next door to Mr. J. T. Smith for 
several years, made me intimately acquainted with a faithful 
husband, an affectionate father, and an honest man. 

Cbarlbs Gowbr, M.D.'' 



1799. 

On the 4th of August this year, died at his mansion 
in Rutland Square, Dublin, the Right Hon. James, Ead 
of Charlemont/ who was bom i8th of August, 1728. 

^The Right Honourable playfully imagined migfat be 

James Caulfield, first Earl of staffed by members of the 

Charlemont (1728-99), dis- Literary Club, Lord Charie- 

tin^uished himself in Ireland mont was assi^ed the chair 

pohtically; in London he of modem history, and it 

mixed with the Reynolds was on Lord Charlemont that 

and Johnson, set and was a Boswell, Burke, Sir Joshua 

member of the Dilettanti Club. Reynolds, and others laid the 

In the college at St. Andrews, task of bringing Dr. Johnson's 

which Johr^n and Boswell conversational powers into 



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JAMES BARRY, R.A. 

[ reflect with horror upon such a fellow as I am, and with such a kind of art, with house-rent to pay 
and employers to look for." 



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A BOOK FOR A BAINY DAY 169 

This gentleman was truly a noUeman, for he was one of 
the greatest patrons of the fine arts this country could 
boast of. He was the great friend of Hogarth ; bought 
many of his pictures, particularly that most elegant 
performance so justly celebrated under the title of ''The 
Lady's Last Stake," so admirably engraven by Mr. 
Cheesman.^ The following is a copy of an original letter 
given to me by a late worthy friend ; it is addressed to 
the late Sir Lawrence Parsons, Bart.,* and written by 
Lord Charlemont within eight months of his Lordsliip's 
death. 

''Dublin, 12M Jan., 1799. 
"My dear Sir Lawrence, — As nothing has ever 
affected me with more painful astonishment than the 
shameful apathy and consequent silence of the country 
at^the present desperate crisis of our fate as a nation, 
so have I experienced few more real pleasures than in 
having found, 1^ the public papers, that a meeting 
of your county, at least, has been called; a pleasure 
which, though principally derived from my ardent 
2eal for the public service, is still further increased 

play by asking him whether in the National Portrait 
a ludicrous statement in the Gall^. 
newspapers that he was tak- *Sir Lawrence Parsons 
ing dancing lessons from Vestris (1758-1841), afterwards Earl of 
was true. Rosse. Like Lord Charlemont, 
^ Thomas Cheesman, who he was opposed to the Union, 
had been pupil to Bartolozzi, and twelve days after the 
engraved The Lad}r's Last date of this letter he moved 
Stake, or Picquet, or Virtue in the Irish House of Commons 
in Danger," after Hogarth, an address to the Crown to ex- 
He hved, successively, at 40 punge a paragraph in favour 
Oxford Street, 71 Newman of the Union. This was 
Street, and 28 Francis Street, carried by a majority of five 
His portrait, by Bartolozzi, is votes. 



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170 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

by my friendship for you, as I am too well acquainted 
with yotu: sentiments to doubt for a moment that such 
call has been in the highest degree satisfactory and flatter- 
ing to your feelings. Neither can I entertain the dightest 
apprehension that the result of any meeting of Irishmen 
will be other than the firm and spirited condemnaticxi 
of a measure, replete with every dSisgrace and danger 
in their country. Never, indeed, were my beloved 
countr3mien so forcibly called upon as at the present 
emergency, maturely to form their opinions and to speak 
aloud the dictates of their hearts. Their ancestors call 
upon them from their graves to preserve those national 
rights which they have transmitted to them. Their 
children from their cradles, with mute but prevailing 
eloquence, beseech them to protect and to defend their 
birthri^ts ; and, with a mcire awful voice, their country 
calls upon them not by their silence to betray her dearest 
interests, or by thefar supineness to leave her enslaved 
whom they found free t Thus invoked, is it possiUe 
that Irishmen sfioold remain silent ? 

**But surely I need dwell no longer upon a subject 
with which yon are so much better acquainted; and, 
indeed, the state of my health, and particularly of my 
eyes, is such as to render it impossible for me to write 
more. — I must therefore, however unwillingly, condude 
by assuring you that I am, and ever shall be, my dearest 
Parsons, your most faithful and truly affectionate 

" Charlbmont." 

In this year, James Barry, the painter of those mighty 
pictures on the walls of the great room of the Society 
of Arts, received a severe blow by having his name erased 
from those of the Royal Academicians by King George ni.. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 171 

who believed what had been represented respecting the 
Professor's conduct in the Royal Academy.^ 



" Buckingham Street, Fitzroy Square. 

*' Dear Sir, — Pennit me to thank you for the satisfaction 
of having seen that curious monument of English antiquity, 
St. Stephen's Chapel, Westminster, when the ancient archi- 
tecture and painting were discovered by the removal 
of the modem wainscot, which formed the interior of 
the House of Commons. 

'* Notwithstanding this txanch of antiquity has never 
been my particular pursuit, I am highly gratified to see 
sach materials in the general history of art rescued from 
obbvion Iqr publication, for ixduch. Sir, we are indebted 
to your zeal and industry, as some of the interesting 
pictures were effaced soon after their discovery, by ignorant 
cariosity ; in addition to the careless and ruinous manner 
in which the discovery itself was made» of which circum- 
stances I complained to several persons on the spot. 



^ Had James Barry possessed 
no more than a tithe of 
the suavity of Re]rnolds or 
West, his career would have 
been more fortunate. In vain 
Burke, his best friend, poiuted 
out that his business was to 
paint, not to dispute. He 
used his chair of painting 
at the Ro)ral Academy to 
viKfy the members to the 
stuaents. In 1709 the climax 
arrived, and tne Academi- 
cians resolved on his expulsion. 
The King consented, and the 
foUowing entry appears in the 



records: "I have struck out 
the adjdning name, in con- 
sequence of the opinion entered 
in the minutes ik the Council, 
and of the General Meeting, 
which I fully approve. Apnl 
23. 1779. — G. R." No 
work of Barr/s is in the 
National Gallery, but he has 
an enduring memorial in his 
six great paintings in the 
hall of the Society of Arts, 

ifohn Street Here he finally 
ay in state amon^ his works 
—as Haydon said, "a pall 
worthy of the corpse." 



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172 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

particularly to the Rev. Mr. Brand,^ Secretary to the 
Antiquarian Society. 

" As the best testimony I can give to the fidelity and 
ability of your publication, give me leave to subscribe my 
name for a copy of the work, and to offer such assistance 
as I can give, in general observations on the arts of design, 
when St. Stephen's Chapel was in its splendour. 

*' I remain, dear Sir, with great regard, your much 
obliged 

"John Flaxman." 

The admission of one hundred additional members 
into the House of Commons, arising from the union with 
Ireland, obliged Mr. V/yatt to cut away the side-walls 
of the room internally, in order to make recesses for two 
extra benches.* 



ijohn Brand (174^-1806), 
the excellent historian of 
Newcastle- upon -T5me, and 
author of the Papular Anii- 
^iiies. He came to London 
m 1784, to fill the rectory 
of St Marv-at-HilL In the 
same year he was appointed 
Resident Secretary of the 
Society of Antiquaries, but 
he continued to discharge his 
duties in the City, and died 
there, suddenly, in his rectory. 
He was buried in the chancel 
of his church. 

'The publication Flaxman 
indicates, and to which he 
wishes to subscribe, is Smith's 
important " Antiquities of 
Westminster, the old Palace, 
St. Stephen's Chapel (now the 
House of Commons). . . . 



Containing two hundred and 
forty-six engravings of topo- 
graphical subjects, of which 
one hundred and twenty-two 
no longer remain." 

The reduction of the thick- 
ness of the side waUs of St 
Stephen's Chapel from three 
feet to one foot gave addi- 
tional four feet to the width 
of the chamber. So soon as 
the wainscotting was removed, 
it was seen that the walls 
were adorned with beautiful 
paintings of scriptural and 
historical subjects. The dis- 
covery excited great interest, 
both on account of the 
antiauity of the paintings, 
whicn were found to date 
from Edward iii., and the 
fact that they were painted 



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A BOOK FOR A BAINY DAY 173 

i8oi. 

In the autumn of this year I passed a most agreeable 
day with the Hon. Hussey Delaval,^ at his house near 
Parliament Stairs.' This learned and communicative 
gentleman, among whose works that on Colours is generally 
considered the most interesting, was as friendly to me, 
as the jealousy of that well-known odd compound of 
nature, my antagonist, John Carter,' who was of our 
party, would allow ; for with that artist's opinions as to 
Gothic architecture, Mr. Delaval so entirely coincided. 



in oils and ware consequently 
among the earliest specimens 
of "uat class of painting. 
Smith obtained permission to 
copy them. He began work 
each morning, as soon as it 
was light, and was followed so 
dosdy by the workmen that 
they sometimes demolished 
in the afternoon the painting 
he had copied in the morning. 
This task occupied him for 
six weel^. These valuable 
drawings are engraved and 
coloured in the Antiquities 
of Westminster. 

1 Edward Hussey Delaval 
(1729-1814) of Seaton-Ddaval, 
Northumberland, the chemist, 
has a ckdm on the remembrance 
of Londoners. In 1^69 he 
and Benjamin Frankhn were 
commissioned to report to the 
Royal Society on the best 
means of protecting St. Paul's' 
from lightning. Parliament 
Stairs, wixece his house stood, 
was at the west end of the 
present Houses of Parliament, 



giving access to the river from 
Abingdon Street. Delaval, 
who traced his descent from 
the Conqueror's standard- 
bearer at Hastings, died here, 
aged 85. 

* Parliament Stairs were open 
several months in the sum- 
mer for the acconunodation of 
those gentlemen of Westminster 
School, who practise the manly 
and healthy exercise of rowing ; 
the key was held by Mr. Tyr- 
whitt, whose servants regularly 
opened and dosed the gates 
night and morning. — S. 

» John Carter, F.R.S. (1748- 
1817), is airily described by 
Michael Bryan as " a harmless 
and inoffensive drudge." He 
was employed by the Society 
of Antiquaries, and by Horace 
Walpole and others. His 
chief work, The Ancient Archi' 
iecture of England, occupied 
him many years. Carter was 
enthusiastically musical, but 
the two operas on which he 
ventured are forgotten. 



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174 A BOOK FOR A RAIKY DAY 

that he employed him to provide the ornamental decora- 
tions of his house, which were mostly in putty mixed 
with sand, and in some instances cast from the decorations 
of several Gothic structures, particularly Westminster 
Abbey. This house was originally fire-proof, the floors 
being of stone or composition, and the window-sashes 
of cast iron, but since the death of Mr. Delaval, wood 
has been substituted for the sashes and other parts. 

The apartments are ten in number, besides small 
offices. The lower rooms consist of two halls: in the 
north wall of the first are three pretty Gothic recesses 
for seats, for servants or persons in waiting ; the seomd 
hall is filled with Gothic figures placed upon brackets 
under canopies. The chinmey-piece and other parts of 
the dining-parlour looking over the Thames, are decorated 
in a similar manner; the kitchen is on the same floor 
towards the north. The staircase leading to the first- 
floor is a truly tasteful little specimen, not equalled by 
anything at Strawberry Hill, which, by reason of Mr. 
Beiitley's^ fancy mouldings interfering so often with 
parts which are really chaste, must be considered a mmle 
building. The drawing-room and library also look over 
the water. On the same floor are two bed-chambers 
towards the west ; above which are two attics, with a 
door opening upon the embattled leads ovtr the drawing- 



^ Richard Bentley, only son under no delusion about their 

of Dr. Bentley, the Master of joint experiments in Gothic 

Trinity. He designed beauti- Neither Mr. Bentley nor my 

ful illustrations for Walpole's workmen had stmied the 

edition-de-luxe of six of Gray's science/' he wrote to Thomas 

poems, including the Elegy, Barrett (June 5, 1788); "my 

and gave much assistance in house therefore is bat a sketch 

the architectural treatment of for beginners." 
Strawberry Hill. Walpole was 



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A BOOK FOR A RAIISY DAY 175 

room. Upon fhese leads ive took our wine — attended 
by female servants only, as Mr. Delaval never wonld 
allow a man-servant to enter the house, but with messages 
— and here enjoyed the glowing, Cuyp-like effect of the 
sun upon west-country barges laden either with blocks 
of stone or fresh-cut timber, objects ever picturesque 
on the water. Mr. Delaval was so pleased with this 
scenery, and the pencil of my friend G. Amald, Associate 
of the Royal Academy, that he bespoke two pictures 
of him. Views up and down the River, the figures in which, 
by the order of Mr. Delaval, were painted by his Mend 
G. F. Joseph, A.R.A. They were exhibited at Somerset 

House.^ 

1802. 

How often do we find peculiar attachments and pro- 
pensities in the minds of persons of reported good under- 
standing. Within my time, many men have indulged 
most ridiculously in their eccentricities. I have known 
cme who had made a pretty large fortune in business, get 
up at four o'clock in the morning and walk the streets to 
pick up horseshoes which had been slipped in the course 
of the night, with no other motive than to see how many 
he could accumulate in a year. I also remember a rich 

^ George Amald (1763-1841) 18^), was a well-known por- 

is represented in the National trait painter in his day. He 

Gallery by one pleasing land- is represented in the National 

scape, hung in Room xx., '* On Gallery by portraits of Spencer, 

the Ouse, Yorkshire." Some Perceval, and Sir Stamford 

of his London subjects are Rafi3es, and in the British 

rraroduced by SrmOi in his Museum Print Room by a 

IVesiminsier. His ''View of water-colour portrait of 

the Palace and Abbey," painted Charles Lamb, engravings 

in 1803, just excludes Delaval's from which appear in many 

bouse on the left. — George editions of Lamb's works. 
Francis Joseph, A.R«A. (1764- 



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176 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

soap-boiler who never missed an opportunity of pocketing 
nails, pieces of iron hoops, and bits of leather, in his daily 
walks ; and these he would spread upon a large walnut-tree 
three-flapped dining-table, with a similar view to that of 
the above-mentioned gentleman. This wealthy citizen 
would often put on a red woollen cap, in shape like those 
worn by slaughter-house men, and a waggoner's frock, 
in order to stoke his own furnace ; after which, he would 
dress, get into his coach, and, attended by tall servants 
in bright blue liveries, drive to his villa, where his hungry 
friends were waiting his arrival. 

The allusion to these pecuUarities, which certainly are 
harmless, will serve by way of prelude to a more extra- 
ordinary one. The late Duke of Roxbuigh,^ whose wonder- 
ful Ubrary will ever be spoken of with the highest delight 
by bibliomaniacs, had an attachment to the portraits of 
malefactors as dosely as Rowland Hill to his petted toad. 
I made many drawings of such characters for his Grace 
during their trials or confinement ; that which I made this 
3rear, was of Governor Wall, whose trial produced much 
discussion.' Having been deprived of admission at the 



^Jobn Ker, third Duke of 
Roxburgh (1740-1804), one of 
the fi;reatest of book-collectors, 
Uvea at No. 11 St. James's 
Square. Smith's epithet " the 
late" appertains to the time 
at which he wrote this pass- 
age. 

> The case of Colonel Joseph 
Wall was remarkable for tne 
culprit's twenty years' evasion 
of justice. His crime was the 
murder of a soldier while he 
was Lieutenant-Governor of 
Goree, in Senegambia, in 1782. 



The command of the fort at 
Goree was an inferior appoint- 
ment, usually given to some 
claimant who stood in no ^^reat 
favour with the War Minister, 
and the troops of the garrison 
were commonlv r^;iments in 
disgrace. Wall exercised his 
authority with crceat cruelty, 
and in 1782 punished Benjanun 
Armstrong, a sergeant, with a 
wilful severity which resulted 
in his death. Awaxe of the 
nature of lus action, Wall fled 
to France. He then came to 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 177 

Old Bailey on the day of his trial, I went to the Doke, and 
be immediately wrote to a nobleman high in power, for an 
order to admit me to see the mifortunate criminal in the 
condemned cdl, which application was firmly, and, in my 
hnmble opinion, very properly, refused. I walked home, 
where I found Isaac Solomon waiting to show me some 
of his improved black-lead pencils. Isaac, upon hearing 
me relate to my family the disappointment I had experi- 
enced, assmed me that he could procure me a sight of the 
Governor, if I would only accompany him in the evening 
to Hatton Garden, and smoke a pipe with Dr. Forde, the 
Ordinary of Newgate,^ with whom he said he was parti- 
cularly intimate. Away we trudged ; and, upon entering 
the club-room of a public-house, we found the said Doctor 
most pompously seated in a superb masonic chair, under 



England, and was tried by 
court-martial for cruelty; but 
the proceedin|;s hung fire, and 
he went to reside at 6ath. He 
was re-arrested in 1784, but 
escaped to the Continent. 
FinaJly, in I797» he vfTote to 
the Iiome ^e^etary, offering 
to stand lus trial for murder. 
He was tried, and sentenced 
to death, and, though the 
likelihood of a reprieve seemed 
great, was hanged outside 
Nevnrate, January 28, 1802. 

^ The Gentleman's Magazine 
records that Dr. Forde, the 
Ordinary of Newgate, was " a 
very worthy man, and was 
much and deservedly esteemed 
by the City magistrates, who, 
on his retirement from office, 
settled on him an annuity 
which provided for the com- 

13 



forts of his latter days.'* Dr. 
Forde no doubt satisfied the 
City authorities, but the Par- 
liamentary Committee which 
investigated the state of the 
prison in 1814 reported: 
Beyond his attendance in 
chapel, and on those who are 
sentenced to death, Dr. Forde 
feels but few duties to be 
attached to his office. He 
knows nothing of the state 
of morals in the prison ; he 
never sees any of the prisoners 
in private; . . . he never knows 
that any have been sick till 
he gets a warning to attend 
their funeral ; and does not 
go to the infiurmary, for it is 
not in his instructions." Dr. 
Forde was succeeded by the 
Rev. Mr. Cotton, who first 
officiated August 8, 1814. 



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178 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

a stately crimson canopy placed between the windows. 
The room was clouded with smoke, whiffed to tiie ceOing, 
which gave me a better idea of what I had heard of the 
Black Hole of Calcutta than any place I had seen. There 
were present at least a hundred associates of every de- 
nomination ; of this nmnber, my Jew, being a favoured man, 
was admitted to a whispering audience with the Doctor, 
which soon produced my introduction to him. 

** Man's life is all a mist, and in the dark our fortunes 
meet us." Standing beneath a masonic lustre, the Doctor 
immediately recognised .me as a friend of John Ireland, 
but more particularly of his older crony, Atkinscm Bush ; 
he requested me to take a pipe, to me a most detestable 
preliminary. He then whispered, " Meet me at the felon's 
door at the break of day." There I punctually applied, 
but, notwithstanding the order of the Doctor, I found it 
absolutely necessary, to protect myself from an increasing 
mob, to show the turnkey half-a-crown, who soon closed 
his hand and let me in. I was then introduced to a most 
diabolical-looking little wretch, denominated ** the Yeoman 
of the Halter," Jack Ketch's head man. The Doctor soon 
arrived in his canonicals, and with his head as stiffly erect 
as a sheriff's coachman when he is going to Court, with an 
enormous nosegay under his chin, gravely uttered, " Come 
this way, Mr. Smith." 

As we crossed the Press-3rard a cock crew; and the 
solitary clanking of a restless chain was dreadfully horrible. 
The prisoners had not risen. Upon our entering a stone- 
cold room, a most sickly stench of green twigs, with which 
an old round-shouldered, goggle-eyed man was endeavour- 
ing to kindle a fire, annoyed me almost as much as the 
canaster fumigation of the Doctor's Hatton Garden 
friends. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 179 

The prisoner entered. He was death's counterfeit, 
tall, shrivelled, and pale ; and his soul shot so piercingly 
through the port-holes of his head that the first glance of 
him nearly petrified me. I said in my heart, putting my 
pencil in my pocket, God forbid that I should disturb thy 
last moments ! His hands were clasped, and he was 
truly penitent. After the Yeoman had requested him to 
stand up, *' he pinioned him," as the Newgate phrase is, 
and tied the cord with so little feeling, that the Governor, 
who had not given the wretch the accustomed fee, observed, 
" You have tied me very tight ; " upon which Dr. Forde 
ordered him to slacken the cord, which he did, but not 
without muttering. " Thank you. Sir," said the Governor 
to the Doctor, " it is of little moment." He then observed 
to the attendant, who had brought in an immense iron 
shovelful of coals to throw on the fire, " Ay, in one hour 
that will be a blazing fire ; " then, turning to the Doctor, 
questioned him : '* Do tell me. Sir : I am informed I shall 
go down with great force ; is it so ? " After the con- 
struction and action of the machine had been explained, 
the Doctor questioned the Governor as to what kind of men 
he had at Goree. " Sir," he answered, " they sent me the 
very rifiEraff." The poor soul then joined the Doctor in 
prayer ; and never did I witness more contrition at any 
condemned sermon than he then evinced. 

The sherifE arrived, attended by his officers, to receive 
the prisoner from the keeper. A new hat was then partly 
flattened on his head ; for, owing to its being too small in the 
crown, it stood many inches too high behind. As we were 
crossing the Press-yard, the dreadful execrations of some of 
the felons so shook his frame, that he observed, "' the dock 
had struck ; " and, quickening his pace, he soon arrived 
at the room where the sheriff was to give a receipt for his 



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180 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

body, according to the usual custom. Owing, however, to 
some informality in the wording of this receipt, he was not 
brought out so soon as the multitude expected ; and it was 
this delay which occasioned a partial exultation from 
those who betted as to a rei»ieve, and not from any pleasure 
in seeing him executed. For the honour of England, I 
may say we are not so revengeful as some of our G>ntinental 
neighbours have been ; as Mrs. Cosway ^ assured me that 
she was in the room with David, then esteemed the first 
painter in Paris, at the time that he and Robespierre 
were in power ; and that when the Reporter, from the 
guillotine, came in to announce eighty as the number of 
persons executed that morning, David, in the greatest 
possible rage, exclaimed, " No more ! " 

After the execution, as soon as I was permitted to 
leave the prison, I found the Yeoman selling the rope 
with which the malefactor had been suspended, at a shilling 
an inch ; and no sooner had I entered Newgate Street, 
than a lath of a fellow, past threescore years and ten, 
who had just arrived from the purlieus of Black Boy 
Alley,* woe-begone as Rameo^s apothecary, exclaimed, 
— "Here's the identical rope at sixpence an inch.*' A 
group of tatterdemalions soon collected round him, most 
vehemently expressing their eagerness to possess bits of 
the cord. It was pretty obvious, however, that the real 
business of this agent was to induce the Epping butter- 

^ Maria G)8way, wife of No fewer than twenty-one 

Richard Cosway, the minia- were executed at once, after 

turist. which the humour of the neigh- 

'Black Boy AUev was bourhood caUed the place Jack 

notorious in the eighteenth Ketch's Common. In i8o2, 

centuiy, and at one time was and earlier, Black Boy Alley 

infested by a ^ang who drowned was the scene of a weekly dis- 

their victims m the Fleet River, play of badger-baiting. 



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DR. ARNE 

HK COMPOSED "RULE BRITANNIA 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 181 

men to squeeze in with their canvas bags, which con- 
tained their morning receipts in Newgate market.^ A 
httle further on, at the north-east comer of Warwick 
Lane, stood "Rosy Emma," exuberant in talk, and 
hisstng-hot from Pie Comer,' where she had taken her 
morning dose of gin and bitters ; and as she had not waited 
to make her toilet, was consequently a lump of heat. 

" Now, my readers, I have been told, 
Love wounds by heat, and Death by cold ; 
Of size she would a barrow fill. 
But more indining to sit stiU.'* 

Possibly she might have been a descendant of Orator 
Henley, and I make no doubt at one time passionately 
admired by her Henry. I can safely declare, however, 
that her cheeks were purple, her nose of poppy-red or 
cochineal. 

" The lady was pretty well in case, 
But then she'd humour in her face ; 
Her skin was so bepimpled o'er. 
There was not room for any more." 

Her eyes reminded me of Sheridan's remark on those 
of Dr. Ame, " Like two oysters on an oval plate of stewed 
beet-root." * I r^pretted most exceedingly, while she 



^ In the eighteenth century, fine dirty place," is D'Urfey's 

Epping sent butter and sau- description of this spot, where 

sages to the London market, the GreatFire of London ended, 

but the industry declined long It was long famous for its 

ago. greasy cook-shops. 

' Pie Comer was at the ' In his NoUekens Smith puts 

Smithfield end of Giltspur the same jibe into the mouth 

Street, a short distance north of John Hamilton Mortimer, 

from the Old Bailey. " A very the painter. " Mortimer made 



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182 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

was cutting her rope and twisting her mouthy that most 
of her once-famed ivories had absconded; but it gave 
me inexpressible delight to see that her lips were not at 
all chapped. If Emma's lips had been ever so deeply 
cracked, she could not have benefited by my friend 
" Social Day " Coxe's * Conservatoria, as it was not then 
sold. 

Emma in her tender blossom, I understand, assisted 
her mother in selling rice-milk and furmety to the early 
frequenters of Honey Lane market ; and in the da}rs of 
her full bloom, new-milk whey in White Conduit Fidds, 
and at the Elephant and Castle. She must have been, 
as to her outward charms, during her highest flattery, 
little inferior to the beautiful Emma Lyon ; * but in her 



Dr. Ame, who had a very 
red face with staring eyes, 
furiously angiv by telling him 
that his eyes looked ' like two 
oysters just opened for sauce 
put upon an oval side-dish of 
beet-root.' " 

^ Peter Coxe, an auctioneer, 
and the author of a poem in 
four cantos called '' The Social 
Day/' published in 1823. He 
wrote also " The Expose, or 
Napoleon Buonaparte un- 
masked in a Condensed State- 
ment of his Career and 
Atrocities " (1809). His 

emollient has escaped my 
search. Coxe was one of a 
long line of well-known men 
who lived in the middle one 
of the three houses into which 
Schomb^ House, Pall Mall, 
was divided. He died in 
1844. 



• This generous woman, better 
known under the lawful title of 
Lady Hamilton, when I showed 
her my etching of the funeral 
procession of her husband's 
friend, the immortal Nelson, 
fainted and fell into my arms ; 
and, believe me, reader, her 
mouth was equal to any produc- 
tion of Greek sculpture I have 
yet seen (S.). — Smith's etching 
was entitled, "An Accurate 
View (drawn and etched by 
J. T. Smith, Engraver of the 
AfUiquiiies of London and 
Westminster) from the house 
of W. Txumard, Esq., on the 
Bankside, adjoining the Sdte 
of Shakespeare's Theatre, on 
Wednesday the 8th January 
1806, when the remains of the 
great Admiral Lord Nelson 
were brought from Greenwich 
to Whitehall." 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 183 

last stage, perhaps not altogether nnlike the heroine so 
voluptuously portrayed by my late highly talented friend, 
the Rev. George Huddesford, in his poem entitled " The 
Barber's Nuptials."^ Rosy Emma, for so she was still 
called, was the reputed spouse of the Yeoman of the 
Halter, and the cord she was sdling as the identical noose 
was for her own benefit. This was, according to the 
ddightfol writer, Charles Lamb, 

" For honest ends, a most dishonest seeming." ' 

Now, as isme and beauty ever carry influence, Emma*s 
sale was rapid ; had she been as lamentable as a Lincoln- 
shire goose after pluddng-time, *' Misery's Darling," or 
like Alecto when at the entrance of Pandemonium, she 
would have had a sorry sale.* This money-trapping 



'"The Fair One, whOM channs 
did the Barber enthral. 
At the end of Fleet Market of 

fish kept a staU : 
As red as ner cheek no boil'd 

lobster was seen. 
Not an eel that she sold was as 
soft as her skin." 
Thx Basbbr's Nuptials. 

•From The Wif^s Trial, 
Lamh's dramatic version of 
Crabbe's Confidant. See Mr. 
Lucas's Works of Charles and 
Mary Lamb, vol- v. p. 257. 

* An previous rdic-sdlmg at 
Newgate was, however, edipeed 
by the sale held in the 
partly demolished prison on 
Wednesday, 4th February 
1903. The foUowiiij^ account 
appeared in the CUy Press 
m 7th February: — 

''^In its way, probably, the 
sale which Messrs. Douglas 
Young & Co. conducted in the 



middle of the week, within 
the ffloomy precincts of crime- 
stridcen Newgate, was the 
most unique and memorable 
of its kind ever held. Crowds 
of the curious and speculative 
were naturally attracted to 
the fortress prison site. 

" Interest more particularly 
hovered around the old ton 
beD, with its famous loyal 
inscription, and solid ton of 
metaL The hour was late 
when the lot (No. 188 in the 
catalogue) was reached, but 
that circumstance did not in 
any way detract from the 
briskness of the bidding. 
Starting at £30, the offers 
rapidly mounted ; and, finally, 
the prized souvenir of many 
a tragic decade passed into 
the hands of Mr. Richardson 
(acting as agent for Madame 



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184 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

trick, steady John, the waiter at the Chapter CofiEee- 
house, assured me was invariably put in practice whenever 
superior persons or notorious culprits had been executed. 
Then to breakfast, but with little or no appetite; how- 
ever, after selecting one of Isaac Solomon's H.B.*s, I 
made a whole-length portrait of the late Governor by 
recollection, which Dr. Buchan, the flying physician of 
the "Chapter"^ frequenters, and several of the Pater- 



Tussaud's) for the exact sum 
of £ioo. The old flagstaff, 
whence the black flag was 
hoisted immediately after an 
execution had taken place, fell 
to the enterprise of Mr. Fox, 
a Cape gentleman, who, for 
ii| guineas, has ensured that 
in future the Union Jack 
shall flutter in South African 
breezes from its fateful mast- 
head. 

" The famous oak and iron- 
cased half -latticed door associ- 
ated with memories of Mrs. 
Elizabeth Fry, of philanthropic 
fame, went for £20; while 
Sir George Chubb secured for 
£30, amidst some cheering, 
the wonderful old massive oak 
and iron-bound half-latticed 
main entrance door that was 
fixed up when the prison was 
rebuilt after the ureat Fire 
of 1666. A warder's key- 
cupboard, fitted with shelf and 
iron hooks — ^identical with the 
one referred to in Bamaby 
Rudge — extracted /12, los. 
from the pockets of the bidder ; 
while the appointments of the 
condemned cells, both male 
and female, realised fairly good 



rices — ^the former in particu- 



"The chapel pulpit, at 
£8, los., was a distinctly disap- 
pointingfigure; while it cannot 
be said that £5, 158. was an 
extravagant sum to pay for 
the complete equimnent of the 
execution shed. The taste for 
criminology, in the shape of 
the plaster casts of the neads 
of nme victims of the ^fallows, 
worked out at five gumeas. 

" Some of the Uveliest bid- 
ding of the day took place over 
the numerous lots of copper 
washing bowls, in which the 
inmates of Newgate testified 
that cleanliness ¥rais next to 
godliness. The lowest price 
realised was £2, 12s. 6d. for a 
set of three bowls ; while sets 
of four realised, oa several 
occasicms, as much as £5. 
Altogether it was a sale in 
which monotony and curiosity 
singularly intenningled, and, 
withal, one ever to be re- 
membered by those who ha^ 
pened to be present." 

^The flying physician of 
the Chapter Coffee House was 
Dr. William Buchan, who, in 



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LADY HAMILTON AS A BACCHANTE 

•' Romncy ! exoert infallihly to trace . . . 
The miiui's impress'iou too on every face." 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 185 

Noster vendors of his Dotnesiic Medicine, considered a 
likeness; at all events, it was admitted into the port- 
folio of the Duke, with the following acknowledgment 
written on the back : '" Drawn by memory." 

i8o3, 

Aboat this time, in order to see human nature ofE 
her guard, I agreed with a good-tempered friend of mine, 
one of Richard Wilson's schdars, to perambulate Bar- 



the last half of the eighteenth 
century, was regularly con- 
sulted at this coffee-house in 
SL Paul's All^ by ailing book- 
men. His advice frequently 
took this form: "Now, let 
me prescribe for you. Here, 
John, bring a glass of punch 

for Mr. , unless he likes 

brandy and water better. 
Take that, sir, and I'll warrant 
you'll soon be weU. You're a 
peg too low, you want stimulus, 
and if one g^ass won't do, 
call for a second." His place 
was in a box in the north- 
east comer of the room, known 
as the " Wittenagemot," where 
he not only prescribed, but 
acted as an aroiter of debate. 
James Montgomery, in his 
Memoirs, describes him as " of 
venerable aspect, neat in his 
dress, his hair tied behind 
with a large ribbon, and a 
gold-headed cane in his hand, 
quite realising my idea of an 
£sciilapian dignitary." 

Bachan was, indeed, a 
physician of repute, and his 
Dofnestic Medtdne, or ike 
Family Physician, was not 



only the first English work of 
its kind, but ran mto nineteen 
large editions. It was said 
that the publishers gave him 
/700 down for it, and reaped 
^700 a year. In Russia and 
in America and the West 
Indies the book was welcomed. 
The Empress Catherine sent 
the author a g«dd medallion 
and a complimentary letter. 

To members of the Society 
of Friends the career of this 
genial doctor is of some interest, 
inasmuch as at one time he 
was physician to the York- 
shire oranch of the Foundling 
Hospital at Ackworth, an un- 
fortunate institution which in 
1779 ^'^^ taken over by this 
Society, to become the flour- 
ishing and historic school of 
to-day. Buchan lived many 
years with his son at No. 6 
Percy Street, Rathbone Place, 
and died there February 25, 
1806, aged seventy-six. He 
was buried in the west cloister 
of Westminster Abbey, near 
Dr. Richard Jebb, and Wollett, 
the engraver. 



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186 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

tholomew Fair, which we did in the evening, after taking 
pretty good care to leave our watches at home. Onr 
first visit was to a show of wild beasts, where, upon psying 
an additional penny, we saw the menagerie-feeder place his 
head within a lion's mouth. 

Our attention was then arrested by an immense baboon, 
called General Jacko^ who was distributing his signatures 
as ^t as he could dip his pen in the ink, to those who 
enabled him to fill his enormous craw with plums, raisins, 
and figs. The next object which attracted our notice 
was a noiagnificent man, standing, as we were told, six 
feet six inches and a half, independent of the heels of 
his shoes. The gorgeous splendour of his Oriental dress 
was rendered more conspicuous by an immense plume 
of white feathers, which were like the noddings of an 
undertaker's horse, increased in their wavy and gracefol 
motion by the movements of the wearer's head. 

As this extraordinary man was to perform some 
wonderful feats of strength, we joined the motley throng 
of q>ectators at the charge of **only threepence eadi," 
that being vociferated by Flockton's^ successor as the 
price of the evening admittance. 

^ Flockton was for nearly Who hope their wooden aims win 
half a century a showman at ^^^ ^ thrown away I " 

St. Bartholomew's and Stur- He died at CamberwelU April 

bridge Fairs. These lines ap- 22, 1794, leaving £5000, most 

peared on some of his bills :— of wmdi he bequeathed to 

his company. An engraving 

*'To raise the soal by means of of his show bears the almost 

*r ^^^ ^^ T'^' * Yankee inscription, " The 

^"^ ^^TA^""^ "^ * O^y Booth ii the Fair;" 

In n^Liture to show the world and on the balustrade of the 

at large, stairs to its entrance is in- 

As folks conceive a ship who've scribed the coriously modem 

■msTii^'^ of an ou, mjunction. /'TamSte np! 

actors' play, tomDle up ! 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 187 

After he had gone through his various exhibitions 
of holding great weights at arm's-length, etc., the all- 
bespangled master of the show stepped forward, and 
stated to the audience that if any four or five of the present 
company would give, by way of encouraging the " Young 
Hercules," alias the "Patagonian Samson," siicpence 
apiece, he would carry them all together round the booth, 
in the form of a pjrramid. 

With this proposition my companion and myself 
closed; and after two other persons had advanced, the 
fine fellow threw off his velvet cap surmounted by its 
princely crest, stripped himself of his other gewgaw s , 
and walked most majestically, in a flesh-coloured elastic 
dress, to the centre of the amphitheatre, when four chairs 
were placed round him, by which my friend and I ascended, 
and, after throwing our legs across his lusty shoulders, 
were further requested to embrace each other, which 
we no sooner did, cheek-by-jowl, than a tall skeleton of 
a man, instead of standing upon a small wooden ledge 
fastened to Samson's girdle, in an instant leaped on his 
back, with the agility of a boy who pitches himself upon 
a post too high to dear, and threw a 1^ over each of 
our shoulders ; as for the other chap (for we could 
only muster four), the Patagonian took him up in 
his arms. Then, after Mr. Merryman had removed 
the chairs, as he had not his full complement, Samson 
performed his task with an ease of step most stately, 
without either the beat of a drum, or the waving of 
a flag. 

I have often thought that if Geoige Cruikshank, or my 
older friend Rowlandson, had been present at this scene 
of a p)n:amid burlesqued, their pla}Hhil pencils would have 
been in running motion, and I should have been consider- 



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188 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

ably out-distanced had I then offered the following ad- 
ditional description of onr clustered appearance. Picture 
to yourself, reader, two cheesemonger, ruddy-looking men, 
like my friend and myself, as the sidesmen of Hercules, 
and the tall, vegetable-eating scarecrow kind of fellow, 
who made but one leap to grasp us like the bixd-killing 
spider, and then our fourth loving associate, the heavy 
dumpling in front, whose chaps, I will answer lor it, relived 
many an inch thick steak from the once far*famed Honey 
Lane market,^ all supported with the greatest ease by this 
envied and caressed Pride of the Fair, to whose powers 
the frequenters of Sadler's Wells also bore many a testi- 
mony. 

In the year 1804, Antonio Benedictus ' Van Assen 
engraved a whole-lexigth portrait of this Patagonian 
Samson, at the foot of whidi his name was thus announced, 
** Giovanni BapHsta Belzoni.** This animated production 
was executed at the expense of the friendly Mr. James 
Parry, the justly celebrated gem and seal engraver, of 
Wells Street, Oxford Street. 

After the dose of Bartholomew Fair, this Patagonian 
was seen at that of Edmonton, exhibiting in a field behind 
the Bell Inn, inunortalised by Cowper in his *^ Johnny 
Gilpin ; " and I have been assured that, so late as 1810, at 
Edinburgh, he was, during his exhibition in Valentine and 
Orson, soundly hissed for not handling his friend the bear, 
at the time of her death, in an afEectionate manner. Several 
years rolled on, and he was nearly forgotten in En^and, 

^ Honey Lane Market, famous London School, since removed 

in the eighteenth century for to the Thames Embanlonent. 

its provisions, keeps its name The '^Market" is still an odd 

close to Cheapside. In 1835, <^^^ ot domestic shopping in 

thepillared ana belfried market- the City's larger operations, 
house gave jdace to the City of 



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GIOVANNI BAPTISTA BEI.ZONI 
'Bclzoni />«a gr Md traveller, an J his English is very prettily broken." 

Lor.i nyron 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 189 

mitil the year 1820, and thai many people recognised in 
the Egyptian traveller Belzoni the person who had figured 
away at fairs, as I have stated. The following anecdotes, 
in private circulation, of this extraordinary man may not 
be considered whoUy uninteresting. 

He was a native of Padua, and educated in order to 
become a profound monk ; but, during the frenzy of war, 
being noticed by the French army, in consequence of his 
commanding figure, to be admirably well calculated for a 
fugleman, prudently avoided seizure for so deadly a service, 
by getting together what few things time would permit 
him, and so left Rome. I should have stated to the reader 
that, upon his arrival in London in the year 1803, he 
walked into Smithfield during Bartholomew Fair time, 
where he was seen by the master of a show, who, it is 
said, thus questioned his Merry Andrew: — *^Do you see 
that tall-looking fellow in the midst of the crowd ? he is 
looking about him over the heads of the people as if he 
walked upon stilts ; go and see if he's worth our money, 
and ask him if he wants a job." Away scrambled Ifr. 
Merrytnan down the monkey's post, and, '*as quick as 
lightning," conducted the stranger to his master, who, being 
satisfied of his personal attractions, immediately engaged, 
plumed, painted, and put him up. 

The reader will readily conceive that a man like Belzoni, 
seriously educated for the duties of the Church, and accus- 
tomed to associate with people of good manners, could 
with no little reluctance endure the vulgar society his 
pecuniary circumstances alone compelled him to associate 
with. However, after the expiration of nine years, in 
the course of which time he had married and saved 
money, he and his wife were enabled to visit Portugal, 
Spain, and Malta, from which place they embarked for 



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190 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



Egypt. Fortunately for Bdzom, the wife he had chosen 
more than equally shared his numerous dangeis, by 
spiritedly joining in all his enterprises, which some of 
my readers will recollect are most delightfully described 
by herself in what she styles "A Trifling Account," 
printed at the end of her husband's Travels in Egypt, 
Nubia, etc.^ 

As most of my readers have perused this work, I shall 
only state that, shortly after the arrival of Bekoni and his 
wife in England, my friend Dr. Richardson,* the traveller, 



1 This was Bdzoni's " Nar- 
rative of the Operations and 
Recent Discovenes witlun the 
Pyramids, Temples, Tombs, 
and Excavations, in Egypt 
and Nubia; — and of a — 
Journey to the Coast of the 
Red Sea, in search of — the 
Ancient Berenice ; — and an- 
other to— the Oasis of Jupiter 
Ammon. Bv G. Belzoni. 
London : — John Murray, Albe- 
marle Street— 1820." At the 
end of the book comes " Mrs. 
Belzoni's Trifling Accoimt — 
of the— Women of Egypt, 
Nubia, and Syria." 

That Belzoni, turned author, 
retained the physical strength 
of hb showman days, is shown 
in a story told by Dr. 
Smiles in his Memoirs of 
John Murray. "Like many 
other men of Herculean power, 
he was not eager to exhibit 
his strength, but on one 
occasion he gave proof of it. 
Mr. Murray had a^ed him to 
accompany him to the Coro- 
nation of George iv. They 
had tickets of admittance to 



Westminster Hall, but on 
arriving there they found that 
the sudden advent of Queen 
Caroline, attended by a mob 
claiming admission to the 
Abbey, had alarmed the 
authorities, and who had 
caused all doors to be shut 
That by which they should 
have entered was faield dose 
and guarded bv several stalwart 
janitors. Belzoni thereupon 
advanced to the door, and, 
in spite of the efforts of these 
guardians, including Tom Crib 
and others of the pugilistic 
corps who had been engaged 
as constables, opened it with 
ease, and admitted himself 
and Mr. Murray." 

* Dr. Robert Richardson 
(1770-1847) went to Egypt 
and Palestine with the Earl of 
Behnore in 1816, and published 
his Travels in 1822. Lady 
Blessington lent the book to 
Byron, who said : ''The author 
is just the sort of man I 
should like to have with me 
for Greece— clever both as a 
man and a physician." 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 191 

who had been kind to them in every possible way when in 
Egypt, introduced me to them when they lodged in Downing 
Street, Westminster. Here I not only had great pleasure 
in seeing my steady supporter again, but enjoyed most 
pleasantly the conversation I had with his enterprising 
partner, whose sensible and intrepid cast of features well 
accorded with her artless, unsophisticated, and interesting 
" Trifling Account," to which I have alluded. 

In 1784, when Sir Ashton Lever petitioned the House 
pf Commons for a lottery for his museum, Mr. Thomas 
Waring made the following declaration before the Committee 
to whom the petition was referred : — ^' That he had been 
manager of Sir Ashton*s collection ever since it had been 
brought to London in the year 1775 ; that it had occupied 
twelve years in forming ; and that there were upwards 
of twenty-six thousand articles. That the money received 
for admission amounted, from February 1775 to February 
1784, to about £i3»ooo, out of which ;^66o had been paid 
for house-rent and taxes.** Sir Ashton Lever proposed 
that his whole museum should go together, and that there 
should be 40,000 tickets at one guinea each.^ 



Richardson afterwards settled 
m Rathbone Place. He died 
in Gordon Street, Gordon 
Square, Nov. 5, 1847. 

^ The creator of the Leverian 
Museum was the eldest son of 
Sir Darcey Lever, of Alkring- 
ton, near Manchester. As a 
yovLDg man he had delighted 
in horses and birds. His 
treasures had grown in interest 
and numbers, until he was 
persuaded to turn a private 
hobby into a public specula- 
tion. He hired Leicester 



House in 1771, and for thirteen 
years maintained and increased 
it, at a cost of £50,000, against 
which he could set only £13,000 
in receipts. In 1784 he was 
author!^ to issue 36,000 
guinea tickets, of which one 
was to entitle the holder to the 
entire museum. A proposal 
for the purchase of the museum 
by the nation, which Dr. 
Johnson favoured, came to 
nothing. Only 8000 tickets 
had b^i sold when the draw- 
ing took place. The one prize, 



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192 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

Few people would believe that so lately as this year, 
the Duke of Dorset, Lord Winchilsea, Lord Talbot, Colonel 
Tarieton, Mr. Howe, Mr. Darner, Hon. Mr. Lennox, and the 
Rev. Mr. Williams played at cricket in an open field 
near White Conduit House.^ Who could have conjectured 



the museum, was drawn by 
a Mr. Parkinson, who thus 
acquired for a guinea the 
largest general collection in 
Europe, including the curiosi- 
ties collected by Captain Cook 
in his South Sea, voyages. 

Sir Ashton Lever died sud- 
denly in 1788, at Manchester. 
Meanwhile Mr. Parkinson had 
built the Rotunda in Albion 
Place, at the south end of 
Blacldriars Bridge, for the 
display of the "Museum 
Levenanmn." The scheme 
failed, and in 1806 the museum 
was sold by auction at King 
& Lochee's rooms in King 
Street, Covent Garden, the 
sale lasting sixty-five days. 
The catalogue filled 410 octavo 
pages, and there were 7879 
lots. The deserted "Rotunda^* 
at Blackfriars deteriorated 
until it was known to Tom 
Taylor as " something very 
much like a penny gaff. 
Taylor, by the way, tells us 
that Sir Ashton Lever con- 
ceived the idea of sending a 
ship-load of potatoes to the 
de^nders of Gibraltar, and 
this was done. 

^By "this year" Smith 
means 1784. His note is little 
more than a copy of the follow- 
ing ' newspaper paragraph of 



May 29, 1784, quoted by 
Lewis in his History of Is- 
lingion: "Thursday a grand 
cricket-match was played in 
the White Conduit Fields. 
Among the players were the 
Duke of Dorset, Lord Winchil- 
sea. Lord Talbot, Colonel 
Tarleton, Mr. Howe, Mr. 
Damer, Hon. Mr. Lennox, and 
the Rev. Mr. Williams. A 
pavilion was erected for re- 
freshments, and a number of 
ladies attended." 

John Frederick SackviDe, 
third Duke of Dorset (1745- 

gf), was a member of the 
ambledon Club, and of the 
committee which drew up the 
original laws of the M.C.C. 
He emplo}^ several of the 
best cricketers of his dajr, and 
presented Sevenoaks with a 
cricket ground. As our Am- 
bassador to France he ar- 
ranged for a British cricket 
eleven to play in Paris, but 
the Revolution disturlxmces 
prevented the match. 

The Eari of Winchilsea 
(1752-1826) was also a member 
of the Hambledon. He intro- 
duced four wickets, two inches 
hij^er than the standard. 
"The game is then rendered 
shorter Dy easier bowling out," 
said the Hampshire Chronidej 



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A BOOK FOU A RAINY DAY 193 

that Da Val's Lane, branching from HoUoway, within 
memory so notoriously infested with highwaymen that 
few people would venture to peep into it even in mid*day, 
should, in 1831, be lighted with gas ? ^ 



but the Earl's plan is still a 
dream and a controversy. 

The Hon. Mr. Lennox is 
referred to in a newspaper of 
the period as "nephew to his 
^ace of Richmond," and he 
and Lord Winchilsea are de- 
scribed as the chief performers 
at White Conduit House. 

Colonel Sir Banastre Tarle- 
ton went through the War of 
Independence with distinction, 
and Kved with "Perdita" 
(Mary Robinson) for some 
years, receiving from her much 
devotiim. He represented 
Liverpool in Parliament for 
twenty-two years, and attained 
the vajik of General 

The White Conduit Club, of 
which these gentlemen were 
members, has a high import- 
ance in the history of cricket, 
for out of it sprang, in 1787, 
the Marylebone Cncket Cluo. 
" The M.C.C. Club," says Mr. 
Andrew Lang in a sketch of 
cricket history, *' may be said 
to have sprung from the ashes 
of the White Conduit Club, 
dissolved in 1787. One 
Thomas Lcvd, by the aid of 
some members of the older 
association, made a ground 
in the space which is now 
Dorset Square. This was the 
first ' Lord's '." Two removals 
brought the ground to its 

13 



present location in St. John's 
Wood, where the first recorded 
matdb was played, June 22, 
1814. 

* Du Val's Lane is now repre- 
sented by Homsey Road. It 
seems to have been originally 
" Devil's Lane," but to have 
been popularlv re-named from 
Claude Duval (1643-70), the 
highwayman, who, like Dick 
Turpin, favoured this district. 
Bom at Domfront in Nor- 
mandy, Du Val came to Eng- 
land m the train of the Duke 
of Richmond, and took to the 
road. He was famous for his 
gallantries to hb victims. He 
was captured on January 17, 
i66oor 1670, in the Hole-in-the- 
Wall Tavern, Chandos Street, 
and althouj^h mtercession was 
made for hun by ladies of rank, 
he was hanged at Tyburn 
within four days. The exhibi- 
tion of his body at the Tangier 
Tavern, St. GUes's, drew such 
crowds that it had to be 
stopped. It is hard to believe 
that Du Val was accorded a 
grave in the centre aisle of 
Covent Garden Church, and 
that his epitaph began — 

Here lies Du Vail: Reader, if 

male thou art. 
Look to thy puxte; if female, to 

thy heart; 

but it is so stated in the 



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194 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

In 1784, Nathaniel Hillier's^ collection of prints was 
sold by Christie : they were well selected as to impression, 
but much deteriorated in value by Mr. Hillier's attach- 
ment to strong coffee, with which he had stained them. 
It has been acknowledged by one of the family that, what 
with the expense of staining, mounting, and ruling, his 
collection only brought them one-fifth of the cost of the 
prints in the first instance. 

Dr. Samuel Johnson also died this year [1784] ; during 
the time the surgeon was engaged in opening his body. Sir 
John Hawkins, Knight, was in the adjoining room seeing 
to the weighing of the Doctor's tea-pot, in the presence 
of a silversmith, whom Sir John, as an executor, had called 
upon to purchase it.* 

Memoirs of Monsieur Du Vol, may not imagination equaUy 
1670. His funeral, we read, amplify the value of this 
'* was attended with many unadorned vessel, long em- 
flambeaux, and a numerous ployed for the infusion of that 
train of mourners, whereof favourite herb, whose enliven- 
most were of the beautiful ing virtues are said to have so 
sex." often protracted the elegant 

^Nathaniel Hillier, of Pan- and edifying lucubrations of 

eras Lane, merchant, died Samuel Johnson; the zealous 

March i, 1783, aged 76 advocate of that innocent 

{Gentleman's Magazine). beverage, against its declared 

'This teapot passed into enemy, Jonas Hanway. It 

the possession of that eccentric was weighed out for sale under 

virtuoso, Henry Constantine the inspection of Sir John 

Noel, of whom Smith nves Hawkins, at the very mmute 

an account under 1818. Noel when they were in the next 

had the following extraordinary room closing the incision 

inscription engraved on it : — through which Mr. Cruickshank 

" We are told by Lucian, had explored the ruinated 

that the earthen lamp, which machinery of its dead master's 

had administered to me lucu- thorax ; so Bray the silver- 

brations of Epictetus, was at smith, conveyed there in Sir 

his death purchased for the John's carriage, thus hastily 

enormous sum of three thou- to buy the plate, informed its 

sand drachmas : why, then, present possessor, Henry Con- 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 195 

1805. 

" Mr. Townley presents his compliments to Mr. West, 
and requests that, when he sees Mr. Lock ^ at his house, 
he will be so good as to deliver to him the packet sent 
herewith, containing two prints from Homer's head, — 
Mr. T. not knowing where Mr. Lock lives in town. The 
drawing representing the 'Trimnphs of Bacchus' by 
Rubens,* in the eighth night's sale at Greenwood's, differ- 
ing much from the bas-relief in the Boighese Villa, from 
which Caracci is supposed to have composed his picture 
of that subject in the Famese Gallery,* Mr. T. has no 
intention to bid for it. 

" Park St., Westminster, 21st Feb. 1787." 

" My dear Sir, — I return you many thanks for your 
kind information respecting the sale of the marbles at 
the late Lord Mendip's house at Twickenham.^ Had I 
been there and in spirits, the fine Oriental alabaster 
vase would not have been sold so cheap, and would 



stantine Noel, by whom it 
was, for its celebrated services, 
on the 1st of November 1788, 
rescued from the undiscimin- 
ating obUterations of the fur- 
nace." 

^ In this letter, Charles 
Townley, the collector of the 
Townley marbles, probably 
refers to William Lock (1732- 
1810), the wealthv connoisseur, 
and a friend of Madame d' 
Arblay. He lived at Norbury 
Park, where he was hospitable 
to^Madame de Stael. He was 
described as the "arbiter. 



advocate, and common friend 
of all lovers of art." 

« The "Triumph of Bacchus " 
was one of eight great pictures 
which Rubens painted for the 
palace at Madnd. 

*Annibale Caracci was em- 
ployed by Cardinal Famese 
to decorate the famous gallery^ 
that bears his name. He 

?)roduced a masterly series of 
rescoes. 

^Welbore Ellis, first Baron 
Mendip, was the third owner 
of Pope's Villa at Twickenham, 
after the poet. 



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196 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

probably have come to Park Street. I should also have 
probably purchased the medallion of an elderly man 
over a chinmey-piece. I shall be glad to find out who 
bought it, and at what price. I should also have liked 
the ancient fountain. Pray, what was it sold for, and 
who bought it ? 

** I mean to take a farewell look at the robaccia at 
Wilton, to verify my former notes on that collection. 

** I flatter myself that many bad symptoms of my 
long disorder b^;in to abate, though it still, I fed, has 
strong hold upon me. I shall remain here about a fortnight 
longer, then return to Park Street. 

** If you will give me the pleasure of a line from yon, 
you may direct to me. No. 36, Milsom Street, Bath. I am, 
sir, ever most faithfully yours, etc. 

"C. TOWNLEY. 

" Bath, 36, Milsom Street, 11th June 1802." 

1806. 

In the month of June this year, the late Atkinscm 
Bush,^ then of Great Ormond Street, brought to my 
house Mr. Parton, vestry-clerk of St. Giles*s-in-the-Fields, 
with a view to obtain such particulars of that parish 
as I was acquainted with, he being then busily engaged 
in collecting materials for its history. In the course 
of conversation, I was astonished to find that it was his 
intention to have a plan of the parish engraved for his 
^w)rk, purporting to have been taken between the years 
twelve and thirteen hundred, a period more than two 



* " 1811, Feb. 3.— In Great of his age" (European Maga^ 
Ormond Street, Atkinson xine^ February 1811). 
Bush, Esq., in the 76th year 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 197 

centuries and a half earlier than Aggas's plan of London, 
and from which I could not help observing that in my 
opinion he had most glaringly borrowed. When he 
assured me he had not, my request was then to know 
his authority for producing such a plan, but for that 
question he was not provided with an answer, nor did 
he appear to be willing to be probed by further inter- 
rogatories. To my great astonishment, when Mr. Parton*s 
book made its appearance, I not only found this plan 
professing to be between the years twelve and thirteen 
hundred so minutely made out, with every man^s pos- 
session in the parish most distinctly attributed, but every 
plot of garden so neatly delineated, with the greatest 
variety of parterres, walks with cut borders, as if the 
gardener of William iii. or Queen Anne had then been 
Uving. As Mr. Parton omitted to give any authority 
for the introduction of so wonderfully early a piece of 
ichnography, I applied to several leading men in the parish 
of St. Giles, but could gain no intelligence whatever re- 
specting it : so much for this plan of St. Giles's parish, 
as produced by Mr. Parton.* 

1807. 

On the 7th of November of this year, aged 65, died 
at Rome the celebrated Angelica Kauffmann, who was 
appointed a member of the Royal Academy by King 
George iii. at its foundation.* That she was a great 

* Parton's book, Some matter of its authenticity. It 

Account of the Hospital and is dear, however, that his 

Parish of St. Gile^ in the plans and maps are largely 

Fields, Middlesex (1822), by conjectural, 
"the late " Mr. Jolin Parton, * A distinction she shared 

rives the plan in question, with Miss Mary Moser. These 

but does not touch on the are the only women who have 



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198 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

favourite with the admirers of art may be inferred by 
the numerous engravings from her productions by Bar- 
tolozzi and the late William Wynn Ryland.^ Her pictures 

been members of the Roj^ appointment or surprise. The 

Academy, but it cannot be mistake appearing to the 

said that their talent was cashier to be obviously an 

very exceptional. Peter Pin- error in his office, the bond 

dar irreverently said that was paid to Ryland', who de- 

Maiy Moser was made an parted with the money. The 

R.A. for "a sublime Picture next day the true bond was 

of a Plate of Gooseberries." presented, when the forgerv 

^The annals of British art was discovered, of course; and, 

do not contain a more tragic within a few hours after, the 

story than that of "the late" fraud was made public, and 

William Wynne Ryland. A steps were taken for the 

man of great talent, he was recovery of the perpetrator, 
engraver to George iii., and "This document, lately in 

an exhibitor at the Royal the possession of a gentleman 

Academy ; but it was his fate now deceased, I have often 

to be hanged at Tyburn for seen. It is, perhaps, the most 

forging a bond of several extraordinary piece of deoep- 

thousand pounds. How he tive art, in the shape of imita- 

presented this document in tion, that was ever produced." 
person at the India House, is A reprieve for Ryland was 

narrated by Henry Angelo as sought on the ground of his 

a proof of his extraordinary extraordinary abilities, but, as 

self-command. was usual in cases of forgery, 

"The cashier, on receiving without success. George ni. 

the document, examined it is said to have repUed: "No; 

carefully, and referred to the a man vrith such ample means 

ledger; then, comparing the of providiog for his wants 

date, observed, 'Here is a could not reasonably plead 

mistake. Sir; the bond, as necessity as an excuse for 

entered, does not become due his crime." But the artist's 

until to-morrow.' petition for a respite was 

" Ryland, begging permis- both granted and renewed, 

sion to look at the book. He explained that he desired 

on its bein£[ handed to him, no extension of Ufe except 

observed: So I perceive — as the means of completing 

there must be an error in his last en^viuR, and so 

your entry of one day; ' and adding to his wifes stock of 

offered to leave the bond, plates. The subject was Queen 

not betraying the least dis- ueanor sucking the poisoD 



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• The Townley Marbles," 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 199 

are always tasteful, and often well composed, clearly and 
harmoniously coloured, and extremely finished with a 
most delicate but spirited pencil. Indeed, her talents 
were so approved by her brother Academicians, that 
those gentlemen allotted her compartments of the ceiling 
in their comidl-cha^ber at Somerset Place for decoration, 
in which most honourable and pleasing task she so well 
acquitted herself, that her perf onnances are the admiration 
of every visitor, but more particularly those who possess the 
oigan of colour. She etched numerous subjects ; the best 
impressions are those before the plates were aqua-tinted. 

When I was a boy, my father frequently took me to 
Golden Square to see her pictures, where she and her 
father had for many years resided in the centre house on 
the south side. There are several portraits of her, but 
none so well-looldng as that painted by Sir Joshua Rey- 
nolds, of which there is an engraving by Bartolozzi. 



from the arm of her husband, 
Edward i., from a painting 
by Angelica KaufEmann. He 
laboured hard on this work, 
and when he received the 
first proof born his printer, 
said, "Mr. Haddiil, I thank 
ytm; my task is now accom- 
plished.''* He was hanged 
within a week, and his was 
the last execution at Tyburn. 
Henry Angdo savs that, like 
Dr. Dodd, Kyland was allowed 
to proceed to Tyburn in a 
mourning coach. 

The story of William Blake's 
prophecy of Rvland's end is 
well known. His father had 
intended to apprentice him 
to Ryland, but was frustrated 



by the unaccountable attitude 
of the boy, who, after they 
had call^ on the engraver at 
his studio, said, '' Father, I 
do not like the man's face; 
it looks as if he will Uve to 
be hanged." Twelve years 
later came the fulfilment. 
Col. W. F. Pridcaux recently 
mentioned in Notes and Queries 
that he possesses a curious 
collection concerning Ryland's 
case which was formed by the 
Rev. H. Cotton, the ordinary 
of Newgate. It includes the 
original handbill offering a 
reward for Ryland's appre- 
hension, and a drawing of 
the engraver's mother by 
John Thomas Smith. 



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200 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

Angelica Kaufimaim was a great coquette, a&d pie- 
tended to be in love with several gentlemen at the same 
time.^ Once she professed to be enamoured of Nathanid 
Dance ; * to the next visitor she would divulge the great 
secret that she was dying for Sir Joshua Reynolds. How- 
ever» she was at last rightly served for her duplicity by 
manying a very handsome fellow personating Count de 
Horn. With this alliance she was so pleased, that she 
made her happy conquest known to her Majesty Queen 
Charlotte, who was much astonished that the Count should 
have been so long in England without coming to Court. 
However, the real Count's arrival was some time after- 
wards announced at Dov^; and Angelica Kanffmann's 
husband turned out to be no oth^ than his void de cha$nbre. 
He was prevailed upon subsequently to accept a separate 
maintenance.* After this man's death she married Zucchi, 



1 In the Dictionary of 
National Biography, Miss E. 
T. Bradley sums up the im- 
pressions AngeUca &auffmann 
made: "Golosmith wrote some 
lines to her; Garrick, whom she 
painted, was much fascinated 
Dy her, and FuseU paid ad- 
dresses to her. Her most 
serious flirtation, however, was 
with Sir Joshua Resmolds, 
whose acquaintance she made 
directly she arrived in London. 
He pamted her portrait twice. 
She frequently visited his 
studio, and painted a weak 
and uncharacteristic portrait 
of the painter, which Bartolom 
engraved. Nathaniel Dance, 
whom she had met in ftaly, 
is also said to have been 
hopelessly in love with her." 



* Sir Nathaniel Dance* 
Holland, first baronet (1734- 
1811), met Angelica KaufEinaxin 
in Italy, and was said to have 
been hopelessly in love with 
her. He was an original 
member of the Royal Academy, 
but resigned his diploma m 
1790 on his marriage to Mrs. 
Drummer, known facetioudy 
as "The Yorkshire Fortune,^' 
from her possession of £18,000 
a year, ke assumed the ad- 
ditional name of Holland, and 
sat in Parliament for Grinstead. 
In his time he was a amiable 
but stifE portrait paioter, and 
painted full-length portraits of 
ueorge iii. and his Queen. 

* A deed of separation was 
obtained from Pope Pius vi. 
After the "Count's" death. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 201 

and settled m Rome. During her residence there, she 
was solicited by the artists in general, but more partica- 
laxly by the English, to join them in an application to 
this coontry for permission to bring their property to 
England duty free; and as I possess the original letter 
which that lady wrote to Lord Camdford^ upon the 
subject, I cannot refrain from inserting it. 

'' My Lord, — ^I do not know, if by having Uved several 
years in England, and having the honour to be a RA., I 
may be sufficiently entitled to join with the artists of Great 
Britain in their request, or better to say, in returning thanks 
to your Lordship for patronising them in a point so very 
essential, which is to assist them in obtaining the free 
importation of their own studies, models, or designs, 
coDected lor their improvement during their own stay 
abroad. 

^'The heavy duty set upon articles of that nature 
causes that the artist, whose circumstances do not permit 
him to pay perhaps a considerable sum, must either be 
deprived of what he keeps most valuable, or buy his own 
works at the public sale at the Custom House. This I 
have mysetl experienced on my coming to England, — 
and I mention it here, in consequence of the opinion of 
some of my friends, who think that my assertion, added 



Angelica KaufiEmann married ^Thomas Pitt, first Baron 

in London, July 14, 1781, Camelford, was a praminent 

Antonio Pietro Zncchi, a politician and an opponent 

Venetian painter who had long of Lord North. At Twicken- 

Uved in England, and had been ham, where he settled in 

employed tnr Adam, the archi- 1762. he and Horace Walpole 

tect. He decorated Garrick's excftmged ideas on Gothic 

home in the Addphi. He architecture, 
died in 1795. 



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202 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

to what other artists may have reported to that purpose, 
may be of some use to obtain their object. 

"I heard from Dr. Bates,^ and Mr. Reveky,* the 
architect, how very much your Lordship is indined to 
support the earnest supplication drawn up by some of 
the artists, which proves your Lordship to be a protector 
of the fine arts, and of those who profess them. Conse- 
quently I have some reason to hope that I may not be 
judged too impertinent for addressing these lines to yon. 
I have the honour to be, with the greatest respect, my 
Lord, your Lordship's most obliged humble servant, 

"Angelica Kauffmann. 

" TrinitX de* Monti, the 26th Dec. 1787." 

This year, my laborious work, entitled AntiquiUes of 
Westminster, was delivered to its numerous and patient 
subscribers.* The following congratulatory letter is oae 
of the many with which I have been honoured by its 
extensive and steady friends : — 

'' Lichfield Cathedral Close, 
Thursday, 2nd July 1807. 

*' Mr. White ^ presents his best respects to Mr. Smith. 
His precious Uttle box, from some unaccountable delay 
in Cambridge, did not arrive till yesterday evening, accom- 
panied by a letter, which receives this early acknowledge 

^ Probably the weQ-known quarrel with bis collaborator, 

Dr. Bates, M.D., of Missenden, John Sidney Hawkins. Thev 

Bucks. pamphletted and "vindicated 

*Willey Revele;^, architect, to their hearts' content, but 

and editor of vol. iii. of Stuart's the dispute is not worth un> 

Antiauities of Athens. ravelling. 

> Smith's task had been « Henry White, then Sacrist 

protracted by his tiresome of Lichfield Cathedral. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 203 

meat. Though Mr. White has not had leisure to inspect 
critically the literary portion of Mr. Smith's elegant and 
splendid volume, yet his whole time since it came has 
been occupied in stud3nng and admiring its numerous, 
accurate, and highly finished engravings, which alone 
give it a superiority to any book of art's illustration which 
Mr. White can at present recollect. Mr. Smith's offer of 
a few loose prints is peculiarly land and acceptable ; and 
Mr. White so far avails himself of it. 

** Mr. White cannot refrain expressing his concern and 
astonishment, that Mr. Smith should have experienced so 
bitter a recession from friendly promises and assistance, 
as Mr. H. obliged him to fed ; at the same time, the candid 
and unequivocal statement which Mr. Smith has made, 
must ex(xierate him from the world's reproof, and account 
for the long protraction of the work. Mr. White cannot 
but indulge the hope, that so noble an addition to our 
architectural antiquities, so admirable an elucidation of 
every precedent history of London, will most amply re- 
munerate the pocket, though no success can recompense 
that anxiety of mind which Mr. Smith has undergone. The 
beautiful Cathedral of Lichfield has been recently orna- 
mented with some very fine ancient painted windows, 
from the dissolved convent near Lille. If Mr. Smith 
would publish them in colours, Mr. White thinks that 
the subscription would fill rapidly; and if Mr. Smith 
would but come down and look at them, Mr. White 
would be happy in extending every accommodation, and 
rendering every assistance to him. When the windows 
are known, the plan will be certairdy adopted by other 
artists of inferior competency." 



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1804 A BOOK FOR A BAINY DAY 



1808. 

On the j5rst of November this year, Geoige Dance, the 
Royal Academician, signed the dedication page of his first 
volume of portraits of eminent men drawn in pencil, with 
parts touched lightly with colour from life, and engraved 
by William Danieil, A.R.A., now a Royal Academician (he 
died 1837), consisting of thirty-six in number. The second 
volume, which also contained thirty-six in number, was 
published in 1814.^ 

Fuseli, when viewing several of these portraits, was 
heard by one of Mr. Dance's sitters to make the following 
observations upon the likenesses. Of Benjamin West he 
said, ** His eye is like a vessel in the South Sea, — I can 
just spy it through the telescope ; " of that of Joseph 
Wilton the sculptor, he observed, " How simple are the 
thinking parts of this man's head, and how sumptuous 
the manducatory ; " of that of James Barry he made 
the following declaration, '* This fellow looks like the door 
of his own house;" of that of Northcote he exclaimed, 
^' By Coif he is looking sharp for a rat ; " and of that 
of Sir William Chambers, he observed, drawling out his 
words, *' What a grate, heavy, humpty-dumpty, this leaden 
feUow is." « 



^George Dance, who died 
in 1825, was the architect of 
the recently demolished New- 

gite Prison, also of St. Luke's 
ospital and the Guildhall 
entrance fagade. He was the 
last survivor of the founda- 
tion members of the Rojral 
Academy, and was buried in 
St. Paulas Cathedral. William 
Danieil, R.A., was well known 



for his Indian and Oriental 
illustrations. He painted a 
panorama of Madras, and 
another of "The City of 
Lucknow and the mode of 
Taming Wild Elephants." His 
painting, " A View of the Long 
Walk, Windsor," is in the 
royal collection. 

' Fuseli's quaint violences 
of speech were many, and 



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JAMES NORTHCOTE. K.A. 
' By Cot, he is looking out sharp for a rat." 



Fuseli 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



205 



In this sort of wit Fuseli had a f onnidable force of 
gnnnery, and his shot seldom missed its destination ; 
however, it cannot shatter the above work, as most of the 
portraits are of worthies too well known even to need it 
necessary to engrave their names mider them. 

The greater portion of these likenesses are highly 
valuable to the illustrators of Boswell's Life of Johnson^ 
and, indeed, most of the modem biographical publications. 

1809. 
I cannot more pleasantly dose this year than by insert* 



gained in effect from his Swiss 
accent. He swore roundly, a 
habit which Haydon says he 
caught from his friend . Dr. 
Armstrong, the poet. He 
said a subject should interest, 
astonish, or move; if it did 
none of these, it was worth 
" noding by Gode." A visitor 
to his imposing, but unsuccess- 
ful, Milton GallerY of forty 
paintings, said to him, " Pray, 
sir, what is that picture ? " 
" It is the bridging of Chaos ; 
the subject trom Milton." 
" No wonder," said the in- 
quirer, " I did not know it, 
for I never read Milton, but 
I will." " I advise you not, 

sir, for you will find it a d d 

tough job." He said, on look- 
ing at Northcote's painting of 
the angel meeting Balaam and 
his ass : " Northcote, you are 
an angel at an ass, but an ass 
at an angel." Once, at the 
table of Mr. Coutts, the banker, 
Mrs. Coutts, dressed like 
Morgiana, came dancing in. 



her dagger at every 
>reast. As she confronted 
Nollekens, Fuseli called out, 
"Strike — strike — there's no 
fear ; NoUy was never known 
to bleed." He reconmiended 
a sculptor to find some newer 
emblem of eternity than a ser- 
pent with a tail in its mouth. 
The something newer (says 
Cunningham) startled a man 
whose unagmation was none 
of the brightest, and he said, 
" How shall I find something 
new?" "Oh, nothing so easy," 
said Fuseli; " I'll help you to 
it. When I went away to 
Rome I left two fat men cutting 
fat bacon in St. Martin's Lane ; 
in ten years' time I returned, 
and found the two fat men 
cutting fat bacon still ; twenty 
years more have passed, and 
there the two fat fellows cut 
the fat flitches the same as 
ever. Carve them — if they 
do not look like an image 
of eternity, I wot not what 
does." 



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206 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

ing a copy of one of John Bannister's bills for his Bttdget ; ^ 
and as the original is now an extreme rarity» I conclude 
that some of those *' gude folks " who witnessed the delight- 
ful humour di^layed by that gifted son of Thespis, may 
possibly be bett^ enabled to recollect how much they 
giggled twenty-three years ago. 

" Oh the days when I was young ! " 

The type of the long lines in the original bill, which is 
of a small folio size, being too small to be read without 
spectacles, I have necessarily, in some instances, been 
obliged to increase the number of lines in the following 
copy. 

"THEATRE, IPSWICH. 

POSITIVBLy FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY. 

Patronised by their Majesties, 

Before whom Mr. Bannister had the honour of performing. 

At the Queen's House, Frogmore. 

The Public are most respectfully informed. 

On Wednesday, the 29 th of November, 1809, 

Will be presented, 

A MiSCBLLANBOUS DiVBRTISBMXNT, 

With considerable vocal and rhetorical variations, called 

BANNISTER'S BUDGET ; 

Or, An Actor's Ways and Means ! 

Consisting of 

Recitations and Comic Songs ; 

Which will be sung and spoken by 

Mr. Bannistbr, of the late Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. 

"The above Divertisement is entirely new; the prose and 
verse which compose it having been written expressly for the occasion 
of Mr. Bannister's Toitr, by Messrs. Colman, Re3molds, Cherry, 
T. Dibdin, C. Dibdin, Jun., and others. 

^ In the last ten years of his anecdotes, and imitations, 
stage career Bannister travelled through England, Scotland, 
with his " Budget " of songs, and Ireland. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 207 

The whole of the Entertainment has been arranged and revised 

by Mr. Colman. 
The songs (which Sir. Reeve, Jan., will accompany on the piano- 
forte,) are principally composed by Bir. Reeve. 

Prospectus of ths Diybrtisbiibnt. 

" Part I. — ^Exordium. — ^Mr. Bannister's Interview with Gaxrick. 
— Garrick's Manner attempted by Mr. Bannister in a Shaving 
Dialogue.^ — ^Mr. Donbldnngs in the Clay-pit. — ^Macklin's advice to 
his Pupils. — The Ship's Chaplain, and Jack Hanlyard, the Boat- 
swain ; or. Two Wa3r8 of Telling a Story. — Sam Stem. — ^The Melo- 
dramaniac, or Value of Vocal Talent. — ^BdLr. and Mrs. O'Blunder, 
or, Irish Suicide I 

"Part n. — Superannuated Sexton. — Original Anecdotes of a 
late well-known eccentric Character. — ^Trial at the Old Bailey. — 
Cross -Examination. — Counsellor Garble. — Barrister Snip-snap. — 
Serjeant SpHtbrain. — Address to the Jury. — Simon Soaker, and 
Deputy Dragon. 

"Part III.— Qub of Queer Fellows I— President Hosier.— 
Speech from the Chair. — ^Mr. Hesitate. — ^BdLr. Sawney Mac Snip. — 
Musical Poulterer. — Duet between a Game Cock and a Dorking 
Hen. — Mr. Molasses. — Bir. Mim6. — Monotony exemplified. — Mr. 
Kin-joy, the Whistling Orator. — Susan and Strephon. — Budget 
closed. 
Rotation of Comic Songs to be introduced on this particular occasion. 



^'IN PART I. 

Vocal Medley. 

Captain Wattle and Miss Roe 

(by particular desire). 
Tom Tuck's Ghost. 
Song in Praise of Ugliness I 
The Debating Society. 



"in part ii. 

The Deserter ; or. Death or 

Matrimony. 

Miss Wrinkle and 

Mr. Grizzle, 

and 

The Tortoiseshell Tom Cat. 



"IN PART m. 

THE TRAGEDY OF OTHELLO ; or. 

FiNB Flbbcy Hosixry. 

The Marrow-fat Family. 

Jollity Burlesqued, and 

B^^gaxs and Ballad-singers. 

The doors to be opened at six o'clock, and to begin precisely at seven. 

Boxes, Upper Cirde, 4s.; Lower Circle, 3s.; Pit, 3s., 

Gallery, is. 

N.B. Care has been taken to have the Theatre well aired." 



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208 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



1810. 

My reader will find by the following copy of a paper 
written by the Rev. Stephen Weston, B.D.,^ and read at 
the Society of Antiquaries* meeting, 25th January 1810, 
that the term Swan-hopping is to be considered a popular 
error. 

*^ It appears in the Swan-rolls, exhibited by the Right 
Honourable Sir Joseph Banks, that the King's were doubly 
marked, and had what was called two nicks, or notches. 
The term, in process of time, not being understood, a 
double animal was invented, unknown to the Egyptians 
and Greeks, with the name of the Swan with Two Necks. 
But this is not the only ludicrous mistake that has arisen 
out of the subject, since Swan-upping, or the taking up 
of Swans, performed annually by the Swan companies, 
with the Lord Mayor of London at their head, for the 
purpose of marldng them, has been changed by an unlucky 
aspirate into Swan-hopping, which is not to the purpose, 
and perfectly unintelligible.*' * 



1 The Rev. Stephen Weston, 
F.R.S. (i;j47-i830), a well- 
known antiquazv and classical 
schciar, held the Devonshire 
livings of Mainhead and Little 
Hempston, Devon, but left 
that county after the death 
of his wife. He engaged in 
some spirited attempts to 
translate Gray's Elegy into 
Greek, and published bis 
Elegia Grayiana, Grace^ in 
1794. He was fond of the 
French capital, and published 
The Praise of Paris in 1803. 
An old friend of Nollekens, he 



was present at the funeral so 
airily described by Smith in 
his me of the sculptor. 

* Swan u/ypif^ (or marking) 
is still carried out yearly on 
the Thames by the repre- 
sentatives of the Crown and 
by the Dyers' and Vintners' 
Companies, who have the 
privilege of keeping swans on 
the river. Formerly the state 
barges of the City went up to 
Stames, and ceremonies were 
performed. Even to-day the 
expedition of the swan-markers 
is picturesque ; the skiSs bear 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 209 



i8ii. 

In the summer of this year, the Earl of Pembroke 
allowed me to copy a picture at Wilton, painted by the 
celebrated architect, Inigo Jones. It is a view of Covent 
Garden in its original state, when there was a tree in the 
middle. The skill with which he has treated the e£Eect 
is admirable. 

There is also, in that superb mansion, a companion 
picture of Lincoln's Inn Fields by the same artist. 

1812. 

The political career of John Home Tooke, Esq., is well 
known, and the fame of his celebrated work, entitled the 
Diversions of Purley^ will be spoken of as long as paper 
lasts. 

In the year 1811 a most flagrant depredation was 
committed in his house at Wimbledon by a collector of 
taxes, who daringly carried away a silver tea and sugar 
caddy, the value of which amounted, in weight of silver, 
to at least twenty times more than the sum demanded, 
for a tax which Mr. Tooke declared he never would pay. 
This gave rise to the following letter : — 

'* TO MESSRS. CROFT AND DILKE. 

•* Gentlemen, — I beg it as a favour of you, that you 
will go in my name to Mr. Judkin, attorney, in Clifford's 

the flags of the several author- tunics and peaked caps. The 

ities, the markers wear flannels birds are caught by means of 

and diitingnifthing jerseys, and long hooked poles, 
the ov e rse e rs don spedal 

M 



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210 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DA^ 

Inn, and desire him to go with you both to the Under 
Sheriff's Office, in New Inn, Wych Street. 

" I have had a distress served upon me for taxeSy at 
Wimbledon, in the county of Surrey. 

" By the recommendation of Mr. Stuart, of Putney, 
I desire Mr. Judkin to act as my attorney in replevying 
the goods ; and I desire Mr. Croft and Mr. Dilke to sign 
the security-bond for me that I will try the question. 

'' Pray show this memorandum to Mr. Judkin. 

" John Horne Tooke. 

•* Wimbledon, May 17th, 1811." 

As Mr. Croft and Mr. Dilke were proceeding on the 
Putney Road, they met the tax-collector with the tea- 
caddy under his arm, on his way back with the greatest 
possible haste to return it, with an apology to Mr. Tooke, 
— that being the advice of a friend. The two gentlemen 
returned with him, and witnessed Mr. Tooke's kindness 
when the man declared he had a large family.^ 

^ Tooke did not, therefore, others, but to be himself im- 
" try the question " of his penetrable. All he wanted 
silver caddy; but had it not was negative success; and to 
been returned he would have this no one was better qualified 
done so in his character of to aspire. Cross poiposes, 
the inimitable litigant. " A moot-poinis^ pleas, demurrers, 
court of law," says Hazlitt, in flaws in the indictment, double 
his masterly portrait of Tooke meanings, cases, inconsequent 
in The Spirit of the Age, tialities, these were the plav- 
" was the place where Mr. things, the darlings of Mr. 
Tooke made the best figure Tooke's mind ; and with these 
in public. He might assuredly he bafiSed the Judge, dom- 
be said to be native and founded the Counsel, and 
endued unto that element.' outwitted the Jury. The re- 
He had here to stand merelv port of his trial before L(»d 
on the defensive : not to ad- Kenyon is a masterpiece of 
vance himself, but to block acuteness, dexterity, modest 
up the way : not to impress assurance, and l^gal efecL 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 211 

On the i8th of March this year (1812), Mr. Tooke died, 
at his house at Wimbledon. He was put into a strong 
elm shell. The cofSn was made from the heart of a solid 
oak, cut down for the purpose. It measured six feet 
one inch in length ; in breadth at the shoulders, two feet 
two inches ; the depth at the head, two feet six inches ; 
and the depth at the feet, two feet four inches. This 
enormous depth of cofi^ was absolutely necessary, in 
consequen ce of ^e contraction^ of his body. His remains 
were conveyed in a hearse and six, to Ealing, in Middlesex, 
attended by three mourning coaches with four horses to 
each. It was Mr. Tooke's wish to have been buried in 
his own ground ; but to this the executors very properly 
made an objection.^ 

1813. 

At the sale of the effects of the Rev. William Hunt- 
ington (vulgarly called the " Coal-heaver '*), which com- 
menced on the 22nd of September, and continued for 
three following da}^, at his late residence, Hermes Hill, 
Pentonville, one of his steady followers purchased a barrel 
of ale, which had been brewed for Christmas, because he 
would have something to remember him by.* 

It is much like his examination HORNE TOOKE, late of 

before the Commissioners of Wimbledon, Author of the 

thelncomeTax — ^nothingcould Diversions of Purley : was bom 

be got out of him in either June 1736, and died March 

case ! " 18, 1812, contented and 

^ He had, indeed, prepared happy." 
a tomb for himself in his *lne Rev. William Hunt- 
garden at Wimbledon, and ington obtained influence over 
the funeral invitations, as first multitudes by a grotesque 
sent out, contemplated his piety and a compelling pulpit 
burial here. He was buried manner. He appended the 
in a family vault at Ealing, initials S.S. to his name, 
to which the following inscrip- signifying " Sinner Saved." 



tion was added : " JOHN His true name was Hunt, and 



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212 A BOOK FOK A RAINY DAY 



1814. 

Mr. John Nixon^ of Basinghall Street, gave me the 
following information respecting the Beefsteak Club. Mr. 
Nixon, as Secretary, had possession of the (Original book. 
Lambert's Club was first held in Covent Garden Theatre, 
in the upper room, called the " Thunder and Lightning ; '' 
then in one even with the two-shilling gallery ; next in 
an apartment even with the boxes ; and afterwards in 



he himself tells how he added 
two syllables to it as a disguise 
after being called upon to 
support an ill^timate child. 
The son of a Kentish day 
labourer, he had been errand 
boy, gardener, cobbler, and 
coal-heaver. At last he turned 
wholly preacher, and in that 
character came up to London 
from Thames Ditton, " bring- 
ing two large carts, with furni- 
ture and other necessaries, 
besides a post-chaise well filled 
with children and cats," as he 
relates. He became minister 
of Margaret Street Chapel, 
where he urged the power of 
prayer, telling his hearers that 
whenever he wanted a thing 
— a horse, a pair of breeches, 
or a pound of tea-— he prayed 
for it and it. came. In 1788 
his admirers built him a chapel 
in the Graj^s Inn Road at a 
cost of £9000. He called it 
Providence Chapel, and was 
shrewd enough to obtain the 
personal freehold. He carried 
pulpit brusqueness to the ex- 
treme. "Wake that snoring 
sinner!" and "Silence that 



noisy numskull ! " were his 
frequent observations. By 
his marriage with the widow 
of Sir James Sanderson, who 
had been Lord Mayor of Lon- 
don, he gained wealth, and 
in 1811 he became the tenant 
of Dr. Valangin's mansion on 
Hermes HiU, Pentonville. 
This eminent Swiss phvsidan 
had named his estate Hermes 
Hill in honour of Hermes 
Trismegithus, the fabled dis- 
coverer of chemistrv. Hunt- 
ington's health failed him, and 
he exchanged the air of Pen- 
tonville for Tunbridge WeUs, 
where he died July i, 1813. 
Smith's story of the discqrie 
who purchased a barrel of beer 
at the sale of Huntington's 
effects is apparently true. 
Extravagant prices were paid 
for less perisnable souvenirs. 
An arm-chair worth fifty 
shillings fetched six^ guineas, 
and an ordinary i>air of spec- 
tacles seven guineas. The 
Pentonville mansion has long 
disappeared, but Hermes Street 
dingily perpetuates its curxKis 
history. 



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WILLIAM HUNTINGTON (S.S.) 

• I cannot get D.D. for want of cash, therefore I am compelled to fly to S.S., 
by which I mean Sinner Saved." 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 218 

a lower room, where they remained mitil the fire. After 
that time, Mr. Harris insisted upon it, as the playhouse 
was a new building, that the Club should not be held there. 
They then went to the Bedford CofEee-house next door. 
Upon the ceiling of the dining-room they placed Lambert's 
original gridiron, which had been saved from the fire. They 
had a kitchen, a cook, and a Mrine-cellar, etc., entirely 
independent of the Bedford Coffee-house. When the 
Lyceum, in the Strand, was rebuilt, Mr. Arnold fitted up 
a room for the Bee&teak Club, where it remained until the 
late fire. 

The society held at Robins's room was called the " Ad 
Libitum " Society, of which Mr. Nixon had the books ; 
but it was a totally different society, quite unconnected 
with the Beefsteak Club.^ 



^ Smith's Beef Steak friend, 
John Nixon, was an Irish 
factor, who, with his brother 
Richard, Uved over his ware- 
houses in Basinghall Street. 
He was wealthy and convivial, 
a bachelor, a good business 
man, an admirable host, an 
amateur actor, and a comic 
artist. His drawing of "The 
Jolly Undertakers r^[aling 
themselves at the Falcon 
Tavern, near Clapham Junction, 
is well known ; the landlord's 
name was Robert Death, and 
U^ undertakers are seen re- 
galing themselves " at Death's 
door." Nixon's original pic- 
ture long remained at the 
Falcon (now rebuilt), and was 
considered a fixture. 

The history of the Sublime 
Society of oeei Steaks was 



mournfully recalled two years 
ago by the closing and sub- 
sequent sale of its last home, 
the Lyceum Theatre. John 
Rich, thelpatentee of Covent 
Garden Theatre, is usually 
named as its founder, but 
the gtrm of the Society (its 
members loathed the name of 
Club) lay in the creature needs 
of lus scene painter, George 
Lambert, of whom Edwards 
relates in his Anecdotes of 
PainHn^ — 

" As it frequently happened 
that he was too much hurried 
to leave his engagements for 
his regular dinner, he con- 
tented himself with a beefsteak 
broiled upon the fire in the 
painting-room. In this hasty 
meal he was sometimes joined 
by his visitors, who were 



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214 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

1815. 

One of the biographers of Mrs. Abington, the first 
actress who played the part of Lady Teazle in the School 
far Scandal, and so justly celebrated in characters of ladies 
in high life, states that she died on the ist of March 1815, 



E leased to participate in the 
umble repast of the artist. 
The savour of the dish and 
the conviviality of the acci- 
dental meeting inspired the 
party with a resolution to 
establish a club, which was 
accordingly done under the 
title of the ' Beefsteak Club ' ; 
and the party assembled in 
the painting - room. The 
members were afterwards ac- 
commodated with a room 
in the playhouse, where the 
meetings were held for many 
years." 

Among the earlier members 
were Hogarth, Theophilus 
Cibber, George iv., when Prince 
of Wales, the Earl of Sand- 
wich, George Colman, Wilkes. 
Charles Morris, the Laureate of 
the Beefsteaks, was admitted 
in 1785, and remained a 
member tiU his death in 1838, 
after being for more than 
fifty years the life and soul 
of the Society. "Die when 
you will, Charles, you'll die 
m your youth," were Curran's 
words, and Morris died young 
at ninety-three. His "Sweet 
shady side of Pall MaU" is 
tiie best London song of its 
kind. 
The Society dined and 



wined itself into the nineteenth 
century without a thought 
of change, but when Covent 
Garden Theatre was burnt 
down in 1808, the Beefsteakers, 
who had taken shelter at the 
Bedford Coffee House, went 
to the Lyceum Theatre at 
the invitation of Samuel James 
Arnold. There, for sixty 
years, they met in a banquet 
room bemnd the stage. In 
1867 the niunber of members 
had fallen to eighteen, and 
in that year the famous coterie 
dosed its doors and sent its 
Lares and Penates to Christie's, 
that mart of abandoned play- 
things. " Brother " Walter 
Arnold's Life and Death of 
the Sublime Sodefy of Beef 
Steaks (1871) is a singularly 
complete and interesting 
memorial of the "jolly old 
Steakers of England." 

The " Ad Libitum" Society, 
of which Nixon was also a 
member, and which was quite 
distinct from the Beefeteaks, 
held its meetings successively 
at the Shakespeare Tavern, the 
Piazza Coffee House, Robins's 
Rooms, and the Bedford 
Coffee House. Thomas Dibdin 
gives a list of its members 
in his Reminiscences. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 215 

in her 84th year. Another informs us that she died on 
the 4th ; but neither of the writers say where she died, 
or where she was buried ; on inquiry, I found that she 
died at Pall Mall.^ Of all the theatrical ungovernable 
ladies under Mr. Garrick's management, Mrs. Abington, 
with her capridousness, inconsistency, injustice, and un- 
kindness, perplexed him the most. She was not unlike 
the miller's mare, for ever looking for a white stone to shy 
at. And though no one has charged her with malignant 
mischief, she was never more delighted than when in a 
state of hostility, often arising from most trivial drcmn- 
stances, discovered in mazes of her own ingenious con- 
struction.* 

Mrs. Abington, in order to keep up her card-parties, 
of which she was very fond, and which were attended by 
many ladies of the highest rank, absented herself from 
her abode to live incog. For this purpose she generally 
took a small lodging in one of the passages leading from 
Stafford Row, Pimlico,' where plants are so placed at the 
windows as nearly to shut out the hght, at all events, 
to render the apartments impervious to the inquisitive 
eye of such characters as Liston represented in Paid Pry. 

^ Mrs. Abington died on the ' Pivy ' Clive, the stately Mrs. 

4th. Barry, Pope, the established 

^Garrick's troubles with this Hoyden of the theatre, Miss 

actress were such that he Younge, Mrs. Yates, Mrs. 

wrote to her in reply to one Abin^on, all tried the effect 

of her complaints: '^Let me of a modified revolt" (Percy 

be peraiitted to say, that I Fit»[erald: Life of Garvick). 

never yet saw Mrs. Abington • Stafford Row was near 

theatrically happy for a week Stafford Gate, St. James's 

together." Durmg his later Park. Mrs. Yates died here 

managership Garrick had in 1787, and Mrs. Radclifie, 

ceaseless struggles with his the author of the Mysteries of 

actresses, by which he was Uddpho, in 1823 
greatly wearied. " The Uvdy 



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216 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

Now and then she would take the small house at the end 
of Mount Street, and there live with her servant in the 
kitchen, till it was time to reappear ; and then some of 
her friends would compliment her on the effects of her 
summer's excursion. 

" Adelphi, November 9. 
'*Mr. Garrick's compliments to Mrs. Abington, and 
has sent her on the other side a little alteration (if she 
approves it, not else) of the epilogue, where there seems 
to be a patch : it should, he believes, run thus : — 

'* Such a persecution I 
'Tis the great blemish of the constitution t 
No human laws should Nature's rights abridge. 
Freedom of speech, our dearest privilege ; 
Ours is the wiser sex, though deemed the weaker, 
I'll put the Question, if you'll cheer me, Speaker. 

" Suppose me now bewig'd, etc.* 

** Mrs. A. is at full liberty to adopt this alteration or 
not. Had not our house overflowed last night in a quarter 
of an hour, from the opening of Covent Garden had suffered 
much. As it was, there was great room in the pit and 
gallery at the end of the third act. 

** Much joy I sincerely wish you at your success in 
Lady Bab. May it continue till we both are tired, yon 
with pla3dng the part, and I with seeing it. 

" Mrs. Abington, 62, Pall Mall." 

^ These lines occur in the formed the part of Lady Bab 

epilogue to General Burgoyne's Lardoon in me season 1773-74. 

comray, The Maid of the Garrick wrote the epflogue 

Oaks, written by him expressly in question to be spoken by 

for Mrs. Abington, who per- Mrs. Abington. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 217 

TO RICHARD COSWAY, ESQ., R.A. 

*' I have found another letter, which you will see is 
part of the history I took the liberty of troubling you 
with. I cannot express how much I am obliged to you 
for your goodness and friendly confidence in telling me 
what you had heard of this trumpery matter, as it has 
given me an opporttmity of convincing you, in some little 
d^ree, that fny conduct stands in no need of protection, 
nor can at any time subject me to fears from threatful 
insinuations of necessitous adventurers. I am. Sir, your 
very much obliged and humble servant, 

"F. Abington." 

TO RICHARD COSWAY, ESQ., R.A. 

'*Mrs. Abington will feel herself most extremely 
mortified indeed if she has not some hope given her that 
Mr. and Mrs. Cosway will do her the very great honour 
of coining to her benefit this evening. 

*\She has been able to secure a small balcony in the 
very midst of persons of the first rank in this country, 
which she set down in the name of Mrs. Cosway, till she 
hears further; it holds two in front, and has three rows 
holding two upon each, so that Mr. Cosway may accom* 
modate four other persons after being comfortably seated 
with Mrs. Cosway. 

" February loth. Nine o'clock." 

" Adelphi, December 8th. 
**Dear Madam, — I altered the b^;inning of your 
epilogue, merely for }^ur ease and credit. I leave it 
wholly to your own feelings to decide what to speak or 
what to reject. I find the epilogue is liked, and there- 
fore I would make it as tolerable as possible for you. I 



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218 A BOOK POK A RAINY DAY 

assure you, upon my word^ that if you please youisdf, 
you will please me. In my huny I find, looking over 
the lines this afternoon, that I have made a false chime. 
I have made directed and corrected to chime, which will 
not do : suppose them thus, 

*' Does not he know, poor soul, to be detected 
Is what you hate, and more to be corrected. — 

or thus : — 

'' Does not he know, in faults to be detected 
Is what you hate, and more to be corrected.^ 

" I most sincerely wish you joy of your friend's success. 
The comedy will be in great vogue. 

" I am. Madam, your very hmnble Servant, 

i " D. Garrick.'* 

Bad pen, and gouty fingers. 

Poor Anacreon, thou growest old ! * 

" Pall Mall, November 4th, 1794. 

** Mrs. Abington begs leave to present her compliments 
to Mr. Webster, and to assure him that she feels perfectly 
ashamed of the trouble which she has repeatedly given 
him, and is now about to give him ; but, indeed, she has 
so much dependence upon the goodness of his heart, as 
well as of his understanding, that she flatters herself he 
will forgive her committing herself to him, upon matters 
which require more sense as well as more management 
than falls to the share of the generality of her acquaintance. 

^ These lines do not belong oth November. I have not 
to The Maid of the Oaks, the oeen able to trace them, 
subject of Garrick's letter of » See Wihnot'sLetters, British 

Museum. — S. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 219 

The enclosed letter will explain to Mr. Webster the nature 
of Mrs. Abington's present difficulty, as he will see she is 
in danger of losing the fine picture which has been for 
near six years in the hands of Mr. Sherwin, for the purpose 
of making a print from it. There is not one moment to 
be lost, if Mr. Webster will have the goodness to undertake 
the business ; and she begs of him not to mention the 
matter further. 

**The picture is the property of Mrs. Abington, and 
given by Sir Joshua Re3molds to Mr. Sherwin at his own 
particular request, that Sir Joshua would favour him so 
far as to let him have the preference of the many artists 
who, at the time the picture was painted, appUed for it to 
engrave a plate from it. 

** Mrs. Abington begs leave to present her kindest love 
and r^ards to Mis. Webster, and flatters herself that the 
whole family are perfectly well. 

*^ She has this moment heard that all the armaments 
will now end in peace. 

" To John Webster, Esq., 

Duke Street, Westminster." 

As Sherwin's plate from this beautiful picture was 
published by the late Mr. John Thane,^ on FelMiiary ist, 
1791, and as Mis. Abington's letter to Mr. Webster is 
dated November 4th, 1794, it appears that the engraver 
retained it nearly four years after the plate was finished ; 
so that, according to Mrs. Abington's date, it must have 
been upwards of two years in hand. 

^ John Thane (1748-1818) Hon of Facsimiles of ike Hand- 

was a well-known printseller wriiing of Royal and lUustnous 

in Soho, and the editor of Personages, with their Authentic 

BriUsh Autography: a CoUec- Portraits (ijij3). 



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220 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

My old friend, Mr. Thomas Thane, son of the publisher, 
who is now in possession of the plate, kindly gave me 
impressions of it in three states. The first is a great 
rarity : a proof before any letters, and the reduction of 
the plate. The second is after the sides of the plate had 
been reduced, with the names of the painter, engraver, and 
publisher, perfectly engraved, and the name of Roxalana 
slightly etched. The third and last state is, after the 
etched name Roxalana has been taken out and engraved 
higher in the plate, to make room for some lines of 
poetry. 

At page 70 of the Wilmot Letters in the British Museum 
is the following letter, addressed by the Hon. Horace 
Walpole to Mrs. Abington the actress: — 

" Paris, September. 1771. 
" If I had known. Madam, of your being at Paris, before 
I heard it from Colonel Blaquiire,^ I should certainly have 
prevented your flattering invitation, and have offered 
you any services that could depend on my acquaintance 
here. It is plain I am old, and live with very old folks." * 



^ J[ohn Blaouibre (1732-1812) 
sat in both Irish and United 
Kingdom Parliaments. At this 
time (1771) he was Secretary 
of L^ation in Paris. 

'This letter is the earliest 
from Walpole to Mrs. Abington 
in Peter Cunningham's collec- 
tion, where it bears the more 
precise date, September i, 
1771. At that time Walpole 
had no private acquaintance 
with Mrs. Abington. Eight 
years later, Mrs. Abinjgton is 
still seeking his acquaintance, 



for he writes in April 1779 
to excuse himself from an 
invitation she had sent him. 
But on Bfay 22, 1779, 
Walpole says at the end of a 
letter to the Honourable H. 
S. Conway : " I am going to 
sup with Mrs. Abington, and 
hope Mrs. Clive will not hear 
of it." No doubt he did so, 
and it was after this stage 
in their acquaintance that 
he wrote the letter of June 11, 
1780 (see opposite page). 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 221 

Further on the same writer observes : — 
** I have not that fault at least of a veteran, the think- 
ing nothing equalled to what they admired in their youth. 
I do impartial justice to your merit, and fairly allow it not 
only equal to that of any actress I have seen, but believe 
the present age will not be in the wrong, if they hereafter 
prefer it to those they may Uve to see. Your allowing 
me to wait on you in London, Madam, will make me some 
amends for the loss I have had here ; and I shall take an 
early opportunity of assuring you how much I am, Madam, 
your most obliged humble servant, 

''Horace Walpole." 

** Madam, — You may certainly alwaj^ command me 
and my house. My common custom is to give a ticket for 
only four persons at a time ; but it would be very insolent 
in me, when all laws are set at nought, to pretend to pre- 
scribe rules. At such times there is a shadow of authority 
in setting the laws aside by the legislature itself; and 
though I have no army to supply their place, I declare 
Mrs. Abington may march through all my dominions at 
the head of as large a troop as she pleases ; — I do not say, 
as she can muster and conmiand, for then I am sure my 
house would not hold them. The day, too, is at her own 
choice; and the master is her very obedient humble 
servant, HoR. Walpole. 

"Strawberry Hill, June ii, 1780." 

Mrs. Abington to Mrs. Jordan. 

" No. 19, Eton Street, Grosvenor Place, 
" January 6th, 1807. 
" I beg leave, dear Madam, to make my grateful 
acknowledgments for the favour of your kind remembrance. 



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222 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

Your ticket vdih those of dear Miss Betsworth, and the 
Miss Jordans, was sent to my present habitation on New 
Year's day. 

'' I have not slept in London since I came from the 
Wealds of Kent, where I passed my summer upon a visit 
to Sir Walter and Lady Jane James, and their lovdy 
family.^ It is near a grand scene of Gothic magnifioeooe, 
.called Bayham Abbey, a seat of Lord CamdenX the 
brother of Lady Jane. In their peaceful retreat and 
aocomphshed society, I have veiy much recovered my 
health and spiritl^, and hope to have the happiness of seeing 
you soon, as I am now looking for something to inhabit 
in London. In the meantime, if you, dear Madam, or 
the Miss Jordans, will do me the honour of calling at my 
present abode, which are two rooms, where I keep my clothes 
and trumpery, I shall be much flattered ; and beg you to 
accept the compliments of the season, and a sincere wish 
that you may see many, many returns, with every hapi»ness 
you are so well entitled to expect. Adieu, my dearest 
Madam. Be pleased to make my compliments to the 
ladies, and believe me your most obliged, etc., 

"F. Abington.*'" 



^Sir Walter James James, 
first Baronet (1759-1820), 
married Jane, sister of Jonn 
JeSrtys, second Earl, and first 
Marquis, Camden. 

*At this time Mrs. Jordan 
was absent from the stage, in 
obedience to her lover, the 
Duke of Clarence, afterwards 
William iv. By him she had 
ten children. She had also 
four children by Sir Richard 
Ford, and a daughter by her 
Cork manager, Richard Daly. 



But, says Leifh Hunt, she 
"made even Methodists love 
her." In 1811 the Duke of 
Clarence made an arrangement 
by which she received £4400 
a vear for the maintenance 
of herself and all her childreD, 
on condition that if she re- 
turned to the sta£;e the Duke's 
daughters and £1500 a year 
were to revert to him. All 
these daughters married wdL 
Mrs. Jordan died embarrassed 
and unhappy at St. Good, 



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MRS. JORDAN 

*rrhe very sound of the little familiar word Mid from her lips . . . was a whole concentrated world 
of the power of loving." — Leigh Hunt 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 228 



1816. 

As a playful relaxation from my former more serious 
applications, I commenced my work of the most remark- 
able London Beggars, with biographical sketches of each 
character.^ By this publication I gained more money 



a good deal of mystery shroud- 
ing her end. Tate Wilkinson 
teUs how she finally exchanged 
her maiden name of Bland for 
Jordan. " You have crossed 
the water, my dear," he said to 
her once, '' so I'll call you Jor- 
dan." " And by the memory 
of Sam ! if she didn't take my 
joke in earnest, and call herself 
Mrs. Jordan ever since." 

^ In a letter dated January 24, 
1816, in my possession, wnich 
was evidently intended to be 
sent as a circular to some of 
his stauncher patrons, Smith 
states that he had found the 
previous year very " unprofit- 
able to the Arts," and that 
owing to the great number of 
famihes who left England for 
France "last season" {i.e. 
after Waterloo), his income 
had been small. He has 
applied himself closely to his 
etchine table, and is now able 
to lay before his correspondent 
the first three numbers of a 
small work at a remarkably 
cheap rate. This was h^ 
Vagabondiana^ or Anecdotes 
of Mendicant Wanderers 
through the Streets of London, 
with Portraits of the Most 
Remarkable drawn from Life. 
The increase of beggars in 



London had eDgajg;ed serious 
attention, and legmation was 
in the air. The Society for 
the Suppression of Mendici^ 
was founded in 1818. Smith^ 
work is the artistic fore- 
runner of Charles Lamb's 
Complaint of the Decay of 
Beggars in the Metropolis, 
wntten in 1822, when ^* the 
all-sweeping besom of sectar- 
ian reform had done its work. 
The Herculean legless beggar 
whose portrait Lamb draws 
with so much gusto, appears 
in Smith's gallery of etchings. 
But whereas Mr. E. V. Lucas 
identifieshim asSamuelHorsey, 
I venture to think he was the 
beggar named John MacNally. 
Smith's figure of Horsey hardly 
suggests a Hercules, nor does 
another portrait of him from 
Kirby's " Wonderful and 
Scientific Museum." I suggest 
that the b^;gar of whom Lamb 
wrote, in 1822, "He seemed 
earth-bom, an Antaeus, and to 
suck in fresh vigour from the 
soil which he neighboured; he 
was a grand fragment; asgood 
as an Elgin marble; the nature, 
which should have recruited his 
left 1^ and thighs, was not lost, 
but only retired into his upper 
parts, and he was half a Her- 



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224 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

than by all my antiquarian labours united. Her late 
Majesty, Queen Charlotte, and the Princess Eli2abeth, 
much encouraged their putdidty ; but I must acknowledge 
that my greatest success was owiog to the warm and 
friendly exertions of the late Charles Cowper,^ Esq., of 
the Albany, a gentleman whose memory must be dear 
to every one who had the pleasure of knowing him. 

Much about this time, the Print Room of the British 
Museum was closed, in consequence of the death of the 
highly talented Mr. William Alexander, when several 
friends exerted their interest to procure me the situation 
of Keeper, an appointment which, I hope, I have held with 
no small benefit to that National Institution, and with 
credit to myself. The interest required to obtain this 
appointment may be conceived, when the number of 
candidates is considered. The following letter was written 
by his Grace the late Archbishop of Canterbury to one 
of his Grace's relations : — 

" Addington, Sept. i6<A, 1816. 

**My dear Madam, — With such interest as Mr. 
J. T. Smith possesses, I am astonished he should think 
it worth while to waste his strength in pursuit of such 
a trifling office as that which is now vacant in the 
Museum. 

'* It is impossible to resist the testimony which your 

coles/' was identical with the MacNaUy. Were there two 

beg^ whom John Thomas London legless beggars who 

Smith describes as an " extra- could suggest to two minds 

ordinary torso": ''His head, such images of antique magoifi- 

shoulders, and chest, which are oence of physique ? It is po»- 

exactly those of Hercules, would sible, but umikely . 

prove valuable models for the ^ First cousin, once removed, 

artist" This Hercules is John of the poet. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINV DAY 225 

Ladyship, and many ofhers» have borne to his merits 
and qualifications. He certainly shall have my vote ; 
and I have reason to believe he will have the votes of the 
other two principal Trustees, to whom the appointment 

belongs. 

"C. Cantuar."! 
1817. 

Perhaps the only gala day now which gladdens the 
heart of tiie loyal spectator, is the one afforded by Thomas 
Doggett, comedian, on the ist of August, to commemorate 
the accession of the House of Brunswick. This scene is 
sure to be picturesque and cheerful, should the glorious 
sun, ''that gems the sea, and every land that blooms," 
reflect the pendent streamers of its variegated show, in 
the quivering eddies of Father Thames's silver tide. At 
what time Mr. Thomas Doggett was bom, I am ignorant. 
All I have been able to glean of him is, that Castle Street, 
DuUin, has been stated as the place of his birth; and 
that he had the honour of being the founder of our water 
games. CoUey Cibber, speaking of him, says, " As an actor 
he was a great observer of Nature ; and as a singer he 
had no competitor." He was the author of the Country 
Wake^ a comedy, and was a patentee of Drury Lane Theatre 
until 1712 ; and my friend, Mr. Thomas Gilliland,* in 
his work entitled The Dramatic Mirror ^ states his death 
to have taken place on the 22nd of September 1721. 

In 1715, the year after George i. came to the throne, 
Doggett, to quicken the industry and raise a laudable 

^Charles Manners - Sutton, with the actors and actresses 

Archbishop of Canterbury whose lives he compiled. He 

1805-28. was practically wam^ off the 

* Thomas Gilliland, whose Green-room of Drury Lane 

Dramatic Mirror is still con- Theatre by Charles Mathews, 

suited, was not too popular the elder. 

15 



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226 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



emulation in our young men of the Thames, whereby 
they not only may acquire a knowledge of the river, but 
a skill in managing the oar with dexterity, gave an orange- 
coloured coat and silver badge, on which was sculptured 
the Hanoverian Horse, to the successful candidate of six 
young watermen just out of their apprenticeship, to be 
rowed for on the ist of August, when the current was 
strongest against them, starting from the *' Old Swan," 
London Bridge, to the ** Swan" at Chelsea. On the ist 
of August 1722, the year after Doggett's death, pursuant 
to the tenor of his will, the prize was first rowed for, and 
has been given annually ever since.^ 

" They gripe their oars ; and every panting breast 
Is raised by turns with hope, by turns with fear de- 
prest." 



^ Smith is mistaken as to the 
date of the first race. This 
was rowed on August i, 1716. 
A portrait of a waterman in 
his boat, still preserved in the 
Watermen's Hall, St. Mary's 
HiU, is supposed to represent 
the first wearer of the coat and 
badge, a white horse being 
painted on the back-board of 
the boat. It is said that John 
Broughton, afterwards the 
prize-fighter, and the founder 
of boxing, was this winner. 
Under Doggett's will, only one 
prize, the coat and badge, was 
given, but additional prizes 
have been added under the 
will of Sir William Jolliff, in 
1820, and by the Fishmongers' 
Company. These prizes are 
generous. Even the last 
of the six young watermen 



to reach the winning-post 
is sure of £2 ; the other 
unsuccessful candidates re- 
ceive sums from £3 to £6 
each. The winner of the race 
is £10 in pocket, his name 
is added to the long roll of 
previous winners, and he 
wears Doggett's coat (made 
to fit him) among the 
coated ^Ute of Watermen's 
Hall. 

A clever and genial man, 
Doggett was known every- 
where by his immense wig, 
on the top of which, not 
without the aid of pins, rested 
a small cocked hat. He 
carried a rapier, and took 
snuff incessantly. Only two 
portraits of him are knowQ : 
one represents him dancing 
the Cheshire Round with the 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 227 

This giatifyiiig sight I have often witnessed; and 
the never-to-be-forgotten Charles Dibdin considered it so 
pleasing a subject, that in 1774 he brought out at the 
Ha3nnarket Theatre a ballad opera, entitled The WaUrman^ 
or the Firsi of August. In this piece, Tom Tug, the hero, 
is in love with a gardener's daughter, before whom he 
sings. 

" And did you not hear of a jolly young waterman. 
Who at Blackf riars' Bridge used for to ply ; 
And he feathered his oars with such skill and dexterity, 
Winning each heart, and delighting each eye," etc. 

Poor Tug, who considered himself slighted for another 
lover, whom the girl of his heart appeared to prefer, after 
declaring that he would go on board a man-of-war to cast 
away his care, sings a song, of which the following is the 
first verse : — 

"Then farewell, my trim-built wherry. 
Oars and coat and badge farewell ! 
Never more at Chelsea ferry 
Shall your Thomas take a spell,** etc. 

However, Tom rowed for Doggett's Coat and Badge, 
which he had an eye upon, in order to obtain the girl, if 
possible, by his prowess. She was seated at the Swan, 
and admired the successful candidate before she discovered 
him to be her suitor Thomas, then 

** Blushed an answer to his wooing tale.'* 
The part of Tom Tug was originally performed by 



motto, " Ne sutor ultra crepi- has a portrait, but its authen- 
dam," and the Garrick Club ticity is questioned. 



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228 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

Charles Bannister, and esteemed so great a favourite, that 
Mr. Garrick selected the entertainment of The Waterman^ 
to follow the comedy of The Wonder y on the evening of his 
last performance on the stage.^ Had the author of The 
Watermany when composing that little entertainment, sus* 
pected that the Plague's blood-red bills of 

" Lord, have jiercy upon us," 

had been fixed upon this house, the Swan, his Muse most 
likely would have whispered, *' You must not sadden 
these scenes." Pepys, in his Diary, made the following 
entry : — 

^^ April g/A, 1666. — Thinking to have been merry at 
Chelsey, but being come almost to the house, by coach, 
near the water-side, a house alone, I think the Swan, a 
gentleman walking by called to us to tell us that the 
house was shut up of the sickness." 

1818. 

It is scarcely possible for any person, possessing the 
smallest share of common observation, to pass through 
ten streets in London, without noticing what is generally 
denominated a character, either in dress, walk, pursuits, 
or propensities. As even my enemies are willing to give 
me credit for a most respectful attention to the ladies, 
I hope they will not in this instance impeach my gallantry, 
because I place the fair sex at the head of my table of 
remarks, as to the eccentricity of some of their dresses. 

^ The Waterman was, in- his great farewell scene ren- 

deed, annotmced as the after- dered its performance impos- 

piece to The Wonder, but sible alike to actors and 

Garrick had no part in it, and audience. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 229 

Miss Banks,^ the sister of Sir Joseph, was looked after 
by the eye of astonishment wherever she went, and in 
whatever situation she appeared. Her dress was that 
of the Old School ; her Barcelona quilted petticoat had 
a hole on either side for the convenience of rummaging 
two immense pockets, stuffed with books of all sizes. 
This petticoat was covered with a deep stomachered 
gown, sometimes drawn through the pocket-holes, similar 
to those of many of the ladies of Bunbury's time, which 
he has introduced in his prints. In this dress I have 
frequently seen her walk, followed by a six-foot servant 
with a cane almost as tall as himself. 

Miss Banks, for so that lady was called for many years, 
was frequently heard to relate the following curious anec- 
dote of herself. After making repeated inquiries of the 
wall-vendors of halfpenny ballads for a particular one 
which she wanted, she was informed by the claret-faced 
woman, who strung up her stock by Middlesex Hospital- 



^ Sarah Sophia Baxiks (1744- 
1818) was a virtuoso, and 
collector of natural history 
specimens. She kept house 
for her brother, Su* Joseph 
Banks, at 32 Soho Square, 
at the comer of Frith Street. 
Here Sir Joseph, who is men- 
tioned by Smith elsewhere, 
gave his Sunday evening 
conversaziones, at which 
Cavendish and Wollaston were 
the prominent guests. Sir 
Henry Holland describes these 
evenings in his RtcoUedions. 
Gifiord of the Quarterly re- 
marked to Moore, that the 
Banks' mansion was to science 
what Holland House was to 



hterature. Horace Walpole 
poked incessant fun at Sir 
Joseph's curiositv about 
remote Atlantic islands, and 
Peter Pindar scribbled verses 
like this: — 

" To give a breakfast in Soho, 
Sir Joseph's bitterest foe 
Must certainly allow him peer- 
less merit : 
Where on a wagtail and tom- 
tit 
He shines, and sometimes on a 
nit: 
Displaying powers few gentle- 
men inherit." 

The house was afterwards the 
home of the Linnsean Society, 
and is now the Hospital for 
Diseases of the Heart 



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230 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

gates, that if she went to a printer in Long Lane, Smith- 
field, probably he might supply her Lad3rship with what 
her Lad3rship wanted. Away trudged Miss Banks through 
Smithfield, ^' aUon a market-day " ; but before she entered 
Mr. Thompson's shop, she desired her man to wait for her 
at the comer, by the plumb-pudding stall. "Yes, we 
have it,'* was the printer's answer to the interrogative- 
He then gave Miss Banks what is called a book, consisting 
of many songs. Upon her expressing her surprise when 
the man returned her eightpence from her shilling, and 
the great quantity of songs he had given her, when she 
only wanted one, — " What, then I " observed the man, 
" are you not one of our chanters ? I beg your pardon." 

It has been stated that this lady and Lady Banks, 
out of compliment to Sir Joseph, who had been deeply 
engaged in the production of wool, had their riding-habits 
made of his produce, in which dresses those ladies at one 
period upon all occasions appeared. Indeed, so delighted 
was Miss Banks with this over a/^<:overing, that she actually 
gave the habit-maker orders for three at a time, — and they 
were called Hightum, Tightum, and Scrub. The first was 
her best, the second her second best, and the third her 
every-day one. 

I have been informed that once, when Miss Banks and 
her sister-in-law visited a friend with whom they were to 
stay several da]^, on the evening of their arrival they sat 
down to dinner in their riding-habits. Their friend had 
a large party after dinner to meet them, and they entered 
the drawing-room in their riding-habits. On the following 
morning they again appeared in their riding-habits ; and 
so on, to the astonishment of every one, till the conclusion 
of their visit. 

Being in possession of an inmiense number of trades- 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 231 

men's tokens curzent at this time, I left them in Soho 
Square, with a note begging Miss Banks's acceptance of 
any she might want. After a few hours, her footman's 
knock at my door announced the arrival of Miss Banks, 
iMrho entered the parlour holding up the front of her riding- 
habit with both hands, the contents of which she delivered 
upon the table, at the same time observing " that she 
considered herself extremely obliged to me for my polite- 
ness, but that, extraordinary as it might appear, out of 
so many hundred there was not one that she wanted." 

Although Miss Banks displayed great attention to 
many persons, there were others to whom she was wanting 
in civility. I have heard that a great genius, who had 
arrived a quarter of an hour before the time specified 
upon the card for dinner, was shown into the drawing- 
room, where Miss Banks was putting away what are 
sometimes called rcMe-traps.^ When the visitor observed, 
" It is a fine day. Ma'am," she replied, " I know nothing 
at all about it ; you must speak to my brother upon that 
subject when you are at dinner." Notwithstanding the 
very «ingn1ar appearance of Miss Banks, she was in the 
prime of Ufe, a fashionable whip, and drove four-in-hand. 

Mis. Carter,* the translator of Epictetus, was also 

^ Knick-knacks. Greek and Latin was extra- 
'EUzabeth Carter (1717- ordinary: she placed a bell 
x8o6), of " Epictetus " fame, at the head of her bed, and 
was the daughter of a Kent arranged that the sexton, who 
parson. She enjoyed the rose between four and five 
friendship of Dr. Johnson, to o'clock, should ring it by 
whom she was introduced by means of a cord which de- 
Cave. Mrs. Carter wrote Nos. scended into the garden below. 
44 and 100 of the Rambler, es- Her translation of Epictetus 
sa3^ which Johnson esteemed app^u-ed in 1758 ; it was 
highly. Her resolution in published by subscription at 
acquiring a knowledge of one guinea, and she made 



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232 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

singular in her dress. Her upper walking*garment, in 
the latter part of her life, which was cut short, was more 
like a bed-gown than anything else. The last time I met 
this benevolent lady was in 1801, at Mrs. Dards's exhibi- 
tion,^ an immense collection of artificial flowers made 
entirely by herself with fish-bones, the incessant labour 
of many years. I remember, in the course of conversation, 
Mrs. Dards observed, ** No one can in[iagine the trouble I 
had in collecting the bones for that bunch of lilies of the 
valley ; each cup consists of the bones which contain the 
brains of the turbot ; and from the difficulty of matching 
the sizes, I never should have completed my task had it 
not been for the kindness of the proprietors of the London, 
Free-Masons', and Crown and Anchor Taverns, who desired 
their waiters to save all the fish-bones for me.*' 

This ingenious person distributed a card embellished 
with flowers and insects, upon which was engraven the 
following advertisement :— 

No. I, Suffolk Street, Cockspur Street. 

** Mrs. Dards begs leave to inform her friends in 
particular, and the public in general, that after a labour 
of thirty years, she has for their inspection and amusement 
opened an exhibition of shell-work, consisting of a great 
variety of beautiful objects equal to nature, which are 

£zooo by it. Her attain- Hannah More, looking at 
ments brought her many Johnson, "was struck with 
distinguished friends, and it the mild radiance of the set- 
was thought that Dr. Seeker, ting sun." 
afterwards Archbishop of ^ Mrs. Dards' exhibition was 
Canterbury, wished to marry at No. i Suffolk Street, Cock- 
her. Mrs. Carter was one of spur Street The British 
the Utde company who dined Museum has one of her cata- 
with Johnson at Mrs. Garrick's logues, dated 1800. 
house, May 3, 1783, when 



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HENRY CONSTANTINE JENNINGS (OR NOEL) 
". . . barring his eccentricities." 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



238 



minutdy described in the catalogue. Likewise is enabled 
to gratify them 

" WM bones, scales, and eyes, from the prawn to the porpoise. 
Fruit, flies, birds, and flowers, oh, strange metamorphose I " 

** Open from ten to six in the summer, — ^from ten to 
four in the winter. 

"Admittance is. Catalogue 6d. 

Mr. Jennings/ latterly known as Constantine Noel, 
barring his eccentricities, was an accomplished gentleman, 
a traveller of infinite taste, and one of the most liberal 



^ This singular character, 
whose real name was Henry Con- 
stantine Jennings (1731-181Q), 
died within the Rules of tne 
King's Bench, after spending 
one fortune on works of art 
and losing another on the 
turf. About 1778 he brought to 
Eng^land the antique sculpture 
known as Alcibiaaes' Dog (now 
at Duncombe Park, Yorl^hire), 
whence he had his nickname, 
" Dog Jennings." His pur- 
chase of this work for a 
thousand guineas was the 
subject of one of Dr. Johnson's 
conversations, recorded by 
Boswell. Jennings Uved in 
the most easterly of the five 
houses into which Lindsey 
House, Chelsea, was divided 
in 1760. In Smith's NoUekens 
he appears as a Uttle man in a 
brown coat walking in Maryle- 
bone Fields, where Nollekens 
was for giving him twopence, 
mistaking him for a pauper. 



Jennings was twice married, 
and at one time laid claim 
to a lapsed peerage. At 
Chelsea, where he mamtaiQed 
his house and grounds in a 
state of luxurious neglect, it 
was his custom twice a day 
to exercise himself with a 
ponderous lead-tipped broad- 
sword: then (to use his own 
words), " mount my chaise 
horse, composed of leather 
and inflatea with wind like 
a pair of bellows, on which 
I take exactly one thousand 
gallops." Among his treasures 
was a statue of Venus, which 
he prized so highly, that for 
the first six months after 
acquiring it he had it placed 
during mnner at the head of 
his table, with two footmen 
in laced liveries in attendance 
on it — a situation that to-day 
would be worthy of Mr. 
Anstey's humour. 



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284 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

and entertaining companions imaginable. Mr. Nod's 
figure was short, thin, and much bent by age ; and he 
was very singular in his dress. The crown of his hat 
fitted his head as close as a pitch-flaster ; his coat was 
short, of common cloth, and, like Mr. WodhuU's, r^;ularly 
buttoned up from his waist to his chin. His stockings 
were not striped blue and white, like those of Sir Thomas 
Stepney,^ but of pepper-and-saU mixture, and of worsted. 
He stepped astride in consequence of the bowness of his 
legs, and generally attracted notice by striking his walking- 
stick hard on the stones with his right arm fully extended, 
while his left hung swinging low before him. He wore 
thick-sole shoes, with small buckles, and seldom showed 
linen beyond the depths of his stock. 

My father, who knew him well, used to relate the an- 
nexed anecdote. Mr. Noel one day, when at the comer 
of Rathbone Place, close to Wright's, the intelligent grocer, 
finding himself rather fatigued, called repeatedly to the 
first coachman, who, after laughing at him for some time, 
increased the insult by observing, "'A coach, indeed! a 
coach ! who's to pay for it ? " 

"You rascal," exclaimed Mr. Noel, clenching his 
stick in the position of chastisement, "why don't 3rou 
come when I call. Sir ; I'll make an example of you, I 
will." 

The coachman continued laughing, till a gentleman 

^ Sir Thomas Stepney, ninth Nollekens, the sculptor. A 

and last baronet of Frender- worthier distinction was his 

gast, Pembroke, died Sep- descent from Sir Anthony 

tember 12, 1825, aged 65. Vandyke. Sir John Stepney, 

He was long a member of the third baronet, had married 

White's Club, and wore blue the daughter and heiress of 

and white striped stockings, the painter, 
a peculiarity he shared with 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 285 

accosted Mr. Jennings thus : — ** My worthy friend, what 
is all this about ? ** 

The coachman was immediately curbed ; and when 
Mr. Noel's friend had parted with him, by shaking his hand 
in the coach, the coachman, touching the front of his 
hat, wished to know of his honour ** Where to ? " 

"I'll give you a pretty dance," replied Mr. Nod ; 
" drive me to h — , you rascal ; to Whitechapel, and from 
thence to Hyde Park Comer. I'll take care it shall be 
long enough before you get any dinner, you rascal, I will." 
Then, with a nod and a smile to the assembled crowd, he 
declared, to their no small amusement, ** I'll punish him." 

Dr. Burges, of Mortimer Street, whose singular figure 
has been etched by Gillray, under which he wrote, " From 
Warwick Lane," was one of the last men who wore a 
cocked-hat and deep niiBes. What rendered his appearance 
more remarkable, he walked on tiptoe.^ 

It was the regular custom of Mr. Alderman Boydell, 
who was a very early riser, at five o'clock, to go immediately 
to the pump in Ironmonger Lane. There, after placing 
his wig upon the ball at the top of it, he used to sluice his 
head with its water. This well-known and highly respected 
character,' who has done more for the British artists than 



^ Of John Burges, M.D. ' At the Royal Academy 

(1745-1807), there is a manu- dinner of 1789 the health of 

script memoir in the library Alderman BoydeD as "the 

of the Royal College of Commercial Maecenas of 

Physicians. He made a fine England" was proposed by 

collection of the mo^maffi^ifca, Edmund Burke. It was in 

which ultimately passed to this year that the Alderman 

the college, where it is still began to exhibit in Pall Mall 

preserved. Gillraj^s l^end the works which he had com- 

^' From Warwick Lane "refers, missioned for his Shake- 

of course, to the earlier loca- speare Gallery. Next year he 

tion of the college in the city, became Lord Mayor. Un- 



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236 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

all the print-publishers put together, was also one of the 

last men who wore the three-cornered hat commonly 

called " Egham, Staines, and Windsor." 

I recollect another character, a bricklayer, of the 

name of Pride, of Vine Street, Piccadilly, who wore the 

three-cornered hat commonly called "The Cumberland 

Cock."i 

1822. 

In October this year the venerable Mrs. Garrick de- 
parted this life, when seated in her larmchair in the front 
drawing-room of her house in the Adelphi. She had 
ordered her maid-servants to place two or three gowns 
upon chairs, to determine in which she would appear at 
Drury Lane Theatre that evening, it being a private view 
of Mr. EUiston's improvements for the season. Perhaps 
no lady in public and private life held a more unexception- 
able character. She was visited by persons of the first 
rank ; even our late Queen Charlotte, who had honoured 
her with a visit at Hampton, found her peeling onions for 
pickling. The gracious Queen commanded a knife to be 
brought, saying, "I will peel some onions too." The 
late King George iv. and King William iv., as well as 
other branches of the Royal Family, frequently honoured 
her with visits. 

fortunately, he miscalculated speare Gallery, consisting of 

his financial powers, and the 170 pictures, was disposM of 

outbreak of the French Re- by lottery; the winner being 

volution entailed on lum such Tassie, the gem-modeller, who 

loss of foreign custom that sold them at Christie's for 

his death in 1804 was clouded £615^. 

bv misfortune. He had em- ^ First fashionable in 1745, 

ployed nearly all the best and named after William, Duke 

artists and engravers of his of Cumberland. Smith might 

day, and had spent £350,000 have seen it in his boyhood, 

in his business. His Shake- It was smartly cocked in front. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 237 

In the course of cimversation with Mrs. Garrick (to 
whom I had been introduced by the late Dr. Bumey), 
that lady expressed a wish to see the collection of Mr. 
Garrick's portraits, which the Doctor had most industriously 
collected. After the honourable trustees had purchased 
the Doctor's library, which contained ten folio volumes 
of theatrical portraits, I reminded Mrs. Garrick of her 
wish, in consequence of which I received the following 
letter : — 

** Mr. Beltz * presents his compliments to Mr. Smith, 
and is desired by his respected friend Mrs. Garrick to 
acquaint him, in answer to the favour of his letter of the 
I2th inst., that she proposes (unless she should hear from Mr. 
Smith that it will be inconvenient to him) to do herself the 
pleasure of calling on him at the British Museum on Tuesday 
next, between twelve and one, for the purpose of inspecting 
the prints of Mr. Garrick, to which Mr. Smith refers. 

" Heralds' College, Aug. i&A, 1821." 

On the appointed morning Mrs. Garrick arrived, ac- 
companied by Mr. Beltz. She was delighted with the 
portraits of Mr. Garrick, many of which were totally 
unknown to her. Her observations on some of them were 
extremely interesting, particularly that by Dance, as 
Richard iii.* Of that painter she stated, that Mr. Garrick, 

^ George Frederick Beltz of Garrick, has been guilty 

(1777-1841), Lancaster Herald, of an egr^ous anachronism. 

and author of Memorials of He has actually given Richard 

the Order of the Garter, was one the Third the star of the 

of Mrs. Garrick's executors, Order of the Garter, when 

and wrote the memoir of her he ought to have known that 

in the Gentleman's Magazine it was not introduced before 

of November 1822. the reign of King Charles i." 

* *' Mr. Dance, in this picture (Smith : NoUekens), 



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288 A BOOK FOR A KAINY DAY 

who had been the artist's best friend and benefactor, 
behaved in the most dirty manner in return ; for in the 
course of his painting the picture Mr. Garrick had agreed 
to give him two hundred guineas for it. One day at Mr. 
Garrick's dining*table» where Dance had always been a 
welcome guest, he observed that Sir Watkin Williams 
Wynn,^ who had seen the picture, spontaneously offered 
him three hundred guineas for it. '^ Did you tell him it 
was for me ? " questioned Mr. Garrick. " No, I did not." 
" Then you mean to let him have it ? ** Garrick rejoined. 
" Yes, I believe I shall," replied the painter. " However," 
observed Mrs. Garrick, "my husband was very good; 
he bought me a most handsome looking-glass, which cost 
him more than the agreed price of the picture ; and that 
was put up in the place where Dance's picture was to have 
hung.'* Mrs. Garrick being about to quit her seat, said 
she should be glad to see me at Hampton. " Madam," 
said I, " you are very good ; but you would oblige me 
exceedingly by honouring me with your signature on this 
day.'' " What do you ask me for ? I have not taken a 
pen in my hand for many months. Stay, let me compose 
myself ; don't hurry me, and I will see what I can do. 
Would you like it written with my spectacles on, or with- 
out ? " Preferring the latter, she wrote " E. M. Garrick," 
but not without some exertion. 

"I suppose now, Sir, you wish to know my age. I 
was bom at Vienna, the 29th of February, 1724, though 
my coachman insists upon it that I am above a hundred. 
I was married at the parish of St. Giles at eight o'clock 

^ Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, Square had fine pictures. He 

fifth baronet (1772-1840), a died after a fall from his horse 

generous patron of artists, in the hunting-field. 
His town house in St. James's 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 239 

in the morning, and inunediatdy afterwards in the chapel 
of the Portuguese Ambassador, in South Audley Street." 

A day or two after Mrs. Garrick*s death, I went to the 
Adelphi, to know if a day had been fixed for the funeral. 
" No," replied George Harris, one of Mrs. Garrick's con- 
fidential servants ; " but I will let you know when it is to 
take place. Would you like to see her? she is in her 
coflBn." " Yes, I should." Upon entering the back room 
on the first-floor, in which Mr. Garrick died, I found the 
deceased's two female servants standing by her remains. 
I made a drawing of her, and intended to have etched it. 
" Pray, do tell me," looking at one of the maids, " why is the 
cofi&n covered with sheets ? " " They are their wedding 
sheets, in which both Mr. and Mrs. Garrick wished to 
have died." I was informed that one of these attentive 
women had incurred her mistress's displeasure by kindly 
pouring out a cup of tea, and handing it to her in her 
chair. " Put it down, you hussey ; do you think I cannot 
help myself ? " She took it herself, and a short time after 
she had put it to her lips, died. This lady continued her 
practice of swearing now and then, particularly when any 
one attempted to impose upon her. A stonemason brought 
in his bill with an overcharge of sixpence more than the 
sum agreed upon ; on which occasion he endeavoured to 
appease her rage by thus addressing her : — " My dear 
Madam, do consider " — " My dear Madam ! Whst do 
you mean, you d — fellow ? Get out of the house imme- 
diately. My dear madam, indeed ! ! " 

On the following day I received the promised letter, 
by the post. 

" Sir, — The funeral is fixed to leave the Adelphi Terrace 
soon after ten o'ck>ck to-morrow morning. Mrs. Garrick's 



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240 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

carriage, the Dowager Lady Amherst's, Dr. Maton's, and 

Mr. Carr's ^ are the only carriages that will join the funeral. 

Your obedient servant, 

"George Harris, 

" Servant to Mrs. Garrick." 

On the day of the funeral. Miss Macauley,* the authoress, 
wishing to see this venerable lady interred, placed hersdf 
under my protection ; but when we arrived at the Abbey, 
we were refused admittance by a person who observed, 
" If it be your wish to see the waxwork, you must come 
when the funeral's over, and you will then be admitted 
into Poets* Comer, by a man who is stationed at the door 
to receive your money.** 

" Curse the waxwork ! ** said I ; " this lady and I came 
to see Mrs. Garrick*s remains placed in the grave.** — " Ah, 



^Thc Dowager Lady Am- 
herst would appear to be 
Elizabeth, daughter and co- 
heir of Lieutenant - General 
Honourable George Gary, who 
married, 1767, Jeflhrey, first 
Lord Amherst, Field-Marshal, 
who died in 1797, aged 80. 
Lady Amherst died in 1830. — 
WiUiam George Maton, M.D., 
dated his fortune from the 
day when he was approached 
by an equerry at Wesonouth 
as a person who might be 
able to name a plant {arundo 
epigejos) which one of the 
royal princesses had found. 
He was thus brought into the 
presence of Queen Charlotte, 
and later became her physician 
extraordinary. Maton died on 
March 30, 1835, and was 
buried at St. Martin's-in-the- 



Fields. There is a tablet to 
him in Salisbury Cathedral — 
Mr. Carr was Mrs. Ganick's 
solicitor, and was to be the 
next occupant of the famous 
Garrick ViUa at Hampton. 

s Elizabeth WrightMacauley, 
novelist, actress, and preacher 
of the gospel, died at York, 
March 1837, aged 52, in 
rather straitened circum- 
stances. Her London home 
was at 52 Clarendon Square, 
St. Pancras. She published, 
in 1812, Effusions of Fancy, 
a collection of po^ns con- 
sisting of the '* Birth of Friend- 
ship,'^ the " Birth of Affection," 
and the " Birth of Sensibility." 
In the last year of her me 
she had,travdled the country 
lecturing on " Domestic Philo- 
sophy," and giving recitations. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 241 

well, you can't come in ; the Dean won't allow it." As 
soon as the ceremony was over, we were admitted for 
sixpence at the Poets' Comer, and there we saw the earth 
that surrounded the grave, and no more, as we refused 
to pay the demands of the showmen of the Abbey. Surely 
this mode of admission to see the venerable structure, and 
the monuments put up there at a most liberal expense 
by the country, as memorials of departed worth, is an 
abominable disgrace to the English Government.^ 

Being disappointed in a sight of the burial, I applied 
to my friend, the Rev. Thomas Rackett, one of Mrs. 
Garrick's executors* for a list of those persons who attended 
the funeral. 

IN THE FIRST COACH. 

Christopher Philip Garrick, and Nathan Egerton Garrick, 
great-nephews of David Garrick ; the Rev. Thomas Rackett, 
and George Frederick Beltz, Esq., Lancaster Herald, 
Executors of Mrs. Garrick's will. 



^ At an earlier time the 
Abbey had been free to sight- 
seers, but a wanton injury to 
the figure of George Waslung- 
ton in Major Andre's monu* 
ment had led to the imposi- 
tion of admission fees. Not 
long after Smith's encounter, 
Chaurles Lamb wrote his protest 
against these fees, of which 
he says : " In no part of our 
beloved Abbey now can a 
person find entrance (out of 
service time) under the sum 
of two shillings" Lamb's com- 
plaint may have been rather 
i6 



overstrained by reason of its 
incorporation in his bitter 
letter to Southev in the 
London Magazine for October 
1823. 

Free admission was given 
to the larger part of the 
Abbey under Dean Ireland. 
Authorised guides were first 
appointed in 1826, and the 
nave and transepts were 
opened, and the fees lowered 
in 1841 at the suggestion of 
Lord John Thynne (Dean 
Stanley: Historical Memorials 
of Westminster Abbey). 



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242 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

IN THE SECOND COACH. 

Thomas Caxr, Esq., Mrs. Garrick's solicitor ; and Mrs. 
Carr. 

IN THE THIRD COACH. 

Mr. James Deane, Agent to Mr. Carr, frequently em- 
ployed by Mrsr. Garrick ; Mr. Freeman, of Spring Gardens, 
Mrs. Garrick's apothecary. 



Thohas Rackstt.^ 



December 4/A, 1827. 



As Mr. Garrick was married by his friend, the cele- 
brated Dr. Francklin,' who at that time had a chapel in 
Great Queen Street, I was anxious to ascertam whether 
the ceremony took place there or at the parish church. 
I therefore applied to my friend, the Rev. Charles 



1 The Rev. Thomas Rackctt 
(1757-1841), Rector of Spetis- 
bury with Charlton-Mai^hall, 
Dorset. He was a musician, a 
naturalist, an antiquary, and 
a friend of Garrick. He had 
been guided as a youth by 
Dr. John Hunter. His daughter 
Dorothea married Mr. S. 
SoU]^ of Heathside, near Poole. 
She is mentioned on p. 290. 

•Dr. Francklin was prob- 
ably the ** Thomas Franklin " 
who signed the round-robin 
to Dr. Johnson asking him to 
re-write Goldsmith's epitaph 
in English. Here the absence 
of the c from the name causes 
Croker to doubt the identity, 
and Dr. Birkbeck Hill to 
reject it. It is curious that 
Smith, with Garrick's marriage 



certificate before him, makes 
the name agree with tiie 
questioned signature in the 
memorial to Johnson. Franck- 
lin knew Johnson and dedicated 
to him a translation of Lucian. 
"BoswELL. I think Dr. 
Franklin's definition of Man 
a good one — A tool-making 
animal. Johnson. But many 
a man never made a tool ; 
and suppose a man without 
arms, he could not make 
a tool." Francklin founded 
the CetUinel, a paper of the 
Toiler variety, and published 
many translations. He was 
the first Chaplain to the Royal 
Academy, and composed a 
song, "The Patrons," that 
was sung at the inaugural 
dinner. 



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THE GARRICKS 

'* The fop<5 thai join to cry you do>vn 
Would give their ears to gel her." 

Edward Afoore on GarHck's Marriagt 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 243 

McCarthy, who favoured me with the following certi- 
ficate : — 

June 22, 1749. David Garrick, of St. Paul, Covent 
Garden ; and Eva Maria Violetti, of St. James's, West- 
minster. 

T. Franklin. 

C. McCarthy, Curate and Reg.^ 

1823. 

In 1822, to the disgrace of the Antwerp picture col- 
lectors, notwithstanding their professed zeal for the 
protection of high works of art, they allowed the most 
precious gem, their boasted comer-stone, to be carried 
away from their city. However, to the great honour of 
Mr. Smith, the picture-dealer, it was secured for England. 

This comer-stone, which had been coveted by most of 
the amateurs in the world, was no less a treasure than the 
picture known under the appellation of the "Chapeau de 

^ This certificate does not " On the 22nd June, 1749, 

answer Smith's inquiry: the Garrick was married to £va 

place of the marriage. As a Maria Violetti by M. Francklin, 

matter of fact. Dr. Francklin's at his chapel near RusseU 

chapel, where the ceremony Street, Bloomsbury; and 

was periormed, was not in afterwards, according to the 

Great Queen Street, but in rites of the Roman Catholic 

Queen Street, near Russell Church, by the Rev. M. Blj^, 

Street, now Museum Street, at the chapel of the Portuguese 

The Charity School opposite Embassy in South Audley 

the side entrance of Mudie's Street '* (Garrick's Correspond- 

Library marks the site of the ence, 1831). 
chapel in which the knot was " Yesterday was married, 

tied between David Garrick by the Rev. Mr. Francklin, 

and Eva Maria Violetti. at his chapel, Russell Street, 

The facts are given correctly Bloomsbury, David Garrick, 

hy 3, writer ia Notes and Queries Esq., to Eva Maria Violetti" 

(March 31, 1877), ^^^ P^^ ^ (General Advertiser, June 23, 

the following documents :— 1749)- 



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244 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



Paille," ^ by Rubens, which had been in the Lundoi's, and 
then the Steir's family, from the time it was sold after 
the painter's death, to the 29th of July, 1822, the day on 
which it was brought to auction for the benefit of the 
last possessor's fanndly. 

When the auctioneer ordered the doors of the case in 
which it was kept to be thrown open, every person took 
off his hat, and greeted the picture with loud and repeated 
cheerings. After the company had, for some time, gratified 
their eyes, the doors were locked and biddings commenced, 
the company remaining uncovered till the bidders were 
silent. It was then knocked down for the sum of thirty- 
two thousand seven hundred florins, to a foreigner dis- 
playing an orange ribbon, hired by the real purchaser, 
Mr. Smith, who suspected that if an Englishman had 
offered to bid, he would have brought down a direful 
opposition. When it was discovered that it was to be 
conveyed to England, the Antwerpers not only shed 
tears, but followed it to Mr. Smith's place of residence, 
expressing the strongest desire to take their farewell look. 



^ No picture in the National 
Gallery is better known and 
admired than Rubens's 
"Chapeau de Faille." It is 
a portrait of Mdlle. Lunden, 
with whom Rubens was in love. 
He is said to have painted her 
portrait without ner know- 
ledge while she sat in her 
garden, and to have obtained 
her acceptance of the picture. 
On her untimely death Kubens 
b^ged back this portrait, 
wmch her family had chris- 
tened " Le Chapeau de Faille," 
promising a replica in ex- 
change. This is the National 



Gallery picture. In it, instead 
of a straw hat (chapeau de 
paille), Rubens has introduce! 
a beaver hat (chapeau de poil), 
but the original name is still 
in vogue, thou^^h the name 
" Chapeau de Foil ** appears on 
the frame of the picture in 
Room xii. of the National 
Gallery. In 1822 the picture 
passed from the Lunden family 
to M. Van Niewenhuysen for 
89,000 florins, and from him 
it was acquired, through Smith 
the printaeller, by the British 
Government. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 245 

Ifr. Smith, not willing to risk its safety, gave a seaman 
five guineas to convey it on shipboard by night, and saw 
it safely landed on British ground. 

Upon its arrival in London, King George iv. com- 
manded a sight of it ; and on the morning of Tuesday, 
September 3rd, Mr. Smith had it conveyed from his house 
in Marlborough Street, to Carlton Palace, where it was 
placed in the King's dressing-room, the King keeping 
the key of the case, that only private friends mi^t see 
it. After the expiration of a fortnight, the picture was 
returned ; and in the month of March, 1823, it was publicly 
exhibited at Stanley's rooms. The Right Hon. Sir Robert 
Peel became its liberal purchaser and protector. This 
picture is painted on oak, and has been joined at the lower 
part across the hands, and there is every reason for believ- 
ing that Rubens painted it in the frame, as the ground 
was unpainted upon, within the width of the rabbit. 

The popular report respecting this picture is, that it 
was the portrait of Elizabeth Lunden, a young woman 
to whom Rubens was particularly partial, who died of 
the small-pox, to the great grief of the painter. 

In this year I find the following letter in my album : — 

" My dear Sir, — Your desire to know the place of my 
nativity, the profession for which I was intended, my first 
appearance on the stage, and in town. This both honours 
and gratifies me, inasmuch as your request places my name 
with men of genius and education, the persons of all others 
I am most ambitious to be found with. 

" The city of Bristol gave me birth, in 1778.^ I was 

^ Edward Knight, known as Birmingham in 1774 ; " Bris- 
Little Knight, is imiversally tol " and *' 1778 " are probably 
stated to have been bom in misprints. 



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246 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

brought up an artist, which profession I quitted for 
studies more congenial to my feelings. Immortal Shak- 
speare wrought the change, and his great contemporaries 
added fuel to flame. Notwithstanding this mighty 
stimulus, in the year 1798 I made my first attempt, in 
the part of young Hob, in Hoh in the Well^^ in a town 
in Radnorshire, the theatre a bam in the environs ; the 
receipts seven shillings ; my share sevenpence. I removed 
from this luxury to the Stafford Company, thence to the 
York Theatre, where I succeeded my friend Mathews, and 
in which situation I remained seven years. 

*' October 12th, 1809, I made my d^but in London, 
in the Theatre Royal, Lyceum, with the Drury Lane Com- 
pany. The devouring element had destroyed that magni- 
ficent pile Old Drury, which caused the professors to 
employ that place of refuge. The pieces I selected for 
the terrific ordeal, were The Soldier* s Daughter and Fortune^ s 
Frolic ; * the characters, Timothy Quaint and Robin 
Roughhead. The public were infinitely more kind than 
my n^ative merits deserved ; and with gratitude I ac- 
knowledge, that up to the present period, their bounty 
very far exceeds the humble ability of their devoted ser- 
vant, and your true friend, Edward Knight.' 

"Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, 
" Garden Cottage, Covent Garden, ground chambers, 
" Nov. 15/A, 1823." 



1 Flora^ or Hoh in the — Fortune's Frolic is a farce by 

WM, a farce by Cibber, Allingham. Robin RoughheadC 

adapted from Thomas Dog- a labourer, succeeds to uie title 

gett's Country Wake. and wealth; then he marries his 

* The Soldier's Daughter is a humble sweetheart, Dolly, and 

comedy by Cherry, Timothy makes the best of landlords. 
Quaint being a minor character. 'Of Knight as an actor we 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 247 

1824. 

The following notice is written in my album this year, 
by Major Cartwright : — 

"'John Cartwright, bom at Mamham, near Tuxford, 
in the county of Nottingham, on the 17th of September, 
1740, old style, corresponding with the 28th, new style. 
In the year 1758 he entered the naval service, under the 
command of Lord Howe ; was promoted to a lieutenancy 
m September, 1762, and continued on active service until 
the spring of 1771. Then retiring to recruit his health, 
he remained at Mamham tiU invited by his old Commander- 
in-<:hief, in the year 1775 or 1776 ; but not approving of 
the war with America, he declined accepting the proffered 
commission. About the same time he became Major of 
the r^;iment of Nottinghamshire Militia, then for the first 
time raised in that county, in which he served seventeen 
years. 

" When George iii. arrived at the year of the Jubilee, 
a naval promotion of twenty Lieutenants to the rank of 
Commanders, and the name of J. C. standing the twentieth 
on the list, he was commissioned as a Commander accord- 
ingly. 

" In the year 1802 he published The Trideni, a work in 
quarto, having for its object to promote that elevation 
of character which can alone preserve the vital spirit of 

read: "There was an odd quick- formance on the stage." 

ness, and a certain droll play It was remarked of Knight, 

about every muscle of his face, however, that he was too fond 

that fully prepared the audi- of laughter and tears, '' squeez- 

ence for the jest that was to ing his eyelids, and fidgetting 

follow. His Sim, in Wild and pelting about, till he got 

Oals, may be termed the the necessary moisture." 
most chaste and natural per- 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



a navy, as well as to furnish an inexhaustible patronage 

of the arts. 

" John Cartwright, residing in Burton 

Crescent, 26th Jan.^ 1824." 

The Major died on the 23rd of September this year, 
at his house in Burton Crescent, at the venerable age of 
eighty-four.i 

1825. 

An author, in whose real character I was for many years 
deceived, frequently Importuned me to caricature literary 
females. But this malicious advice, being repugnant to 
my feelings, I never could Usten to, nor is it my intention 
even to make public a memory-sketch now in my possession 
of the adviser, when he was stooping over and pretending 
to kiss the putrid corpse of him a portion of whose vast 
property he is in possession of, and, I was going to say, 
happUy enjoys.* Profoundly learned as the person above 



^ A bronze statue in the 
garden of Burton Crescent 
shows Cartwright as a small, 
excessively bald man, seated 
with what might be a blue- 
book in his hand. A luxuriant 
fig tree was threatening to 
engulf him in its foliage in 
September IQ05. The inscrip- 
tion states tnat he was " The 
First Consistent and Persever- 
ing Advocate of Universal 
Suffrage, Equal Representa- 
tion, Vote by Ballot, and 
Annual Parliaments." For 
every evil, even for cold 
weather or bad plays, he pre- 
scribed " Annual Parliaments 
and Universal Suffrage." The 
Reverend J. Richardson, in his 



Recollections, says that for 
many years the Lords of the 
Admiralty gave Cartwri^t 
half-pay, without suspecting 
that the ;' John Cartwright ^ 
on their books was their arch- 
critic, " Major " Cartwright, 
whose commission in the 
Nottinghamshire Militia had 
put tMs handle to his name 
and disguised his identity. 

* It may be hoped that, had 
Smith lived to pre^re his 
Book for a Rainy Day for 
the press, he would have 
ejrounged these embittered 
references to the wealth of 
NoUekens and legateeship of 
Francis Douce. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 249 

alluded to considers himself to be, the reader will, after 
perasing the following lines, written purposely for my 
album, be convinced that jealousy towards the fair sex 
must be that man's master-passion. 

IMPROMPTU LINES BY MISS BENGER, ON THE PAUCITY 

OF INFORMATION RESPECTING THE LIFE AND 

CHARACTER OF SHAKSPEARB. 

Lives there, redeemed from dull oblivion's waste, 

One cherished line that Shaksfeare^s hand has traced? 

Vain search ! though glory crowns the poet's bust. 

His story sleeps with his unconscious dust. 

Bom — ^wedded — ^buried ! Such the common lot. 

And such was his. What more ? almost a blot ! 

Even on his laurelled head with doubt we gaze ; 

And fancy best his lineaments portrays. 

Thus like an Indian deity enshrined. 

In mystery is his image ; whilst the mind 

To us bequeathed, belongs to all mankind. 

Yet here he lived ; his manly high career 

Of strange vicissitude, was measured here. 

Not his the envied privil^e to hail 

The Eternal City ! or in Tempers vale 

Breathe inspiration vath luxurious sighs. 

And dream of Heaven beneath unclouded skies. 

His sphere was boimded, and we almost trace 

His daily haunts, where he was wont to chase 

Unwelcome cares, or visions fair recall ; 

His breath still lingers on the cloistral wall, 

With gloom congenial to his spirit fraught ; 

And thou, O Thames, his lonely sighs hast caught. 

When one, the rhyming Charon of his day. 

Who tugged the oar, yet conned a merry lay, 



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250 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



Full oft unconscious of the freight he bore. 
Transferred the musing bard from shore to shore. 
Too careless Taylor t hadst thou well divined 
The marvellous man to thy frail skiff consigned, 
Thou shouldst have craved one tributary line, 
To blend his glorious destiny with thine ! 
Nor vain the prayer \ — who generous homage pays 
To genius, wins the second meed of praise.^ 

The much - famed Cup, carved from Shakspeare*s 
Mulberry-tree, lined with, and standing on a base of sQver, 
with a cover surmoimted by a branch of mulberry leaves 
and fruit, also of silver-gilt, which was presented to Mr. 
Garrick on the occasion of the Jubilee at Stratford-upon- 
Avon, was sold by Mr. Christie on May the 5th, 1835,* 
who addressed the assembly nearly in the following words, 
for the recollection of which I am obliged to the memory 
of my worthy friend, Henry Smedley, Esq. : • — 

** Though this is neither the age nor the country in 
which relics are made the objects of devotion, yet that 
which I am now to submit to you must recall to your 
recollection the Stratford Jubilee, when the pilgrims to 
the shrine of Avon were actuated by a zeal as fervent as 



1 Elizabeth Ogilvy Benger 
(1778-1827) was an amiable 
woman and a popular writer 
of history and biography. She 
was a niend of the Lambs, 
Mrs. Barbauld, Mrs. Aikin, 
Campbell, and others. Among 
her works are Memoirs of Mary 
Queen of Scots and Anne 
Boleyn, and a poem on the 
slave-trade. 

«From Mr. W. Roberts' 
" Memorials of Christie's, it ap- 



pears that the original cap 
from Shakespeare's mulberry 
tree, which was presented to 
David Garrick by the Mayor 
and Corporation, at the tune 
of the Jubilee at Stratford, 
realised 121 guineas on 
April 30, 1825." Smith mis- 
states the date. On May 30, 
1903, a figure of Shakespeare 
carved from the tree was sold 
at Sotheby's for £13, 5s. 
* See note, p. 273. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 251 

could have been exhibited either at Loretto or Compostella. 
Let me then entreat a liberal bidding, when I invoke you 
by the united names of Shakspeare and of Garrick. I 
perceive that this little Cup is now submitted to eyes well 
accustomed to appreciate the most exquisite treasures of 
ancient arts ; and that the rough and natural bark of the 
mulberry-tree is regarded with as much veneration as the 
choicest carving of Cellini or Flamingo." 

After one hundred guineas had been bid, Mr. Christie 
added, '" I was wishing that I had some of Falstaff's sack 
here, with which I might fill the Cup, and pledge this com- 
pany, so as to invigorate their biddings ; but I think I 
may say now that at least there is no want of spirit among 

them." 

• 1826. 

The term busby, now sometimes used when a large 
bushy wig is spoken of, most probably originated from 
the wig denominated a buzz, frizzled and bushy. At all 
events, we are not satisfied that the term busby could 
have arisen, as many persons believe, from Dr. Busby, 
Master of Westminster School, as all his portraits either 
represent him with a close cap, or with a cap and hat.^ 

During a most minute investigation of a r^^ar series 
of English portraits, which I was led into by a friend, in 
order, if possible, to clear up this point, I was induced to 

^ This derivation has been master of Westminster School, 
questioned by others. The but from the wig denominated 
New English DicUonafy leaves a ' Buzz/ from beinp^ frizzled 
the point doubtful, but quotes and bushy." May it not be 
the Globe of July 24, 1882 : that the word sprangTfrom 
" The ' Busby/ so often used " buzz/' in association^with 
colloquially when a laxge bushy the name of the famous head- 
wig IS meant, most probably master ? — the one originating 
took its origin . . . not from and the other confirming its 
Dr. Busby, the famous head- use. 



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252 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

look for the origin of wigs in England, and their various 
sorts and successions, by commencing at the time of William 
the Conqueror. In this search I was not able to find any 
representation of wigs earlier than those worn by King 
Charles ii.^ upon his Restoration, in proof of which I refer the 
reader to Faithome's numerous portraits of that monardi, 
and he will find that that sort of wig continued to be worn, 
with very little deviation, by succeeding kings till Geoi^e 
ii.'s time, with whom it ended. The Merry Monarch, 
it has been stated, followed the fashion of wearing a wig 
from Louis XIV.,* with whom that custom commenced 



^ Nevertheless periwigs were 
known in England considerably 
earlier. Fairholt mentions 
one that was ordered '* for 
Sexton, the king's fool," in 
the reign of Henry viii. In 
Hall's Satires (1598) a courtier 
is made to lose his periwig 
while trying to bow on a windy 
day. Other instances are 
quoted by Fairholt in Costume 
%fi EusluHd, 

•The Duke of Wellington 
once entertained a dinner- 
table with an account of 
Louis xiv.'s wig. His re- 
marks were thus reported, at 
first hand, in Notes and Queries 
of Nov. 25, 1871, by Mr. 
Herbert Randolph: — 

** I was in the year 1834 or 
1835 dining in company with 
the Duke of Wellington at 
Betshanger in Kent, then the 
seat of Frederick Morice, Esq., 
now of Sir Walter James. It 
was about the time when the 
Bishop of London (Dr. Blom- 
field) had first appeared in the 



House of Lords without his 
wig, and a smart controversy 
arising out of the fact was 
going on. Opposite to the 
Duke at table hung a portrait 
of an admiral of Queen Anne's 
time, an ancestor of Mr. Morice, 
and the finely painted ' Ramil- 
lies wig ' upon his head caught 
the Duke s attention. He 
took occasion from this to 
give, in his terse and decided 
maimer, a complete history of 
wigs, having evidently mas- 
tered the subject in reference 
to the ouestion of the day. He 
concluaed, to the point, by say- 
ing : ' Louis theFourteentn had 
a hump, and no man, not even 
his valet, ever saw him without 
his wig. It hung down his 
back, uke the judges' wigs, 
to hide the hump. But tbe 
Dauphin, who haon't a hump, 
couldn't bear the heat, so he 
cut it round close to the poll ; 
and the episcopal wig that you 
are all making such a luss 
about is the wig of the most 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 253 



with the kings of France. The Duke of Burgundy wore 
a wig. 

King George iii. commenced his reign with wearing his 
own hair dressed and powdered in the style of Woollett's 
beautiful engraving of his Majesty,^ after a picture painted 
by Ramsey. King George iii. wore a wig, in the latter 
part of his reign, made from one of those worn by Mr. 
Duvall, one of the masons of the Board of Works, with 
which sbacpe his Majesty was much pleased. 

The line in Pope, 

** Eternal buckle takes in Parian stone/' 

alludes to the wig carved on the monument of Sir Cloudesley 
Shovel in Westnunster Abbey.* 

This sort of wig, which received the appellation of 
" A Brown George," was also worn by several persons of 
rank, particularly the late Earl of Cremome.' Townsend, 



profligate days of the French 
court.' " 

1 It was Woollett's pleasing 
custom to celebrate the com- 
pletion of a plate by firing a 
cannon from the roof of his 
house. No. 36 Charlotte Street, 
Fitzroy Square. On this occa- 
sion he doubtless used an extra 
charge of powder. 

* No allusion to SirCloudesley 
Shovel was intended by Pope. 
The line occurs in the Moral 
Essays, Epistle iii. — 

" When Hopldns dies, a thoasand 

Ughta attend 
The "wretch, who living saved a 

candle's end ; 
Shouldering God's altar a vile 

image stands, 
Belies his features, nay extends 

his hands ; 



That live-long wig which Gorgon's 

self might own, 
Eternal buckle takes in Parian 

stone." 

Pope's own note to the last 
line reads : " Ridicule the 
wretched taste of carving large 
periwigs on bustos, of which 
there are several vile examples 
among the tombs of West- 
minster and elsewhere." Pope's 
real victim, Hopkins, was 
" Vulture " Hopkins, who died 
in his house in Broad Street 
in 1732, leaving a fortune of 
^300,000 with peculiar condi- 
tions attached. Several thou- 
sand pounds were expended on 
his funeral. 

* Thomas Dawson, Viscount 
— ^not Earl— of Crcmome, died 
1813. 



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254 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

a Bow-street officer, condescendingly noticed by the King» 
thought proper to wear a wig of this kind, in which he 
appeared at the morning service in Westminster Abbey. 

It is worthy of observation, that in the reign of King 
Charles ii. the Lord Mayors of London followed his 
Majesty's example, by wearing wigs precisely of the same 
make, and equal to those worn by the Royal Family, the 
highest courtiers, and persons of the first eminence in 
official capacities. Nay indeed, Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, 
a wood and coal-monger, wore wigs of this shape, perhaps 
because he was a Justice of the Peace within the King's 
Court. The same kind of wig, equally deep, but with curls 
rather looser and more tastef uUy flowing, was also worn 
by the following high literary characters in the reigns of 
Charles ii., James ii., William iii., and Queen Anne:— 
Waller, Dr3^en, Addison, Steele, Congreve, Vanbrugh, 
Butler, Rowe, Prior, Wycherley, etc> Of these, perhaps 
the two last-mentioned were the most foppish in their 
wigs, particularly Wycherley, from whom the sets of laigc 
and beautifully engraven combs of the finest tortoise-shell 
are named. With these combs (which were carried in 
cases in their pockets) the wearers of wigs adjusted their 
curls, ruffled and entangled by the wind. These combs 
are held as curiosities by many of our old families. The 
last I saw was in the possession of the friendly Dr. Meyricki 
author of The History of Artnour. I have somewhere read 
that Wycherley, who was esteemed one of the handsomest 
men of his day, was frequently seen standing in the pit 
of the theatre combing and adjusting the curls of his wig, 

1 The full-dress wigs of Eng- portraits of these men. They 

lish judges are the nearest are made of white horse hair, 

survival of the Kreat Queen elaborately treated. 
Anne wigs fammar in the 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 255 



whilst in lolling conversation with the first ladies of fashion 
in the boxes.^ Most of Sir Godfrey Kneller's portraits 
were painted in this flowing wig, particularly that cele- 
brated series entitled Queen Anne's Admirals.* These 
pictures were lately moved by command of King George iv. 
from Hampton Court Palace to the Nautical Gallery in 
Greenwich Hospital, where they are placed to the highest 
advantage among numerous other portraits of England's 
naval victors. 

The actors at this time wore immense wigs, particularly 
Bullock, Penkethman, etc. ; Gibber's was in moderation. 
It must here be observed, that I now allude to their private 
wigs ; their state wigs were, as they are now, purposely 
caricatured to please the galleries.' I believe that the first 
wig worn by an English divine was that of John Wallis,^ 



^ Combing the wig in the 
theatre and the drawing-room 
was a habit, like twirlmg the 
moustache. Dryden pictures 
the wits rising as one man in 
the pit of the theatre and 
b^pnning to comb their wigs 
while they stared at a new 
masked beauty. " It became 
the mark of a yoxmg man 
of ion to be seen combing 
his periwig in the Mall, or 
at the theatre" (Fairholt: 
Costume in England). Hats 
were not worn on perukes 
that cost forty or fifty pounds. 
In Wycherley's Lave in a 
Wood (1672) we read: "A 
lodging is as unnecessary a 
thing to a widow that has 
a coach, as a hat to a man 
that has a good peruke." 

* It is said that, as a rule, 
Lely^s male portraits of the 



Charles 11. period can be dis- 
tinguished at once from Knel- 
ler's portraits of the Court of 
William iii., by observing that 
in the fonner the ends of the 
wig descend on the chest, in 
the latter they fall behind 
the shoulders. 

' The distinction is particu* 
larlv important in the case of 
Cibber, whose wig in the part 
of Sir Fopling Flutter was so 
admired that he regularly had 
it brought in a sedan-chair 
to the footlights, where he 
publicly donned it with great 
applause. Cibber's modest 
private wig can be studied 
m Roubiliac's coloured bust 
in the National Portrait 
Gallery. 

*John WalUs, D.D. (1616- 
1703), a distinguished mathe- 
matician as weU as theologian. 



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266 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

engntved by Burghers, and published at Oxford in the 
year 1699 ; it was profusely curled, but not so deep over 
the shoulders as those of statesmen. 

There were many singular, and, indeed, learned char- 
acters whose wigs were peculiarly shaped, such, for instance, 
as that of Bubb Doddington, Lord Chesterfield, and the 
Duke of Newcastle. MacArdell's print of Lord Anson, 
after a picture by Sir Joshua Reynolds, was, I have eveiy 
reason to think, the first of the shape erroneoudy called 
the Busby. This sort. Dr. Samuel Johnson, Armstrong, 
Hunter, the Rev. George Whitfield, Lord Monboddo, etc., 
wore in their latter years. 

The earliest engraved portraits of Dr. Johnson exhibit 
a wig with five rows of curls, commonly called ** a stoiy 
wig." ^ Among the old dandies of this description of wig 
we may class Mr. Saunders Welch, Mr. NoUekens' father- 
in-law — ^he had nine storeys. So was that worn by Mr. 
Nathaniel HilUer,« an extensive print-collector, as is repre- 



^ Several particulars of 
Johnson's wigs are given by 
Boswell. The improvements 
he made in his dress through 
the influence of Mrs. Thrale 
included " a Paris-made wig 
of handsome construction.*' 
" In general," says Croker, 
" his wigs were very shabby, 
and their fore parts were 
burned away by the near 
approach of the candle, which 
his ^ort-sightedness rendered 
necessary in reading. At 
Streatham Mrs. Thrale's 
butler always kept a better 
wig in his own hands, with 
which he met Johnson at the 
parlour door, when the bell 



had called him down to dinner ; 
and this ludicrous ceremony 
was performed every day." 

> "Mr. HiUier, I beUeve, was 
of the same family as the late 
Nathaniel Hillier of Stoke, 
near Guildford, one of whose 
daughters married Colonel 
Onslow. He was a most ex- 
tensive collector of engravings, 
and his cabinets contained 
numerous rarities, but he 
spoiled all his prints by stain- 
ing them with cofiee, to pro- 
duce, as he thought, a mdlow 
tint, but by whidi process 
he not only deprived most 
of them of their pristine 
brilliancy, but rendered their 



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DR. OLIVER GOLDSMITH 
"The fellow took mc for a uilor." 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 267 

sented in an engraved portrait of that gentleman. Dr. 
Goldsmith's wig was small and remarkably slovenly, as 
may be seen by Bretherton's etching. Sir Joshua's portrait 
of him is without a wig. Mr. Garrick's wigs (I mean his 
private ones) were three in number^ — ^the first is engraved 
by Wood, published in the year 1745 ; the second is by 
Sherwin, engraved for Tom Davies ; the last is from a 
private plate by Mrs. Solly, after a drawing by Dance. 
I wiU leave off here with the wig, and give a few iastances 
of the tails. These perhaps originated with the Chinese, 
but the first specimen of a tail, which I have hitherto been 
able to procure, to which a date can be given, is in Sherwins' 
print of Frederick, King of Prussia.^ 

1827. 

The Londoners, but more particularly the inhabitants 
of Westminster, who had been for years accustomed to 
recreate within the chequered shade of Millbank's willows, 
have been by d^rees deprived of that pleasure, as there 
are now very few trees remaining, and those so scanty 
of foliage, by being nearly stript of their bark, that the 



sale considerably leas pro- 
ductive" (Smith). The trick 
of staimng prints with coffee 
was once fairly common among 
collectors. 

^ Probably the pendent bobs 
or '' dildos " on the '* cam- 
paign " wi^ introduced in the 
reign of Cnarles 11. were the 
origin of the pigtail. The 
" RamiUies " wig, named after 
the battle of 1706, had a long 
plaited tail, and immediately 
became the fashion. By 1731 
the pigtail wig had reached 

17 



its heijsht of popularity and 
absurdity. 

"Bat pray, what's that mnch 
like a whip. 
Which with the air does way'ring 

skip 
From side to side, and hip to 
hip ? •• 

asks a country visitor in The 
Metamorphosis of the Town^ 
and is answered — 

" Sir, do not look so fierce and 
big. 
It is a modish pigtaU wig." 



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258 



A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



public are no longer induced to tread their once sweetly 
variegated banks.^ 

Here, on many a summer's evening, Gainsborough, 
accompanied by his friend Collins, amused himself by 
sketching docks and nettles, which afforded the Wynaxxts 
and Cuyp-like effects to the foregrounds of his rich and 
glowing landscapes. CoUins resided in Tothill Fields, 
and was the modeller of rustic subjects for tablets of 
chimne3q>ieces in vogue about seventy years back. Most 
of them were taken from ^Bsop's Fables, and are here 
and there to be met with in houses that have been suffered 
to remain in their original state. I recollect one, that 
of the '' Bear and Bee-hives,'' in the back drawing-room 
of the house formerly the mansion of the Duke of Ancaster 
on the western side of Lincoln's Inn Fields.* 



1 Horwood's map of London 
(1799) shows the river walk 
from Abingdon Street almost 
to Chelsea Bridge between 
willows, along the water-edge, 
and nurseiy gardens. A good 
idea of Imllbank as it was 
at this period may be 
obtained from the Earl of 
Albemarle's Fifty Years of 
my Life (vol. i. cap. vi.), where 
we see the boys of West- 
minster School roaming these 
spaces, hiring guns from 
Mother Hubbard, and obtain- 
ing dogs and badgers from 
their obliging friend^ William 
Heberfield, ^'Slender BiUy," 
who Mras mercilessly hanged in 
1812 for passing forged notes. 
See a curious account of 
Palmer's village in Charles 
Manby Smith's Curiosities of 
London Life (1853). Smith 



has an etching of the Willow 
Walk in his Remarks on Rural 
Scenery (1797). 

* William Collins, a modeller 
of mantelpieces and friezes, 
was an mtimate friend of 
Nathaniel Smith (J. T. S.'s 
father), and is described by 
Smith, in his Antienl Topo- 
graphy of London^ as a fason- 
ating modeller in day and 
wax, and carver in wood. 
He took many of his subjects 
from £sop's Fables, and was 
much employed by Sir Henry 
Cheere, the statuary, who then 
had workshops near the south- 
east comer of Henry the 
Seventh's Chapel. RoubiUac 
worked here when he first 
came to England. CoUins 
died in Tothill Fields, May 
31, 1793. His mantelpiece 
in Ancaster House remains. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



259 



Millbanky which originally extended with its pollarded 
willows from Bdgrave House ^ to the White Lead Mills 
at the comer of the lane leading to "Jenny's Whim," 
afforded similar subjects to those selected by four of the 
old rural painters ; for instance, the boat-builders' sheds 
on the bank, with their men at work on the shore, might 
have been chosen by Everdingen ; ' the wooden steps 
from the bank, the floating timber, and old men in their 
boats, with the Vauxhall and Battersea windmills, by Van 
Goyen ; ' the various colours of the tiles of the cart-sheds, 
entwined by the autumnal tinged vines, backed with the 
most prolific orchards, with the women gathering the garden 
produce for the ensuing day's market, would have pleased 
Ruysdael ; ^ and the basket-maker's overhanging smoking 
hut, with a woman in her white cap and sunburnt petticoat, 
dipping her pail for water, might have been represented 
by the pencil of Dekker.*^ It was within one of the Neat 
House Gardens^ near this bank that Gamerin's kitten 



^Belgrave House stood at 
the west end of Hillbank Row, 
the continuation of Abingdon 
Street. The Millbank of 
Gainsborough's days extended 
from this point southward 
and westward (as it rounded 
the obtuse promontory) as 
far as the White Lead Mills, 
whence Turpentine Lane led 
north to the Jenny's Whim 
Tavern and bridge. This 
picturesque wooden bridge 
spanned a reservoir of the 
Chelsea water-works. 

* Albert van Everdingen 
(1621-1725), a Dutch pjainter 
of landscapes and sea-pieces. 

* Jan van Goyen (1596- 



1656) was bom at Leyden. 
His favourite subjects were 
river banks with peasants. 
Three of his pictures are in 
the National Crallery. 

* Jacob van Ru3rsdael 
(1628-82), the greatest of 
Dutch landscape painters. 

• Cornelius Gerritz Dekker 
(died 1678) painted at Haar- 
lem ; one of his landscapes is 
in the National Gallery. 

•The Neat House Gardens 
added much to the pleasant- 
ness of the river walk at 
Millbank. They were held by 
gardeners who grew fruit and 
vegetables here for the London 
markets. About 1831 the soil 



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260 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

descended from the balloon which ascended from Vaoxfaall 

Gardens in the year 1802.^ This descent is thus handed 

down in a song attributed to George Colman the younger, 

entitled 

Puss IN A Parachute. 

Poor puss in a grand parachute 

Was sent to sail down through the air, 
Plump'd into a garden of fruit» 

And played up old gooseberry there. 
The gardener, transpiring with fear. 

Stared just like a hundred stuck hogs ; 
And swore, though the sky was quite clear, 

Twas beginning to rain cats and dogs. 

Mounseer, who don't value his life, 

In the Thames would have just dipped his vings. 
If it vasn't for vetting his vife. 

For vimen are timbersome things : 
So at Hampstead he landed her dry ; 

And after this dangerous sarvice. 
He took a French leave of the sky, 

And vent back to Vauxhall in a Jarvis. 

taken to form St. Katherine's nerin, or Gamerini, ascended 

Docks was brought up the in a balloon from Vauxhall 

river and laid upon them; Gardens with his wife and 

after which Lupus Street and Mr. Glasford. A cat, which 

many other Pimlico streets they dropped in a parachute, 

were bmlt on their site. It fell safely in a garden at 

is a pity that no local name* Hampstead, and the balloon 

relic exists of gardens which itself, after passing over the 

Massinger knew as a place Green Park, Paddington, etc., 

for musk -melons {CUy descended in a paddock at 

Madam, Act iii. sc. i), which Lord Rosslyn's, at the top 

Pepys visited with his wife, of Hampstead Hill. Mrs. 

and which " would have Gamerin afterwards lost her 

pleased Ruysdael." Ufe through ascending from 

^ On August 3, 1802, Gar- Paris with fireworks. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 261 

1828. 

Most willingly would I have resigned all the pleasures 
I ever enjoyed, save that of my wedding-day, to have 
joined the throng of enthusiastics in art, who assembled 
at Nurembei^ this year, to do homage to the memory of 
that morning star in art, Albert Diirer. Of the many 
descriptions of the proceedings upon that glorious occasion, 
none gave me higher delight than that of Mr. L. Schutze,^ 
of Carlsmhe, an artist of very considerable abilities, who, 
upon my requesting him to favour me with an account, 
goodnaturedly complied with my wishes, but with all the 
diffidence of one who had not long written in the English 
language. 

"At the festival which took place in Nurembei^, 
1828, on the 6th and 7th of April, the month on which 
Albert Durer died three hundred years before, some pupils 
of Cornelius in Munich, intended to paint some trans- 
parent sceneries, the most interesting ones, taken from 
his life, and to exhibit them at the Festival. For this 
purpose they gave notice to the magistrates and to the 
artists that they would arrive on the 28th of March. The 
magistrates and artists were quite satisfied with this offer, 
and resolved to welcome them some miles from Nurem- 

^ I conjecture that this is I was ill a few weeks since/ 

a misprint, and that Smith's said he, ' I read his Heitere 

correspondent was St. Schiiltze, Slunden' (Cheerful Hours) 'with 

an artist and writer of ability, great pleasure.' If Sdiiiltze 



of whom Eckermann, in ms Had lived in England, he would 
Conversations with Goethe^ have made an epoch; for, 
writes, May 15, 1826 : " I with his gift of observing and 
talked with Goethe to-day depicting, nothing was want- 
about St. Schiiltze, of whom ing but the sight of life on a 
he spoke very kindly. * When large scale." 



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262 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

berg. Two gentlemen of consideration offered their 
coaches, with four horses, and the most part of the artists 
took post-coaches, all with four horses. One gentleman, 
Mr. Campe,^ a very clever man, and member of the Artists' 
Society, who led the procession, which consisted of ei^t 
coaches with about thirty artists, took a barrel with wine 
in his coach, and also a very old and interesting pitdher, 
which was presented to A. Diirer by one of his particular 
friends. About eight miles from Nuremberg, in Rdchers- 
dorf, we stopped at the inn, intending to wait for the 
artists from Munich. Mr. Campe ordered a good break- 
fast, and put up his barrel and golden pitcher. Scarcely 
was all prepared, and the breakfast ready, when we saw 
the artists arrive (we called them * Cornelians,' after the 
name of their master'), with a flag and green branches in 
their caps, and merry singing. A loud vivai was the first 
expression of welcome ; they were quite astonished to find 
there so great a company. We now invited them to come 
in, and to take refreshments after their fatigues. The first 
proceeding was now to fill the pitcher with wine, and to 
drink their health. There were about thirty-six artists frcxn 
Munich. After having made some speeches, having taken 
the breakfast, and emptied the barrel, we, all quite refreshed 
and pleased, took place in our chair-waggons, into which we 
invited also the Cornelians, and rode back to Nuremberg. 

" At the old castle we all descended from our waggons, 
and saw the old building, which is so very interesting in 



^ Friederich Campe compiled achieved his great reputation 

for the occasion a little book at Munich, where he directed 

csdled Reliquien von AlbreclU the Academy and embellished 

Diirer. many public buildings. He 

* Peter von Cornelius. Bom died so late as 1867. 
at Dusseldorf in 1783, he 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 263 

the history of Germany. Then we went down to the 
house of Albert Durer» where all the strangers who arrived 
entered their names in a book. Several gentlemen of 
consideration had offered to give lodging to some of the 
strange artists, which was accepted with great pleasure 
by them. Many others of them had free lodging in the 
inns. The magistrates paid all their necessaries during 
their stay. Every day artists and strangers arrived, 
and the house of Albert Diirer was the place of meeting. 
The Cornelians began to paint their transparencies : they 
had drawn the sketches for them already in Munich. 
There were seven pictures ; they represented, firstly, 
Albert Diirer coining in receiving instructions from 
Wohlgemuth ; secondly, his marriage ceremony ; thirdly, 
the Banquet in Utrecht ; fourthly, the Goddess of Art 
crowns Albert Diirer and Raphael; fifthly, Diirer on 
board ship ; sixthly, the death of Diirer's mother ; 
seventhly, Diirer's death. We artists in Nuremberg 
painted Diirer's figure, and several aU^ories and writings, 
about sixty feet high altogether, also transparencies, which 
we intended to exhibit on the road, opposite his house. 

" Cornelius and many of the first artists from Munich, 
and from other parts of Germany, arrived, and Diirer's 
house was always crowded : certainly a very interesting 
time to make acquaintance with artists from several parts 
of the continent, and also to see again old friends. The 
6th of April, in the morning at six o'clock, we went alto- 
gether to the grave of Albert Diirer. It was very bad 
weather, all the ni^t, much snow was falling, and a very 
disagreeable wind blew. When we arrived at the grave, 
and the musicians, who were with us, b^an to play, and 
we began to sing, the sun at once appeared and looked 
friendly down upon us. We sang three songs with accom* 



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264 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

paniments of instruments ; and then a speech was made, 
after which we went home. Scarcely were we arrived 
there, when it again began to snow, and it was very dis- 
agreeable all the day. 

'* After noon, at half past six o'clock, an Qratorimn 
composed by Schneider,^ took place in the Town-house. 
Mr. Schneider came himself from Dessau, two hundred 
and fifty miles from Nuremberg, to direct it. In the 
Town-house may still be seen a triumphal procession, 
painted on the wall by Albert Durer. On one side the 
musicians were placed, and opposite to them the seven 
transparencies were exhibited ; they were beautifully 
finished and pleased everybody. 

"After the oratorium a splendid supper took place, 
where all the artists took part, and also several g^tkmen 
of con^deration. Mr. Campe distributed to those present 
some printed poems and books, containing interesting 
tales or descriptions of clever men, contemporaries of 
Albert Dfirer. Then there were music and dancing. 

'* On the 7th, at nine in the morning, there was a meet* 
ing in the Town-house ; all the artists were dressed in 
black, and had flat hats and swords, except the strangers. 
The magistrates distributed medals with D(irer*s portrait. 
At half past eleven o'clock the procession began :— 4he 
magistrates, the two burgomasters, the dergjnnen, many 
officers, and all the artists, about three hundred persons 
together. The military with music made a line in the 
streets through which the procession passed. The King 
was expected, but did not come. In the Milk-market 
(now called Albert Diirer's Place) the procession com- 



^ Johann Gottlieb Schneider of the first organists of his 
(1789-Z864), of Dresden, one day. 



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THE WIG IN ENGLAND 

A MACARONI KEADV FOR THK PANTHEON 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 265 

menced ; some speeches were made, then the foundation- 
stone of a monument to Albert Durer was laid, and 
trumpets and cymbals resounded. Then all was finished, 
and all went home. At two o'clock a brilliant dinner took 
place in the Coiui of Bavaria, accompanied by music ; 
and several poems and songs were distributed, and the 
poor were not forgotten, — a rich collection being made 
for them. In the theatre, the play called Albert Durer 
was performed; and then our great transparency was 
illmninated, and on the house where Albert Durer was 
bom, and likewise where he had lived during the latter 
part of his life, several inscriptions were illuminated. 
A procession with flambeaux and fireworks ended the 
festival-day. Some of the richest inhabitants arranged 
dinners and suppers, and other rejoicings, to honour the 
artists. The magistrates ordered also a veiy brilliant 
supper on the last evening, before the artists parted, and 
bade them farewell. 

"L. ScHxrrzB." 

For the following dates I am indebted to Albert Durer's 
Diary, contained in the Foreign Quarterly Review for 
January 1833, a work replete with most interesting in^ 
formation. Albert Durer was bom in 1471 ; his father 
taught him the goldsmith's craft. In i486 he was bound 
for three years to Michael Wohlgemuth, an engraver on 
wood. He was married to Agnes, an un-latfMike daughter 
of Hans Frey. He died on the 6th of April, 1528, of a 
decline. His wife, an avaricious shrew, ^^ gnawed him to 
his very heart, — he was dried up to a faggot" ^ Little did 

^ After Diirer's death from Tscherte, of Vienna: "Nothing 
a decline, his close friend, erieves me deeper than that 
Porkheimer, wrote to Johami he should have died so painful 



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266 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

Albert Diirer think, particularly from the period of his 
unhappy marriage to the hour of his dissolution, wbea 
he was only fifty-seven years of age, that such honours 
would be paid to his memory. 

The following letter is perhaps worth insertion here : — 

"Queen Street, Mayfair, 
"Dtfc.22, 1828. 

" My dear Sir,— Shortly after my return from Rome, 
in 1798, I espied a bust in Rosso Antico, lying under 
a counter at a broker's shop, in Great Portland Street. 
I recognised its antiquity ; it was a Faun, large as 
life, in the best style of art. I bought it for the 
trifling sum oi £1. I had it in my study many months. 
During this period, I often assisted Nollekens in the 
architectural department of his monuments, receiving no 
thanks ; but an invitation one day, as we talked Italian 
together. On accidentally mentioning my antique Faun, 
he came to see it, and was so struck with its beauty, that 
he would never rest till he got it out of my hands. He 
succeeded, by offering me some models of his own, and 
ten pounds. Wishing to obUge him, I let him have the 
bust, and he sent me two miserable models not much higher 

a death, which, imder God's are, I doubt not, in the 

providence, I can ascribe to number of honest, devout, 

nobody but his huswife, who and altogether God-fearing 

gnawed into his very heart, women ; but a man might 

and so tormented hmi, that better have a ^uean, who 

he departed hence the sooner ; was otherwise kmdly, than 

for he was dried up to a faggot, such a gnawing, suspicious, 

and might nowhere seek a quarrelsome, good woman, 

jovial humour, or go to his with whom he can have no 

friends. . . . She and her peace or quiet, neither by 

sister are not queans; they day nor by night." 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 267 

than my thumb, of a Bacchus and Ariadne, smce broken 
to pieces. 

*^ This bust was in the collection at his sale, and it was 
knocked down by Christie to the Duke of Newcastle for 
a hundred and sixty pounds. 

" With great respect, ever yours truly, 

"'Charles Heathcote Tatham."* 

The following letter is ctuious : — 

'" In the winter of 1815, making a tour of the Nether- 
lands, I was in Bruges when the well-known statue, or 
rather group, of the ' Virgin and Child,' by Michael Angelo 
Buonarotti, which had been carried from the church of 
Notre Dame to Paris, was restored, in a packing-case, 
to that church. On this occasion a procession of the 
priests and officers of the church, and of some of the 
municipal officers, took place ; and a Mass was celebrated. 
About a month afterwards, I was again in Bruges, and saw 
this fine work of art replaced in its former situation, on the 
altar of one of the small chapels. It is, indeed, a wonderful 
work. 

'* I was about the same period in Antwerp, and was 
present when the pictures which had been taken to Paris, 
arrived in carriages, and were escorted into the dty by an 

^ The architect, and author in him a good friend, and was 

of a fine work on AncietU worshipped by his son, Fre- 

and OmamenUd Architecture derick Tatham, who said that 

ai Rome and in Italy, the a stroll with Blake was '' as 

materials for which he collected if he were walking with the 

in the tour he mentions to Prophet Isaiah," Late in life 

Smith. He married the Charles Tatham fell into money 

daughter of Smith's acauaint- difficulties, but obtained the 

ance» Williams, a well-known post of warden of Greenwich 

button-maker in St. Martin's Hospital, where he died in 

Lane. William Blake found 1842. 



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268 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

English regiment, then in garrison there (either the 15th or 

25th of infantry), preceded by the band of that regiment 

pla3dng ' God save the King,' and accompanied by the 

members of the Academy of Antwerp, and the magistracy 

of the city. I own I felt all the pride of an Englishman 

at seeing these works of art, which British valour had 

regained, thus restored to the places from whence they had 

been pillaged. 

"Stephen Porter.^ 

" Temple, Feb. 5, 1828." 

In July, I went to Hungerford Stairs to gain what 
information I could respecting "Copper Holmes." A 
waterman, whose face declared he had seen a few liberal 
days, accosted me with the usual question, " Oars, sculler ? " 
I shook my head ; but, upon a nearer approach, asked him 
the following question, " How long has Copper been dead ? " 
" There sits his widow at that window mending her stock- 
ings," said he ; " we'll go and put it to her." 

On approaching her the waterman said, " This gentleman 
wants to know how long Copper has been dead ? " " How 
do you do ? " said I, " your husband has often in my early 
days rowed me to Pepper Alley." " He died," said the 
woman (who retained enough in her caxe-wom features 
to induce me to believe she had been pretty), sticking her 
needle on her cap, "he died, poor fellow, on the 3rd of 
October, 1821, and a better man never trod shoe-leather. 
He was downright and honest, and what he said he would 
do, he did. I had been his wife two-and-twenty years ; 
but he married me after he left the Ark. His first wife 

* Stephen Porter of the lated from the German a 
Middle Temple, and of Trinity play called Lovers* Vows, by 
College, Cambridge, trans- Augustus von Kotzebue, 1798. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 269 

lived in the Atk with her children." ''What vessel 
had the Ark been ? " '' She had been a Westcoontryman, 
and it cost him altogether (with her fittings*up with sheets 
of copper) one hundred and fifty pounds, and that gave 
him the name of ^Copper Holmes.* His Christian name 
was Thomas. Ay, Sir, his lawsuit with the City crippled 
him : ^ but I will say this for him, his Majesty had not a 
better subject than poor Copper." While she uttered this 
declaration, both her eyes, which were seriously directed 
to her nose, were moistened with the tears of affectionate 
memory, which induced me to turn to my new acquaintance 
the waterman, and ask where he was buried ? "In the 
Waterman's churchyard, Sir, under the pump-pavement on 
the south side of St. Martin's church.' Lord bless you I 
don't you know the Waterman's burying-ground ? I 
could take you to the spot where fifty of us have been 
buried." " What was his age ? " " Sixty-six when he 
died." 

After parting with the widow, I requested the master 
of the ceremonies to allow his man to ferry me over to the 
King's Head Stairs, Lambeth Marsh. "He shall," said 
Charles Price ; " and I'll go with you, too." The waggish, 
though youthful countenance of the lad employed to bring 
in our boat, revived the pleasure Mathews had afforded 

1 Copper Hohnes had con- * ** The flat pavement on 
structed a floating home out the southern side of the 
of a West Country vessel, church, facing the " Golden 
which cost him ^^50. He Cross," is called " the Water- 
appears to have had his name men's Burying-ground," from 
" u>pper " from the metal he the number of old Thames 
acqmred with this hulk. His watermen who were brought 
ark was considered a nuisance, thither to their last long 
and the City authorities brought rest from Hungerford, York, 
an action to compel him to and Whitehall Stairs" (Wal- 
remove it. He died in 1821. ford : Old and New London). 



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270 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



me in his description of Joe Hatch,^ and induced me to 
inquire after the waterman whose Iook» voice, and manner 
he had borrowed for that inimitable representation. 
" George Heath, you mean, Sir," answered the boy ; " Of 
Strand Lane," observed Price ; *^ Heath is his real name. 
Lord bless ye, he's a good-hearted fellow ! Why, I have 
often known him put his hand in his pocket and relieve 
a fellow-creature in distress," 

This mention of Hatch induced me to question Price 
as to the Halfpenny Hatch,* where Astley had first rode,' 



^The reference is to an 
impersonation of Joe Hatch, 
the waterman, whidi Charles 
Mathews included in one of 
the single-handed " At Home '* 
entertsunments which he 
started in 1818. " One of the 
best occasional delineations of 
character, is that of Joe Hatch, 
a waterman, who is also 
termed the Thames Chancellor 
and Boat Barrister, a fellow 
(we presume a real portrait, 
though we have not tne ^ood 
fortune to know the origmal) 
who lays down the law of 
his craft, promotes and allays 
quarrels, and gratifies his fare 
with a ' long, tough yam ' of 
his own adventures " (Memoirs 
of Charles Mathews). 

• " Curtis's Halfpenny Hatch 
was a passage across St. 
George's Fiel<K from Narrow 
Wall, opposite Somerset House. 
It was a halfpenny toll-way 
through extensive nursery 

runds " {Wine and WalmUs). 
is now commemorated in 
the name Hatch Row, Roupell 
Street, Lambeth, and I have 



found that Palmer Street is 
still called, locally, "up the 
Hatdi," though, of course, 
nothing in the shape of a 
Hatch has existed within living 
memory. " Hatches," or gates, 
at wmch halfpennies were 
levied, were common on the 
outskirts of London. NoUekens 
told Smith that he remembered 
one in Charlotte Street, kept 
by a miller, and another 
between the Oxford Road 
(Oxford Street) and Grosvenor 
Square. 

^Philip Astley, the ereat 
equestrian, was inspired by 
the feats of Johnson and 
others at the Three Hats 
Tavern, Islington, to give his 
exhibitions in an open field 
near the Waterloo Road. The 
price of admission was sixpence. 
Astley started with only oot 
horse, given him by General 
Elliott, in whose regiment he 
had served. A clown named 
Porter supplied the comic 
relief. In 1770 he moved to 
the foot of Westminster Bridge, 
where his famous Amphitheatre 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 271 

before he took the ground at the foot of Westminster 
Bridge, on which the present Amphitheatre stands. Before 
Price could answer, as we had made the shore, *' You will 
find the Halfpenny Hatch (for it still remains, though in 
a very ramshaclded state) at the back of St. John's 
Church, Waterloo Road, at the end of Neptune Place," 
I was told upon my landing by a little chubby, shin- 
ing, red-faced woman, in what was formerly called a 
molhcap. Thither I went, and to my great surprise 
found the Halfpenny Hatch in a dell, by reason of the 
earth being raised for the pavement of the adjacent 
streets.^ Field was the name of the person who occupied 
the house; and, only a few years ago, money was 
received for the accommodation of the public who chose 
to go through the hatch. It was built subsequent to the 
year 1771, by Curtis, the famous botanist,* whose name it 



took shape. He is said rarely 
to have given more than 
five pounds for a horse, troub- 
ling "UtUe for shape, make, 
or colour; temper was the 
only consideration." His circus 
was repeatedly burnt down, 
but it became one of the 
recognised sights of London. 
On September 12, 1783, 
Horace Walpole writes : " I 
could find nothing at all to do, 
and so went to Astleys, which 
indeed was much beyond my 
expectation. I do not wonder 
any lon^r that Darius was 
chosen kmg by the instructions 
he ^ave to his horse ; nor that 
Cahgula made his a consul." 

After Astle^s death in 1814, 
his manager, the great Ducrow, 
became ^e head of the circus 



business. The Ducrow family 
monument is a striking object 
in Kensal Green cemetery, 
where also is seen the monu- 
ment of the Cooke family, 
whose head, Thomas Cooke, 
owned a circus in AsUey's 
time, and took it to Mauchhne 
in 1784, where it was visited 
by Bums. The writer of an 
interesting article on the Cookes 
in the Toiler of July 29, 1903, 
says : " The aristocrats of the 
sawdust, they have been 
entertaining for at least 120 
years, and to-day wherever 
there is a circus there is a 
Cooke." 

^This "dell" is stiU ap- 
parent in Salutation Court, m 
which is Hatch Row. 

•William Curtis (1746-99) 



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272 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

still retains ; but the original Hatch-house, Mrs. Fidd in- 
formed me, was still standing at the back of the present <me. 
The ground belonging to the Halfpenny Hatch was 
freehold, of about seven acres, and sold by the Curtis 
family to Messrs. Basing, Atkins, and Field, for the sum 
of ;^3500. They disposed of it in about six months after- 
wards to Mr. Roupell, the present owner, for the simi of 
;(8ooo.^ Being determined to take a sketch of the remains 
of this vine-mantled Halfpenny Hatch, I took water at 
Strand Lane Stairs* on the following evening, where I 
found George Heath busily engaged in his boat. Upon 
seeing a poor chimney-sweeper who descended the steps 
with me, he stood up and cried out, '' I tell you what, 



had this botanical garden in 
Lambeth Marsh, and there 
collected some of the material 
for his Flora Londinensis. 
Later, he opened his laxge 
establishment at Brompton. 
In 1^82, he rendered a curious 
service to the suburbs by 
writing A ShoH History of 
the Brown-Tan Moth^ to allay 
" the alarm which had been 
excited in the cotmtry round 
the Metropolis by an extra- 
ordinary abundance of the 
caterpiUars of this moth, and 
which was so great, that the 
parish officers . . . attended 
m form to see them burnt by 
bushels at a time" (Nichol's 
Literary Anecdotes). Curtis 
was buried in Battersea parish 
church. 

^ Richard Palmer Roupell, 
a wealthy lead-smelter in 
Gravel Lane, Southwark, 
owned much property in 



Southwark, Lambeth, and 
elsewhere. He lived at Aspen 
House, Brixton. There is a 
Roupell Road at Streatham 
and a Roupell Street in Lam- 
beth. The name of Curtis, 
the botanist, deserves, but 
has not found, similar perpetu- 
ation in the neighbourhood. 

'Strand Lane Stairs was 
the river outlet of Strand 
Lane, a narrow street which 
ran down from the Strand 
east of Somerset House. As 
Mr. Wheatley points out, it 
was originally the channel of 
the rivulet which crossed the 
Strand under Strand Bridge. 
The landing-place is iKyw lost 
under the Embankment, but 
the upper portion of the lane 
still exists, and leads to the 
famous Roman Bath, which 
every Londoner intends to, 
but does not, visit. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 273 

Sir Cloudesley Shovel» although you are a miller, depend 
upon it, I'll dust your jacket for the injury you have done 
my vessel." A ferryman observed, " His wife was gone to 
take a walk up Highgate Hill." '* A strainer," observed 
George Heath. During the time occupied in sketching, 
William Field, who lives in the Hatch, pointed out part 
of the gate which had received a bullet, supposed to have 
been aimed by some scoundrel at the elder Mr. Curtis, 
who providentially escaped, though the ball, which came 
from a considerable distance, passed only a few inches 
above his head. 

1829. 

On the 25th of July, 1829, being on my way to the great 
Sanctuary, my pleasure was inconceivable upon observing 
that the intended repairs of Whitehall Chapel had com- 
menced. The scaffolding was erected before its street- 
front, and the masons had begun their restorations at the 
south comer, strictly according with the fast decaying 
original.^ "Well," said I to my respected friend, Mr. 
Henry Smedley, whose house I had entered just as the 
chimes of the venerable Abbey and St. Margaret's had 
agreed to complete their quarters for nine, " I am deUghted 
to find that Inigo's beautiful front of Whitehall is in so fair 
a way of recovery." • 

Bonington's drawings, held at a respectful distance 
from the butter-dish^ were the next topic of conversation.' 

^ This restoration of the arts. He died in his house in 

Chapel (the Banqueting House) the Broad Sanctuary, March 

was carried out by Sir John 14, 1832. 

Soane, 1829-30. ' Richard Parkes Bonning- 

* Henry Smedley, of West- ton had not been dead a year 

minster, gave up the profession when this talk was proceeoing. 

of the law for tke study of the His success had outrun Iws 
18 



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274 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



" I agree with you," observed my friend, " they are in- 
valuable ; even his slightest pendl-touches are treasures. 
I have shown you the studies from the figures which sur- 
round Lord Norris's monument in the Abbey ; have they 
not all the spirit of Vandyke ? ^ Ay, that drawing of the 
old buildings seems to be your favourite; what a snug 
effect, and how sweetly it is coloured! — ^there never was 
a sale of modem art so well attended." 

After taking boat at the Horse Ferry for Vauxhall, — ^for 
the reader must be informed that Mr. Smedley and myself 
had an engagement to pass the day with Mr. William 
Esdaile, on Clapham Conunon,' — I asked the waterman 



strength, and a most promising 
career was closed by consump- 
tion, September 23, 1828. 
He lies in St. James's Church 
in Pentonville. Bennington's 
work is much appreciated in 
France. In the Louvre, where 
he studied as a boy, there are 
one or two fine examples 
of his work. The National 
Gallery has his " Venice : the 
Pillars of Piazzetta." That the 
British Museum Print-Room 
has a fine collection of his 
sketches is largely due to the 
fact that he died during a 
visit to England, and that his 
drawings went to Christie's, 
where they fetched £1200. 

^ This elaborate and beauti- 
ful work stands in the centre 
of St. Andrew's Chapel. Be- 
neath a canopy supported on 
columns lie the effigies of Lord 
and Lady Norris, and round 
them kneel their six soldier 
sons, four of whom died on 
the field. In his Aniieni 



Topography Smith tells how 
Roubiliac admired this stately 
cenotaph. " When my father 
had occasion to go to his 
master (Roubiliac) during the 
time he was putting up Sir 
Peter Warren's monument in 
the Abbey, he was geneially 
found standing by the monu- 
ment of Norris, or by that 
of Vere. On one of these 
attendances he was observed 
with his arms folded before 
the north-west comer figure 
of one of the six knifhts (the 
sons) who support tbe ceno- 
taph of Lora Norris, and 
appeared as if rivetted to the 
spot. My father, who had 
tnrice delivered his message, 
without being once noticed, 
was at last smartly pinched 
on the elbow by Roubiliac, 
who at the same time said, 
but in a soft and smothered 
tone of voice, 'Hush! Hush! 
He'll speak presently.' " 
s William Esdafle (1758- 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 275 



some questions as to '^Copper Holmes." He could not 
speak correctly as to the time of his death, but said that he 
had been much reduced by the lawsuit he had with the 
City about his bai^je. " Yes, that I know," said I ; " and 
it certainly was a nuisance on the banks of the Thames, 
and also an encroachment upon the City's rights and 
privileges." 

On arriving at Mr. Esdaile's gate, Mr. Smedley remarked 
that this was one of the few commons near London which 
had not been enclosed.^ The house had one of those plain 
fronts which indicated little, but upon ascending the 
steps I was struck with a similar sensation to those of the 
previous season, when first I entered this hospitable mansion. 
If I were to suffer myself to utter anything like an imgrate- 
ful remark, it would be that the visitor, inmiediately he 
enters the hall, is presented with too much at once, for 
he knows not which to admire first, the choice display of 



1837) ^^ ^ partner in the 
banJong house of Esdaile, 
Hammet, & Co., 21 Lombard 
Street He took up print- 
collectinjg and bought lavishly. 
FalUng into ill hesuth, he spent 
the last five years of his life in 
|x>ring over his prints, and 
died in his Clapnam house, 
October 2, 1837. T*^® dis- 
posal of his remarkable collec- 
tion at Christie's occupied 
sixteen days, and was attended 
by buyers from the Continent. 
^ The Clapham visited by 
Smith was that of Lord 
Macaula3^s young manhood 
and of Ruskin's boyhood, and 
was rural and open beyond 
the bedief of me present 
generation. In his recently 



published Life and Letters of 
Sir George Grove, Mr. Charles 
L. Graves says : " All the way 
from Wandsworth Road to 
Clapham Junction the neigh- 
bourhood was a favourite 
resort for solid City people, 
the wealthiest living on Clap- 
ham Common. But Clapham 
was thoroughly rural and not 
even semi-suburban in the 
* twenties ' and * thirties.' 
Mr. Edmund Grove distinctly 
recollects seeing a man in the 
stocks at Clapham, then a 
most picturesque villac^e with 
a watch-house for the 'Charlies/ 
and old inns with timbered 
fronts and spacious court- 
yards." 



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276 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

pictures which decorate the hall, or the equally artful and 
delightful maimer in which the park-like grounds so 
luxuriantly burst upon his sight. Mr. Esdaile entered 
the library during our admiration of its taste of design 
and truly pleasing effect. 

The walls are painted with a subdued red, a colour 
considered by most artists best calculated to relieve pictures, 
particularly those with broad gold frames. The first 
picture which attracted our notice was the upper one of 
two upon the easel nearest the window. The subject is a 
Virgin and Child, attributed to Albert Diirer, though I must 
own the style is so d^antly sweet, with so little of the 
German manner, that I should have considered it the work 
of a high Italian master. The upper one of the two 
pictures on the correspondent easel near the bookcase, 
is from the exquisite pencil of Adrian Ostade ; it was 
the property of Monsieur de Caloime,^ at whose auction 
Mr. Esdaile purchased it when he became a collector of 
pictures. 

It would be highly presumptuous in me to attempt to 
describe the pictures from so cursory a view. Suffice it to 
say, they are chiefly of the first class ; and I cannot charge 
the possessor with an indifferent specimen. Wilson and 

^ Charles Alexandre de during the night, together with 
Calonne succeeded Necker a portion of the ceuing of the 
as comptroller - general of room, he narrowly escaped 
finance m 1783. He was suffocation. All Paris, when 
unable to reduce French the fact became known, ex- 
finance to order, and in 1787 claimed, ' Tuste cid ! ' The 
found it advisable to retire tester of a bed is denominated 
to England. In Sir Nathaniel in French ' le cid du Ut' . . • 
WraxhaU's Memoirs I find the With him may be said to have 
following: — commenced the emigratioD 

" The tester of Calonne's (to England) which soon be* 

bed having fallen upon him came so generaL" 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 277 

Gainsborough were honoured with two of the best places 

in this room, which commands a most beautiful view of 

the grounds. In passing to the best staircase, our eyes 

were attracted by the works of Rubens, Ru}^sdael, Salvator 

Rosa, etc. I was highly gratified with the standing of the 

colours of one of the rich landscapes from the easel of 

my old and worthy friend, George Amald, A.R.A. This 

picture was originally purchased by my revered patron, 

Richard Wjratt, of Milton Place, Egham, at whose sale Mr. 

Esdaile bought it. Two sumptuously rich and large dishes 

of Oriental china, with their stands, occupy the comers of the 

staircase, which leads to several chambers ; the walls of 

the left-hand one of which are adorned with drawings, 

framed and glazed, by Cipriani and Bartolozzi ; but more 

particularly with several architectural ruins by Clerisseau, 

in his finest manner. On the north side of this room stands 

a magnificent japan glazed case, which contains specimens 

of the Raphael ware and Oriental porcelain, with two 

richly adorned alcoves, with figures of Gibbon the historian, 

and his niece, manufactured at Dresden. 

In Mr. Esdaile's bedroom are other specimens of curious 
porcelain, of ^g-shell plates, cups and covers of the dragon 
with five claws, and two exquisite black and mother-o'- 
pearl flower-pots, from the collection of the Duchess- 
Dowager of Portland. On the top of a curiously wrought 
cabinet, in the drawing-room below stairs, stand three dark 
rich blue vases of Sivres, and two vases of deep blue, 
embossed with gold leaves, from the Chelsea manufactory. 
These articles, with a curious figiu-e of Harlequin set in 
precious stones, the body of which is formed of an immense 
pearl, were purchased by Mr. Esdaile at the sale of her late 
gracious Majesty Queen Charlotte. The lower parts of the 
japan case in the upper room are filled with drawings; 



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278 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

so are two other cases which stand on the western side of 
the room, made purposely for their reception. 

The first drawings of our repast this day (for it would 
take twenty to see the whole) were those by the inimitable 
hand of Rembrandt, many of which were remarkably 
fine, one particularly so, of a man seated on a stile near 
some trees, which appear to have been miserably affected 
by a recent storm. This drawing is slight, and similar in 
manner to the artist's etching, called by some collectors 
the ^' Mustard Print." One of the drawings with landscapes 
on both sides is remarkably curious, as they are drawn 
with what is called '' the Metallic Pen " ; it is certainly 
the first specimen of the kind I have seen. The Ostade 
drawings were our next treat, two of which the artist 
etched ; one is the long print of a merry-making on the 
outside of an alehouse, penned and washed ; the other is 
of the backgammon-players, completely finished in water- 
colours. At this time the servant announced nooning; 
after which Mr. Smedley requested to see Hogarth's prints, 
in order to report to Mr. Standly* the rarities in Mr. 
Esdaile's collection. In this, however, we were disappointed, 
as it did not contain any which that gentleman did not 



On our return to Mr. Esdaile's room, we were indulged 
with several of Hogarth's drawings. A volume containing 
numerous drawings by Wilson was then placed on the 
table. " Bless me," said I, " here is the portrait of my 
great-uncle, Tom of Ten Thousand." « This is the identical 
drawing thus described by Edwards : — " It may, however, 

^ Henry Peter Standly, of persed at Christie's in 1845. 

St. Neot's, an active magis- He piurchased drawings of 

trate, possessed an unrivalled landscapes from Smith, 

collection of Hogarth's prints * See note, p. 4. 
and drawings, which was dis- 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 279 

be asserted, that he drew a head equal to any of the portrait- 
painters of his time. A specimen of which may be seen 
by a drawing, now in the possession of J. Richards, Esq., 
R.A.,^ which is the portrait of Admiral Smith, and which 
was drawn before Wilson went abroad. 'It is executed 
in black and white chalk, as large as life, upon brown 
French paper, and is treated in a bold, masterly manner ; 
but this is not a work which can authorise the critic to 
consider him as superior to the other portrait-painters 
of his day." * 

This drawing was made by Wilson, before he com- 
menced the picture which I am now in possession of, 
so well engraved in mezzotinto by Faber. Of these 
inestimable drawings, which are mostly in black chalk, 
stumped, perhaps the most interesting are those for 
Celadon and Amelia, and the Niobe. Valuable and truly 
epic as these specimens certainly are, I must say, for 
my own part, I should give the preference to the book 
containing those by Gainsborough, of rustic sceneiy. I 
had seen many of them before, in the possession of the 
artist. Colonel Hamilton, Mr. Nassau, and Mr. Lambert. 
Two that were possessed by the latter, are stamped with 
Gainsborough's initials in gold. 

Dr. Richardson,* Mr. Esdaile's son-in-law, having 
arrived, and dinner being announced, we gave up these 



^ John Inigo Richards, R.A., * Edwards's Anecd(^es of 

was one of the original mem- Painters. — S. 

bera of the Royal Academy, • Probably Dr. Robert 

and its secretaiy from 1788. Richardson, M.D., who had 

He was for many years princi- been travelljng physician to 

pal scene-painter at Covent Lord Mountjoy. He died in 

Garden. He died in his Gordon Street, Bloomsbury, 

Academy apartments, Dec. November 5, 1847. 
18, x8zc. 



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280 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

fascinating sources of pleasure, for that which would 
enable us to enjoy them another day. 

The Doctor, with his accustomed elegance of manners, 
delighted us during our repast with some most inter- 
esting observations made during his travels ; after which. 
Flora invited us to the garden, where Mr. Esdaile had, 
with his usual liberality, allowed her to display some 
of her most rare as well as picturesque sweets. On our 
return from the enchanting circuit of the grounds, our 
general conversation was on the pleasures we had re- 
ceived ; and, indeed, so delighted were we with the enter- 
tainment of the day, that we talked of little else till our 
arrival at Westminster Bridge. 

Beautiful and truly valuable as Mr. Esdaile's drawiogs 
unquestionably are, it would not only be considered 
an impeachment upon my judgment, but a conviction 
of the deepest injustice towards that wonderful collection 
so classically formed by Sir Thomas Lawrence, were I 
not unequivocally to state, that this latter is by far the 
most choice, as well as extensive, of any I have yet seen 
or heard of, and perhaps it may be stated with equal 
truth, ever formed. What catalogue can boast so for- 
midably of Michael Angelo, Raphael, Claude, Rubens, 
and Rembrandt ? ^ Surely none ; for I have seen those 
of Sir Peter Lely, the Duke of Argyle, and Hudson,* at 

^ Enthusiasm for art and in fine large portfolios properly 

carelessness of money went labelled and enshrined.'* 

to the forming of Sir Thomas * Smith could not have seen 

Lawrence's unrivalled collec- the whole of Sir Peter Lely's 

tion. Cunningham says : '' Of collection of prints and draw- 

every eminent artist he had ings. These were sold by 

such specimens as no other auction in 1687, the sale lasting 

person possessed ; not huddled more than a month. — ^Thomas 

mto heaps, or scattered like the Hudson (1701-79) painted 

leaves of theSibyl.but arranged the portraits of members of 



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LONDON STREEl MERCHANTS: DOOR-MATS 

ETCHKT) BY J. T. SMITH 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 281 

the last of whose sales the immortal Sir Joshua employed 
me as one of his bidders, his pupil Mr. Score ^ was another. 
It would be assuming too much, to attempt a description 
of the individual and high importance of the productions 
of all the four above-mentioned masters, possessed by the 
liberal President. 

As prospective pleasures are seldom realised, a truth 
many of my readers must acknowledge, and being deter- 
mined never to colour a picture at once, but to await 
the natural course of events,* I on the 3rd of August 
started with my wife for Hampton Court, not only to 
see the present state of that palace, but to notice the 
sort of porcelain remaining there, without fixing upon 
any further plan for the completion of the day's amuse- 
ment. 

King William in., who took every opportunity of 

the Dilettanti Society, and, ing of their subjects. The 

being wealthy, collected many head of Count Ugolino at 

fine prints and drawings. — Knowle, and the Infant Christ 

Archibald Campbell, third in Macklin's picture, were 

Duke, formed a very fine painted on the canvases long 

library. before the artist considered 

^ This name is given as subjects or combinations " (S.). 

Serre in the tmee old — ^Ibis historical painting, saj^ 

editions of the Rainy Day — Northcote, existed simply as 

a very misleading erratum, a head of the Count until 

William Score was bom in Burke and Goldsmith praised 

Devonshire about 1778. He it, whereupon Sir Joshua had 

became a pupil of Joshua his canvas enlarged in order 

Reynolds, and regularly ex- that he might add the other 

hibited portraits at the Royal fibres. When finished, the 

Academy. picture was bought b]^ the 

s '' Sir Joshua Reynolds com- Duke of Dorset for 400 guineas. 

menced two of his finest It is not Rejmolds at Us best, 

historical pictures without and Charles Lamb, who saw 

settling in what way the com- it at the Rejmolds exhibition 

positions were to be completed, held in 1813 in PaU Mall, 

or, indeed, without even think- criticised it rather severely. 



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2S2 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

rendering these apartments as pleasing to him as those 
he had left in the house in the Wood, introduced nothing 
by way of porcdain, beyond that of delf, and on that 
ware, in many instances, his Majesty had W. R.» sur- 
mounted by the crown of England, painted on the fronts. 
Of the various specimens of this clumsy blue and white 
delf , displayed in the numerous rooms of this once mag- 
nificent palace, the pride of Wolsey and splendom* of 
Henry viii., the eight large pots for the reception of 
King William iii.'s orange-trees, now standing in her 
Majesty's gallery, certainly have claims to future pro- 
tection. As for the old and ragged bed-furniture, it is 
so disgraceful to a palace, that, antiquaiy as I in some 
d^;ree consider myself, I most heartily wish it in Petticoat 
Lane. In passing through the rooms, I missed the fine 
whole-length picture of Admiral Nottin^^am,^ and also 
the thirty-four portraits of the Admirals. The guide 
informed me that they were presented by our present 
King, William rv., to the Painted Hall at Greenwich. 
" A noble gift,*' said I, " but where can they put them 
up ? '* In order to take some refreshment, we entered 
the parlour of the ''Canteen," that being the sign of 
the suttling-house of the Palace. During our stay» 

^ Charles Howard, Earl of in the Painted Hall at Green- 
Nottingham, Lord High Ad- wich. The portraits of the 
miral at the defeat of the Admirals were presented to 
Armada, best known to history Greenwich Hospital b3r George 
as Lord Howard of Effingham, nr. (not William iv.) in 1823. 
The portrait Smith missed William iv. added five naval 
was painted by Frederigo pictures in 1835. As will be 
Zucchero, whose (attributed) seen on a later page, Smi&'s 

ertraits of Queen Elizabeth, curiosity about the hanging 
icester, Raleigh, and James L of these pictures led him to 
are in the National Fortrait visit Greenwich next day. 
Gallery. His Howard is now 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 288 

L^;at's ^ fine engraving from Northcote*s forcibly effective 
picture of the ** Death of the Princes in the Tower/' which 
honoured the room, caught the attention of one of two other 
visitors to the Palace. " Bless me/' said he, "' are those 
bmtes going to smother those sweet babes ? Why, they 
are as beautiful as the Lichfield children/' * The observa- 
tion was not made to me, and as the subject has been 
too often mentioned, I shall forbear saying more about it. 

As my wife and I were strolling on, in order to secure 
places for our return to London in the evening, I ventured 
to pull the bell at Garrick's Villa, and asked for permis* 
sion to see the temple in which Roubiliac's figure of 
Shakspeare had originally been placed.* Mr. Carr, the 
present proprietor of the estate, received us with the 
greatest politeness. Upon expressing a hope that my 
love for the fine arts would plead my apology for the 
intrusion, he assured me it would afford him no small 
pleasure to walk with us to the lawn. ""Do sit down, 
for a tremendous storm appears to be coming on; we 
must wait a little." His lady, of most el€f;ant manners, 
at this moment entered the room and cordially joined 
in her husband's wishes to gratify our curiosity, observing 
that, if we pleased, she would show us the house. This 
offer was made in so delightful a manner, that we were 
truly sensible of the indulgence. 

Upon returning to a small room which we had passed 
through from the hall, "Ah! ah!'* said I, "you are 

1 Francis Legat, a Scotch 1786, and later Northcote's 

engraver, came to London painting. He died in 1809. 
about 1780, and lived at 22 «Chantrev|s group, "The 

Charles Street, Westminster. Sleming Children," in Lich- 

Here he engraved '* Mary field Cathedral. 
Queen of Scots resigning her *This statue is now in the 

Crown" after Hamilton in British Museum. 



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284 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

curious in porcelain, I see, — the crackle. What fine 
Dresden ! I declare here is a figure of Kitty Clive, as 
the Fine Lady in Lethe, from the Chelsea manufactory." * 
There is an engraving of this by Mosdey, with the land- 
scape background etched by Gainsborough. This figure 
of Mrs. Clive, which was something less than a foot in 
height, was perfectly white, and one of a set of celebrated 
characters, viz., John Wilkes ; David Garrick, in Richard 
the Third; Quin, in Falstaff ; Woodward, in the Fine 
Gentleman ; the Duke of Cumberland, etc. Most of these 
were characteristically coloured, and are now and then to 
be met with.* 

" How you enjoy these things ! " observed Mrs. Carr. 
*' This is the drawing-room ; the decorated paper is just 
as it was in Mr. Garrick's time; indeed, we have had 
nothing altered in the house. I never enter this room 
without regretting the enormous expense we were obliged 
to incur, in taking down a great portion of the roof, owing 
to a very great neglect in the repairs of the house during 
Mrs. Garrick's time. Fortunately it was discovered just as 
we took possession of the premises, or the consequences 
might have been fatal." "Your grounds are beauti- 
ful," observed my wife. "Yes," said Mrs. Carr, "and 



^TheChelseaporcelainmanu- compositions, are still to be 

f acture was founded about seen in the cellars of the Prince 

17^5, and was at the height of Wales Tavern, at the comer 

of its fame from 1750 to 1764 of Justice Walk and Lawrence 

under Mr. Sprimont. The Street, Chelsea, 
works finally dosed in 1784. ' The case of Chelsea china 

The Chelsea potters went forth- in the British Museum con- 

witib to Derby, where they tains similar figures of the Earl 

founded the Chdsea- Derby of Chatham, George m., a 

pottery. Remains of the old Thames waterman wearing 

Chelsea furnaces, in which Dr. Doggett's Coat and Badge, 

Johnson was allowed to test his etc. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 285 

several of the trees were planted by Mrs. Garrick ; that 
mulberry-tree was a sucker from Shakspeare's tree at 
Stratford; that tulip-tree was one of her planting, and 
so was the cedar. Now you shall see our best bed-room." 
The end of this room which contains the bed is divided 
from the larger portion by a curtain suspended across 
the ceUing» which gives it the appearance of a distinct 
drawing-room, for the comfort of a visitor, if indisposed. 
"' We will now go to Mr. and Mrs. Garrick's bed-room." 
Notwithstanding the lowness of the ceiling, the room 
still carries an air of great comfort. Here we were again 
gratified with a display of some choice specimens of 
Oriental porcelain. 

We then descended to the dining-room, in which 
were portraits of the Tracy family. On one side of the 
chimneypiece hangs a half-length picture of Mrs. Garrick, 
holding a mask in her right hand. This was painted 
by Zoffany,^ before her marriage, who was one of her 
admirers ; over the sideboard hangs a portrait of Tom 
Davies, the author of the Life of Garrick^ who had been 
his steadfast friend." We then returned to the bow- 
room, in which we were first received ; from thence we 
entered the library, and were then shown Mr. Garrick's 
dressing-table. On our return to the bow-room, I asked 
Mr. Carr in what part of the house Hogarth's Election 
pictures had hung. *^ In this," said he ; " one on either 
side of the fireplace." • 

^ Johan Zoffany, R.A., bom the introducer to Dr. Johnson 

at Frankfort about 1735, ofBoswell. Johnson wrote the 

l>ainted portraits of Garrick, first sentence of his Memoirs 

one of the best representing of David Garrick. 

the acter as Abel Drugger. * These pictures were the 

« Thomas Davies, flie actor " Canvass/^ the " Poll," the 

and bookseller, more famous as " Chairing," and the " Elec- 



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286 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

The rain still continuing, our amiable shdtereis in- 
sisted on our staying dinner, as it was impossible to see 
the Temple in such a storm. We accepted this hospitable 
invitation ; and in the course of conversation Mrs. Can 
assured us that we were not only seated upon the sofa 
frequently occupied by Dr. Johnson, but also the identical 
cover. " Now, Mrs. Smith, I will show you my Garrick 
jeweb, which Mr. Carr, in consequence of a disappoint- 
ment I received, by their not being left to me by will, 
according to Mrs. Garrick's repeated promises, most 
liberally purchased for me at the price fixed upon them 
by Messrs. Rtmdell and Bridge ; for I must inform yon 
that the intimacy of my family with Mrs. Garrick was 
of thirty years' standing, and that lady and I were in- 
separable." The first treasure produced was a miniature 
of Mr. Garrick, set in brilliants ; the second, a rich bracelet 
of pearls, containing the hair of Mr. and Mrs. Garrick. 
Mrs. Carr poUtely presented my wife and myself with 
impressions of a profile of Mr. Garrick, contemjdating 
the features of Shakspeare. 

After dinner was announced, and in the course of 
taking our wine, I thanked our worthy hosts for their 
hospitality. "This house," said Mr. Carr. "was ever 
famous for it. Dr. Johnson has frequently knocked up 
Mr. and Mrs. Garrick at a very late hour, and would never 
go to bed without a supper." ^ I asked his opinion as 

tion Feast." They are said ^Ini829 the surprising period 

to have been painted by of seventy-three years had 

Hogarth for about forty-five elapsed since Garrick became 

guineas apiece. At the sale of the tenant of his famous villa. 

Garrick's pictures at Christie's He had enlarged and improved 

in June 1823 they were bought the house, planted many trees 

by Sir John Soane, and are in in the grounds, and erected 

the Soane Museum. on his lawn a ''Grecian Temple" 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 287 



to the truth of the anecdote related by Lee Lewis con- 
cerning Mrs. Garrick's marriage* "There certainly is/' 
he replied, '* a mystery as to who her feither was." Mrs. 
Carr observed that, after Mrs. Garrick had read Lewis's 
assertions, she, with her usual vivacity, exclaimed, *' He 
is a great liar ; Lord Burlington was not my father, but 
I am of noble birth." 

"Is it true," I asked, "that Lord Burlington gave 
Mr. Garrick £10,000 to marry her ? " 

" No, nor did Mrs. Garrick ever receive a sum of money 
from Lord Burlington : she had only the interest of £6000, 
and that she was paid by the late Duke of Devonshire." ^ 



to receive the statue of Shake- 
speare by Roubiliac which 
now stands in the entrance 
hall of the British Museum. 
Here also stood his famous 
Shakespeare chair, designed by 
Hogartn: it is now in the 
possession of the Baroness 
JSurdett-Coutts. At Hampton 
Garrick received his friends 
with great hospitaUty, and 
occasionally gave fSies cham- 
pares with the accompani- 
ments of fireworks and illu- 
minations. Horace Walpole, 
finding himself a fellow-visitor 
with the Duke of Grafton, 
Lord and Lady Rochford, the 
Spanish Minister, and other 
great people, wrote to Bentley : 
^' This is being sur un assez 
ban ton for a player." Garrick 
gave treats to the children 
of Hampton in his groimds. 
After his death, Hampton 
House and the house in Adel- 
M Terrace were occupied 
or forty - three years by Mrs. 



t 



Garrick. She preserved the 
Hampton furniture exactly as 
her husband left it 

^The mystery of Mrs. 
Garrick's origin has never been 
cleared up. Some authorities 
say that she was the daujghter 
of a respectable Vienna citizen 
named John Veigel. Accord- 
ing to the story told by Charles 
Lee Lewis (see his Memoirs, 
1805), and denied by Mrs. 
Garrick, she was the fruit 
of a Uaison which the Earl 
of Burlington formed with a 
younjg lady of family on the 
Continent At the time of 
her birth the Earl was back 
in England, whence he remitted 
funds f orhisdaughter'ssupport. 
The money is said to have 
been dishonestly retained by 
the person in whose charc^e 
she was placed, and the chud 
herself to have been forced 
to earn a living as a dancer. 
The Earl, hearinc; of this, 
arranged that she should come 



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288 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



The rain now subsided; and as we passed throng^ 
the passage cut under the road, Mrs. Carr stopped where 
Mrs. Garrick had frequently stood, while she related 
the following anecdote. * Capability Brown^*^ was can- 



to England and dance for a 
higher salary. Later he took 
her into his house as companion 
and teacher to his le^timate 
daughter. Then Gamck ap- 
peared on the scene, and the 
benevolent Earl said to him : 
" Do you think you could 
satisfactorily receive her from 
my hands with a portion of 
ten thousand pounds? — and 
here let me intorm you that 
she is my daughter. 

The above story is told by 
Lee Lewis on the authority 
of "an aged domestic who 
lived at the time it happened 
at Burlington House, Picca- 
dilly." Apparently the same 
l^ossiping lady is referred to 
m the following note in Mr. 
Percy Fitzgerald's Life of 
Garrick : '* A curious little 
story comes to me, told origin- 
ally by a housekeeper in the 
Burlington family, and, though 
based on such a loose founda- 
tion, may be worth repeating. 
On this authority, the story ran 
that Lord Burlington, coming 
to see her, was struck by a 
picture, and, on inquiry, found 
she was actually the daughter 
of a lady whom he had known 
abroad. The result was the 
discovery that the Violette 
was actually his daughter. 
The authority of the old house- 
keeper seems below the dignity 



of biography, but her testi- 
mony comes to us very circum- 
stantially." 

The story of Violette's re- 
lationship to the Earl of 
Burlington was supported by 
the covert kindness which state 
received from that nobleman* 
But it has to be remembered 
that she was the "rage" of 
the whole town, " the finest 
and most admired dancer in 
the world," according to Wal- 
pole, and that Lady Burlington, 
not less than her lord, was 
so fond of her, that she would 
accompany her to the theatre, 
and wait in the wings with 
a pelisse to throw over her 
when she came off the stage. 
Mr. Fitzgerald's conclusion on 
the whole matter is that " her 
father was someone of rank 
at Vienna, possibly one of 
the Starenber^ fainily, from 
whom it is said she brought 
letters of introduction to 
England." 

1 Lancelot Brown (1715- 
83) is generally considered 
the founder of modern 
" natural " as distinct from 
" formal " landscape-garden- 
ing. He laid out Kew, the 
grounds of Blenheim, and 
parts of St. James's Park 
and Kensington Gardens. His 
conversational abiUties, ex- 
tolled by Hannah More, con- 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 289 

suited as to the communication of these grounds with 
those by the water. Mr. Garrick had an idea of having 
a bridge to pass over the road, similar to the one at Pain's 
Hill ; ^ but this was objected to by Capability Brown, 
who proposed to have a tunnel cut. Mr. Garrick at 
first did not like that idea ; but Dr. Johnson observed, 
" David ! David ! what can't be over-done may be imder- 
done." » 

As we entered the Temple, instead of seeing a vacant 
recess, we were agreeably surprised to find that the present 
owner had occupied it by a cast of Roubiliac's statue 
of Shakspeare, most carefully taken by Mr. Garrard,' 
similar to the one with which he furnished the late Mr. 



tributed to his fame. John 
Taylor relates that he once 
assisted the gouty Lord 
Chatham into his carriage. 
" Now, sir, go and adorn your 
country," said the grateful 
statesman. To which Brown 
aptly replied: "Go you, my 
lord, ana save it." 

1 Pain's Hill, at Cobham, 
Surrey, was considered a 
tritimph of landscape garden- 
ing by Horace Walpole and 
other connoisseurs. Its owner, 
the Hon. Charles Hamilton, 
not content with artificial 
mins and temples disposed 
after the pictures of Poussin 
and Claude, added a hermit- 
age and engaged a hermit 
at j^^roo a year. But as the 
hermit had all the hardship, 
and Hamilton all the senti- 
ment, the arrangement broke 
do^vn. 

• Mr. Carr's mention of 

19 



Johnson's frequent visits re- 
calls the answer he made to 
Garrick when asked how he 
liked the spot : " Ah, David ! 
it is the leaving of such places 
that makes a death-bed 
terrible." Some interesting 
matter relating to the Gar- 
ricks at Hampton will be 
found in Mr. nenry Ripley's 
History and Topography of 
Hampton -on- Thames. The 
existence of the villa has 
recently been threatened by 
the westward extension of 
London's electric tramways, 
but, happily, the danger of 
its removal has been averted. 
• George Garrard, A.R.A. 
(1760-1826), animal painter 
and sculptor, led a successful 
movement to obtain copyright 
protection for works of plastic 
art. He died at Queen's 
Buildings, Brompton. 



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290 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

Whitbread for the hall of Drury Lane Theatre. On our 
return to the villa, we were shown a snaall statue of Ifr. 
Garrick, in the character of Roscius ; but by whom it 
was modelled I was not able to learn. The following 
inscription was placed under the plinth : — '* This figure 
of Garrick was given to Mr. Garrard, AJR.A,, by his widow, 
and is now respectfully presented to Mrs. Carr, to be 
placed in Garrick's Villa, July 14, 1825." 

In the bow-room, in which we again were seated, 
is a portrait of Mr. Hanbury Williams, and also two 
drawings of Mr. and Mrs. Garrick, by Dance, of which 
there are Uthographic engravings by Mrs. Solly, the daughter 
of the Rev. Mr. Racket, with impressions of which that 
lady honoured me for my wife's illustrated copy of the 
Life of Dr. Johnson. Mrs. Sdly also favoured me with 
a sight of a pair of elegant garnet bracelets, which had 
been left to her by Mrs. Garrick. The bell, NoUekens's 
old friend, announced the arrival of the stage, and we 
took our departure. 

On the following morning, taking advantage of the 
Museum vacation allowed to officers of that establish- 
ment, and feeling an inquisitive inclination to know in 
what way the portraits of the admirals had been disposed 
of in Greenwich Hospital, I went thither, where I found 
a display of great taste in the distribution of the pictures 
which adorn the Painted Hall of that national and glorious 
institution. Many of my readers will recollect that in 
second editions of works errors are usually corrected. 
Such, I understand, has been the case in the hanging 
of the pictures in this splendid gallery ; for, in the first 
instance, numerous small and also indifiereat subjects 
were hung at the top of the room, and the spectator was 
told that this arrangement was merely to produce uni- 



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A BOOK FOR A BAINY DAY 291 

formity, until a period arrived when larger and better 
productions could occupy their jdaces. The Uberality 
of King William iv., who gave no fewer than fifty-five 
pictures, in addition to the very valuable presents made 
by the Governors of the British Institution, enabled Mr. 
S^;uier, keeper of the royal collection, to display his best 
taste in the re-arrangement. 

All the small pictures have been taken away, and a 
most judicious display of whole-length portraits, the size 
of life, occupy their spaces. Modem artists must not only 
be pleased with the truly liberal manner in which their 
works are here exhibited, l>ut will rejoice in having an 
opportunity of retouching and improving their pictures, 
from the manner in which the light falls upon them — ^an 
advantage always embraced in large edifices by the old 
masters, but perhaps more particularly by Rubens, who, 
it is well known, worked upon his performances after they 
had been elevated to their respective destinations. I must 
own, without a wish to cast the least reflection upon the 
works of other modem artists displayed in this gallery, 
that the noble picture of the Battle of Trafalgar, 
painted by Amald, the Associate of the Royal Academy, 
at the expense of the Governors of the British 
Institution, at present arrests most powerfully the 
attention. 

As I was admiring the dignity of the Hampton Court 
admirals, who never appeared to such advantage, a well- 
known voice whispered over my shoulder, " You are not 
aware, perhaps, that Vandevelde painted the sea-distances 
in those picttires ? " *' No," answered I ; " that is a very 
interesting fact ; " adding that " I could not believe Kneller 
to have been the painter of all the heads." Mr. Seguier 
rejoined, "' Dahl, in my opinion, painted some of 



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292 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 



them." ^ In the course of conversation he gave me no 
small pleasure by observing that he had read my woiic 
of NoUekens and his Times. — "I can answer as to the 
truth of nine-tenths of what you have asserted/' said be, 
'* having known the parties well." 

Upon leaving this interesting gallery, a pleasing thought 
struck me, that if a volume of naval history; commencing 
with the early ballads in the Pepysian Library, and ending 
with the delightful compositions of Dibdin, were printed, 
and given to every collier's apprentice as a reward for 
his good behaviour, it might create in him that spiiit of 
emulation which, when drafted from his vessel, would 
induce him to defend the long-famed wooden vralls of Old 
England most undauntedly. Humble as the versification 
of these our old ballads may justly be considered, yet I have 
frequently seen the tear of gratitude follow the zndody of 
Indedon while singing the song of " Admiral Benbow." • 



1 Michael Dahl {1656-1743) 
was bom in Stockholm. lie 
settled in London, and became 
the rival of Kneller. " If he 
excelled, it was only in the 
mediocrity by which he was 
surrounded " (Redgrave). He 
was buried in St. James's 
Church, Piccadilly. 

* " I have not heard that 
song better performed since 
Mr. Incledon sung it. He 
was a great singer, sir, and I 
may say, in the words of our 
immortal Shakespeare, that, 
take him for all in all, we 
shall not look upon his like 
again." In these words 
Hoskins of the Cave of Har- 
mony complimented Colonel 
Newcome on his rendering 



of "Wapping Old Stairs." 
Incledon oegan life in the 
navy, where he san^ himself 
into the good graces of his 
Admiral. Coming to London 
in 1783, he became a public 
singer; but it was not until 
1790 that his success was 
established by his perform- 
ance in The Poor Soldier at 
Covent Garden. In his later 
years he relied mainly on the 
provinces, in which he travelled 
under the style of " The 
Wandering Melodist.* * Though 
exquisite in song he was clumsy 
in appearance. Leslie, the 
painter, describes him as 
having " the face and figure 
of a low sailor," yet with these 
** the most manly and at the 



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CHARLES DIBDIN 
* He found a voice for the British sailor." 

Tom Taylor 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 293 

** What, upon the old trot, Master ? " observed a funny- 
mover,^ as I descended the rotten old stairs of Hungerford 
Market. " Will you make one with us ? I know you 
don't mind where you steer." We had hardly made 
Chelsea Reach, when one of our crew noticed a foundered 
freshman, who had most ingeniously piloted himself into 
a cluster of osiers, in order to adjust his cravat, as a lady in 
our boat was to meet him that evening in Vauxhall Gardens. 
Our steersman, who was fond of a bit of fun, thus assailed 
him, " I say. Maty, why you're water-logged there ; you 
put me in mind of the Methodist parson who ran adrift 
last Saturday nearly in the same place : he made a pretty 
good thing of it." " Ay," observed a dry old fresh-water 
passenger in our boat, '* I saw the fellow ; and when the 
Battersea gardeners * quizzed him, he attempted to stand 



same time the most agreeable 
voice I ever heard." Another 
good authority records that 
his voice "was of extra- 
ordinary power, both in the 
natural and the falsetto. The 
former, from A to G, a compass 
of about fourteen notes, was 
full and open, neither partak- 
ing of the reed nor the string, 
and sent forth without the 
smallest artifice ; and such 
was its ductility, that when 
he sang fnanissimo, it retained 
its original ductility. His 
falsetto, which he could use 
from D to E or F, or about 
ten notes, was rich, sweet, 
and brilliant." 

^Funny-movers attended to 
the boats. A funny was a 
narrow, clinker-built pleasure 
boat for a pair of sculls. " A 



most melancholy accident 
happened one evening this 
week in the river off Fulham. 
A young couple, on the point 
of marriage, took a sail in a 
funny, which unfortunately 
upset, and the two lovers 
were drowned" (Annual 
Register, 1808). 

* The Battersea market- 
gardeners were famous. A 
rh5mie of 1802 sa}rs — 

** Gardeners in shoals from Batter- 
sea shall run. 
To raise their kindlier hot-beds 
in the sun." 

The first asparagus raised in 
England is said to have come 
from Battersea ; and such was 
the extent of the market- 
gardens, that large numbers 
of Welshwomen tramped 
thither every spring for em- 



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294 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

up like a poplar ; but the wind operatiiig upon his head, 
it hxmg like a bulrush. However, when he was seated, 
instead of advising them to make ready for simpling^time, 
or bespattering them with low language, he exercised his 
pulpit volubility in favour of vegetables, declaring that 
for years he had lived upon them, and insisted that every 
young person of every dimate should eat nothing else, 
strengthening this opinion with the following quotation 
from Jeremy Taylor, who dedared that 'a dish of lettuce 
and a dear fountain would cool all his heats.' After this 
he most strenuously advised them to ask more money for 
their pecked fruit than they had been accustomed to 
receive, observing, that they should keep Shakspeare's 
caution in mind, ' Beware all fruit but what the birds have 
pecked." At the dose of his address, a descendant of old 
Mother Bagley, called ^The King of Spades,' proposed 
to his men not only to join him in all their coppers, but to 
fresh-water the poor fellow's boat, for which he thanked 
them, and dedared that he was almost ready to float in his 
own perspiration ; but that he, Uke Sterne's ' ' Starling,' 
could not get out. The Mortlake bo3^ soon gave him 
three cheers, and away he scuttled like an ed towards 
Limehouse Hole, sticking as close to his boat as a toad to 
the head of a carp." 

At this the lady simpered. "' Bless your heart, fair 
one," observed the narrator, addressing the lady who was 
destined for Vauxhall Gardens, "you never saw such a 
skdeton as this vegetable-eater. As for his complexion, 
it was for all the world like — ^what shall I say ? " 

" Perhaps a Queen Anne's guinea," observed em- 
ployment in the summer * In i4 SefUimefUal Journey. 
months. See "The Passport," "The 

* Not Shakespeare. Captive," and "The Starling.'' 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 295 

watennan, "that they used to let into the bottom of 
punch-ladles " — many of which were frequently to be seen 
in the pawnbrdcers' windows in Wapping. 

" As for his voice during his preaching," rejoined our 
entertaining companion, '*no lamb's could be more in- 
nocent." 

As we were tacking about, the wind standing fair to 
drop the lady at Vauxhall-stairs, our old weathergage, 
the waterman, who reminded me of Copper Holmes, thus 
addressed a lopped Chelsea Pensioner : — " I say, old 
Granby,^ people say that he who loves fighting is much 
more the sexton's friend than his own." "Ay, Master 
Smelter," answered the corporal, " we are all alive here, 
and, like the Greenwich bo3^, willing to fight again ; Old 
England for ever ! " 

I then requested the waterman to put me on shore, 
in order to visit Chelsea College, purposdy to see what 
had been done with my friend Ward's allegorical picture 
of the Triumph of the Duke of Wellington. The Right 
Hon. Noblemen and Gentlemen, Governors of the British 
Institution, wishing to perpetuate the memory of the noble 
victory on the plains of Waterloo, they, with their accus- 
tomed liberality to the fine arts, conmiissioned James Ward, 
Esq., R.A., to paint an all^orical picture worthy a place 
in the Hall of that glorious establishment, Chelsea Hospital. 
Having heard that Mr. Ward's picture had been hung up, I 
went thither, but, to my utter astonishment, found it not 
only suspended without a frame (just as a showman in a 
fair would put out his large canvas to display " the true 

* " Old Granby " was doubt- Manners, Marquess of Granby, 

less intended as a jesting renowned for his toughness 

compliment to the pensioner, and gallantry, 
in allusion to the blufi Lord 



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296 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

and lively portraiture " of a giant, the Pig-faced Lady, 
or the Fire-eater), but with its lower part projecting over a 
gallery, just like the lid of a kitchen salt-box ; so that the 
upper and greater half, being on an inclined plane, had 
copiously received the dust, and doubtless, if it be allowed 
to accumulate, the Duke's scarlet coat will undergo a brick- 
dust change, and his cream-coloured horses become the 
dirtiest of all the drabs. 

If this pictm-e be considered worth preserving, why 
e3q)Ose it so shamefully to injury by suffering it to hang as 
it does ? If, on the contrary, why not at once consign 
it to the waters of oblivion, by casting it into Chelsea 
Reach ? Mr. Ward's superior talents have been in 
niunerous instances acknowledged by some of the best 
judges. 

Descending Villiers Street on one of my peregrina- 
tion mornings, a tremendous storm obliged me to request 
shelter of Mrs. Scott, the wife of the present keeper of York 
Terrace, and successor of Hu^ Hewson, a man who 
declared himself to be the genuine character famed by 
Dr. Smollett in The Adventures of Roderick Random, 
under the appellation of Hugh Strap.^ Here I met with 

^ Hugh Hewson died iniSog, the Doctor's inventive fancy, 
and it appears from a news- but in truth and reality. The 
paper of that yesur, quoted by Doctor's meeting him at a 
Kobert Chambers (Favourite barber's shop at Newcastle- 
Authors : Smollett), that he uj)on-Tyne, and the subsequent 
was proud of being the proto- mistake at the inn ; then- 
type of Strap. " His shop arrival together in London, 
was hung round with Latin and the assistance they ex- 
quotations, and he would perienced from Strap's mend, 
frequently point out to his were all of that description." 
acquaintance the several But there are four Straff 
scenes in Roderick Random in the field. Faulkner, in his 

Eertaining to himself, which Chelsea, finds the *' real " Strap 
ad their foundation, not in in one William Lewis, a book- 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 297 

a young man whose father had attended Hewson's funeral, 
who infonned me that Hugh had been frequently known 
to amuse the ambulators of that walk by recapitulating 
the enterprising events which had taken place during his 
travels with the Doctor. Hugh, who had for years followed 
the trade of a hairdresser, was buried In St. Martin's- 
in-the-Fidds, and his ftmeral was attended by three 
generations. 

On my way towards Hungerford Stairs, my organ of 
inquisitiveness was arrested by two carvings in stone, of a 
wheatsheaf and sickles, let into either side of the north- 
end houses in the alley leading to the *' The Swan." A 
waterman informed me that the south portion of Hungerford 
Market was originally allotted for the sale of com, but I 
have since learned that that device is the crest of the 
Hungerford family. "Pray now," said I to my oracle, 
'* do enumerate the signs of Swans remaining on the banks 
of the Thames, between London and Battersea Bridges." 
** Why, let me see. Master, there's the Old Swan at London 
Bridge, that's one ; — ^there's the Swan in Arundel Street, 
two; — ^then ours here, three; — ^the Swan at Lambeth, 
that's down, though ; — ^well then, the Old Swan at Chelsea, 
but that has long been turned into a brewhouse, though 
that was where our people rowed to formerly, as mentioned 

binder, who died in 1785. Another claimant was one 

Smollett, he says, induced Duncan Niven, a Glasgow 

Lewis to set up business in wig-maker, referred to in the 

Chelsea, and procured him Gentleman's Magazine as " the 

customers. " I resided seven person, it is said, from whom 

vears in the same house with Dr. Smollett took his character 

nis widow, and had frequent of Strap in Roderick Random." 

opportunities of hearing a Lastly, one Hutchinson, a 

confirmation of the anecdotes Dtmbar barber, had some 

of her husband, as related by pretensions to be Strap, 
the celebrated novelist." 



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298 A BOOK FOR A RAINT I>AY 

in Doggett*s Will ; now they row to the sign of the New 
Swan beyond the Physic Garden ; we'll say that's four ;— 
then there's the two Swan signs at Battersea, six." ^ 

Next evening, away I trudged to take water with 
George Heath (Mathews's Joe Hatch) at Strand Lane. 
"I find the Swan to be your usual sign up the river," 
said I. 

" Why, yes," replied George ; " I don't know what a coach, 
or a waggon and horses, or the high-mettled racer have to 
do with our river. Bells now, bells, we might have bdls, 
because the Thames is so famous for bells." Bkss me, 
thought I, how delighted would my old friend Nollekens 
have been, had he heard this remark ! 

•• You Uke bells, then, Master Heatii ? '* 

^'Oh yes! I was a famous ringer in my youth, at 
St. Maiy Overies. They are beautiful* bdls ; but of all 
the bells give me Fulham ; oh, they are so soft, so sweet !' 



^ Of these taverns the most 
famous are the Old Swans 
at London Bridge and Chelsea. 
The former stood for centuries 
beside Swan Stairs (now repre- 
sented by the Old Swan Pier), 
and was well known to all 
passengers on the river who 
elected to avoid the danger- 
ous "shooting" of London 
Bridge. On July 30, 1763, Dr. 
Johnson and Boswell landed 
for this reason at the Old 
Swan on their way down to 
Greenwich, re-embarking at 
Billingsgate. 

The name of the Old Swan 
of Chelsea, an inn known 
to Pepys, is perpetuated in 
Old Swan House, a modem 



residence built from the designs 
of Mr. Nonnan Shaw. Ine 
" New Swan," which, however, 
was really a second *' Old 
Swan," has also disappeared, 
but, according to Mr. R. 
Blunt's excellent Historictd 
Handbook to Chelsea, its quaint 
garden, entered bv steps from 
the river, under the long sign- 
board, is within the memory 
of many residents. 

> " The bdls of this church 
were recast by Ruddle, and 
tuned by Mr. Harrison, the 
inventor of the Timekeeper; 
they are esteemed eguaf to 
any peal of bdls m this 
Kingdom, and have nearly 
the same sound as those <h 



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A BOOK FOR A KAINY DAY 299 



St, Margaret's are fine bells ; so are St. Martin's ; but after 
all, Fulham for my money, I say. I forget where you said 
I was to take you to. Master ? " 

'' Row me to Hungerford/' said I. 

Here I alighted, and then went round to Wood's coal- 
wharf, at the foot of Northumberland Street,^ where the 
said Mr. Wood dwells in the very house in ^^ch Sir Edmund 
Berry Godfrey resided, who was strangled in Somerset 
House.* Sir Edmund Berry was a woodmonger, and became 



Magdalen College, Oxford " 
(Faulkner: Historical Account 
of Fulham, 1813). 

^ In Magna Britannia it is 
not only stated that this street 
was originally called Harts- 
horn Lane, but that Ben 
Jonson once Uved in it (S.). 
The belief that Ben Jonson 
lived here as a bov rests on the 
statement of Fiuler, who, in 
his Worthies, says : " Though 
I cannot with all my industrious 
inquiry find him in his cradle, 
I can fetch him from his 
long coats. When a little 
child he lived in Hartshorn 
Lane, near Charing Cross, 
where his mother married a 
bricklayer for her second 
husband." 

•The circumstances of this 
crime have remained an un- 
solved mystery. Sir Edmund 
Berry Godfrey was found in 
a ditch near Primrose Hill 
on the evening of October 17, 
five da3rs after his disappear- 
ance from his house in Green 
Lane, Strand, and five weeks 
after hearing Titus Oates 
swear to the existence of a 



Popish plot. Smith's state*- 
ment that he was murdered 
in Somerset House rests on 
the utterly corrupt and con- 
tradictory testimony of Miles 
Prance, the Roman Catholic 
silversmith. His evidence, 
however, sent three men to 
the gallows, who protested 
their innocence to the last. 
The whole subject is re-ex* 
amined by Mr. Andrew Lane; 
in Longman's Magazine of 
AMust 1903. 

Four mfiierent medals were 
struck to commemorate and 
characterise the murder. In 
one of these Godfrey is repre- 
sented walking with a sword 
through his body, while on 
the reverse St. Denis is shown 
carrying his head in his hand, 
with the inscription— 

" Godfrey waUs uphiU after he is 
dead; 
Dennis walks downhill carrying 
his head." 

The design of another medal 
illustrates Prance's statement 
that Godfrey's body was first 
moved from Somerset House in 



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800 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

the court justice. In this appointment he was so active, 
that during the time of the Great Plague, 1665, which 
continued to rage in 1666, upon the refusal of his men to 
enter a pest-house, to bring out a culprit who had furnished 
a thousand shops with at least a thousand winding-sheets 
stolen from the dead, he ventured in alone, and brought the 
wretch to justice. In Evel3ai's interesting work on medals, 
the reader will find that four were struck, commemorative 
of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey's death ; and in addition to 
the elaborately engraved portraits noticed by Granger, 
he will also find an original picture of him in the waiting- 
room adjoining the vestry of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, 
where he was interred, and his funeral sermon preached 
by Dr. Lloyd.^ 

In a little work published in 1658, entitled The Two 
Grand Ingrossers of CoalSy viz, the Woodmonger and the 
Chandler,* the reader will find the subtle practices of the 
coal-vendors shortly after that article was in pretty g^ieral 
use. 



a sedan chair, and then on a 
horse to Primrose Hill. 

The burial of the murdered 
Justice in St. Martin's Church 
was attended by more than a 
thousand people of distinction, 
and his portrait was placed 
in the vestry-room, where it 
hangs to this day. 

1 William Llo^d (1627-1717), 
successively Bishop of St. 
Asaph, Lichfield-and-Coventry, 
and Worcester, was Vicar of 
St. Martin's - in - the - Fields 
1677-80. 

' " The two grand Ingrossers 
of Coles: viz. The Wood- 
monger, and the Chandler. 



In a dialogue, expressing their 
unjust and crueU raising the 
price of Coales, when, and 
how they please, to the generall 
oppression of the Poore. 
Penn'd on Purpose to lay 
open their subtile practices, 
and for the reliefe of many 
thousands of poore people, 
in, and about the Cities of 
London, and Westminster. By 
a Well-wilier to the prosperity 
of this famous Common- wealth. 
London, Printed for John 
Harrison at the Holy-Lamb 
at the East end of S. Pauls, 

1653." 



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A BOOK FOR A UAINY DAY 801 

It is curious to observe how fond Horace Walpole, 
and indeed all his followers, have been of attributing the 
earliest encouragement of the fine arts in England to King 
Charles i. That is not the fact ; nor is that Monarch 
entitled, munificent as he was, to that degree of praise 
which biographers have thought proper to attribute to 
him as a liberal patron ; and this I shall immediately prove. 
King Henry viii. was the first English Sovereign who 
encouraged painting, in consequence of Erasmus intro- 
ducing Hans Holbein to Sir Thomas More, who showed 
his Majesty specimens of that artist's rare productions. 
Upon this the king most liberally invited him to White- 
hall, where he gave him extensive employment, not only 
in decorating the panels and walls of that palace with por- 
traits of the Tudors, as large as life, but with easel pictures 
of the various branches of his family and courtiers, to be 
placed over doors and other spaces of the state chambers. 

Holbein may be recorded as the earliest painter of 
portraits in miniature, which were mostly drcular, and all 
those which I have seen were relieved by blue backgroimds. 
He was also the designer and draughtsman of niunerous 
subjects for the use of the court jewellers, as may be seen 
in a most curious volmne preserved in the print-room of 
the British Museum, many of which are beautifully coloured. 
Holbein must have been a most indefatigable artist, for he 
was not only employed to paint that fine picture of King 
Henry granting the charter to the Barber-Surgeons,^ 

^ It has been demonstrated event occurred in 1512, when 
by Mr. Sidney Young in his the King was but twenty- 
learned work, The Annals of one years of age ; Holbem 
tie Barber Surgeons (1890), makes him a man of fifty . Mr. 
that this painting cannot Young believes Holbein's sub- 
represent the granting of the ject to be the Union of the 
Charter by Henry viii. This Barbers Company with the 



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a02 A BOOK FOR A BAINY DAY 

now to be seen in Barbers* Hall, Monkwell Street,* that 
in Bridewell of King Edward vi. granting the charter to 
the citizens of London,* but niunerons portraits for the 
Howards, and other noble families ; indeed, the quantity 
of engravings from the burin of Hollar and other artists, 
from Holbein's works, prove that painter to have been just 
as extensively employed as Vandyke. 

King Charles i., it is stated, became possessed of 
numerous portraits drawn by Holbein, of several person- 
ages of the crown and court of King Henry viii., from 
characters high in office, to Mother Jack,* considered to 
have been the nickname of Mrs. Jackson, the nurse of 
Prince Edward. These interesting drawings, it is said, 
the King parted with for a picture ; but how they again 
became the property of the Crown, I am uninformed. 
However, true it is that they were discovered in Kensington 



Guild of Surgeons, accom- 
plished by Act of Parliament 
m 1540. 

^Of this picture, which 
narrowly escaped the Fire of 
London, Pepys thus speaks in 
his Memoirs : — August 28, 
1688. ''And at noon comes 
by appointment Harris to dine 
with me: and after dinner he 
and I to Chyrurgeons'-hall, 
where they are building it new, 
— ^very fine; and there to see 
their theatre, which stood all 
the fire, and (which was our 
business) their great picture 
of Holbein's, thinking to have 
bought it, by the help of Mr. 
Pierce, for a little money: I 
did think to give £200 for it, it 
being said to be worth £1000 ; 
but it is so spoiled that I 



have no mind to it, and is 
not a pleasant, though a good 
picture." — S. 

* This painting represents 
Edward vi. presenting the 
Royal Charter of Endowment 
to the Lord Mayor in 1552 ; 
it cannot, therefore, be by 
Holbein, who died in 1543. 
Walpole attributes the paint- 
ing to Holbein, but says the 
picture was not completed 
by him. He states that 
Holbein introduced his own 
head into one comer. Womum 
thinks that there is not a 
trace of this master's hand in 
the picture. 

' Her portrait has not been 
identified with certainty. An 
old Windsor catalogue, how- 
ever, contains her name. 



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SIR EDMUND BERRY GODFREY 
' He was esteemed the best Justice of Peace in England." 

Bumci 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 803 

Palace, and taken from their frames and bomid in two 
volumes. Dming Mr. Dalton's^ librarianship he etched 
many of them in his coarse and hurried manner. Since 
then Mr. Chamberlaine»* his successor, employed Mr. Metz* 
to engrave one or two as specimens of an intended work, 
but Mr. Bartolozzi's manner being ccmsidered more likely 
to sell, that artist was engaged to produce the present 
plates, which certainly are far from being facsimiles of 
Holbein's drawings, which I have seen. Many of tiiis 
master's invaluable pictures are engraved and published 
in the work entitled Portraits of lUusirious Personage of 
Greai Britmn; accompanied by the biographical lucubra- 
tions of Edmund Lodge, £sq.^ 

The liberality of the brothers Paul and Thomas Sandby, 
Royai Academicians, will be remembered by every person 
who had the pleasure of being acquainted with them; 
but more particularly by those who benefited by their 
disinterested communications and cheering encourage- 
ment in their art. For my own part, I shall ever consider 
myself indebted to them for a knowledge of lineal per- 

^ Richard Dalton was keeper ingSy by Hans Holbein, in 

of pictures and antiquary to the Collection of His Majesty, 

George in., and one of the for the Portraits of Illustrious 

artists who presented to Persons at the Court of Henry 

GeorRe m. the petition for viii." He died at Paddington 

the foundation of the Royal Green. 

Academy. In 1774, Dalton ' Conrad Martin Metz (1755- 

published about ten etchings 1827) studied engraving in 

from Holbein's drawings. Per- London under Bartolozzi ; he 

haps his greatest service to engraved and imitated many 

British art was his bringing drawings by the old masters. 

Bartolosn to England. ^Edmund Lodge (1756-1839), 

* John Chamberlaine (1743- Clarenceux Herald in 1838. 

1812), antiquary, succeeded His book, knovm briefi]^ as 

Dalton in 1791, and published Lodge's Portraits^ was origin- 

* Imitations of Origintd Draw- ally issued in forty folio parts. 



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304 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

spective. By their indefatigable industry, the architec- 
ture of many of the andent seats of our nobility and 
gentry wiU be perpetuated ; and I may say, but for the 
very accurate and elaborate drawings taken by Paul 
from Old Somerset House gardens, exhibiting views up 
and down the river, much of the Thames scenery must 
have been lost.^ The view up the river exhibits the 
landing-stairs of Cuper^s Gardens, and that part of the 
old palace of Whitehall then inhabited by the Duchess 
of Portland, upon the site of which the houses of that 
patron of the arts. Lord Famborough,* and other noble- 
men and gentlemen, have recently been erected. The 
one down the river displays an uninterrupted view of 
the buildings on either side to London Bridge, upon which 
the houses are seen, by reason of Blackfrairs Bridge not 
then being erected. These drawings are in water-colours, 
and are preserved in the thirteenth volume of Pennant's 
interesting account of London, magnificently illustrated, 
and bequeathed to the print-room of the British Museum 
by the late John Charles Crowle, Esq.* 



^OfSandbys^ViewofWest- improvements. He gave many 

minster from the garden of fine pictures to the National 

old Somerset House" there Gallery, 

is an engraving by Rawle > These views may still be 

in Smith's Westminster Anii- seen in Crowle's "Pennant," 

quities. in the Print Room. Hie 

' Charles Long, Baron Fam- first represents London from 

borough (1761-1838), was Sec- Somerset House about 1795, 

retary of State for Ireland, and and the second Somerset House 

held other important posts, from the east showing the 

Thomas Moore calls him Lambeth site of Westminster 

** the most determined place- Bridge, etc. In addition, there 

man in England" (Memoirs, are in the Crace collection 

iv. 28). His advice was sought two London views by Hiomas 

on the^ecoration of the royal Sandby, and seven by Paul, 

palaces and on London street See note on Crowle, p. 86. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 305 

Should my reader's boat ever stop at York Water- 
gate,^ let me request him to look up at the three upper 
balconied windows of that mass of building on the south- 
west comer of Buckingham Street. Those, and the two 
adjoining Westminster, give light to chambers occupied 
by that truly epic historical painter, and most excellent 
man, Etty, the Royal Academician, who has fitted up 
the balconied room with engravings after pictures of the 
three great masters, Raphael, Nicholas Poussin, and 
Rubens. 

The other two windows illumine his painting-room, 
in which his mind and colours resplendently shine, even 
in the face of one of the grandest scenes in Nature, our 
river Thames and city edifices, with a most luxuriant 
and extensive face of a distant country, the beauties of 
which he most liberally delights in showing to his friends 
from the leads of his apartments, which, in my opinion, 
exhibit the finest point of view of all others for a pano- 
rama. The rooms immediately below Mr. Etty's* are 



^ In Smith's day the river the " lower floor," but, says 
washed the base of the Water Gilchrist, " the top floor was 
Gate, covering at high tide the the watch-tower for which 

Srdens in which the London our artist sighed," and he 
untjr Council's band now soon obtainra it. Here, 
plays in summer in London " having above him," as he 
now possesses an approxima- said, " none but the Angels, 
tion to an out-of-door Parisian and the CathoUcs who had 
cai€. Samuel Scott's " View gone before him," he lived 
of Westminster from the for twenly-three years, finding 
Thames," National Gallery, an excellent housekeeper in 
Room xix., shows the old his niece. The house stands 
state of thhigs. unaltered, presenting five 

■ Etty removed to Bucking- storeys to the river just behind 
ham Street in the summer of the Water Gate. Etty's last 
1824, from Stangate Walk, years (he died in 1849) ^^^ 
Lambeth. At first he took given to his birth-place, York, 
30 



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306 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

occupied by Mr. Lloyd, a gentleman whose general know- 
ledge in the graphic art, I and many more look up to 
with the profoundest respect. The chambers beneath 
Mr. Lloyd's are inhabited by Mr. Stanfield,^ the land- 
scape-painter, whose clear representations of Nature's 
tones have raised the scenic deccxations of Dnuy Lane 
Theatre to that pinnacle of excellence never until his 
time attained, notwithstanding the productions of Lambert, 
Richards, nay, even Loutherbouig. Mr. Stanfield*s easd 
pictures adorn the cabinets of some of our first collectors, 
and are, like those of Callcott, Constable, Turner, Collins, 
and Amald, much admired by the now numerous pub- 
lishers of Uttle works, who unquestionably produce 
specimens of the powers of England's engravers, which 
immeasurably out-distance the efforts of all other 
countries. 

However, although I am willing to pass the highest 
encomiums on the landscape-engraver for his Liliputian 
labours, I am much afraid, in the course of time, we shall 
have productions smaller still ; and that the diminutive 
size of a watch-paper, measuring precisely in diameter 
one inchf twchcigfUhs, and one-sixteenth^ wiU be the noblest 
extent of their labours. To men of their talent (and 
there are several among these pigmy burinists), I will 
venture, now I am upon the silver streams of noble Father 
Thames, to lead their attention to WooUett's Fishery, 

where his tomb is an object comparably the noblest master 

of interest in the grounds of of cloud -form of all our 

St. Mary's Abbey. artists/' was Ruskin's praise 

^ Clarkson Stanfield (1793- of this artist ; " the soul of 

1867), the marine and land- frankness, generosity, and 

scape painter ,was scene-painter simplicity/' was Uickens's 

at three London theatres, prajse of the man. 
including Drury Lane. " In* 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 30 

but more particularly to West's La Hogue, and then 
let them ask themselves this question : Would it not 
redound more to our glory to be master of equal excellence 
in the grand style in which those works are produced, 
than to contribute too long to the illustrations of scrap- 
books only ? Yes, gentlemen, I think you would say 
so. Let me endeavour, then, to arrest your gravers from 
this Minding of the public, by reducing your works to 
so deplorable a nicety, that by-and-by you will find your- 
selves totally blind. Why not, as talent is not wanting, 
prove to the collectors that England has more WooUetts 
than one ? It is true there are several at present engaged 
in engraving plates from the fine old pictures in the 
National GaUery, who have my cordial good wishes for 
their success; 3^t I trust that, after that task is at an 
end, they will, with a considerable augmentation to their 
numbers, pay a becoming respect so justly due to modem 
painters of their own country, whose works in historical 
subjects, as well as portraits and landscape, extinguish 
imquestionably those of foreign powers ; and I may say, 
with equal truth, equal most of those of the old schools. 
Such a publication, however successful their present one 
may be, I can answer for it would be patronised by the 
noblemen and gentlemen of England with redoubled 
liberality, and in such tasks the engravers will have the 
opportunity of producing finer things by the more power- 
ful, and indeed inestimable advantage of having their pro- 
gressive proofe touched upon by the painters themselves. 

" Pull away, my hearty " (for I was again in a boat). 
— " To Westminster, Master ? "— " Ay, to Westminster." 

Being now in view of the extensive yards which for 
ages have been occupied by stone and marble merchants, 
'*Ay,'* said I, ''if these wharfe could speak, they, no 



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308 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

doubt, like the Fly, would boast of their noble works. 
Was it not from our blocks that Roubiliac carved his 
figures of Newton, the pride of Cambridge, and that of 
Eloquence, in Westminster Abbey ; Bacon's figure of 
Mars, now in Lord Yarborough's possession; Rossi's 
Celadon and Amelia, and Flaxman's mighty figure of 
Satan, in the Earl of Egremont's gallery at Petworth; 
as well as three-fourths of NoUekens's numerous busts, 
which, according to whisperings, have only been equalled 
by Chantrey ? And then, has not our Carrara been con- 
veyed to the studios of Westmacott and Baily ? ^ 

^ Roubiliac's statue of was executed in Rome. His 

Newton, made for Trinity is the colossal figure of Bnt- 

College, was pronounced by annia in Liverpool Exchange. 

Chantrey " the noblest, 1 He was buried in St. James's 

think, of all our English churchyard, Hampstead Road. 

statues." Similarly Roubihac's Flaxman's "Michael van- 

fijgure of Eloquence was con- quishing Satan" was com- 

sidered by Canova " one of missioned by Lord Egremont, 

the noblest statues he had and is now at Petworth. 

seen in England " : it occurs Of busts, alone, NoUekens 

in the monmnent to John, executed at least two hundred. 

Duke of Argyll and Green- Chantrey's genius was fully 

wich, in Poets' Comer. acknowledged by Nollekens, 

John Bacon, R.A. (1740- who would sav when asked 

99), established his reputa- to model a bust : " Go to 

tion by his figure of Mars, Chantrey; he's the man for 

which won him the good word a bust ! he'll make a good 

of West, the patronage of bust for you ! I always 

the Archbishop of York, and recommend him " (Smith : 

his election as A.R.A. See Nollekens). 

note on p. 33. Londoners see Sir Richard 

John Charles Felix Rossi, Westmacott's statues every 

R.A. (1762-1839), was born day without knowing it. His 

at Nottingham. He executed is the Achilles statue to 

statues of Lord Comwallis, Wellington in Hyde Park, the 

Lord Heathfield, and others Duke of York on the York 

in St. Paul's Cathedral, and Column, and the statue of 

decorated Buckingham Palace. Fox in Bloomsbuiy Square, 

His ** Celadon and Amelia " His statues in St. Faul's and 



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JOHN FLAXMAN, k.A. 
1 his liitle man cuts ui all out in sculpture.* 

Banket 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 309 

After the truly interesting information the print- 
collectors have received from the pen of Mr. Ottley,^ 
a gentleman better qualified than any I know to speak 
on works of art, more particularly those of the ancient 
schools of Italy, it would be the highest audacity in me 
to offer my own observations, however conversant my 
friends are pleased to consider me on those subjects. 
All I shall therefore now add to Mr. Ottley's valuable 
stock of knowledge are the following circumstances, 
which occurred respecting that beautiful impression in 
sidphur, taken from a pax, engraved by Tomaso Fini- 
guerra, before the said impression was so Uberally pur- 
chased by the Duke of Buckingham, who has most cheer- 
fully afforded it an asylum at Stowe. It has been for 
many years in the Print-Room of the British Museum.* 

Mr. Stewart favoured me, at my earnest request, with 
the following statement of the fortunate manner in which 



the Abbey are numerous ; the • Maso Finiraerra, a skilful 

Abbey has his beautiful Florentine goldsmith, engraved 

monument to Mrs, Warren, in 1452 a silver plate to 

a mother and child. be used as a pax in the 

Edward Hodges Baily, church of San Giovanni, and 

R.A. (1788-1867), studied in order to judge of the 

under Flaxman. The bas- effect of his design, the lines 

relief on the Marble Arch is of which he intended to fill 

his, several statues in St. with enamel, he poured some 

Paul's, and the figure of Nelson liquid sulphur upon the plate, 

in Trafalgar Square. He then succeeded in taking 

1 William Young Ottley impressions of the design on 

(1771-1836), author of The paper. These impressions were 

Origin and Early History of once thought to be the earliest 

Engraving. His knowledge of known engravings. It is now 

painting is described as proved that they were not, 

'' astomshing " by Samuel and that Finiguerra may have 

Rogers. On Smith's death had direct instruction from an 

Ottley became Keeper of the early German engraver. 
Prints. 



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310 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

he secured this unique and inestimable production as a 
treasure for England. 

^'The sulphur cast, from the celebrated pax of 'Maso 
Finiguerra, came into my hands in the following manner : 
— The Cavalier Seratti, in whose valuable collection it 
originally existed, was captured in going from Cagliari 
to Leghorn, and carried to Tunis, where he resided, I 
believe, for one or two years; but, dying in captivity, 
the Dey of Timis took possession of the whole of his pro- 
perty. Such part of it as was not of any intrinsic value 
was sold to a party of Jews, who brought it over to Malta 
with a view of sending it to Great Britain for sale. This 
took place about the commencement of 1804. The 
property coming from Barbary was of course placed in 
the lazaretto. While there the plague broke out in the 
island, and it was a full year before the property was 
liberated. The Jews by this time had become appre- 
hensive, owing to the numerous obstacles they had en- 
countered in the realisation of their projects ; and my 
friend the Abbate Bellanti, librarian to the Government 
Library, with a view to retain the collection in his native 
island, induced a Maltese merchant to make the Jews 
such an offer for the whole of the Seratti collection as 
they at last accepted. The merchant, however, retracted ; 
and the abbot, after having made himself responsible 
for the bargain towards the Jews, found himself in an 
unpleasant predicament. In this dilemma he applied 
to me, and I readily engaged to fulfil the agreement which 
the merchant had forfeited. The sulphur in question 
formed the object of a separate bargain. I paid the 
value of £15 for it. I was very unfortunate in the trans- 
mission of my collection to England, two ships having 
been cast away in the Channel in November, 1815, both 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 311 

with a considerable portion of my property on board. 
I was more successful with the third portion, which arrived 
in 1816; in this was the sulphur cast. I never would 
have parted with it but for the above accident, whereby 
at that time I was much straitened in my circumstances. 

" The sulphur I sold to Mr. Colnaghi for 3^150, which 
I thought a low price at the time for such an interesting 
and unique curiosity, indispensable for illustrating and 
fixing the date of the invention of the art of engraving 
(as it is now called). This sulphur, with the print pre- 
served at Paris, and the pax of Finiguerra himself, pre- 
served at Florence, together with the entry in the journal 
of the Goldsmiths* Company, also preserved at Florence, 
showing the date of the completion of the pax to be 1452, 
form altogether an irrefragable chain of proof which must 
satisfy the most sceptical. By a memorandum in Seratti's 
own handwriting, which is amongst my papers (but having 
been sent from Bombay to Liverpool, I have not yet 
got), it appears that he purchased the sulphur from a 
painter, who bought it with a heap of other trinkets at 
the stall of a petty dealer in Florence : and on acqiuring 
it Seratti compared it with the pax itself, and ascertained 
it to be the genuine work of Finiguerra. 

** I may add a few observations of my own, not alto* 
gether irrelevant to the subject. 

"The silver vessel, or pax, generally enclosed some 
relic, and was kissed by the congregation or other indi- 
viduals in token of devotion ; and the Count Seratti 
mentions that the one of which this sulphur is in part 
a facsimile, is very much worn by this repeated act of 
devoutness. The word pax appears to be a corruption 
of pyxis, a box ; and we have in Shakspeare a pyx of Utile 
value. The engraving was usually filled up with a metallic 



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312 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

mixture of a dark composition, which, being fused by 
the action of fire, became incorporated with the vessel 
itself. This process was called Niello, or AnnieUo, Nid- 
lare, or Anniellare ; hence our anneal^ the term probably 
derived from nigMum^ or perhaps even from Mil, the 
Indian term for blacky and applied to indigo, by which 
name that dye was originally known in Europe, and it 
was probably used in the composition before alluded 
to. The term anniello, and the purpose to which these 
pyxes were applied, is further illustrative of a passage 
in Shakspeare, which I believe has hitherto puzzled com- 
mentators. It is this : — ^Hamlet accuses his unde of 
having dispatched his father *unhousel*d« unanointed, 
unanneaVd ; ' it alludes to the custom in CathoUc countries 
of offering relics preserved in their pyxes to be kissed 
after extreme unction. 

'' I shall be happy to communicate any further par- 
ticulars respecting this interesting vestige of art which 
may be required of me, in as far as I am able. 

"J. Stewart. 
''2nd May, 1829." 

1830. 

The glowing evening of the i6th of July added lustre 
to the enchanting grounds of William Atkinson, Esq. 
of Grove End, Paddington;^ and perhaps, if I were to 
assert that few spots, if any, excel in the variety of its 
tasteful walks and unexpected recesses, I should not 
outstep the verge of truth. 

The villa was designed by Mr. Atkinson, with his 



^ The site of Mr. Atkinson's by Grove End Road, west of 
villa and grounds is indicated iJord's Cricket Ground. 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 813 

usual attention to domestic comfort ; the grounds were 
peculiarly manured under his direction, and the rarest 
trees and choicest plants he could procure from all the 
known parts of the globe were planted by his own hand, 
and that too in the course of the last twelve years. On 
the knolls the antiquary wiU find sculpture from Carthage ; 
and in the silent trickling dells the mineralogist specimens 
of the varieties of English stone, imbedded in the most 
picturesque strata. The delightful surprise of the spectator 
is beyond belief, particularly on turning back to view 
his trodden path, when that sun which fired the mind 
of Claude sparkles among the gently waving branches 
from climes he may never visit. Upon my observing 
to Mrs. Atkinson that in this meandering retreat my 
mind would be instantly soothed, that lady then recalled 
to my recollection Allan Ramsay's GenOe Shepherd, by 
repeating the following lines : 

" How wholesome is*t to breathe the vernal air. 
And all the sweets it bears, when void of care." * 

Here the Waltonian, too, will find a seat, and view the 
canal — 

" Kissing with eddies soft the bordering grass/' 

My thanks are here offered to my friend Mr. West,* 
late of Drury Lane Theatre, now a professor of music, 

^ Smith misquotes Ramsay, * William West, actor and 

who wrote — composer, Uved to a great 

•' How halesome 'tis to snuff the age, and was known as the 

cawier air, "Father of the Stage. Some 

And all the sweets it bears, of his songs, such as " When 

when void of care." Lo^^ ^^ ^^ ^^^^ her 

Gentie Shepherd, ist ed.. Act i. Cradle Bed," were popular. 
Sc. i. 5, 5. He died in i888. 



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314 A BOOK FOR A RAINT DAY 

for the kind loan of an imperfect copy (which he met with 
at a stall) of a work of rarity, of which I have not been abk 
to hear of another copy. It is not mentioned by Watt, 
and, what is more remarkable, the Rev. Hartwell Home,^ 
of the British Museum, never heard of it. It is a small 
quarto, bearing the following title : — 

"the 
POST ANGEL, 

OR, 
UNIVERSAL ENTERTAINMEKT. 

" London : printed, and to be sold by A. Baldwin, near 
the Oxford Arms, in Warwick Lane, 1702, where is to be 
had the first and second volume, or any single month, from 
January, 1701, to this time ; price of each, one shilling." * 

Page 191 of the third volmne affords the admirers of 
wax effigies the following information : — 

" TO THE EDITOR. 

" Sir, — ^You having promised to give an account of the 

^The Rev. Thomas Hart- mean all the invisible Host 
well Home, Rector of St. of the Middle Region, that 
Edmund the King and St. are employed about us either 
Nicholas Aeon, was a valuable as Friends or Enemies " ; his 
servant of the British Musemn, design is " to shew how we 
to which he came as cataloguer should enquire after News, 
in 1824. He died at his house not as Athenians but as 
in BloomsburvSquare, January Christians, or (in other words) 
27, 1862. Vvatt was Robert a Divine Employment of every 
Watt, the bibliographer, com- Remarkable Occurrence." 
piler of BibUoiheca britannica. Features of this periodical were 
etc. ; he died in 1819. " The Lives and Deaths of 

•The Post Angel, of which the most Eminent Persons 
the British Museum has a that Died in that Month," 
copy, was one of the enter- and recurrent pious reflections 
pnses of John Dunton. His under the head of " The 
rigmarole preface sets forth Spiritual Observator." 
that "by Post -Angels I 



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A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 815 

curiosities of art, as well as the wonders of nature, I thought 
it would oblige the public to acquaint you that the effigies 
of his late Majesty, King William in., of glorious memory, 
is curiously done to the life in wax, dressed in coronation 
robe, with so majestic a mien that nothing seems wanting 
but life and motion, as persons of great hcmour upon the 
strictest view have with surprise declared. Likewise the 
effigies of several persons of quality, with a fine banquet, 
and other curiosities in every room, passing to and from 
the King's apartment, are all to be seen at Mrs. Goldsmith's, 
in Green G>urt, in the Old Jury, London." 

From the following flummery bespattered on this wax* 
worker by the editor of the Post Angel, I may, with the 
greatest probability, conclude that his substance was 
just as vulnerable as that of many of the hirelings who 
feed themselves by puffing what they denominate "the fine 
arts," and that he had no objection to a dozen of port, 
had it been ever so crusted. 

"The Observator" states that "the ingenuity of 
man hath found out several ways to imitate Nature, and 
represent natural bodies to the eye by sculpture, picture, 
carving, waxwork, etc. ; and though some of the ancients 
were famed for this art, as Zeuxis and Apelles, yet our last 
ages have outstripped them, and made considerable im* 
provements, as may be easily discernible to those who 
are skilled in antiquities, and have observed the rude and 
coarse pieces of the ancients. Those that question the 
truth of this, need but step to that famous artist, Mrs. 
Goldsmith, in the Old Jewry, whose workmanship is so 
absolute {in the effigies which she has made of his late Majesty), 
as it admits of no correction. She also made the late 
Queen, the Duke of Gloucester, to the general satisfaction 



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316 A BOOK FOR A RAINY DAY 

of a great number of the nobility and gentry. I am not for 
the Hungarian's wooden coat of mail, the work of fifteen 
years ; nor Myrmeride's coach with four horses, so little 
that you might hide them under a fly's wing : these are but 
a laborious loss of time, an ingenious profusion of one of 
the best talents we are entrusted with ; but this effigy of his 
late Majesty has taken up but a small part of Mrs. Gold- 
smith's time, and yet it is made with so much art, that 
nothing seems wanting but life and motion. I own,^' 
continues this time-server, ^' 'tis little wonder to see a 
picture have motion ; but Mrs. Goldsmith is such a person 
(as all will own that see this effigy which she has made of 
King William), that she has almost found the secret to 
make even dead bodies alive." 

1832. 

" You are never idle," observed my old, old, very OLD 
friend John Taylor,* as he entered my parlour on the 3rd 
of November, in his ninety-third year : " bless me, how 
like that is to your father ! Well, Howard is a very clever 
fellow! Pray now, do tell me, did your father know 
Churchill ? My friend Jonathan Tyers introduced me to 



*John Taylor, who was each. It is said that, in Oxford 
Smith's life-long friend and alone, in six or eight years, 
the most genial and patriarchal Taylor drew, or paiated, more 
of artists, died at his house than three thousand heads, 
in Cirencester Place, Novem- Finding this employment 
ber 21, 1838, in his ninety- poorly paid, he took me advice 
ninth year. Smith mentions of his fellow-artist " Jack " 
under the year 1779, that he Gresse and set up as drawing- 
had been the pupil of Frank master, investing his savings in 
Hayman, after which he took annuities which were to expire 
up the drawing of portraits in 1840. He died just in tune 
in pencil, for which he received to escape want. See the early 
seven-and-sixpence to a guinea reference to Taylor, p. 8o. 



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THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH, R.A. 
' We are all going to heaven, and Van Dyck b of the company." 

His dying 



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