1803.

NEWGATE CHAPEL ON THE EVE OF SEVERAL EXECUTIONS

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 construction 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 riffraff.” 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 sheriff 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 clock had struck;” and, quickening his pace, he soon arrived at the room where the sheriff was to give a receipt for hisbody, 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 reprieve, 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 Continental neighbours have been; as Mrs. Cosway[301]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!”

DR. ARNEHE COMPOSED “RULE BRITANNIA”

DR. ARNE

HE COMPOSED “RULE BRITANNIA”

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,[302]woe-begone asRomeo’sapothecary, 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-mento squeeze in with their canvas bags, which contained their morning receipts in Newgate market.[303]A little further on, at the north-east corner of Warwick Lane, stood “Rosy Emma,” exuberant in talk, and hissing-hot from Pie Corner,[304]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 inclining to sit still.”

“Now, my readers, I have been told,

Love wounds by heat, and Death by cold;

Of size she would a barrow fill,

But more inclining to sit still.”

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.”

“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. Arne, “Like two oysters on an oval plate of stewed beet-root.”[305]I regretted most exceedingly, while shewas cutting her rope and twisting her mouth, 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[306]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 days of her full bloom, new-milk whey in White Conduit Fields, 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;[307]but in herlast stage, perhaps not altogether unlike the heroine so voluptuously portrayed by my late highly talented friend, the Rev. George Huddesford, in his poem entitled “The Barber’s Nuptials.”[308]Rosy Emma, for so she was still called, was the reputed spouse of the Yeoman of the Halter, and the cord she was selling as the identical noose was for her own benefit. This was, according to the delightful writer, Charles Lamb,

“For honest ends, a most dishonest seeming.”[309]

LADY HAMILTON AS A BACCHANTE“Romney! expert infallibly to trace …The mind’s impression too on every face.”Cowper

LADY HAMILTON AS A BACCHANTE

“Romney! expert infallibly to trace …The mind’s impression too on every face.”Cowper

“Romney! expert infallibly to trace …

The mind’s impression too on every face.”

Cowper

Now, as fame and beauty ever carry influence, Emma’s sale was rapid; had she been as lamentable as a Lincolnshire goose after plucking-time, “Misery’s Darling,” or like Alecto when at the entrance of Pandemonium, she would have had a sorry sale.[310]This money-trappingtrick, steady John, the waiter at the Chapter Coffee-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; however, 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”[311]frequenters, and several of the Pater-Nostervendors of hisDomestic Medicine, considered a likeness; at all events, it was admitted into the portfolio of the Duke, with the following acknowledgment written on the back: “Drawn by memory.”

About this time, in order to see human nature off her guard, I agreed with a good-tempered friend of mine, one of Richard Wilson’s scholars, to perambulate BartholomewFair, which we did in the evening, after taking pretty good care to leave our watches at home. Our first visit was to a show of wild beasts, where, upon paying 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, calledGeneral Jacko, who was distributing his signatures as fast 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 magnificent 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 graceful 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 spectators at the charge of “only threepence each,” that being vociferated by Flockton’s[312]successor as the price of the evening admittance.

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,”aliasthe “Patagonian Samson,” sixpence apiece, he would carry them all together round the booth, in the form of a pyramid.

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 gewgaws, 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 clear, and threw a leg 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, afterMr. Merrymanhad 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 George Cruikshank, or my older friend Rowlandson, had been present at this scene of a pyramid burlesqued, their playful pencils would have been in running motion, and I should have been considerablyout-distanced had I then offered the following additional description of our 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 bird-killing spider, and then our fourth loving associate, the heavy dumpling in front, whose chaps, I will answer for it, relished many an inch thick steak from the once far-famed Honey Lane market,[313]all supported with the greatest ease by this envied and caressedPrideof theFair, to whose powers the frequenters of Sadler’s Wells also bore many a testimony.

In the year 1804, Antonio Benedictus Van Assen engraved a whole-length portrait of this Patagonian Samson, at the foot of which his name was thus announced, “Giovanni Baptista 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.

GIOVANNI BAPTISTA BELZONI“Belzoniisa grand traveller, and his English is very prettily broken.”Lord Byron

GIOVANNI BAPTISTA BELZONI

“Belzoniisa grand traveller, and his English is very prettily broken.”

Lord Byron

After the close of Bartholomew Fair, this Patagonian was seen at that of Edmonton, exhibiting in a field behind the Bell Inn, immortalised 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 affectionate manner. Several years rolled on, and he was nearly forgotten in England,until the year 1820, and then 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 wholly 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 hisMerry 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 Mr.Merrymandown 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 accustomed 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 forEgypt. Fortunately for Belzoni, the wife he had chosen more than equally shared his numerous dangers, 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’sTravels in Egypt, Nubia, etc.[314]

As most of my readers have perused this work, I shall only state that, shortly after the arrival of Belzoni and his wife in England, my friend Dr. Richardson,[315]the traveller,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 of 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 £13,000, out of which £660 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.[316]

BARTHOLOMEW FAIR

Few people would believe that so lately as this year, the Duke of Dorset, Lord Winchilsea, Lord Talbot, Colonel Tarleton, Mr. Howe, Mr. Damer, Hon. Mr. Lennox, and the Rev. Mr. Williams played at cricket in an open field near White Conduit House.[317]Who could have conjecturedthat Du Val’s Lane, branching from Holloway, 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?[318]

In 1784, Nathaniel Hillier’s[319]collection of prints was sold by Christie: they were well selected as to impression, but much deteriorated in value by Mr. Hillier’s attachment 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.[320]

“Mr. Townley presents his compliments to Mr. West, and requests that, when he sees Mr. Lock[321]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 ‘Triumphs of Bacchus’ by Rubens,[322]in the eighth night’s sale at Greenwood’s, differing much from the bas-relief in the Borghese Villa, from which Caracci is supposed to have composed his picture of that subject in the Farnese Gallery,[323]Mr. T. has no intention to bid for it.“Park St., Westminster,21st Feb. 1787.”

“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.[324]Had I been there and in spirits, the fine Oriental alabaster vase would not have been sold so cheap, and wouldprobably have come to Park Street. I should also have probably purchased the medallion of an elderly man over a chimney-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 therobacciaat Wilton, to verify my former notes on that collection.“I flatter myself that many bad symptoms of my long disorder begin to abate, though it still, I feel, 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 you, 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.”

“I mean to take a farewell look at therobacciaat Wilton, to verify my former notes on that collection.

“I flatter myself that many bad symptoms of my long disorder begin to abate, though it still, I feel, 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 you, 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.”

In the month of June this year, the late Atkinson Bush,[325]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 work, purporting to have been taken between the years twelve and thirteen hundred, a period more than twocenturies 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 interrogatories. 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 possession 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 WilliamIII.or Queen Anne had then been living. 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 respecting it: so much for this plan of St. Giles’s parish, as produced by Mr. Parton.[326]

“The Townley Marbles.”

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 GeorgeIII.at its foundation.[327]That she was a greatfavourite with the admirers of art may be inferred by the numerous engravings from her productions by Bartolozzi and the late William Wynn Ryland.[328]Her picturesare 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 council-chamber at Somerset Place for decoration, in which most honourable and pleasing task she so well acquitted herself, that her performances are the admiration of every visitor, but more particularly those who possess the organ 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-looking as that painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, of which there is an engraving by Bartolozzi.

Angelica Kauffmann was a great coquette, and pretended to be in love with several gentlemen at the same time.[329]Once she professed to be enamoured of Nathaniel Dance;[330]to the next visitor she would divulge the great secret that she was dying for Sir Joshua Reynolds. However, she was at last rightly served for her duplicity by marrying 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 afterwards announced at Dover; and Angelica Kauffmann’s husband turned out to be no other than hisvalet de chambre. He was prevailed upon subsequently to accept a separate maintenance.[331]After this man’s death she married Zucchi,and settled in Rome. During her residence there, she was solicited by the artists in general, but more particularly by the English, to join them in an application to this country for permission to bring their property to England duty free; and as I possess the original letter which that lady wrote to Lord Camelford[332]upon the subject, I cannot refrain from inserting it.

“My Lord,—I do not know, if by having lived several years in England, and having the honour to be a R.A., 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, collected for 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 myself 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, addedto what other artists may have reported to that purpose, may be of some use to obtain their object.“I heard from Dr. Bates,[333]and Mr. Reveley,[334]the architect, how very much your Lordship is inclined 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. Consequently I have some reason to hope that I may not be judged too impertinent for addressing these lines to you. I have the honour to be, with the greatest respect, my Lord, your Lordship’s most obliged humble servant,“Angelica Kauffmann.“Trinità de’ Monti,the 26th Dec. 1787.”

“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 myself 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, addedto what other artists may have reported to that purpose, may be of some use to obtain their object.

“I heard from Dr. Bates,[333]and Mr. Reveley,[334]the architect, how very much your Lordship is inclined 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. Consequently I have some reason to hope that I may not be judged too impertinent for addressing these lines to you. I have the honour to be, with the greatest respect, my Lord, your Lordship’s most obliged humble servant,

“Angelica Kauffmann.

“Trinità de’ Monti,the 26th Dec. 1787.”

This year, my laborious work, entitledAntiquities of Westminster, was delivered to its numerous and patient subscribers.[335]The following congratulatory letter is one of the many with which I have been honoured by its extensive and steady friends:—

“Lichfield Cathedral Close,Thursday, 2nd July 1807.“Mr. White[336]presents his best respects to Mr. Smith. His precious little box, from some unaccountable delay in Cambridge, did not arrive till yesterday evening, accompanied by a letter, which receives this early acknowledgment.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 studying 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 kind 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 feel; at the same time, the candid and unequivocal statement which Mr. Smith has made, must exonerate 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 everyprecedenthistory of London, will most amply remunerate the pocket, though no success can recompense that anxiety of mind which Mr. Smith has undergone. The beautiful Cathedral of Lichfield has been recently ornamented 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 certainly adopted by other artists of inferior competency.”

“Lichfield Cathedral Close,Thursday, 2nd July 1807.

“Mr. White[336]presents his best respects to Mr. Smith. His precious little box, from some unaccountable delay in Cambridge, did not arrive till yesterday evening, accompanied by a letter, which receives this early acknowledgment.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 studying 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 kind 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 feel; at the same time, the candid and unequivocal statement which Mr. Smith has made, must exonerate 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 everyprecedenthistory of London, will most amply remunerate the pocket, though no success can recompense that anxiety of mind which Mr. Smith has undergone. The beautiful Cathedral of Lichfield has been recently ornamented 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 certainly adopted by other artists of inferior competency.”

On the first of November this year, George 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 Daniell, 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.[337]

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, “ByCot, he is looking sharp for a rat;” and of that of Sir William Chambers, he observed, drawling out his words, “What agrate, heavy,humpty-dumpty, this leaden fellow is.”[338]

JAMES NORTHCOTE, R.A.“ByCot, he is looking out sharp for a rat.”Fuseli

JAMES NORTHCOTE, R.A.

“ByCot, he is looking out sharp for a rat.”

Fuseli

In this sort of wit Fuseli had a formidable force of gunnery, 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 under them.

The greater portion of these likenesses are highly valuable to the illustrators of Boswell’sLife of Johnson, and, indeed, most of the modern biographical publications.

I cannot more pleasantly close this year than by insertinga copy of one of John Bannister’s bills for hisBudget;[339]and as the original is now an extreme rarity, I conclude that some of those “gude folks” who witnessed the delightful humour displayed by that gifted son of Thespis, may possibly be better 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.POSITIVELY 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 29th of November, 1809,Will be presented,A Miscellaneous Divertisement,With considerable vocal and rhetorical variations, calledBANNISTER’S BUDGET;Or, An Actor’s Ways and Means!Consisting ofRecitations and Comic Songs;Which will be sung and spoken byMr. Bannister, of the late Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.“The above Divertisement is entirely new; the prose and verse which compose it having been writtenexpresslyfor the occasion ofMr. Bannister’s Tour, by Messrs. Colman, Reynolds, Cherry, T. Dibdin, C. Dibdin, Jun., and others.The whole of the Entertainment has been arranged and revised byMr. Colman.The songs (which Mr. Reeve, Jun., will accompany on the pianoforte,) are principally composed by Mr. Reeve.Prospectus of the Divertisement.“Part I.—Exordium.—Mr. Bannister’s Interview with Garrick.—Garrick’s Manner attempted by Mr. Bannister in a Shaving Dialogue.—Mr. Doublelungs in the Clay-pit.—Macklin’s advice to his Pupils.—The Ship’s Chaplain, and Jack Haulyard, the Boatswain; or, Two Ways of Telling a Story.—Sam Stern.—The Melodramaniac, or Value of Vocal Talent.—Mr. and Mrs. O’Blunder, or, Irish Suicide!“Part II.—Superannuated Sexton.—Original Anecdotes of a late well-known eccentric Character.—Trial at the Old Bailey.—Cross-Examination.—Counsellor Garble.—Barrister Snip-snap.—Serjeant Splitbrain.—Address to the Jury.—Simon Soaker, and Deputy Dragon.“Part III.—Club of Queer Fellows!—President Hosier.—Speech from the Chair.—Mr. Hesitate.—Mr. Sawney Mac Snip.—Musical Poulterer.—Duet between a Game Cock and a Dorking Hen.—Mr. Molasses.—Mr. Mimé.—Monotony exemplified.—Mr. Kill-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!The Debating Society.“IN PART II.The Deserter; or, Death or Matrimony.Miss Wrinkle and Mr. Grizzle,andThe Tortoiseshell Tom Cat.“IN PART III.THE TRAGEDY OF OTHELLO; or, Fine Fleecy Hosiery.The Marrow-fat Family.Jollity Burlesqued, andBeggars and Ballad-singers.The doors to be opened at six o’clock, and to begin precisely at seven. Boxes, Upper Circle, 4s.; Lower Circle, 3s.; Pit, 2s., Gallery, 1s.N.B. Care has been taken to have the Theatre well aired.”

“THEATRE, IPSWICH.

POSITIVELY 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 29th of November, 1809,Will be presented,

A Miscellaneous Divertisement,With considerable vocal and rhetorical variations, called

BANNISTER’S BUDGET;Or, An Actor’s Ways and Means!

Consisting ofRecitations and Comic Songs;Which will be sung and spoken byMr. Bannister, of the late Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

“The above Divertisement is entirely new; the prose and verse which compose it having been writtenexpresslyfor the occasion ofMr. Bannister’s Tour, by Messrs. Colman, Reynolds, Cherry, T. Dibdin, C. Dibdin, Jun., and others.

The whole of the Entertainment has been arranged and revised byMr. Colman.

The songs (which Mr. Reeve, Jun., will accompany on the pianoforte,) are principally composed by Mr. Reeve.

Prospectus of the Divertisement.

“Part I.—Exordium.—Mr. Bannister’s Interview with Garrick.—Garrick’s Manner attempted by Mr. Bannister in a Shaving Dialogue.—Mr. Doublelungs in the Clay-pit.—Macklin’s advice to his Pupils.—The Ship’s Chaplain, and Jack Haulyard, the Boatswain; or, Two Ways of Telling a Story.—Sam Stern.—The Melodramaniac, or Value of Vocal Talent.—Mr. and Mrs. O’Blunder, or, Irish Suicide!

“Part II.—Superannuated Sexton.—Original Anecdotes of a late well-known eccentric Character.—Trial at the Old Bailey.—Cross-Examination.—Counsellor Garble.—Barrister Snip-snap.—Serjeant Splitbrain.—Address to the Jury.—Simon Soaker, and Deputy Dragon.

“Part III.—Club of Queer Fellows!—President Hosier.—Speech from the Chair.—Mr. Hesitate.—Mr. Sawney Mac Snip.—Musical Poulterer.—Duet between a Game Cock and a Dorking Hen.—Mr. Molasses.—Mr. Mimé.—Monotony exemplified.—Mr. Kill-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!The Debating Society.

“IN PART II.

The Deserter; or, Death or Matrimony.Miss Wrinkle and Mr. Grizzle,andThe Tortoiseshell Tom Cat.

“IN PART III.

THE TRAGEDY OF OTHELLO; or, Fine Fleecy Hosiery.The Marrow-fat Family.Jollity Burlesqued, andBeggars and Ballad-singers.

The doors to be opened at six o’clock, and to begin precisely at seven. Boxes, Upper Circle, 4s.; Lower Circle, 3s.; Pit, 2s., Gallery, 1s.

N.B. Care has been taken to have the Theatre well aired.”

My reader will find by the following copy of a paper written by the Rev. Stephen Weston, B.D.,[340]and read at the Society of Antiquaries’ meeting, 25th January 1810, that the term Swan-hoppingis 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 marking them, has been changed by an unlucky aspirate into Swan-hopping, which is not to the purpose, and perfectly unintelligible.”[341]

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 effect is admirable.

There is also, in that superb mansion, a companion picture of Lincoln’s Inn Fields by the same artist.

The political career of John Horne Tooke, Esq., is well known, and the fame of his celebrated work, entitled theDiversions 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’sInn, 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 taxes, 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.”

“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’sInn, 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 taxes, 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.[342]

On the 18th of March this year (1812), Mr. Tooke died, at his house at Wimbledon. He was put into a strong elm shell. The coffin 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 coffin was absolutely necessary, in consequence of the 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.[343]

At the sale of the effects of the Rev. William Huntington (vulgarly called the “Coal-heaver”), which commenced on the 22nd of September, and continued for three following days, 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.[344]

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