ILLINOIS

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

PRODUCTION NOTE

University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign Library
Brittle Books Project, 2015.COPYRIGHT NOTIFICATION

In Public Domain.
Published prior to 1923.

This digital copy was made from the printed version held
by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
It was made in compliance with copyright law.

Prepared for the Brittle Books Project, Main Library,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
by

Northern Micrographics
Brookhaven Bindery
La Crosse, Wisconsin

2015I5

THE UNIVERSITY

OF ILLINOIS

LIBRARY

&L-1<24xa^«v

(£%3r ■F>-ontisf>iece.'\

A STREET SCENE—EARLY XIXTH CENTURY.The Dawn

w

OF

The XIXth Century

IN	_

England -_r

SL feocfal »>feettt) of tlje '©mess

SFreOcrfcI" tCfU'vi f.swaiait

BY

JOHN ASHTON

AUTHOR OF

"Social Life in the Reigti of Queen Anne" "English Caricature and Satire
on Napoleon I.," " Old Times" &c

WITH 114 ILLUSTRATIONS DRAWN BY THE AUTHOR
FROM CONTEMPORARY ENGRAVINGS

POPULAR EDITION.

london

T FISHER UNWIN

26 Paternoster Square

MDCCC^XX^VI3 \ *<2.

PREFACE.

THAT Sir Walter Scott, when he called his novel
"Waverley; or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since,", thought
that the time had come, when the generation, then
living, should be presented with a page of history, which
^ would bring to their remembrance the mariners and cus-
toms of their grandfathers, must be my excuse for this
book.

For, never, in the world's history, has there been such a
change in things social, as since the commencement of ^
the Nineteenth Century; it has been a quiet revolution—a ^
i good exemplar of which may be found in the Frontispiece,
i which is a type of things past, never to be recalled. The
Watchman has long since given place to the Police ; the
climbing boy, to chimney-sweeping on a more scientific •
* plan ; and no more is " Saloop " vended at street corners ;
^ even the drummer-boys are things of the past, only fit for
a Museum—and it is of these things that this book treats.

The times, compared with our own, were so very
i different; Arts, Manufactures, Science, Social Manners,
\ - Police, and all that goes to make up the sum of life, were

B	476148vi

PREFACE.

then so widely divergent, as almost to make one disbelieve,
whilst reading of them, that such a state of things could
exist in this Nineteenth Century of ours. In the first
decade, of^hich I write, Steam was in its very babyhood ;
/^locomotives, and steamships, were only just beginning to
be heard of; Gas was a novelty, and regarded more as an
experiment, than the useful agent we have since found it;
whilst-Electricity was but a scientific toy, whose principal
use was to give galvanic shocks, and cause the limbs of a
corpse to move, when applied to its muscles.

Commerce was but just developing, being hampered by
a long and cruel war, which, however, was borne with
exemplary patience and fortitude by the nation—England,
^although mistress of the seas, having to hold her own
against all Europe in arms. The Manners, Dress, and
Food, were all so different to those of our day, that to read
of them, especially when the description is taken from
undoubtedly contemporary sources, is not only amusing,
but instructive.

The Newspapers of the day are veritable mines of
information ; and, although the work of minutely perusing
them is somewhat laborious and irksome, the information
exhumed well repays the search. Rich sources, too, to
furnish illustrations, are open, and I have availed myself
7' largely of the privilege; and I have endeavoured, as far as
in my power lay, to give a faithful record of the Dawn of
the Nineteenth Century in England, taken absolutely from
original, and authentic, sources.

JOHN ASHTON.CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PAGE

Retrospect of Eighteenth Century—Napoleon's letter to George III.—
Lord Grenville's reply—French prisoners of war in England—
Scarcity of provisions—Gloomy financial outlook—Loan from the
Bank of England—Settlement of the Union with Ireland . .1

CHAPTER II.

Accident at a Review—The King shot at, at Drury Lane Theatre—
Behaviour of the Royal Family—Biography of Had field—His trial
and acquittal—Grand Review of Volunteers on the King's birthday—
.The bad weather, and behaviour of the crowd .... 8

CHAPTER III.

High price of gold—Scarcity of food—Difference in cost of living 1773—
1800—Forestalling and Regrating—Food riots in the country—Riot
in London at the Corn Market—Forestalling in meat . . .16

CHAPTER IV.

Continuation of food riots in London—Inefficiency of Police—Riots still
continue—Attempts to negotiate a Peace—A political meeting on
Kennington Common—Scarcity of Corn—Proclamation to restrict its
consumption—Census of the people......23viii -	CONTENTS.

CHAPTER V..

PAGE

The Union with Ireland—Proclamations thereon—Alteration of Great
Seal—Irish Member called to order (footnote)—Discovery of the
Planet Geres—Proclamation of General Fast—High price of meat,
and prosperity of the farmers—Suffering of the French prisoners—
Political ^dissatisfaction—John Home Tooke—Feeding the French
<prisoners-^Negotiations for Peace—Signing preliminaries—Illumina-
tions—Methods of making the news known—Ratification of pre-
liminaries—Treatment of General Lauriston by the mob—More
Illuminations^Manifestation of joy at Falmouth—Lord Mayor's ban-
quet . . "........ . . .32

_	CHAPTER VI.

Disarmament ~and retrenchment—Cheaper provisions—King applied to
Parliament to pay his% debts—The Prince of Wales claimed the re-
venues of the Duchy of Cornwall—Parliament pays the King's debts
—Abolition of the Income Tax—Signature of the Treaty of Amiens
—Conditions of the Treaty—Rush of the English to France—Visit of
C. J. Fox to Napoleon—Liberation of the French prisoners of war. 45

CHAPTER VII.

Proclamation of Peace—Manner of the procession, &c.—Illuminations—
Day of General Thanksgiving—General Election—A dishonoured
Government bill—Cloth riots in Wiltshire—Plot to assassinate the
King—Arrest of Colonel Despard—Trial and sentence of the con-
spirators—Their fate . . .......55

CHAPTER VIII.

Strained relations with France—Prosecution and trial of Jean Peltier for
libel against Napoleon—Rumours of war—King's proclamation—
Napoleon's rudeness to Lord Whit worth—Hoax on the Lord Mayor
—Rupture with France—Return of Lord Whit worth, and departure
of the French Ambassador........65

CHAPTER IX.

Declaration of War against France—Napoleon makes all the English in
France prisoners of war—'-Patriotic Fund—Squibs on the threatened
invasion—" The New Moses "—Handbill signed " A Shopkeeper "—
"Britain's War-song"—"Who is Bonaparte?"—" Shall French-
men rule over us ? "—" An Invasion Sketch " . . . . 74

CHAPTER X.

Invasion Squibs continued—"The Freeman's Oath"—"John Bull and
Bonaparte "—"The Eve of Invasion "—'' A Biography of Napoleon "
—" Britons, strike home "—Enrolment of 400,000 Volunteers—CONTENTS.	ix

PAGE

Napoleon at Calais—Apprehension of vagrants, and compulsorily
recruiting the Army and Navy with them—Patriotism of the nation—
Preparations in case of reverse — Beacons — Spies— The French
prisoners—Emmett's rebellion in Ireland—Its prompt suppression—
General Fast—Relief of the Roman Catholics . » . . 89

CHAPTER XI.

Caricatures of the Flotilla—Scarcity of money—Stamping Spanish dollars
—Illness of the King—His recovery—General Fast—Fall of the
Addington Ministry—Debate on the Abolition of the Slave Trade—
Beacons—Transport—Election for Middlesex—Reconciliation be-
tween the King and the Prince of Wales.....104

CHAPTER XII.

Doings of Napoleon—His letter to George III.—Lord Mulgrave's reply
—War declared against Spain—General Fast—Men voted for Army
and Navy—The Salt Duty—Withdrawal of " The Army of England "
—Battle of Trafalgar and death of Nelson—General Thanksgiving . it2

CHAPTER XIII.

Nelson's funeral—Epigrams—Death of Pitt—His funeral—General Fast
—Large coinage of copper—Impeachment of Lord Melville—The
Abolition of the Slave Trade passes the House of Commons—Death
and funeral of Fox—His warning Napoleon of a plot against him—
Negotiations for peace—Napoleon declares England blockaded . 120

CHAPTER XIV.

Passing of the Slave Trade Bill—Downfall of the " Ministry of all the
Talents "—General Fast — Election for Westminster — Death of
Cardinal York—Arrival in England of Louis XVIII.—Copenhagen
bombarded, and the Danish Fleet captured—Napoleon again pro-
claimed England as blockaded . ......132

CHAPTER XV.

<jloomy prospects of 1808—King's Speech—Droits of the Admiralty—
Regulation of Cotton Spinners' wages—Riots in the Cotton districts—
Battle of Vimiera—Convention of Cintra—Its unpopularity—Articles
of the Convention	........ .136

CHAPTER XVI.

"General Fast—The Jubilee—Costume—Former Jubilees—Release of poor
prisoners for debt—Jubilee Song—Jubilee literature—Poetry—King
pardons deserters from Army and Navy . . . . . . 146X

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XVII.

PAGE

Common Council decide to relieve Small Debtors—Festivities at Windsor
—Ox roasted whole—How it Was done—The Queen and I^oyal
Family present—Division of the ox, &c.—A bull baited—Fete at
Frogmore—Illuminations—Return of the Scheldt Expedition	. 153

CHAPTER XVIII.

• The Scheldt Expedition—The Earl of Chatham and Sir Richard Strachan
—The citizens of Londftn and the King—General Fast—Financial
disorganization—Issue of stamped dollars—How they were smuggled
out of the country—John Gale Jones and John Dean before the
House of Commons—Sir Francis Burdett interferes—Publishes libel
in Cobbetfs Weekly Political Register—Debate in the House—Sir
Francis Burdett committed to the Tower.....159

CHAPTER XIX.

Warrant served on Sir Francis Burdett—He agrees to go to prison—Sub-
sequently he declares the warrant illegal—His arrest—His journey to
the Tower—The mob—His incarceration—The mob attack 'the
military—Collision—Killed and wounded—Sir Francis's letter to the
Speaker—His release—Conduct of the mob.....168

CHAPTER XX.

Good harvest—Thanksgiving for same—List of poor Livings—Another
Jubilee—Illness and death of the Princess Amelia—Effect on the
King—Prayers for his restoration to health—Funeral of the Princess
—Curious position of the Houses of Parliament—Proposition for a

Regency—Close of the first decade of the xixth Century . . 177

CHAPTER XXI.

The roads—Modern traffic compared with old—The stage coach—Stage
waggons—Their speed—Price of posting—The hackney coach—
Sedan chairs—Horse riding—Improvement in carriages	. .182

CHAPTER XXII.

Amateur driving—■"The Whip Club"—Their dress—"The Four in
Hand Club "—Their dress—Other driving clubs—" Tommy Onslow "
—Rotten Row..........189

CHAPTER XXIII.

"The Silent Highway "—Watermen—Their fares—Margate hoys—A
religious v hoy—The bridges over the Thames—The Pool—Water
pageants—Necessity for Docks, and their building — Tunnel at
Gravesend—Steamboat on the Thames—Canals . . . .195CONTENTS.

xi

CHAPTER XXIV.

PAGB

Condition of the streets of London—Old oil lamps-—Improvement in
lamps—Gas—Its introduction by Murdoch—Its adoption in London
by Winsor—Opposition to it—Lyceum and other places lit with it—
Its gradual adoption—The old tinder box—Improvements thereon . 201

CHAPTER XXV.

Great fires in London—Number of Insurance Companies—Rates of in-
surance—Fire-engines and firemen—Scarcity of water—Supply of
water to London—The streets—Their traffic—Shops—Watering the

CHAPTER XXVI.

Daily life of the streets—The Chimney Sweep—Mrs. Montagu—
Instances of the hard life of a " climbing boy "—The Milkmaid-
Supply of milk to the Metropolis—" Hot loaves "—" Water cresses "
—whence they came—Other cries	......216

CHAPTER XXVII.

The Postman—His dress—The Post Office—Changes of site—Sir Robert
Vyner—Rates of postage and deliveries—Mail coaches—Places of
starting and routes—Number of houses in London—Description of
them—Their furniture.........228

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Food—Statistics as to quantity of meat consumed—Scarcity of fish and
game—Supply of latter to London—Venison—A brewer's dinner—
Beer—Quantity brewed—Wine—Its price—Supply of vegetables-
Sardines and Harvey's Sauce—Scarcity of wheat—Forestalling—Rice
from India—Bounties given for its shipment.....235

CHAPTER XXIX.

Parliamentary Committee on the high price of provisions—Bounty on
imported corn, and on rice from India and America—The "Brown
Bread Bill "—Prosecution of bakers for light weight—Punishment of
a butcher for having bad meat—Price of beef, mutton, and poultry—
Cattle shows—Supply of food from France—Great fall in prices here
—Hotels, &c.—A clerical dessert.......243

CHAPTER XXX.

Men's dress—The " Jean de Bry" coat—Short coats fashionable at water-
ing-places—"All Bond Street trembled as he strode"—Rules for the
behaviour of a "Bond Street Lounger. . . . .250xii	CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXXI.

»AGE

The three Mr. Wiggins's"—The " Crops 'Hair-powdering—The
powdering closet—Cost of clothes—Economy in hats—Taxing hats—
Eye-glasses—" The Green Man " at Brighton—Eccentricities in dress 256

CHAPTER XXXII.

Ladies'-dress—French costume—Madame Recamier—The classical style
—" Progress of the toilet"—False hair—Hair-dresser's advertise-
ment—The Royal Family and dress—Curiosities of costume . . 263

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Diversions of people of fashion—Daily life of the King—Children—
Education—Girls' education—Matrimonial advertisements—Gretna
Green marriages—Story of a wedding ring—Wife selling—'' A woman
to let " . . . . \......275

CHAPTER XXXIV.

•Gambling—Downfall of Lady Archer, &c.—Card playing in the Royal
Circle—Card money—High play—Play at the Clubs—Lotteries—
The method of drawing them—Horse racing—Turf and horses better
than now—Curious names of race horses—Ladies Lade and Thornton
—Lady Thornton's races—Tattersall and Aldridge . . . 285

CHAPTER XXXV.

•Cock-fighting—Its illegality—Public recognition of it—Description of
company at a cock-fight—High stakes—Bull-baiting—Debate thereon
in the House of Commons—Prize-fighting—Famous pugilists—George
IV. as a patron of the Ring—Attempts to put down prize-fighting—
Female physical education—Cudgel-playing, and other sports . 295

CHAPTER XXXVI.

Hunting then, and now—Hunting near the Metropolis—The Epping
Hunt—Fishing—Shooting then, and now—Guns—Methods of proving
gun barrels—-Big charges—Introduction of the Percussion Cap—Size
of bags—Colonel Thornton's bet.......305

CHAPTER XXXVII.

A Cockney's account of the First of September—Pigeon shooting—Out-
door games—Cricket—High stakes—Lord's cricket ground—Trap
and ball—Billiards—Life of Andrews the billiard player . . • 3X3CONTENTS,

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

PAGE

The Theatre—Number of theatres in London—Famous actors and
actresses—Disturbances at a theatre—Master Betty, " The Infant
Roscius"—His country experience—Puffs preliminary—His first
appearance in London—Crowds to see him—Presented to the King
and the Prince of Wales—Acts at Drury Lane—His subsequent
career .	. . ........ 322

CHAPTER XXXIX.

Betty's imitators—Miss Mudie, " The Young Roscia "—Her first appear-
ance in London—Reception by the audience—Her fate—Ireland's
forgery of " Vortigern and Rowena"—Fires among the theatres—
Destruction of Covent Garden and Drury Lane .... 333

CHAPTER XL.

The O. P. Riots—Causes of—Madame Catalani—Kemble's refutation of
charges—Opening of the theatre, and commencement of the riots—
O. P. medals, &c.—" The house that Jack built "—A committee of
examination—Their report—A reconciliation dinner—Acceptation of
a compromise—"We are satisfied"—Theatre re-opens—Re-com-
mencement of riots—The proprietors yield, and the riots end . . 339

CHAPTER XLI.

"The Pic-nic Club"—Its supporters—Its entertainment—Its short life—
Automata and wool pictures—Almack's—Pidcock's Menagerie—
44 The Invisible Girl "—Vauxhall—Sir Roger de Coverley—Price of
admission, &c.—Ranelagh Gardens . * . . . . 354

CHAPTER XLII.

Music—Composers of the time—Mrs. Billington—Her salaries—Mdlle.
Mara—Mrs. Crouch—Incledon—Braham—Chamber music—Musical
societies—Commemoration of Dr. Arne—Competition of pipers—
Dancing—TheValse .........361

CHAPTER XLIII.

Painting—" The Royal Academy of Art "—The principal private Picture
Galleries—Benjamin West—James Barry—Fuseli—Opie—Minor
artists—Turner—Sir Thomas Laurence—Morland—Sale of his
pictures — Sculptbrs — Engravers — Boydell — " The Exhibition of
Paintings in Water Colours "—Its members—" The Associated Artists
in Water Colours "—Literature—List of literary persons of the decade
—Fiye-volume novels — Decyphering papyri — Major Ouseley's
Oriental Library—The Pope and the Lord's Prayer—The Alfred
Club............369

/xiv

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XLIV.

PAGE

The Press—Morning Post and Times—Duty on newspapers—Rise in price
—The publication of circulation to procure advertisements—Paper
warfare between the Times and the Morning Post—The British
Museum—Its collection, and bad arrangement—Obstacles to visitors
—Rules relaxed—The Lever Museum—Its sale by lottery—Anatomi-
cal Museums of the two Hunters . . . .... 379

CHAPTER XLV.

Medical—The Doctor of the old School—The rising lights—Dr. Jenner—
His discovery of vaccination for smnllpox—Opposition thereto—
Perkins's Metallic Tractors—The " Perkinean Institution "—His
cures—Electricity and Galvanism—Galvanizing a dead criminal-
Lunatic Asylums—Treatment of the insane—The Hospitals . . 385

CHAPTER XLV I.

Royal Society and the Royal Institution—Scientific men of the time
—Society of Arts—Other learned Societies—Ballooning—Steam—
• Steamboats — Locomotives — Fourdrinier and the paper^making
machine—Coals—Their price—Committee of the House of Commons
on coal—Price of coals	........394

CHAPTER XLVII.

The' Navy—Sailor's carelessness—" The Sailor's Journal "—The sailor
and " a dilly "—Dress of the sailors—Rough life both for officers and
men—Number of ships in Commission—Pressing—A man killed by
a press-gang—Mutinies—That of the Danae—Mutiny on board the
Hermione, and cold-blooded slaughter of the officers—Mutiny in
Bantry Bay—Pay of the officers—French prisoners of war . . 402

CHAPTER XLVII I.

The Army—Number of men—Dress—Hair-powder—Militia—Commis-
sions easily obtained—Price of substitutes—The Volunteers—Dress
of the Honourable and Ancient Artillery Company—Bloomsbury
Volunteers, and Rifle Volunteers—Review at Hatfield—Grand rising
of Volunteers in 1803............412

CHAPTER XLIX.	4

Volunteer Regulations—The Brunswick Rifle—"Brown Bess"—Volun-
teer shooting—Amount subscribed to Patriotic Fund—Mr. Miller's
patriotic offer . . . .	. . . , . . 419CONTENTS.

xv

CHAPTER L.

I* AGE

The Clarke Scandal—Biography of Mrs. Clarke—Her levees—Her scale
of prices for preferments—Commission of the House of Commons—
Exculpation of the Duke of York—His resignation—Open sale of
places—Caution thereon—Duels—That between Colonel Montgomery
and Captain Macnamara......	• 427

CHAPTER LI.

Police—Dr. Colquhoun's book—The old Watchmen—Their inadequacy
~ admitted—Description of them—Constables—" First new mode of
robbing in 1800 "—Robbery in the House of Lords—Whipping—
Severe sentence—The Stocks—The Pillory—Severe punishment—
Another instance,	........ -435

CHAPTER LII-

Smuggling—An- exciting smuggling adventure—The Brighton fishermen
and the Excise—" Body-snatching "—" Benefit of Clergy "—Tyburn
tickets—Death the penalty for many crimes—"Last dying Speech"
—The u condemned pew " at Newgate—Horrible execution at Jersey
—The new drop—An impenitent criminal.....444

CHAPTER LIII.

Execution for treason—Burying a suicide at the junction of a cross-road
—Supposed last such burial in London—The Prisons—List, and
description of them—Bow Street Police Office—Expense of the Police
and Magistracy—Number of watchmen, &c., in 1804—The poor, and
provision for them—Educational establishments . . . .451

INDEX

461

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

a street scene	......Frontispiece

james hadfield's attempt to kill george iii., may 15, 1800	ii
the 1.0yal ducking ; or, returning from the review on

the fourth of june, 1800 . . . .	14
hints to forestallers ; or, a sure way to reduce the

price of grain........18

john bull and his friends commemorating the peace	46
john bull and his family taking leave of the income

tax ...........48

long-expected come at last ; or, john bull disappointed

at his crippled visitor ......51

sketch of* the interior of st. stephen's as it now stands	60

"despair"	. .........6l

the freeman's oath ........	90

billy in the salt-box....... .	il6

death of nelson........il8

nelson's funeral car..............123

extraordinary news	.......143

a stage coach—1804........183

the stage waggon ........184

la

1xviii	ILLUSTRATIONS.

FAG©

tunbridge original waggon ......185;

"tommy onslow".........192

how to break in my own horse.....193,

rotten row—1803...... . .	194

one- of the miseries of london......197

lamplighter—1805........202

lamplighter—1805 .........203

the good effects of carbonic gas ! ....	205

a peep at the gas lights in pall mall . . . .	207

a fire engine.........211

a fireman—1805.........212

drinking water supply—1802 ......213

"water cresses ! come buy my water cresses !" . .	219

" hot cross buns ! two a penny buns !" . . .	220

"do you want any brick-dust?".....221

"buy a trap ! a rat trap ! buy my trap !" . . .	222

"buy my goose! my fat goose!".....225

"all a growing, a growing! here's flowers for your

gardens!" .	.......226

A postman..........228

tales of wonder.........233

a jean de bry	.........25s

all bond street trembled as he strode . . .	252

the three mr. wiggins's .......	257

originals. a hint to the bon ton . . . .	260
originals. a hint to the bon ton . . . . .261

paris fashions for winter dress—1800 . . .	264

fashions, early 1800........265.

fashionable furbeloes ; or, the back front of a lady

of fashion, in the year l8oi.....266

light head-dresses and long petticoats for the year

ISC2..............267

preparing for a ball—1803......268.

progress of the toilet. no. i......2691

progress of the toilet. no. 2......270

progress of the toilet. no. 3.	.....269

grace, fashion, and manners, from the life—18io .	273ILL USTRA TIONS.	xi x

PAGE

WALKING DRESSES—l8lo........273

"les invisibles/' 1810........274

GROUP OF CHILDREN—1808.......278

FILIAL AFFECTION ; OR, A TRIP TO GRETNA GREEN . .	279

A TRIP TO GRETNA GREEN (ROWLANDSON) . . . .	281
GREAT SUBSCRIPTION ROOM AT BROOKES'S . . . .289

LIFE GUARDS ESCORTING A LOTTERY WHEEL . . .	291
DRAWING THE LOTTERY AT COOPER'S HALL . . . .292

CUDGEL PLAYING—1800.......303

FOX-HUNTING BREAKFAST........306

PERCH-FISHING—1804 . .......307

AFTER A DAY'S SHOOTING—1809......30&

COCK-SHOOTING WITH SPANIELS—1804	....	309

BILLIARDS—18oi . ........319

THE YOUNG ROSCIUS, AS FREDERICK, IN "LOVERS' VOWS"	325

THEATRICAL LEAP-FROG........328

VAIN ATTEMPT TO SEE YOUNG ROSCIUS . . . . .	329

THE INTRODUCTION........331

MADAME CATALANI.........340

CATALANI	..........341

ISAAC CRUIKSHANK'S CARICATURE . . . . . 347—349

THE PIC-NIC ORCHESTRA.......356

VAUXHALL GARDENS—1808-9 .......359

MRS. BILLINGTON, AS CLARA, SINGING A BRAVURA (1802) .	362

THEATRICAL DOCTORS RECOVERING CLARA'S NOTES ! . .	363

PLAYING IN PARTS.........364

HARMONY BEFORE MATRIMONY—1805 . . . . .	366

WALTZER AU MOUCHOIR-—1800......368

la valse— 18io . . . .......368

DRAWING FROM LIFE AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY—1808 .	370
CONNOISSEURS EXAMINING A COLLECTION OF GEORGE MOR-

land...........373

A DOCTOR OF THE OLD SCHOOL—1803.....386

THE COW POCK ; OR, THE WONDERFUL EFFECTS OF THE NEW

INOCULATION !	. . . .	. . .	3S8

METALLIC TRACTORS—1802 . . ... . . .	389

WOMEN'S WARD, ST. LUKE'S—1808......392XX	ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

AN IRON FOUNDRY—1802 . .'.....397

A COLLIERY—1802 .........	398

BRITISH SAILOR—1805........404

BRITISH SOLDIER—1805 . . . . . . . .	414

SOLDIERS—1806.........414

DRESSING PIG-TAILS IN THE OPEN AIR—l8oi ....	414

HON. ARTILLERY COMPANY—1803 ... . . .	415

VOLUNTEER RIFLE CORPS—1803......415

BLOOMSBURY AND INNS OF COURT VOLUNTEER—1803 .	416

MRS. CLARKE ..........428

MRS. CLARKE'S LEVEE ........429

MILITARY LEAP FROG J OR, HINTS TO YOUNG GENTLEMEN .	430

THE PRODIGAL SON'S RESIGNATION . . . - . .	431

WATCHMEN GOING ON DUTY—1808 . . . . . .	436

WATCH-HOUSE. MARYLEBONE—1808 . . . . .	437

CONSTABLES—1805.........438

PILLORY. CHARING CROSS.......441

THE PILLORY .............442

THE CONDEMNED SERMON. NEWGATE .....	447

THE LAST DYING SPEECH AND CONFESSION ....	448

INTERIOR OF FLEET PRISON.......454

HOUSE OF CORRECTION. COLD BATH FIELDS . . .	456

BOW STREET POLICE OFFICE .......458THE DAWN OF THE XIXTH CENTURY
' IN ENGLAND.

A SOCIAL SKETCH OF THE TIMES.

CHAPTER I.

1799-18 00.

Retrospect of Eighteenth Century—Napoleon's letter to George III.—Lord Gren-
ville's reply—French prisoners of war in England—Scarcity of provisions—■
Gloomy financial outlook—Loan from the Bank of England—Settlement of the
Union with Ireland.

HE old Eighteenth Century lay
a-dying, after a comparatively
calm and prosperous life.

In its infancy, William of Orange
brought peace to the land, besides
delivering it from popery, brass
money, and wooden shoes ; and,
under the Georges, civil war was
annihilated, and the - prosperity,
which we have afterwards enjoyed,
was laid down on a broad, and solid basis.2

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1799.)

But in its last years, it fell upon comparatively evil days,
and, although it was saved from the flood of revolution
which swept over France, yet, out of that revolution came
a war which embittered its closing days, and was left as
a legacy to the young Nineteenth Century, which, as we
know, has grappled with and overcome all difficulties, and
has shone pre-eminent over all its predecessors.

The poor old century had lost us America, whose chief
son, General George Washington, died in 1799. In 1799
we were at war with France truly, but England itself had
not been menaced—the war was being fought in Egypt.
Napoleon had suddenly deserted his army there, and had
returned to France post-haste, for affairs were happening
in Paris which needed his presence, if his ambitious schemes
were ever to ripen and bear fruit. He arrived, dissolved the
Council of Five Hundred, and the Triumvirate consisting
of himself, Cambaceres, and Le Brun was formed. Then,
whether in sober earnest, or as a bit of political by-play, he
wrote on Christmas day, 1799, the following message of
goodwill and peace :

" Bonaparte, First Consul of the Republic, to His Majesty
the King of Great Britain and Ireland.

"Paris, 5 Nivose, year VIII. of the Republic.

"Called by the wishes of the French nation to occupy
the first magistracy of the French Republic, I deem it
desirable, in entering on its functions, to make a direct
communication to your Majesty.

" Must the war, which for four years has ravaged every
part of the world, be eternal ? Are there no means of
coming to an understanding?

" How can the two most enlightened nations of Europe,
more powerful and stronger than is necessary for their
safety and independence, sacrifice to the idea of a vain
grandeur, the benefits of commerce, of internal prosperity,(1799-) LETTER FROM NAPOLEON,

3

and domestic happiness ? How is it they do not feel that
peace is as gloriovis as necessary ?

"The.se sentiments cannot be strangers to the heart of
your Majesty, who rules over a free nation, with no other
view than to render them happy.

"Your Majesty will only see in this overture, my sincere
desire to effectually contribute to a general pacification, by
a prompt step, free and untrammelled by those forms which,
necessary perhaps to disguise the apprehensions of feeble
states, only prove, in the case of strong ones, the mutual
desire to deceive.

" France and England, by abusing their strength, may,
for a long time yet, to the misery of all other nations,
defer the moment of their absolute exhaustion ; but I
will venture to say, that the fate of all civilized nations
depends on the end of a war which envelopes the whole
world.	" (Signedj BONAPARTE.''

Fair as this looks to the eye, British statesmen could
not even then, in those early days, implicitly trust Napo-
leon, without some material guarantee. True, all was not
couleur de rose with the French army and navy. The
battle of the Nile, and Acre, still were in sore remembrance.
Italy had emancipated itself, and Suwarrow had materially
crippled the French army. There were 140,000 Austrians
hovering on the Rhine border, and the national purse
was somewhat flaccid. No doubt it would have been
convenient to Napoleon to have patched up a tem-
porary peace in order to recruit—but that would not suit
England.

On Jan. 4, 1800, Lord Grenville replied to Talleyrand,
then Minister for Foreign Affairs, in a long letter, in which
he pointed out that England had not been the aggressor,
and would always be glad of peace if it could be secured
on a sure and solid basis. He showed how France had
behaved on the Continent, cited the United Provinces, the4

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, (1800.)

Swiss Cantons, and the Netherlands; how Germany had
been ravaged, and how Italy, though then free, " had been
made the scene of unbounded anarchy and rapinp ;" and
he wound up thus :

" His Majesty looks only to the security of his own
dominions and those of his Allies, and to the general safety
of Europe. Whenever he shall judge that such security
can ins any manner be attained, as resulting either from
the internal situation of that country from whose in ternal
situation the danger has arisen, or from such other circum-
stances of whatever nature as may produce the same end,
His Majesty will eagerly embrace the opportunity to
concert with his Allies the means of immediate and general
pacification.

" Unhappily no such security hitherto exists: no sufficient
evidence of the principle by which the new Government
will be directed ; no reasonable ground by which to judge
of its stability. In this situation it can for the present
only remain for His Majesty to pursue, in conjunction with
other Powers, those exertions of just and defensive war,
which his regard to the happiness of his> subjects will never
permit him either to continue beyond the necessity in
which they originated, or to terminate on any other
grounds than such as may best contribute to the secure
enjoyment of their tranquillity, their constitution, and their
independence." 1

So the war was to go on, that ever memorable struggle
which cost both nations so much in treasure, and in men.
France has never recovered the loss of those hecatombs
driven to slaughter. Nor were they always killed. We
kept a few of them in durance. On-Dec. 21, 1799, the
French Government refused to provide any longer for their
compatriots, prisoners in our hands, and, from a report
then taken, we had in keeping, in different places, as fol-
lows, some 25,000 men.2

1 Morning Post, Jan. 7, 1800. 2 Annual Register, Jan. 25, 1800.(iSoo.) FRENCH PRISONERS OF WAR.

5

Plymouth
Portsmouth

7)477
10,128

Liverpool
Stapleton
Chatham
Yarmouth.
Edinburgh

2,298

693
1.754

5°
208

Norman Cross

3,°38

25,646

There is no doubt but these poor fellows fared hard, yet
their ingenuity enabled them to supplement their short com-
mons, and I have seen some very pretty baskets made in
coloured straw, and little implements carved out of the
bones of the meat which was served out to them as rations.

Their captors, however, were in somewhat evil case for
food, and gaunt famine began to stare them in the face.
There never was a famine, but there was a decided scarcity
of provisions, which got worse as time went on. The
Government recognized it, and faced the difficulty. In
February, 1800, a Bill passed into law which enacted "That
it shall not be lawful for any baker, or other person or
persons, residing within the cities of London and West-
minster, and the Bills of Mortality, and within ten miles of
the Royal Exchange, after the 26th day of February, 1800,
or residing in any part of Great Britain, after the 4th day
of March, 1800, to sell, or offer to expose for sale, any
breadr until the same shall have been baked twenty-four
hours at the least; and every baker, or other person or
persons, who shall act contrary hereto, or offend herein,
shall, for every offence, forfeit and pay the sum of ^5 f°r
every loaf of bread so sold, offered, or exposed to sale."
By a previous Bill, however, new bread might be lawfully
sold to soldiers on the march. Hunger, however, although
staring the people in the face, had not yet absolutely touched
them, as it did later in the year.6

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

(1800.)

The year, too, at its opening, was gloomy financially.
The Civil List was five quarters in arrear; and the King's
servants were in such straits for money, that the grooms
and helpers in the mews were obliged to present a petition
to the King, praying the payment of their wages. Some
portion, undoubtedly, was paid them, but, for several years
afterwards, the Civil List was always three or six months in
arrears.

The Bank of England came forward, and on the 9th
of January agreed to lend the Government three millions
without interest, but liable to be called in if the Three per
Cent. Consols should get up to eighty, on condition that the
Bank Charter be renewed for a further term of twenty-one
years, to be computed from the 1st of August, 1812.

The question of the Union between Great Britain and
Ireland had been discussed for some time, and on the . nth
of February it was carried by a great majority in the
Irish House of Lords. On the 2nd of April the King sent
the following message to Parliament:

"GEORGE R.—It is with most sincere satisfaction that
his Majesty finds himself enabled to communicate to' this
House the joint Address of his Lords and Commons of
Ireland, laying before his Majesty certain resolutions, which
contain the terms proposed by them for an entire union
between the two kingdoms. His Majesty is persuaded that
this House will participate in the pleasure with which his
Majesty observes the conformity of sentiment manifested
in the proceedings of his two parliaments, after long and
careful deliberation on this most important subject; and he
earnestly recommends to this House, to take all such further
steps as may best tend to the speedy and complete execu-
tion of a work so happily begun, and so interesting to the
security and happiness of his Majesty's subjects, and to the
general strength and prosperity of the British Empire.

"G. R." 1

1 " Parliamentary History," vol. xxxv. pp. 25, 26<1800.)	UNION WITH IRELAND.

7

Lord Grenville presented this message in the Lords, and
Mr. Pitt in the Commons. The resolutions mentioned are
"Resolutions of the two Houses of Parliament of Ireland,
respecting a Union of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and
Ireland ; and their Address thereon to His Majesty. Die
Mercurii, 26 Martii, 1800." They are somewhat volu-
minous, and^settled the basis on which the Union was to
take place.

On the 21 st of April, both Lords and Commons began
to debate bn the Union. The Commons continued
it on the 22nd, 25th, 28th, 29th, and 30th of April, and
May 1st and 2nd—on which date, the question being put
"That the said Resolutions be now read a second time," the
House divided. Yeas, 208 ; Noes, 26. An address was
afterwards drawn up, and communicated to the Lords at a
Conference.

The Lords began their deliberations also on the 21st of
April, and continued them on the 25th, 28th, and 30th,
May 7th and 8th, when the House divided. Contents,
55 ; Proxies, 20 ; Not Contents, 7. The dissentients were
the Earls of Hillsborough, Fitzwilliam, Carnarvon, and
Buckinghamshire, and Lords Dundas, Holland, and King—
the two latter entering a formal written protest.

The Lords and Cortimons agreed to an address which
they presented to the King on the 12th of May, and, on
the 2nd of July, the King went in state to the House of
Lords, and gave his Royal Assent to the Bill, which thus
became law, and was to take effect on the 1st of January,
1801. The Royal Assent was a very commonplace affair-
there were but about thirty Peers present, and it was
shuffled in with two other Bills—the Pigott Diamond Bill
and the Duke of Richmond Bill. There was no enthusiasm
in England, at all events, over the Union, no rejoicings, no
illuminations, hardly even a caricature. How it has
worked, we of these later days of the century know full
well.CHAPTER II.

Accident at a Review—The King shot at, at Drury Lane Theatre—Behaviour of
the Royal Family—Biography of Hadfield —His trial and acquittal—Grand
Review of Volunteers on the King's birthday—The bad weather, and
behaviour of the crowd. <

ON the 15th of May, the King, who, while his health
was good, was always most active in fulfilling
the onerous duties which devolved upon him,
attended the field exercises of the Grenadier battalion of
the Guards, in Hyde Park, when a gentleman named
Ongley, a clerk in the Navy Office, was shot by a musket
ball, during the volley firing, whilst standing but twenty-
three feet from the King. The wound was not dangerous
—through the fleshy part of the thigh—and it was
immediately dressed ; and it might have passed off as an
accident, but for an event which occurred later in the day.
The cartouch-boxes of the soldiers were examined, but
none but blank cartridges were found. So little indeed
was thought of it, that the King, who said it was an
accident, stopped on the ground for half an hour after-
wards, and four more volleys were fired by the same
company before he left.

The King was a great patron of the Drama, and on that
evening he visited Drury Lane Theatre, where, "by command
of their Majesties," were to be performed " She would, and(I860.)	THE KING SHOT AT.

9

she would not,"1 and "The Humourist;"2 but scarcely had
he entered the box, before he had taken his seat, and whilst
he was bowing to the audience, than a man, who had previ-
ously taken up a position in the pit close, to the royal box,
took a good and steady aim with a horse-pistol, with which
he was armed, at His Majesty, and fired : luckily missing the
King, who with the utmost calmness, and without betraying
any emotion, turned round to one of his attendants, and
after saying a few words to him, took his seat in apparent
tranquillity, arid sat out the whole entertainment. He had,
however, a narrow escape, for one of the two slugs with which
the pistol was loaded, was found but a foot to the left of
the royal chair.

Needless to say, the would-be assassin was seized at once—
as is so graphically depicted in the illustration—and, by thev
combined exertions of both pit and orchestra, was pulled
over the spikes and hurried across the stage, where he was
at once secured and carried before Sir William Addington,
who examined him in an adjoining apartment. The audi-
ence was furious, and with difficulty could be calmed by
the assurance that the villain was in safe custody. Then, to
avert attention, the curtain drew up, and the stage was
crowded by the whole strength of the house—scene-shifters,
carpenters, and all; and " God save the King" was given
with all the heartiness the occasion warranted.

Then, when that was done, and the royal party was seated,
came the reaction. The Princesses Augusta, Sophia, and
Mary fainted away, the latter twice. The Princess Elizabeth
alone was brave, and administered smelling salts and cold
water to her less courageous sisters. The Queen bore it well
—she was very pale, but collected—and during the per-
formance kept nodding to the princesses, as if to tell them
to keep up their spirits.

The name of the man who fired the shot was James
Hadfield. He was originally a working silversmith ; after-
1 By Colley Cibber.	2 By James Cobb.IO

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

(1800.)

wards he enlisted in the 15th Light Dragoons, and his
commanding officer gave him the highest character as a
soldier. He deposed that Hadfield, "while in the regiment,
was distinguished for his loyalty, courage, and irreproachable
conduct. On all occasions of danger he was first to volun-
teer. On the memorable affair at Villers en Couche, on the
24th of April, 1794, which procured the 15th Regiment so
much honour, and the officers the Order of Merit from his
Imperial Majesty, Hadfield behaved with the most heroic
bravery. On the 18th of May following, when the Duke
of York retreated in consequence of the attack of Pichegru
on his rear, Hadfield, in the action at Roubaix, fought with
desperation. He volunteered on a skirmishing party, with-
stood the shock of numbers alone, was often surrounded by
the enemy, and called off by his officers, but would not
come. At last he fell, having his skull fractured, his cheek
separated from his face, his arm broken, and he was other-
wise so shockingly mangled, that the British troops, after
seeing him, concluded he was dead : and he was returned
among the killed in the Gazette. The French having
obtained possession of the field, Hadfield fell into their
hands, and recovered. He remained upwards of a year a
prisoner, his regiment all the time supposing him dead ;
but in August, 1795, he joined it at Croydon, to the great
astonishment and joy of his comrades, who esteemed him
much. It soon became manifest, however, that his wounds
had deranged his intellect. Whenever he drank strong
liquors he became insane ; and this illness increased so much
that it was found necessary to confine him in a straight-
waistcoat. In April, 1796, he was discharged for being a
lunatic." His officers gave him the highest character, par-
ticularly for his loyalty ; adding that they would have
expected him to lose his life in defending, rather than
attacking, his King, for whom he had always expressed
great attachment.

After his discharge he worked at his old trade ; but evenJAMES IIADFIELD'S .ATTEMPT TO KILL GEORGE III., MAY 15, 1S00.12	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, (1800.)

his shopmates gave testimony before the Privy Council as
to his insanity. He was tried on June 26th by Lord Kenyon,
in the Court of King's Bench, and the evidences of his
insanity were so overwhelming, that the Judge stopped the
case, and the vcrdict of acquittal, on the ground that he
was mad, was recorded. He was then removed to.Newgate.
He seems to have escaped from confinement more than once
—for the Annual Register of August 1, 1802, mentions his
having escaped from his keepers, and been retaken at Deal;
whilst the Morning Herald of August 31st of the same
year chronicles his escape from Bedlam, and also on the
4th of October, 1802, details his removal to Newgate again.1

To pass to a pleasanter subject. The next event in the
year of social importance is the Grand Review of Volunteers
in Hyde Park, on the occasion of the King's 63rd birthday.

The Volunteer movement was not a novelty. The
Yeomanry were enrolled in 1761, and volunteers had
mustered strongly in 1778, on account of the American
War. But the fear of France caused the patriotic breast%to
beat high, and the volunteer rising of 1793 and 1794 may
be taken as the first grand gathering of a civic army.

On this day the largest number ever brigaded together,
some 12,000 men, were to be reviewed by the King in Hyde
Park. The whole city was roused to enthusiasm, and the
Morning Post of the 5th of June speaks of it thus: "A
finer body of men, or of more martial appearance, no country
could produce. While they rivalled, in discipline, troops of
the line; by the fineness of their clothing, and the great
variety of uniform and the richness of appointments, they far
exceeded them in splendour. The great number of beauti-

1 Silver medals in commemoration; of the King's escape were struck by-
order of Sheridan. The Obverse represents Providence protecting the King
from the attempt upon his life, figuratively displayed by a shield and shivered
arrows, portraying tlfe Sovereign's safety ; and encircled are the words "god
save the king." On the Reverse is the British Crown in the centre of a wreath
of laurel, the radiant beams of glory spreading their influence over it, with
the words, "Preserved from Assassination, May 15, 1800 ; " and on the knot
of the wreath, " Give God PraiseHad field died in Bedlam.(1800.) THE VOLUNTEER REVIEW.	"13

/

ful standards and colours—-the patriotic gifts of the most
exalted and distinguished females—and the numerous music,
also contributed much to the brilliancy and diversity of the
scene. It was with mixed emotions of pride and gratitude
that every mind contemplated the martial scene. Viewing
such a body of citizen soldiers, forsaking their business
and their pleasures, ready and capable to meet all danger
in defence of their country—considering, too, that the same
spirit pervades it from end to end, the most timid heart is
filled with confidence. We look back with contempt on
the denunciations of the enemy, 4 which, sown in serpents*
teeth, have arisen for us in armed men/ and we look with
gratitude to our new-created host, which retorted the insult,
and changed the invader into the invaded."

But, alack and well-a-day! to think that all this beautiful
writing should be turned in bathos by the context; and
that this review should be for ever memorable to those who
witnessed it, not on account of the martial ardour which
prompted it, but for the pouring rain which accompanied
it! No language but that of an eye-witness could properly
portray the scene and give us a graphic social picture of
the event.

" So early as four o'clock the drums beat to arms in every
quarter, and various other music summoned the reviewers,
and the reviewed to the field. Even then the clouds were
surcharged with rain, which soon began to fall; but no
unfavourableness of weather could damp the ardour of
even the most delicate of the fair. So early as six o'clock,
all the avenues were crowded with elegantly dressed women
escorted by their beaux ; and the assemblage was so great,
that when the King entered the Park, it was thought advis-
able to shut several of the gates to avoid too much pressure.
The circumstance of the weather, which, fcom the personal
inconvenience it produced, might be considered the most
inauspicious of the day, proved in fact the most favourable
for a display of beauty, for a variety of scene, and number of14

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1800.)

incidents. From the constant rain and the constant motion,
the whole Park could be compared only to a newly ploughed
field. The gates being locked, there was no possibility of
retreating, and there was no shelter but an old tree or an
umbrella. In this situation you might behold an elegant





A V\r

7^
:A,

.,W\^

,V^

u





iV,i





THE LOYAL DUCKING; OR, RETURNING FROM THE REVIEW ON THE
FOURTH OF JUNE, 1800.

woman with a neat yellow slipper, delicate ankle, and white
silk stocking, stepping up to her garter in the mire with as
little dissatisfaction as she would into her coach—there
another making the first faux pas perhaps she ever did,
and seated reluctantly on the moistened clay.(1800.) THE VOLUNTEER REVIEW.

*5

" Here is a whole group assembled under the hospitable
roof of an umbrella, whilst the exterior circle, for • the
advantage of having one shoulder dry, is content to receive
its dripping contents on the other. The antiquated virgin
laments the hour in which, more fearful of a speckle than
a wetting, she preferred the dwarfish parasol to the capacious
umbrella. The lover regrets there is no shady bower to
which he might lead his mistress, ' nothing loath.' Happy
she who, following fast, finds in the crowd a pretence for
closer pressure. Alas ! were there but a few grottos, a few
caverns, how many Didos—how many ^Eneas' ? Such was
the state of the spectators. That of the troops was still
worse—to lay exposed to a pelting rain ; their arms had
changed their mirror-like brilliancy1 to a dirty brown ;
their new clothes lost all their gloss, the smoke of a whole
campaign could not have more discoloured them. Where
the ground was hard they slipped ; where soft, they sunk
up to the knee. The water ran out at their cuffs as from
a spout, and, filling their half-boots, a squash at every step
proclaimed that the Austrian buckets could contain no
-more."

1 The barrels and locks of the muskets of that date were bright and burnished.
Browning the gun-barrels for the army was not introduced till 1808.*• b vo ♦» .rQnru #. ybTtri.	^(nfDV ^GvcT'a.

tif 4f Uf \l# if< \i| if* vtf U/ Uf lit \i/ \i* \i< \ii \i/ vif v<i \t/ \i« v*f J/ \t/	t»/ «|f t«| >«>'

CHAPTER. III.

High price of gold—Scarcity of food—Difference in cost of living 1773-1800—
Forestalling and Regrating—Food riots in the country—Riot in London at
the Corn Market—Forestalling in meat.

THE people were uneasy. Gold was scarce—so
scarce, indeed, that instead of being the normal
£3 17s. 6d. per oz., it had risen to £4 5s., at which
price it was a temptation, almost overpowering, to melt
guineas. Food, too, was scarce and dear ; and, as very few
people starve in silence, riots were the natural consequence.
The Acts against "Forestalling and Regrating"—or, in
other words, anticipating the market, 6r purchasing before
others, in order to raise the price—were put in force. Acts
were also passed giving bounties on the importation of
oats and rye, and also permitting beer to be made from
sugar. The House of Commons had a Committee on the
subject of bread, corn, &c., and they reported on the
scarcity of corn, but of course could not point out any'
practical method of remedying the grievance. The cost of
living, too, had much increased, as will appear from the
following table of expenses of house-keeping between 1773
and 1800, by an inhabitant of Bury St. Edmunds :1

1 Annual Register, vol. xlii. p. 94.(1800.)	. FORESTALLING.	17

	1773-	*793-	1799.	1800.
	£ s. d.	£ s. d.	£' s. d.	£ s. d.
Comb of Malt1 ........................	0 12 0	130	130	200
Chaldron of Coals.....................	1 11 6	206	260	2 11 0
	050	0 13 0	0 16 0	1 1 0
Load of Hay ...........................	220	4 10 0	5 So	700
Meat.......................................	004	005	007	009
Butter ....................................	006	0 0 11	O Oil	014
Sugar (loaf)..............................	008	010	013	014
Soap .......................................	006	008	0 0 9I	0 0 10
Window lights, 30 windows.......	3 10 0	7 10 0	12 12 0	12 12 0
	006	008	0 0	0 0 IO§
Poor's Rates, per quarter............	0 10	026	030	050
Income Tax on £ 200 ...............			20 0 0	20 0 0
	0  00	16 2 8	42 9 4	45 14

(1800.)	. FORESTALLING.	17

With everything advancing at this amazing rate of
progression, it is not to be wondered at that the price of
the staff of life was watched very narrowly, and that if
there were any law by which any one who enhanced it,
artificially, could be punished, he would get full benefit of
it, both from judge and jury. Of this there is an instance
given in the Annual Register, July 4, 1800 :

" This day one Mr. Rusby was tried, in the Court of
King's Bench, on an indictment against him, as an eminent
cornfactor, for having purchased, by sample, on the 8th of
November last, in the Corn Market, Mark Lane, ninety
quarters of oats at 41s. per quarter, and sold thirty of them
again .in the same market, on the same day, at 44s. The
most material testimony on the part of the Crown was
given by Thomas Smith, a partner of the defendant's.
After the evidence had been gone through,, Lord Kenyon
made an address to the jury, who, almost instantly, found
the defendant guilty. Lord Kenyon—f You have con-
ferred, by your yerdict, almost the greatest benefit on your
country that was ever conferred by any jury/ Another in-
dictment against the defendant, for engrossing, stands over.

1 A comb is four bushels, or half a quarter.

318	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1800.)

" Several other indictments for the same alleged crimes
were tried during this year, which we fear tended to
aggravate the evils of scarcity they were meant to obviate,
and no doubt contributed to excite popular tumults, by
rendering a very useful body of men odious in the eyes of
the mob."

As will be seen by the accompanying illustration by
Isaac Cruikshank, the mob did occasionally take the

HINTS TO FORESTALLERS J OR, A SURE WAY TO REDUCE THE
PRICE OF GRAIN.

punishment of forestallers into their own hands. (A case
at Bishop's Clyst, Devon, August, 1800.)

A forestaller is being dragged along by the willing arms
of a crowd of country people ; the surrounding mob cheer,
and an old woman follows, kicking him, and beating him
with the tongs. Some sacks of corn are marked 2$s.
The mob inquire, "How much now, farmer?" "How
much now, you rogue in grain ?" The poor wretch, half-(1800.)	FOOD RIOTS IN LONDON.

19

strangled, calls out piteously, "Oh, pray let me go, and
I'll let you have it at a guinea. Oh, eighteen shillings!
Oh, I'll let you have it at fourteen shillings! "

In August and September several riots, on account of
the scarcity of corn, and the high price of provisions, took
place in Birmingham, Oxford, Nottingham, Coventry,
Norwich, Stamford, Portsmouth, Sheffield, Worcester, and
many other places. The markets were interrupted, and
the populace compelled the farmers, &c., to sell their
provisions, &c., at a low price.

At last these riots extended to London, beginning in a
small way. Late at night on Saturday, September 13th, or
early on Sunday, September 14th, two large written placards
were pasted on the Monument, the text of which was;

"Bread will be sixpence the Quartern if the People will
assemble at the Corn Market on Monday.

Fellow Countrymen,

How long will ye quietly and cowardly suffer yourselves
to be imposed upon, and half starved by a set of mercenary
slaves and Government hirelings ? Can you still suffer
them to proceed in their extensive monopolies, while your
children are crying for bread ? No ! let them exist not a
day longer. We are the sovereignty ; rise then from your
lethargy. Be at the Corn Market on Monday."

Small printed handbills to the same effect were stuck
about poor neighbourhoods, and the chance of a cheap loaf,
or the love of mischief, caused a mob of over a thousand to
assemble in Mark Lane by nine in the morning. An hour
later, and their number was doubled, and then they began
hissing the mealmen, and cornfactors, who were going
into the market. This, however, was too tame, and so they
fell to hustling, and pelting them with mud. Whenever a
Quaker appeared, he was specially selected for outrage, and
rolled in the mud ; and, filling up the time with window20

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1800.)

breaking, the riot became somewhat serious—so much so,
that the Lord Mayor went to Mark Lane about 11 a.m.
with some of his suite. In vain he assured the maddened
crowd that their behaviour could in no way affect the
market. They only yelled at him, " Cheap bread ! Bir-
mingham and Nottingham for ever! Three loaves for
eighteenpence," &c. They even hissed the Lord Mayor,
and smashed the windows close by him. This proved
more than his lordship could bear, so he ordered the Riot
Act to be read. The constables charged the mob, who of
course fled, and the Lord Mayor returned to the Mansion
House.

No sooner had he gone, than the riots began again, and
■ he had to return ; but, during the daytime, the mob was
fairly quiet. It was when the evening fell, that these
unruly spirits again broke out; they routed the constables,
broke the windows of several bakers* shops, and, from one
of them, procured a quantity of faggots. Here the civic
authorities considered that the riot ought to stop, for, if
once the fire fiend was awoke, there was no telling where
the mischief might end.

So the Lord Mayor invoked the aid of the Tower Ward
Volunteers—who had been in readiness all day long, lying
perdu in Fishmongers' Hall—the East India House Volun-
teers, and part of the London Militia. The volunteers
then blocked both ends of Mark Lane, Fenchurch Street,
and Billiter Lane (as it was then called). In vain did
the mob hoot and yell at them; they stood firm until
orders were given them, and then the mob were charged
and dispersed—part down Lombard Street, part down
Fish Street Hill, over London Bridge, into the Borough.
Then peace was once more restored, and the volunteers
went unto their own homes.

True, the City was quiet; but the mob, driven into the
Borough, had not yet slaked their thirst for mischief. N
They broke the windows, not only of a cheesemonger's(i8oo.)

AT MR. RUSBY'S HOUSE.

21

in the Borough, but of a warehouse near the church.
They then went to the house of Mr. Rusby (6, Temple-
Place, Blackfriars Road)—a gentleman of whom we have
heard before, as having been tried, and convicted, for
forestalling and regrating—clamouring for him, but he-
had prudently escaped by the back way into a neighbour's-
house. However, they burst into his house and entered!
the room where Mrs. Rusby was. She begged they would
spare her children, and do as they pleased with the house
and furniture. They assured her they would not hurt the
children, but they searched the house from cellar to garret
in hopes of getting the speculative Mr. Rusby, with the
kindly intention of hanging him in case he was found.
They then broke open some drawers, took out, and tore
some papers, and took away some money, but did not
injure the furniture much. In vain they tried to find out
the address of Mrs. Rusby's partner, and then, having no*
raison d'eti'e for more mischief, they dispersed; after which,
a party of Light Horse, and some of the London Militia,,
came up, only to find a profound quiet. The next day the
riotous population were in a ferment, but were kept in
check by the militia and volunteers.

Whether by reason of fear of the rioters, or from the
fact that the grain markets were really easier, wheat did
fall on that eventful Monday ten and fifteen shillings a
quarter; and, if the following resolutions of the Court of
Aldermen are worth anything, it ought to have fallen still
lower:

"Combe, Mayor.

"A COURT of Lord Mayor and Aldermen held at the
Guildhall of the City of London, on Tuesday, the 16th
of September, 1800.

"Resolved unanimously—That it is the opinion of this
Court, from the best information it has been able to22	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1800.)

procure, that, had not the access to the Corn Market been,
yesterday, impeded, and the transactions therein inter-
rupted, a fall in the price of Wheat and Flour, much more
considerable than that which actually took place, would
have ensued ; and this Court is further of opinion, that no
means can so effectually lead to reduce the present excessive
priccs of the principal articles of food, as the holding out
full security and indemnification to such lawful Dealers as
shall bring their Corn or other commodities to market.
And this Court does therefore express a determination to
suppress, at once, and by force, if it shall unhappily be
necessary, every attempt to impede, by acts of violence, the
regular business of the markets of the Metropolis.

" Rix."

A butcher was tried and convicted at the Clerkenwell
Sessions, September 16th, for "forestalling the market' of
Smithfield on the 6th of March last, by purchasing of Mr.
Eldsworth, a salesman, two cows and an ox, on their way
to the market." His brother was also similarly convicted.
The chairman postponed passing sentence, and stated that
" he believed there were many persons who did not consider,
that, by such a practice, they were offending against the
law; but, on the contrary, imagined that, when an alteration
in the law was made, by the repeal of the old statutes
against forestalling, there was an end of the offence alto-
gether. It had required the authority of a very high legal
character, to declare to the public that the law was not
repealed, though the statutes were." He also intimated
that whenever sentence was passed, it would be the
lightest possible. Still the populace would insist on
pressing these antiquated prosecutions, and an association
was formed to supply funds for that purpose.CHAPTER IV.

Continuation of food riots in London—Inefficiency of Police—Riots still continue—
Attempts to negotiate a Peace—A political meeting on Kennington Common—
Scarcity of corn—Proclamation to restrict its consumption—Census ot the
people.

THE Lord Mayor in vain promulgated a pacific
Proclamation ; the Riots still went on.

" Combe, Mayor.

" Mansion House, Sept. 17, 1800.

" Whereas the peace of this- City has been, within these
few days, very much disturbed by numerous and tumultuous
assemblies of riotous and disorderly people, the magistrates,
determined to preserve the King's peace, and the persons
and property of their fellow-citizens, by every means which
the law has intrusted to their hands, particularly request
the peaceable and well-disposed, inhabitants of this City,
upon the appearance of the military, to keep themselves
away from the windows; to keep all the individuals of
their families, and servants, within doors ; and, where such
opportunities can be taken, to remain in the badk rooms of
their houses.

" By order of his Lordship.

" W. J. Newman, Clerk?

In reading of these Riots we must not forget that the24

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1800.)

civil authorities for keeping the peace were, and had
been, for more than a century previous, utterly inefficient
for their purpose, and the laughing-stock of every one;
added to which, there was a spirit of lawlessness abroad,
ampng the populace, which could hardly exist now-a-
days. The male portion of the Royal Family were fearlessly
lampooned and caricatured, and good-natured jokes were
made even on such august personages as the King and
Queen—the plain, homely manner of the one, and the
avaricious, and somewhat shrewish temper of the other,
were good-humouredly made fun of. The people gave of
their lives, and their substance, to save their country from
the foot of the invader; but they also showed a sturdy
independence of character, undeniably good in itself, but
which was sometimes apt to overpass the bounds of
discretion, and degenerate into license.

- So was it with these food riots. The mob had got an
idea in their heads that there was a class who bought food
cheap, and held it until, they could sell it dear ; and nothing
could disabuse their minds of this, as the following will
show.

On the morning of the 18th of September, not having
the fear of the Lord Mayor before their eyes, the mob
assembled in Chiswell Street, opposite the house of a Mr.
Jones, whose windows they had demolished the previous
night, and directed their attentions to a house opposite, at
the corner of Grub Street, which was occupied by a Mr.
Pizey, a shoemaker, a friend of the said Jones, to accommo-
date whom, he had allowed his cellars to be filled with
barrels of salt pork. These casks were seen by the mob,
and they were immediately magnified into an immense
magazine of butter and cheese, forestalled from the market,
locked up from use, and putrefying in the hands of unfeeling
avarice. Groaning and cursing, the mob began to mutter
that " it would be a d—d good thing to throw some stuff
in and blow up the place." Poor Pizey, alarmed, sent(i8oo.) INEFFICIENCY OF THE POLICE.

25

messengers to the Mansion House, and Worship Street
office : a force of constables was sent, and the mob retired.

At night, however, the same riot began afresh. Meeting
in Bishopsgate Street* they went on their victorious career
up Sun Street, through Finsbury Square, overthrowing the
constables opposed to them, down Barbican into Smithfield,
Saffron Hill, Holborn, and Snow Hills, at the latter of
which they broke two cheesemongers' windows. Then
they visited Fleet Market, breaking and tossing about
everything moveable, smashed the windows of another
cheesemonger, and then turned up Ludgate Hill, when
they began breaking every lamp; thence into Cheapside,
back into Newgate Street, St. Martin's-le-Grand, and
Barbican to Old Street, where they dispersed for the night.
From Ludgate Hill to Barbican, only one lamp was left
burning, and of that the glass was broken. Somehow, in
this night's escapade the military were ever on their track,
but never near them.

• On the 18th of September the King arose in his Majesty,
and issued a proclamation, with a very long preamble,
"strictly commanding and requiring all the Lieutenants of
our Counties, and all our Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs,
and Under-Sheriffs, and all civil officers whatsoever, that
they do take the most effectual means for suppressing all
riots and tumults, and to that end do effectually put in
execution an Act of Parliament made in the first year of
the reign of our late royal ancestor, of glorious memory,
King George the First, entituled 4 An Act for preventing
tumults and riotous assemblies, and for the more speedy
and effectual punishing the rioters,'" &c.

Still, in spite of this terrible fulmination, the rioters
again "made night hideous" on the 19th of September;
but they were not so formidable, nor did they do as much
mischief, as on former occasions. On the 20th they made
Clare Market their rendezvous, marched about somewhat,
had one or two brushes with the St. Clement Danes26	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1800.)

Association, and, finally, retired on the advent of the Horse
Guards. Another mob met in Monmouth Street, the
famous old-clothes repository in St. Giles's, but the
Westminster Volunteers, and cavalry, dispersed them ; and,
the shops shutting very early—much to the discomfiture of
the respectable poor,' as regarded their Saturday night's
marketings—peace once more reigned. London was once
more quiet, and only the rioters who had been captured,
were left to be dealt with by the law. But the people in
the country were not so quickly satisfied ; their wages were
smaller than those of their London brethren, and they
proportionately felt the pinch more acutely. In some
instances they were put down by force, in others the price
of bread was lowered; but it is impossible at this time to
take up a newspaper, and not find some notice of, or allusion
to, a food riot.

The century would die at peace with all men if it could,
and there was a means of communication open with
France, in the person of a M. Otto, resident in this
country as a kind of unofficial agent. The first glimpse
we get of these negotiations, from the papers which were
published on the subject, is in August, 1800; and between
that time, and when the pourparlers came to an end, on
the 9th of November, many were the letters which passed
between Lord Grenville and M. Otto. Peace, however,
was not to be as yet. Napoleon was personally distrusted,
and the French Revolution had been so recent, that the
stability of the French Government was more than doubted.

A demonstration (it never attained the dimensions of a
riot)—this time political and not born of an empty stomach
—took place atKennington on Sunday, the 9th of November.
So-called "inflammatory" handbills had been very generally
distributed about town a day or tivo beforehand, calling a
meeting of mechanics, on Kennington Common, to petition
His Majesty on a redress of grievances.

This actually caused a meeting of the Privy Council, and(i8oo.) MEETING AT KENNING TON.

27

orders were sent to all the police offices, and the different
volunteer corps, to hold themselves in readiness in case of
emergency. The precautions taken, show that the Govern-
ment evidently over-estimated the magnitude of the
demonstration. First of all the Bow Street patrol were
sent, early in the morning, to take up a position at " The
Horns," Kennington, there to wait until the mob began to
assemble, when they were directed to give immediate
notice to the military in the envirqns of London, who were
under arms at nine o'clock. Parties of Bow Street officers
were stationed at different public-houses, all within easy
call.

By and by, about 9 a.m., the conspirators began to
make their appearance on the Common, in scattered
groups of six or seven each, until their number reached a
hundred. Then the police sent round their fiery-cross to
summon aid; and before that could reach them, they
actually tried the venturesome expedient of dispersing the
meeting themselves-—with success. But later—or lazier—
politicians continued to arrive, and the valiant Bow Street
officers, thinking discretion the better part of valour,
retired. When, however, they were reinforced by the
Surrey Yeomanry, they plucked up heart of grace, and
again set out upon their mission of dispersing the meeting
—and again were they successful. In another hour, by 10
a.m., these gallant fellows could breathe again, for there
arrived to their aid the Southwark Volunteers, and the
whole police force from seven offices, together with the
river police.

Then appeared on the scene, ministerial authority in the
shape of one Mr. Ford, from the Treasury, who came
modestly in a hackney coach; and when he arrived, the
constables felt the time was come for them to distinguish
themselves, and two persons, " one much intoxicated,"
were taken into custody, and duly lodged in gaol—and this
glorious intelligence was at once forwarded to the Duke of28

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1800.)

Portland, who then filled the post of Secretary to the
Home Department.

The greatest number of people present at any time was
about five hundred ; and the troops, after having a good
dinner at "The Horns," left for their homes—except a party
of horse which paraded the streets of Lambeth. A terrible
storm of rain terminated this political campaign, in a
manner satisfactory to all; and for this ridiculus mus the
Guards, the Horse Guards, and all the military, regulars or
volunteers, were under arms or in readiness all the forenoon!

I have here given what, perhaps, some may consider undue
prominence to a trifling episode; but it is in these things
that the contrast lies as to the feeling of the people, and
government, in the dawn of the nineteenth century, and in
these latter days of ours. The meeting of a few, to discuss
grievances, and to petition for redress, in the one case is
met with stern, vigorous repression : iri our times a blatant
mob is allowed, nay encouraged, to perambulate the streets,
yelling, they know not what, against the House of Lords,
and the railings of the park are removed, by authority, to
faciliate the progress of these Her Majesty's lieges, and firm
supporters of constitutional liberty.

The scarcity of corn still continued down to the end of
the year. It had been a bad harvest generally throughout
the Continent, and, in spite of the bounty held out for its
importation, but little arrived. The markets of the world
had not then been opened—and among the marvels of our
times, is the large quantity of wheat we import from India,
and Australia. So great was this scarcity, that the King, irr
his paternal wisdom, issued a proclamation (December 3rd)
exhorting all persons who had the means of procuring
other food than corn, to use the strictest economy in the
use of every kind of grain, abstaining from pastry, reducing
the consumption of bread in their respective families at
least one-third, and upon no account to allow it "to exceed
one quartern loaf for each person in each week;" and also(i8oo.)

THE FIRST CENSUS,

29

all persons keeping horses, especially those for pleasure, to
restrict their consumption of grain, as far as circumstances
would admit.

If this proclamation had been honestly acted up to,
doubtless it would have effected some relief; which was
sorely needed, when we see that the average prices of corn
and bread throughout the country were—

Wheat per qr. Barley per qr. Oats per qr. Quartern loaf.

113s.	60s.	41s.	IS. 9d.

And, looking at the difference in value of money then, and
now, we must add at least 50 per cent., which would make
the average price of the quartern loaf 2s. 7^d.!—and, really,
at the end of the year, wheat was 133s. per quarter, bread
is. ioj^d. per quartern.

Three per (Jent. Consols were quoted, on January 1,1800,
at 60 ; on January 1, 180.1, they stood at 54. •

A fitting close to the century was found in a Census of
the people. On the 19th of November Mr. Abbot brought
a Bill into Parliament "to ascertain the population of Great
Britain." He pointed out the extreme ignorance which
prevailed on this subject, and stated "that the best opinions
of modern times, and each of them highly respectable,
estimate our present numbers, according to one statement,
at 8,000,000; and according to other statements—formed on
more extensive investigation and, as it appears to me, a
more correct train of reasoning, showing an increase of
one-third in the last forty years—the total number cannot
be less than 11,000,000."

This, the first real census eve*! taken of the United
Kingdom, was not, of course, as exhaustive and trustworthy,
as those decennial visitations we now experience. Mr.
Abbot's plan was crude, and the results must of necessity
have been merely approximate. He said, "All that will be
necessary will be to pass a short Act, requiring the resident
clergy and parish officers, in every parish and township, toTHE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1800.)

answer some few plain questions, perhaps four or five, easy
to be understood, and easy to be executed, which should
be specified in a schedule to the Act, and to return their
answers to the clerk of the Parliament, for the inspection
of both Houses of Parliament. From such materials it
will be easy (following the precedent of 1787) to form an
abstract exhibiting the result of the whole."

When the numbers, crudely gathered as they were, were
published, they showed how fallacious was the prediction
as to figures.

England and Wales ......... 8,892,536

Scotland ... ... ... ... 1,608,420
Ireland	... ... ... ... 5,216,331

Total ... 15,717,287*

One thing more was necessary before the dying giant
expired, and that was to rectify the chronology of the
century.2 " From the 1st day of March last there has
been a difference of twelve days between the old and new
style, instead of eleven as formerly, in consequence of the
regulations of the Act passed in 1752, according to which

1	G„ Fr. Kolb, 44 The Condition of Nations," &c.

2	W. Toone, "The Chronological Historian.'—[When the Julian Calendar
was introduced, the Vernal Equinox fell on the 25th of March. At the time
of the Council of Nice, A.D. 325, it had retrograded to the 21st of March ;
and when the reformation was made in 1582, to the nth of March. Pope
Gregory XIII., to restore it to its place, directed ten days to be suppressed
in the calendar; and as the use of the Julian intercalation was found to be
three days in 400 years, he ordered the intercalation to be omitted in all the
centenary years except those which were multiples of 400. According to
Gregorian rule, therefore, every year of which the number is divisible by
four, without a remainder, is a leap year, excepting the centenary years,
which are only leap years when divisible by four, on suppressing the units
and tens. Thus—

l6foo) is a leap year.

17(00), 18(00), 19(00), are not leap years.

20(00) is a leap year.

The shifting of days caused great disturbance in festivals dependent on Easter.
Pope Gregory, in 1582, ordered the 5th of October to be called 15th of
October ; the Lovy Countries made 15th of December 25th of December.
Spain, Portugal, and part of Italy, accepted the Gregorian change, but theCHRONOLOGY RECTIFIED.	31

the year 1800 was only to be accounted a common year,
and not a leap year; therefore old Lady-day was the 6th
of April, old May-day 13th May, old Midsummer-day
6th July, old Lammas 13th August, old Michaelmas-day
nth October, &c., and so to continue for one hundred
years."

Protestant countries and communities resisted up to 1700. In England the
ten days' difference had increased to eleven days, and the Act of 24 Geo. II.
was passed to equalize the style in Great Britain and Ireland to the method
now in use in all Christian countries, except Russia. In England, Wednesday,
September 2, 1752, was followed by Thursday the 14th of September, and the
New Style date of Easter-day came into use in 1753.—Note by John Westby
Gibson, Esq., LL.D.]

Draw the Curtains—the Old Century
is Dead.<»*r >«Sr nip Air tir t®f> tlr <i3r t®t* tSt tXt tlr nSr tip iir tSf< <tSr W8f« «*f <**r tlr tip

seses5sBSSsS9§se^9Bs§se9S^®9e2es§sBsese§e9B

CHAPTER V.

1801.

The Union with Ireland—Proclamations thereon—Alteration of Great Seal—Irish
Member called to order (footnote)—Discovery of the Planet Ceres—Proclama-
tion of General Fast—High price of meat, and prosperity of the farmers—
Suffering of the French prisoners—Political dissatisfaction—-John Home
Tooke—Feeding the French prisoners—Negotiations for Peace—Signing pre-
liminaries—Illuminations—Methods of making the news known—Ratification
of preliminaries—Treatment of General Lauristonby the mob—More Illuminar
tions—Manifestation of joy at Falmouth—Lord Mayor's banquet.

" TT E Roi est mort. Vive le Roi." Ring the bells
I ' to welcome the baby Nineteenth Century, who
A J is destined to utterly eclipse in renown all his
ancestors.

Was it for good, or was it for evil, that its first act should
be that of the Union with Ireland ? It was compulsory,
for it was a legacy bequeathed it. There were no national
rejoicings. The new Standard was hoisted at the Tower,
and at St. James's, the new "Union" being flown from
St. Martin's steeple, and the Horse Guards; and, after
the King and Privy Council had concluded the official
recognition of the fact, both the Park and Tower guns
fired a salute. The ceremonial had the merit, at least, of
simplicity.

A long Royal Proclamation was issued, the principal
points of which were: " We appoint and declare that our(i8oi.) ALTERATION OF GREAT SEAL.

33

Royal Stile and Titles shall henceforth be accepted, taken,
and used, as the same are set forth in manner and form
following; that is to say, the same shall be expressed in
the Latin tongue by these words, / GEORGIUS TER-
TIUS,, Dei Gratia, Britanniarum Rex, Fidei Defensor!
And in the English tongue by these words, 4 GEORGE
the THIRD, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith/
And that the Arms or ensigns armorial of the said United
Kingdom shall be quarterly—first and fourth, England ;
second, Scotland ; third, Ireland; and it is our will and
pleasure, that there shall be borne therewith, on an
escocheon of pretence, the Arms of our dominions in
Germany, ensigned with the Electoral bonnet. And it is
our will and pleasure that the Standard of the said United
Kingdom shall be the same quartering as are herein before
declared to be the arms or ensigns armorial of the said
United Kingdom, with the escocheon of pretence thereon,
herein before described : and that the Union flag shall be
azure, the Crosses-salt ires of S,t. Andrew and St. Patrick
quarterly per saltire counfHxhafged argent and gule.s ; the
latter fimbriated of the second ; surmounted by the Cross
of St. George of the third, fimbriated as the saltire." There
is a curious memorial of these arms to be seen in a stained-
glass window in the church of St. Edmund, King and
Martyr, Lombard Street, which window was put up as a
memento of the Union. In the above arms it is to be
noticed that the fleur de lys, so long used as being typical
of our former rule in France, is omitted. A new Great
Seal was also made—the old one being defaced.1 On

1 The Great Seal in use in 1800, was the fifth made during the reign of
•George III. Its Obverse was the King, in Roman costume, with flying
mantle, on horseback, facing left hand. In his right hand he holds a marshal's
baton. Legend—both Obv. and Rev. " Georgius III. D.G. BRIT. FR.
REX. F.D, BRVNS. ET. LVN. DVX. S.R.I.A.T. ET. PR. ELECT.
ETC." The Reverse has the King royally robed and crowned, seated on a
Ihrone, on the back of which is emblazoned the Royal arms. He holds the
sceptre in his right, the orb in his Left hand. He is surrounded by allegorical

434

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

(1S01.)

January i, i8oi,the King issued ^ proclamation for holding
the first Parliament under the \ Union, declaring that it
should "on the said twenty-second day of January, one
thousand, eight hundred and one,jbe holden, and sit for the
dispatch of divers weighty and important affairs."

On the 1st of January, also, \yas a proclamation issued,
altering the Prayer-book to suit the change, and, as some
readers would like to know these alterations, I give them.

" In the Book of Common Prayer, Title Page, instead
of * The Church of England/ put 4 of the United Church
of England and Ireland/

"Prayer for the High Court of Parliament, instead of
Our Sovereign, and his Kingdoms,' read 'and- his Do-
minions.'

" The first Prayer to be used at sea, instead of 4 His
Kingdoms,' read 4 His Dominions.'

"In the form and manner of making, ordaining, and
consecrating of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, instead ot
the order 'of the Church of England,' read 4of the United
Church of England and Ireland.'

" In the preface of the said form, in two places, instead
of ' Church of England,' read ' in the United Church of
England and Ireland.'

" In the first question in the Ordination of Priests,
ftistead of 4 Church of England,' read ' of this United
Church of England and Ireland.'

" In the Occasional Offices, 25th of October, the King's
accession, instead of4 these realms,' read ' this realm.'

"In the Collect, before the Epistle, instead of 'these
Kingdoms,' read ' this United Kingdom.' -

figures. On his right (heraldically) stand Hercules, typical of Power, Minerva,
of Wisdom, and Justice with sword and scales ; on his left are Britannia with
spear, shield, and palm branch, and a female, figurative of piety, carrying the
model of a church. The Seal of 1801 is identical, except that Britannianum
is substituted for Brit., and Fr. is left out. Also in the Royal arms on the
throne, the French jleur de lys is omitted, and the harp of Ireland is introduced.
It is worthy of note, that the medallist has omitted the Cross of St. Patrick in.
Britannia's shisld, although proclaimed.(i8or.) PROSPERITY OF FARMERS.

35

" For the Preachers, instead of ' King of Great Britain,
France, and Ireland/ say,' King of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland/ "

The Union gave seats in the Imperial Parliament to one
hundred commoners, twenty-eight temporal peers, who
were elected for life, and four bishops representing the
clergy, taking their places in rotation.1

The heavens marked the advent of the New Century
by the discovery, by the Italian astronomer Piazzi, of the
Planet Ceres on the ist of January; and, to begin the year
in a proper and pious manner, a proclamation was issued
that a general fast was to be observed in England and
Ireland,- on the 13th, and in Scotland, on the 12th of
February.

The cry of scarcity of food still continued ; wheat was
mounting higher and higher in price. In January it was
137s. a quarter, and it rose still higher. The farmers
must have had a good time of it, as the Earl of Warwick
declared in Parliament (November 14, 1800), they were
making 200 per cent, profit. " Those who demanded
upwards of 20s. a bushel for their corn, candidly owned
that they would be contented with 10s. provided other
farmers would bring down their priccs to that standard."
And again (17th of November) he said: "He should still
contend that the gains of the farmer were enormous, and
must repeat his wish, that some measure might be adopted
to compel him to bring , his corn to market, and to be
contented with a moderate profit. He wondered not at
the extravagant style of living of some of the farmers, who
could, afford to play guinea whist, and were not contented

1 There is verily " nothing new under the sun." On January 22nd, the
first Parliament of the United Kingdom met. Addington was chosen Speaker,
and members were sworn in. On the 2nd of February the King opened tfye
Session with a speech, and on the very next day, 3rd of February, an Irish
member was twice called to order by the Speaker. He was a Mr. Martin of
Galway, a gentleman who afterwards complained of his speech being reported
in italics, and plaintively asked, " Mr. Speaker, did I speak in italics ?'36	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1801.)

with drinking wine only, but even mixed brandy with it;
on farms from which they derived so much profit, they
could afford to leave one-third of the lands they rented
wholly uncultivated, the other two-thirds yielding them
sufficient gain to support all their lavish expenditure."

Still the prosperity of the farmer must have been poor
consolation to those who were paying at the rate of our
half-crown for a quartern loaf, so that it is no wonder that
the authorities were obliged to step in, and decree that
from January 31, 1801, the sale of fine whedten bread
should be forbidden, and none used but that which con-
tained the bran, or, as we should term it, brown, or whole
meal, bread.

The poor French prisoners, of course, suffered, and were
in a most deplorable condition, more especially because
the French Government refused to supply them with
clothes. They had not even the excuse that they clothed
their English prisoners, for our Government looked well
after them in that matter, however much they may have
suffered in other ways.

On the 18th of February Pitt opened his budget, and as
an increase was needed of over a million and three quarters,
owing to the war, and interest of loan, new taxes were pro-
posed as follows :

£

Ten per cent, on all Teas over 2s. 6d. per lb., which would

probably produce 30,000
Doubling the tax on Paper except Paper-hangings and
glazed Paper

Drawback on the export of CalicQes to be taken off, and an

extra duty of one penny imposed
Increase of one-third on the tax on Timber, Staves; and
Deals

Sixpence per lb. export duty, and threepence per lb. on

home consumption to be levied on Pepper
Twenty pence per cwt. extra on Sugar
A duty on Raisins
do. on Lead

Ten shillings per pleasure Horse if only one were kept, arid

an additional ten for each horse so kept
Horses used in agriculture 4s. each
Increase of stamp duty on Bills and Notes

130,000

155,000

95,000

119,000
166,000
10,000
120,000

170,000
136,000
112,000(1801.) POLITICAL DISSATISFACTION.

37

Double stamp on Marine Insurance Policies
An additional duty on deeds of Conveyance
Modified Postal arrangements
The Penny Post to be Twopence
Other modifications of the Post-office

probably produce 145,000

•93,ooo
80,000
17,000

53>ooo

There had been political dissatisfactions for some time
past, which was dignified with the name of sedition, but
the malcontents were lightly dealt with. On the 2nd of
March those who had been confined in the Tower and
Tothill Fields were liberated on their own recognizances
except four—Colonel Despard, Le Maitre, Galloway, and
Hodgson, who, being refused an unconditional discharge,
preferred to pose as martyrs, and were committed to Tot-
hill Fields. Of Colonel Despard we shall have more to say
further on. Vinegar Hill had not been forgotten in Ireland,
and sedition, although smothered, was still alight, so that
an Act had to be introduced, prolonging the suspension of
the Habeas Corpus Act in that kingdom.

In this year, too, was brought in a Bill which became lawr
preventing clergymen in holy orders from sitting in the
House of Commons. This was brought about by the
election (this sessions) of the Rev. John Home Tooke for
Old Sarum, a rotten borough, which in 1832 was disfran-
chised, as it returned two members, and did not have very
many more voters. Tooke had been a partizan of Wilkes,
and belonged, as we should now term it, to the Radical party,
a fact which may probably have had something to do with
the introduction of the Bill, as there undoubtedly existed
an undercurrent of dissatisfaction, which was called sedi-
tion. Doubtless societies of the disaffected existed, and a
secret commission, which sat for the purpose of exposing
them, reported, on the 27th of April, that an association for
seditious purposes had been formed under the title of
United Britons, the members whereof were to be admitted
by a test.

The question of feeding the French prisoners of
war again turned up, and as it was not well understood,38	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1S01.)

the Morning Post, 1st of September, 1801, thus explains
matters: " Much abuse is thrown out against the French
Government for not providing for the French prisoners in
this country. We do not mean to justify its conduct; but
the < public should be informed how the question really
stands. It is the practice of all civilized nations to feed
the prisoners they take. Of course the French prisoners
were kept at the expense of the English Government till,
a few years ago, reports were circulated of their being
starved and ill-treated. The French Government, in hopes
of stigmatizing the English Ministry as guilty of such an
enormous offence, offered to feed the French prisoners here
at its own expense; a proposal, which was readily accepted,
as it saved much money to this country; but the French
Government has since discontinued its supplies, and thus
paid a compliment to our humanity at the expense of our
purse. In doing this, however, France has only reverted to
the established practice of war, and all the abuse of the
Treasury journals for withholding the supplies to the
French prisoners, only betrays a gross ignorance of the
subject."

Of their number, the Morning Post, 16th of October,
i3oi, says, "The French prisoners in this country at pre-
sent amount to upwards of 20,000, and they are all effective
men, the sick having been sent home from time to time as
they fell ill. Of these 20,000 men, nine out of ten are able-
bodied seamen ; they are the best sailors of France, the
most daring and enterprising, who have been mostly em-
ployed in privateers and small cruisers." Some of them
had been confined at Portsmouth for eight years!

M. Otto, in spite of the rebuff he had experienced, the
former negotiations for peace having been broken off, was
still in London, where he acted as Commissary for exchange
of prisoners. Napoleon was making treaties of peace all
round, and, if it were to be gained in an honourable man-
ner, it would be good also for England. So Lord Hawkes-(i8oi.)

NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE.

o9

bury, who was then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,
entered into communication with M. Otto, on the 21st of
March, signifying the King's desire to enter into negotiations
for peace, and they went on' all the summer. Of course all
did not,go smoothly, especially with regard to the liberty
of the English press, which Napoleon cordially hated, and
wished to see repressed and fettered; but this, Lord Hawkes-
bury either would not, or dared not, agree to. The public
pulse was kept in a flutter , by the exchange of couriers
between England and France, and many were the false
rumours which caused the Stocks to fluctuate. Even a
few days before the Preliminaries were signed, a most au-
thentic report was afloat that all negotiations were broken
off; so we may imagine the universal joy when it was pro-
claimed as an authentic fact.

It fairly took the Ministry by surprise when, on Wednes-
day, the 30th of September, an answer was received from
Napoleon, accepting the English proposals. Previously,
the situation had been very graphically, if not very politely,
described in a caricature by Roberts, called " Negotiation
-See-saw," where Napoleon and John Bull were represented
as playing at that game, seated on a plank labelled," Peace
or War." Napoleon expatiates 011 the fortunes of the game:
"There, Johnny, now I'm down, and you are up; then I go
up, and you go down, Johnny ; so we go on." John Bull's
appreciation of the humour of the sport is not so keen ; he
growls, " I wish you would settle it one way or other, for if
you keep bumping me up and down in this manner, I sfcall
be ruined in Diachilem Plaster."

But when the notification of acceptance did arrive, very
little time was lost in clinching the agreement. A Cabinet
Council was held, and an express sent off to the King,
whose sanction returned next afternoon. The silver box,
which had never been used since the signature of peace
with America, was sent to the Lord Chancellor at 5 p.m. for
the Great Seal, and his signature; and, the consent of the4°

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1801.)

other Cabinet Ministers being obtained, at 7 p.m. Lord
Hawkesbury and M. Otto signed the Preliminaries of Peace
in Downing Street, and his lordship at once despatched
the following letter, which must have gladdened the hearts
of the citizens, to the Lord Mayor.

"to the right honourable the lord mayor.

" Downing Street, Oct. 1, 1801, at night.

" My Lord,

"I have great satisfaction in informing your Lord-
ship that Preliminaries of Peace between Great Britain and
France have been signed this evening by myself, on the
part of His Majesty, and by M. Otto, on the part of the
French Government. I request your Lordship will have
the goodness to make this intelligence immediately public
in the City.

" I have the honour to. be, &c.,

" {Signed) hawkesbury."

The Lord Mayor was not at the Mansion House, and
the messenger ha,d to proceed to his private house at
Clapham. His lordship returned to town, and by nine
o'clock the good news was known all over London. The
Lord Mayor read the letter at the Stock Exchange, and
also at Lloyd's Coffee House, at the bar of which it was
afterwards posted ; for Lloyd's was then a great power in
the City, from which all public acts, subscriptions, &c.,
emanated, as was indeed but right, as it was the assembly
which embraced all the rich and influential merchants.

Among this class all was joy, and smiles, and shaking of
hands. The Three per Cents., which only the previous day
were at 59j^, rose to 66, and Omnium, which had been at
8, rose to 18.

The news came so suddenly, that the illuminations on
the night of the 2nd of October were but very partial.
We, who are accustomed to brilliant devices in gas, with(i8oi.)

PEACE.

4i

coruscating crystal stars, and transparencies, would smile
at the illuminations of those days. They generally took
the shape of a wooden triangle in each window-pane, on
which were stuck tallow candles, perpetually requiring
snuffing, and guttering with every draught; or, otherwise, a
black-painted board with a few coloured oil-lamps arranged
in the form of a crown, with G. R. on either side.

As is observed in the Morning Post of the 3rd
October, 1884: "The sensation produced yesterday among
the populace was nothing equal to what might have been
expected. The capture of half a dozen men-of-war, or
the conquest of a colony, would have been marked with a
stronger demonstration of joy. The illumination, so far
from being general, was principally confined to a few_
streets—the Strand, the Haymarket, Pall Mall, and Fleet
Street. In the last the Globe Tavern was lighted up at
an early hour, with the word Peace in coloured lamps.
This attracted a considerable mob, which filled the street
before the door. It was apprehended that they would
immediately set out on their tour through the whole town,
and enforce an universal illumination. This induced a few
of the bye-streets to follow the example, but nothing
more. There were several groups of people, but no crowd,
in the neighbourhood of Temple Bar. The other streets,
even those that were illuminated, were not more frequented
than usual. St. James's Street, Bond Street, and the west
part of the town ; east of St. Paul's, together with Holborn,
and the north part, did not illuminate. Several flags were
hoisted in the course of the day, and the bells of all the
churches were set a-ringing."

To us, who are accustomed to have our news reeled out
on paper tapes hot and hot from the telegraph, or to con-
verse with each other, by means of the telephone, many miles
apart, the method used to disseminate the news of the
peace throughout the country, seems to be very primitive, and
yet no better, nor quicker mode, could have been devised42

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1801.)

in those days. The mail coaches were placarded PEACE
WITH FRANCE in large capitals, and the drivers all wore
a sprig of laurel, as an emblem of peace, in their hats.

The Preliminaries of Peace were ratified in Paris on the
5th of October, but General Lauriston, who was to be the
bearer of this important document, did not set out from
Paris until the evening of the 7th, having been kept waiting
until a magnificent gold box, as a fitting shrine for so
precious a relic, was finished; and he did not land at Dover
until Friday evening, the 9th of October, about 9 p.m.
He stayed a brief time at the City of London Inn, Dover,
to rest and refresh himself, sending forward a courier,
magnificently attired in scarlet and gold, to order horses
on the road, and to apprise M. Otto of his arrival. He
soon followed in a carriage, with the horses and driver
bedecked with blue ribands, on which was the word PEACE.
Of course the mob surrounded him, and cheered and yelled
as if mad—indeed they must have been, for they actually
shouted " Long live Bonaparte! " At M. Otto's house, the
general was joined by that gentleman, who was to accom-
pany him to Reddish's Hotel, in Bond Street. In Oxford
Street, however, the mob took the horses out of his carriage,
and drew him to the hotel, rending the air with shouts of
joy ; some amongst them even mounting a tricoloured
cockade. From the hotel window General Lauriston
scattered a handful of guineas among his friends, the mob,
who afterwards, when he went to Lord Hawkesbury's
office, once more took out the horses, and dragged him
from St. James's Square to Downing Street.

At half-past two the Park guns boomed forth the welcome
news, and at three the Tower guns proclaimed the fact to
the dwellers in the City, and the East end of. London.

It was in vain that the general's carriage was taken
round to a back entrance ; the populace were not to be
baulked of their amusement, and, on his coming out, the
horses were once more detached, men took their places,(i8oi.)

ILL UMIN A TIONS.

43

and he was dragged as far as the Admiralty. Here he
remained some time, and was escorted to his carriage by
Earl St. Vincent. Said he to the mob,44 Gentlemen ! gen-
tlemen !" (three huzzas for Earl St. Vincent) " I request of
you to be careful, and not overturn the carriage." The popu-
lace assured his lordship they would be careful of, and
respectful to, the strangers; and away they dragged the
carriage, with shouts, through St. James's Park, round the
Palace, by the Stable-yard, making the old place ring with
their yells, finally landing the general uninjured at his hotel.

At night the illuminations were very fine, and there were
many transparencies, one or two of which were, to say the
least, peculiar. One in Pall Mall had a flying Cupid
holding a miniature of Napoleon, with a scroll under-
neath, " Peace and Happiness to Great Britain." Another
opposite M. Otto's house, in Hereford Street, Oxford Street,
had a transparency of Bonaparte, with the legend, "Saviour
of the Universe." Guildhall displayed in front, a crown and
G. R., with a small transparency representing a dove, sur-
rounded with olive. The Post Office had over 6,000 lamps.
The India House was brilliant with some 1,700 lamps,
besides G. R. and a large peace. The Mansion House
looked very gloomy. G. R. was in the centre, but one
half of the R was broken. The pillars were wreathed with
lamps. The Bank only had a double row of candles in front.

Squibs, rockets, and pistols were let off in the streets,
and the noise would probably have continued all night, had
not a terrible thunder-storm cleared the streets about 11 p.m.

On the 12th, the illuminations were repeated with even
more brilliancy, and all went off well. One effect of the
peace, which could not fail to be gratifying to all, was the fact,
that wheat fell, next market day, some 10s. to 14s. per quarter.

The popular demonstrations of joy occasionally took
odd forms, for it is recorded that at Falmouth, not only
the horses, but the cows, calves, and asses were decorated
with ribands, in celebration of the peace; and a publican44

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1801.)

at Lambeth, who had made a vow that whenever pcace
was made, he would give away all the beer in his cellar,
actually did so on the 13th of October.

As was but natural, the Lord Mayor's installation, on the
gtji of November, had a peculiar significance. The Show
was not out of the way, at least nothing singular about it
is recorded, except the appearance of a knight in armour
with his page at the corner of Bride Lane, Bridge Street,
had anything to do with it ; probably he was only an
amateur, as he does not seem to have joined the procession.
In the Guildhall was a transparency of Peace surrounded
by four figures, typical of the four quarters of the globe
returning their acknowledgments for the blessings showered
upon them. There were other emblematic transparencies,
but the contemporary art critic does not speak very favour-
ably of them. M. Otto and his wife, an American born at
Philadelphia, were the guests of the evening, even more than
the Lord Chancellor, and the usual ministerial following.

Bread varied in this year from is. 9j^d. on the 1st of
January to is. io^d. on the 5th of March, io^a. on the
12th of November, and is. oj^d. 011 the 31st of December.
Anent the scarcity of wheat at the commencement of the
year, there is a singular item to be found in the " Account
of Moneys advanced for Public Services from the Civil
List (not being part of the ordinary expenditure of the
Civil List)," of a " grant of ^500 to Thomas Toden, Esq.,
towards enabling him to prosecute a discovery made by
him, of a paste as a substitute for wheat flour."

Wheat was on January 1st, 137s. per quarter; it reached
153s. in March; and left off on the 3,1st of December at 68s.

The Three per Cents, varied from 54 on the 1st of January,,
to 68 on the 31st of December.00309030303090000030000000000000OOOOOOO

CHAPTER VI
1802.

Disarmament and retrenchment—Cheaper provisions—King applied to Parliament
to pay his debts—The Prince of Wales claimed the revenues of the Duchy of
Cornwall—Parliament pays the King's debts—Abolition of the Income Tax-
Signature of the Treaty of Amiens—Conditions of the Treaty—Rush of the
English to France—Visit of C. J. Fox to Napoleon—Liberation of the French
prisoners of war.

THE year 1802 opened somewhat dully, or, rather,
with a want of sensational news. Disarmament, and
retrenchment, were being carried out with a swift-
ness that seemed somewhat incautious, and premature.
But the people had been sorely taxed, and it was but fit-
ting that the burden should be removed at the earliest
opportunity.

Provisions fell to something like a normal price, directly
' the Preliminaries of Peace were signed, and a large trade
in all sorts of eatables was soon organized with France,
where prices ruled much lower than at home. All kinds
of poultry and pigs, although neither were in prime condi-
tion, could be imported at a much lower rate than they
could be obtained from the country.

Woodward gives an amusing sketch of John Bull46	THE NINTEENTH CENTURY. (1802.;

enjoying the good things of this life, on a scale, and at a
cost, to which he had long been a stranger.

On the 10th of February the Right Hon. Charles Abbot,
afterwards Lord Colchester, was elected Speaker to the
House of Commons, in the room of the Right Hon. John
Nutford, who had accepted the position of Chancellor of

Thais r,Sht my Uds-Jy it way
feace and flenly

'j Jtr lain
fir gver

JOHN BULL AND HIS FRIENDS COMMEMORATING TIIE PEACE.

Ireland; and, on the 15th of February, Mr. Chancellor
Addington presented the following message from the
King:

" George R.

" His Majesty feels great concern in acquainting the
House of Commons that the provision made by Parlia-(1802.) REPEAL OF THE INCOME TAX.	47

ment for defraying the expenses of his household, and civil
government, has been found inadequate to their support.
A considerable debt has, in consequence, been unavoidably
incurred, an account of which he has ordered to be laid
before this House. His Majesty relies with confidence on
the zeal and affection of his faithful Commons, that they
will take the same into their early consideration, and adopt
such measures as the circumstances may appear to them to
require.

"G. R."

This message was referred to a Committee of Supply,
and, at the same time, the Prince of Wales, not to be
behind his father, made a claim for the amount of the
revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall received during his
minority, and applied to the use of the Civil List. The
King had "overrun the constable" at an alarming rate.
He only wanted about a million sterling, and this state of
indebtedness was attributed to many causes. The dearness
of provisions, &c., during the last three years; the extra
expenses caused by the younger princes and princesses
growing up, which ran the Queen into debt; the marriage
of the Prince of Wales, the support of the Princess
Charlotte, pensions to late ministers to foreign courts, &c.
In the long run John Bull put his hands in his pockets,
and paid the bill, ^"990,053—all which had been contracted
since the passing of Burke's Bill on the subject, and exclu-
sive of the sums paid in 1784 and 1786. The Prince of
Wales was not so lucky with his application at this time.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer could not stand two
heavy pulls upon his purse.

Well, as a sop, John got rid of the Income Tax. Like
the " Old Man of the Sea," which we have to carry on our
shoulders, it was originally proposed as a war tax ; but,
unlike ours, faith was kept with the people, and, with
the cessation of the war, the tax died. A very amusing48

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

(1802.)

satirical print, given here, is by Woodward, and shows the
departure of the Income Tax, who is flying away, saying,
" Farewell, Johnny—remember me!" John Bull,-relieved
of his presence, grbwls out: "Yes, d—n thee; I have reason
to remember thee ; but good-bye. So thou'rt off; I don't
care; go where thou 1 wilt, thou'lt be a plague in the land
thou lightest on."

JOHN BULL AND HIS FAMILY TAKING LEAVE OF THE INCOME TAX.

The negotiations for peace hung fire for a long time.
Preliminaries were ratified, as we have seen, in October,
but the old year died, and the new year was born, and still
no sign to the public that the peace was a real fact; they
could only see that a large French armament had been sent
to the West Indies; nor was it until the 29th of March, that
the citizens of London heard the joyful news, from the
following letter to the Lord Mayor:

" Downing Street, March 29, 1802.

"My Lord,

"Mr. Moore, assistant secretary to Marquis
Cornwallis, has just arrived with the definite treaty of■<I802.)	CONDITIONS OF PEACE.

49

peace, which was signed at Amiens, on the 27th of this
months by His Majesty's plenipotentiary, and the plenipo-
tentiaries of France, Spain, and the Batavian Republic.1
" I have the honour, &c.,

" Hawkesbury."

It must have been a great relief to the public mind, as
the armistice was a somewhat expensive arrangement,
costing, it is said, a million sterling per week! One of the
causes, said to be the principal, of the delay in coming to
an understanding, was the question respecting the payment
of the expenses, incurred by our Government, for the main-
tenance of the French prisoners of war. They amounted
to upwards of two millions sterling, and a proposal was
made by England, but rejected on the part of the French,
to accept the island of Tobago as an equivalent. It was
afterwards left to be paid as quickly as convenient. There
were no regular illuminations on the arrival of this news,
but of course many patriotic individuals vented their
feelings in oil lamps, candles, and transparencies.

But what were the conditions of this Peace? The
English restored " to the French Republic and its Allies,
viz., His Catholic Majesty, and the Batavian Republic, all
the possessions, and colonies, which respectively belonged
to them, and which have been either occupied, or conquered,
by the British forces during the course of the present war,
with the exception of the island of Trinidad, and of the
Dutch possessions in the island of Ceylon."

" The Port of the Cape of Good Hope remains to the
Batavian Republic in full sovereignty, in the same manner
as it did previous to the war. The ships of every kind
belonging to the other contracting parties, shall be allowed
to enter the said port, and there to purchase what provi-
sions they may stand in need of, as heretofore, without

1 Signed by the Marquis Cornwallis for England, Joseph Bonaparte for
France, Azara for Spain, and Schiirrmelpenninck for Holland.

550	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1802.)

being liable to pay any other imports than such as the
Batavian Republic compels the ships of its own nation to
pay."

A portion of Portuguese Guiana was ceded to the French
in order to rectify the boundaries; the territories, posses-
sions, and rights of the Sublime Porte were to be maintained
as formerly.

The islands of Malta, Goza, and Comino were to be
restored to the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and the
forces of His Britannic Majesty were to evacuate Malta,
and its dependencies, within three months of the exchange
of the ratifications, or sooner, if possible. Half the garrison
should be Maltese, and the other half (2,000 men) should
tefsfnished, for a time, by the King of Naples ; and France,
Great Britain, Austria, Spain, Russia, and Prussia were the
guarantors of its independence.

The French troops were to evacuate the kingdom of
Naples, and the Roman States, and the English troops were
to evacuate Porto Ferrajo, and all the ports, and islands
they occupied in the Mediterranean, and the Adriatic.

The Prince of Orange was to have adequate compen-
sation for the losses suffered by him in Holland, in
consequence of the revolution ; and persons accused of
murder, forgery, or fraudulent bankruptcy, were to be
given up to their respective Powers, on demand, accom-
panied by proof.

This, then, was the Treaty of Amiens, in which France
certainly came best off; and so the popular voice seemed
to think, although thankful for any cessation of the
constant drain of men and treasure, combined with priva-
tions at home, and loss of trade.

A satirical print by Ansell, clearly shows this feeling.

Peace greets John Bull with—"Here I am, Johnny„
arrived at last! Like to have been lost at sea ; poles of the
chaise broke at Dover, springs of the next chaise gave way
.at Canterbury, and one of the horses fell, and overturned(1802.)

THE TREATY OF AMIENS.

5*

the other chaise at Dartford. Ah, Johnny! I wonder we
have ever arrived at all." John Bull replies, "Odds
nrggins !!! Why, is that you? have I been waiting all
this time to be blessed with such a poor ugly crippled
piece ? ^nd all you have with you is a quid of tobacco and
some allspice." Mrs. Bull asks her husband, "Why, John,
be this she you have been talking so much about ? "

There was a wild rush of English over to France, and
the French returned the compliment, but not in the same

LONG-EXPECTED COME AT LAST; OR, JOHN BULL DISAPPOINTED AT I1IS
CRIPPLED VISITOR.

ratio ; the Continental stomach having then, the same
antipathy to the passage of the Channel, as now. Still
there was an attempt at an entente cordiale, which was well
exemplified by a contemporary artist (unknown), in a picture
called " A Peaceable Pipe, or a Consular Visit to John
Bull." Napoleon is having a pleasant chat with his old foe,
smoking, and drinking beer with him. John Bull toasts his
guest. " Here's to you, Master Boney Party. Come, take
another whiff/ my hearty." Napoleon accepts the invita-52

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1802.)

tion with, " Je vous ferriercie, John Bull ; I think I'll take
another pull." Whilst the gentlemen are thus pleasantly
engaged* Mrs. Bull works hard mending John's too well-
worn breeches ; and as she works, she says, " Now we are
at peace, if my husband does take a drop extraordinary, I
don't much mind ; but when he was at war, he was always
grumbling. Bless me, how tiresome these old breeches are
to mend ; no wonder he wore them out, for he had always
his hands in his pockets for something or other."

Among the other Englishmen who took advantage of
the peace to go over to France, was Charles James Fox,
who, immediately after his election for Westminster, on
July 15, 1802, started off for Paris, professedly to search
the archives there, for material for his introductory chapter
to "A History of the Early Part of the Reign of James
the Second." A history of this trip was afterwards written
by his private secretary, Mr. Trotter.1 He and Mrs. Fox,
who was now first publicly acknowledged as his wife, were
introduced to Napoleon ; a subject most humorously
treated by Gillray, in his " Introduction of Citizen Volpone
and his Suite at Paris." Napoleon, in full Court costume,
and wearing an enormous cocked hat and feathers, is seated
on a chair, which is emblematical of his sovereignty of the
world, and is surrounded by a Mameluke guard, Fox and
his wife, both enormously fat, yet bowing and curtseying
respectively, with infinite grace* are being introduced by
O'Connor, who had, aforetime, been in treaty with the
French Government for the invasion of Ireland. Erskine,
in full forensic costume, bows, with his hand on his heart ;
and Lord and Lady Holland help to fill the picture. But
the real account of his reception was very different {teste
Mr. Trotter). "We reached the interior apartment, where
Bonaparte, First Consul, surrounded by his generals,
ministers, senators, and officers, stood between the second

1 "Memoirs of the Later1 Years of the Right'Hon. Charles James Fox."
By John Bernard Trotter, Esq.^ late private secretary to Mr. ^Fox. London, 1811.(i802.) THE FRENCH PRISONERS OF WAR.

53

and third Consuls, Le Brun and Cambaceres, in the centre
of a semicircle, at the head of the room ! The numerous
assemblage from the Salle des Ambassadeiirs, formed into
another semicircle, joined themselves to that, at the head
of which, stood the First Consul. . . . The moment the
circle was formed, Bonaparte began with the Spanish
Ambassador, then went to the American, with whom he
spoke some time, and so on, performing his part with
ease, and very agreeably, until he came to the English
Ambassador, who, after the presentation of some English
noblemen, announced to him Mr. Fox. He was a great
deal flurried, and, after indicating considerable emotion,
very rapidly said, 'Ah, Mr. Fox! I have heard with
pleasure of your arrival, I have desired much to see you ;
I have long admired in you the orator and friend of his
country^ who, in constantly raising his voice for peace,
consulted that country's best interests, those of Europe,
and of the human race. The two great nations of Europe
require peace ; they have nothing to fear ; they ought to
understand and value one another. In you, Mr. Fox, I see,
with much satisfaction, that great statesman who recom-
mended peace, because there was no just object of war ;
who saw Europe desolated to no purpose, and who struggled
for its relief.' Mr. Fox said little, or rather nothing, in
reply—to a complimentary address to himself, he always
found invincible repugnance to answer—nor did he bestow
one word of admiration or applause upon the extra-
ordinary and elevated character wh6 addressed him. A
few questions and answers relative to Mr. Fox's tour,
terminated the interview."

According to Article II. of the Treaty of Amiens, "All
the prisoners made on one side and the other, as well by
land as by sea, and the hostages carried off, or delivered up,
during the war, and up to the present day, shall be restored,
without ransom, in six weeks at the latest, to be reckoned
from the day on which the ratifications of the present54

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1802.)

treaty are exchanged, and on paying the debts which they
shall have contracted during their captivity."

The invaluable M. Otto wrote the detejius a letter, ir
which, whilst congratulating them, he exhorted them to
subdue all spirit of party, if, indeed, it had not already
been effected by their years of suffering, and captivity, and
cautioned them as to their behaviour on their return, telling
them of the change for the better which they would not
fail to observe. Glad, indeed, must these poor captives
have been at the prospect of once more setting foot on La
belle France; and that the English Government made no
unnecessary delay in helping them to the consummation of
their wishes, is evident, for, on the 10th of April, upwards of
1,000 of them were liberated from the dep6t at Norman
Cross, preparatory to their being conveyed to Dunkirk.
The others—at least, all those who were willing and able
to go—soon left England.

" Several of the French prisoners who embarked at
Plymouth on Thursday, on board the coasters and trawl
boats, having liberty to come on shofc until morning,
thought the indulgence so sweet, that they stayed up the
whole night. This morning, at three o'clock, they sung in
very good style through the different streets, the ^arseillais
Hymn/ the * Austrian Retreat/ with several other popular
French songs, and concluded with the popular British song
of 4 God save the King/ in very good English."-—Moriling
Herald, April 19, 1802.«sfv ^fv ^v ^fy ^ 5Jv ^Jv ^|v /|i >jv -/JV ^|v vjv Jf^ ^v ^ ^v ^|v ^ >fv /fv. vjv ^]V Vfl vfv ^v w^C wft wjv

CHAPTER VII.

Proclamation of Peace—Manner of the procession, &c.—Illuminations—Day of
General Thanksgiving— General Election—A dishonoured Government bill—
Cloth riots in Wiltshire—Plot to assassinate the King—Arrest of Colonel
Despard—Trial and sentence of the conspirators—Their fate.

ON the 21st of April, a proclamation was issued,
ordering a public thanksgiving for Peace, to be
solemnized on ist of June. On the 26th of April,
the King proclaimed Peace, in the following terms:

" By the KING. A Proclamation.

"G. R.,

" Whereas a definitive treaty of peace, and friendship,
between us, the French Republic, His Catholic Majesty,
and the Batavian Republic, hath been concluded at Amiens
on the 27th day of March last, and the ratifications thereof
have been duly exchanged ; in conformity thereunto, We
have thought fit, hereby, to command that the same be
published throughout all our dominions ; and we do declare
to all our loving subjects our will and pleasure, that the
said treaty of peace, and friendship, be observed inviolably,
as well by sea as by land, and in all places whatsoever ;
strictly charging, and commanding, all our loving subjects
to take notice hereof, and to conform themselves thereunto,
accordingly.

" Given at our Court at Windsor, the 26th day of April,
1802, in the forty-second year of our reign.

" God save the King."56

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

(1802.)

On the 29th of April, a public proclamation of the same
was made, and it must have been a far more imposing
spectacle than the very shabby scene displayed in 1856,
All mustered in the Stable-yard, St. James's. The Heralds
and Pursuivants were in their proper habits, and, preceded
by the Sergeant Trumpeter with his trumpets, the Drum
Major with his drums, and escorted on either side by Horse
Guards, they sallied forth, and read aloud the Proclamation
in front of the Palace. We can picture the roar of shouting,
and the wTaving of hats, after the Deputy Garter's sonorous
" God save the King!" A procession was then formed,
and moved solemnly towards Charing Cross, where another
halt was made, and the Proclamation was read, the Herald
looking towards Whitehall. The following is the order of
the procession :

Two Dragoons.

Two Pioneers, with axes in their hands.

Two Trumpeters.

Horse Guards, six abreast.

Beadles of Westminster, two and two, with staves.

Constables of Westminster.

High Constable, with his staff, on horseback.

Officers of the High Bailiff of Westminster, with white
W	wands, on horseback.	o

§	Clerk of the High Bailiff.	£

n	High Bailiff and Deputy Steward.	<u

G	Horse Guards.	£

§	Knight Marshal's men, two and two.

n g.	Knight Marshal.	6

gu	Drums.	§.0

5* g	Drum Major.	^ g

? gf	Trumpets.	*3 0

^	Sergeant Trumpeters. •	g.

Pursuivants.	o

0 Sergeants- f Heralds. ) Sergeants <u
hj at-Arms. ( King-at-Arms. J at-Arms. §
o	Horse Guards.	E .

Thence to Temple Bar, which, according to precedent,
was shut—with the Lord Mayor, Sheriffs, and civic(1802.) PROCLAMATION OF PEACE.

57

officials on the other side. The minor Officer of Arms
stepped out of the procession between two trumpeters, and,
preceded by two Horse Guards, rode up to the gates, and
after the trumpeters had sounded thrice, he knocked thereat
with a cane. From the other side the City Marshal asked,
"Who comes there?" and the Herald replied: "The
Officers of Arms, who demand entrance into the City, to
publish His Majesty's Proclamation of Peace." The gates
being opened, he was admitted alone, and the gates were
shut behind him. The City Marshal, preceded by his
officers, conducted him to the Lord Maj'or, to whom he
showed His Majesty's Warrant, which his lordship having
read, returned, and gave directions to the City Marshal to
open the gates, who duly performed his mission, and notified
the same to the Herald in the words—" Sir, the gates are
opened." The Herald returned to his place, the procession
entered the Bar, and, having halted, the Proclamation was
again read.

The Lord Mayor, Sheriffs, &c., then joined the procession
in the following order :

The Volunteer Corps of the City.

The King's Procession, as before stated.

Four Constables together.

Six Marshal's men, three and three, on foot.

Six Trumpeters, three and three.

Band of Music.

Sheriff's ( Two Marshals on horseback. )

Officers . < Two Sheriffs on horseback. >

on foot. ( Sword and Mace on horseback. )

Porter in a black ( Lord Mayor, mounted on a
gown and staff. ( beautiful bay horse.

Household on foot.

Six Footmen in rich liveries, three and three.

State Coach with six horses, with ribands, &c.

Aldermen irt seniority, in their coaches.

Carriages of the two Sheriffs.

Officers of the City, in carriages, in seniority.

Horse Guards.

Sheriff's
Officers
on foot.

| Beadle.58

TEE NINTEENTH CENTUR Y (1802.)

The line of procession was kept by different Volunteer
Corps.

The Proclamation having been read a fourth time, at
Wood Street, they went on to the Exchange, read it there,
and yet once again, at Aldgate pump, after which they
returned, and, halting at the Mansion H^use, broke up,
the Heralds going to their College, at Doctor's Commons,
the various troops to their proper destinations ; and so
ended a very beautiful sight, which was witnessed by
crowds of people, both in the streets, and in the houses,
along the route.

' The illuminations, at night, eclipsed all previous occasions,
Smirk, the Royal Academician, painting a transparency
for the Bank of England, very large, and very allegorical.
M. Otto's house, in Portman Square, was particularly
beautiful, and kept the square full of gazers all the night
through. There were several accidents during the day, one
of which was somewhat singular. One of the outside
ornaments of St. Mary le Strand, then called the New
Church, fell down, killing one man on the spot, and
seriously damaging three others.

The day of General Thanksgiving was very sober, com-
paratively. Both Houses of Parliament attended Divine
service, as did the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs, who went in
state to St. Paul's. Most of the churches were well filled,
and flags flew, and bells rung, all day.

In July came, a General Election, which evoked a lawless
saturnalia throughout the length and breadth of the land.
An election in our own times—before the ballot brought
peace—was bad enough, but then the duration of the polling
was nothing like it was in the days of which I write. The
County polling lasted fourteen days ; Boroughs^ seven days.

The Morning Herald, July 14, 1802, thus speaks 6f the
Middlesex election : " During the business of polling, the
populace amused themselves in varieties of whimsicalities,
one of which was the exhibition of a man on the shoulders(i.8O2.)

MIDDLESEX ELECTION,

59

of another, handcuffed and heavily ironed, while a third was
employed in flogging him with a tremendous cat-o'-nine-
tails, and the man who received the punishment, by his con-
tortions of countenance, seemed to experience all the misery
which,such a mode of punishment inflicts. The shops were
all shut in Brentford, and the road leading to London was
lined on each side with crowds of idle spectators. It is
impossible for any but-those who have witnessed a Middlesex
election to conceive the picture it exhibits; it is one con-
tinual scene of riot, disorder, and tumult."

And, whilst on the subject of Politics, although they have
no proper place in this history, as it deals more especially
with the social aspect of this portion of the Century, yet it
is interesting to be acquainted with the living aspect of
some of the politicians of the time, and, thanks to Gillray,
they are, forthcoming in two of his pictures I have here
given.

This is founded on a serio-comic incident which occurred
in a debate on Supply, on March 4, 1802.? " The report
of the Committee of Supply, to whom the Army estimates
were referred, being brought up, Mr. Robson proceeded to
point out . various heads of expenditure, which, he said;
were highly improper, such as the barracks, the expenses
of corn and hay for the horses* of the cavalry, the coals and
candles for the men, the expenses of which he contended
to be enormous. The sum charged for beer to the troops
at the Isle of Wight, he said, was also beyond his compre-
hension. He maintained that this mode of voting expen-
diture, by months, was dangerous ; the sum, coming thus
by driblets, did not strike the imagination in the same
manner as they would do, if the whole service of the year
came before the public at once, and that the more particu-
larly, as money was raised by Exchequer bills", to be here-
after provided for, instead of bringing out at once ,the
budget of taxes for the year. He alleged that those things

1 " Parliamentary History," vol. xxxvi. p. 346, &c.6o

THE NINETEENTH CENTUR K (1802.)

were most alarming, and the country was beginning to feel
the effects of them. Gentlemen might fence themselves
round with majorities; but the time would come when
there must be an account given of the public money. The
finances of the country were" in so desperate a situation,



Nichol.	Tiemey.

Lord Hawkesbtiry. Dickenson.

Addingion.

Tiemey.

Dickenson.

SKETCH OF TIIE INTERIOR OF ST. STEPHEN'S AS IT NOW STANDS.

that Government was unable to discharge its bills; for a
fact had come within his knowledge, of a bill, accepted by
Government, having been dishonoured. (A general excla-
mation of hear ! hear !)

" Mr. Robson, however, stuck to it as a fact, saying thati8o2.) A GOVERNMENT BILL DISHONOURED. 61

' it was true that a banker, a member of that House, did
take an acceptance to a public office^—the sum was small.
The answer at that public office was " that they had not
money to pay it."' On being pressed to name the office,
he said it was the Sick and Hurt Office.

" Later on in the evening Addington said, ' I find that
the amount of the bill accepted by Government, and non-
payment of which was to denote the insolvency of
Government, is —

£ 19 7s. Whether
or not the bill was
paid, remains to be
proved ; but my
information comes
from the same
source as the hon.

member derives his
accusation. At all
events, the instance
of the hon. member
of the insolvency of
the Government is
a bill of £19 ys*

" Mr. Robson
said that was so
much the worse, as
the bill was in the	"despair."

hands of a poor man who wanted the money."

In August some riots occurred in Wiltshire, caused by
the introduction of machinery into cloth-working. What
Hargreaves, Arkwright, and Crompton, had done for the
cotton trade, was bound, sooner or later, to be followed by
other textile industries. In this case a shearing machine
had been introduced into a large factory, some three years
back, and, like the silversmiths at Ephesus, the cloth-workers
thought that "thus our craft is in danger of being set at

R. B. Rolson. Home Tooke. Sir F. Burdett •
T. T.Jones.62

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1802.)

nought;" and they did what most poor ignorant men have
done under like circumstances, they thought they could
retard the march of intellect, by breaking the objectionable
machines. Not only so, but, in their senseless folly, they
cut, and destroyed, much valuable property in the cloth-
racks—altogether the damage done was computed at over
^100,000. For this, one man was tried at Gloucester
Assizes, and hanged—si fate which seems to have acted as
a warning toNhis brother craftsmen, for there was no repeti-
tion of the outrage. In this case, the machinery, being very
expensive, could only be introduced into large mills, the
owners of which did not discharge a man on its account,
and the smaller masters were left to plod on in the old way,
in which their soul delighted, and to go quietly to decay,
whilst their more go-ahead neighbours were laying the
foundation of a business which, in time, supplied the
markets of the world. But there was the same opposition
to the Spinning Jenny, and we have seen, in our time,
the stolid resistance offered by agricultural labourers to
every kind of novel machine used in farming, so that we
can more pity, than blame, these deluded, and ignorant,
cloth-workers, because they were not so far-seeing as the
manufacturers.

It was mysteriously whispered about on the evening of the
18th of November, that a plot had been discovered, having
for its object the assassination of the King ; and next day
the news was confirmed—Colonel Despard,of whom I have
before spoken (see p. 37), was at the head of this plot.
He was an Irishman, and had seen military service in the
West Indies, on the Spanish Main, and in the Bay of
Honduras, where he acted as Superintendent of the English
Colony ; but, owing to their complaints^ he was recalled,
and an inquiry into his conduct was refused. This, no
doubt, soured him, and made him disaffected, causing him
to espouse the doctrines of the' French Revolution. On
account of his seditious behaviour, he was arrested under(i802.J

COLONEL DESPARD.

63

the " Suspension of the Habeas Corpus " Act (1794), and
passed some years in prison ; and, as we have seen, preferred
continuing there, to having a conditional pardon. On his
liberation, this misguided man could not keep quiet, but
must needs plot, in a most insane manner, not for any
good to be done to his country, to redress no grievances,
but simply to assassinate the King, forgetting that
another was ready to take the place of the slaughtered
monarch.

Of' course, among a concourse of petty rogues, one was
traitor, a discharged sergeant of the Guards ; and, in conse-
quence of his revelations to Sir Richard Ford, the chief
magistrate at Bow Street, a raid, at night, was made upon
the Oakley Arms, Oakley Street, Lambeth (still in exis-
tence at No. 72), and there they found Colonel Despard and
thirty-two labouring men and soldiers—English, Irish, and
Scotch—all of whom they took into custody, and, after
being examined for eight hours, the Colonel was committed
to the County Gaol, twelve of his companions (six being
soldiers) to Tothill Fields Bridewell, and twenty others to
the New Prison, Clerkenwell.

Next day he was brought up, heavily ironed, before the
Privy Council, and committed to Newgate for trial, the
charge against him being, that he administered a secret
oath to divers persons, binding them to an active co-
operation in the performance of certain treasonable, and
murderous, practices. As a matter of history, his fate
belongs to the next year, but 1803 was so full of incident
that it is better to finish off this pitiful rogue (for he was no
patriot) at once.

On the 20th of January, 1803, the Grand Jury brought in
a true bill against him and twelve others, on the charge of
high treason ; and on the 5 th of February their trial, by
Special Commission, commenced, at the Sessions House,
Clerkenwell, before four judges. They were tried on eight
counts, the fifth and sixth of which charged them with6 4

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1802.)

" intending to lie in wait, and attack the King, and treating
of the time, means, and place, for effecting the same;" also
" with a conspiracy to attack and seize upon the Bank,
Tower, &c., to possess themselves of arms, in order to kill
and destroy the soldiers and others, His Majesty's liege
subjects," &c. The trial lasted until 8 a.m. on the 10th
of February, when Despard, who was found guilty on the
8th, and nine others, were sentenced to be hanged, disem-
bowelled, beheaded, and quartered. But the day. before
they were executed, it was " thought fit to remit part of the
sentence, viz., taking cut and burning their bowels before
their faces, and dividing the bodies into four parts." They
were to be hanged, and afterwards beheaded ; and this
sentence was fully carried out on Despard, and six of his
accomplices, on the 21st of February, 1803.

. And so the year came to an end, but not quietly ; clouds
were distinctly visible in the horizon to those who watched
the political weather. England hesitated to fulfil her por-
tion of the treaty, with regard to the evacuation of Malta ;
and the relations of Lord Whitworth, our Ambassador, and
the French Court, became Somewhat strained.

Still the Three per Cents, kept up—in January 68, July 70,
December 69; and bread stuffs were decidedly cheaper
than in the preceding year—wheat averaging 68s. per.
quarter, barley 33s., oats 20s., whilst the average quartern
loaf was is.g5§ggsgg§ggggggggggg§gggag^gggg§§g§gg§ggg§ggg



CHAPTER VIII.

1803.

Strained relations with France—Prosecution and trial of Jean Peltier for libel
against Napoleon—Rumours of war—King's proclamation—Napoleon's
rudeness to Lord Whitworth—Hoax on the Lord Mayor—Rupture with
France—Return of Lord Whitworth, and departure of the French Ambassa-
dor.

POLITICAL Caricatures, or, as they should rather be
called, Satirical Prints, form very good indications
as to the feeling of the country; and, on the
commencement of 1803, they evidently pointed to a rupture
with France, owing to the ambition of Napoleon. Lord
Whitworth found him anything but pleasant to deal with.
He was always harping on the license of the British press,
and showed his ignorance of our laws and constitution by
demanding its suppression. Hence sprung the prosecution,
in our Law Courts, of one Jean Peltier, who conducted a
journal in the French language—called LAmbigu.

Napoleon's grumbling at the license of our press, was
somewhat amusing, for the French press was constantly
publishing libels against England, and, as Lord Hawkesbury
remarked, the whole period, since the signing of the treaty,
had been " one continued series of aggression, violence, and
insult, on the part of the French Government." Still, to
show every desire to act most impartially towards Napoleon,

666

THE NINTEENTH CENTURY. (1803.)

although the relations with his government were most
strained, Jean Peltier was indicted ; and his trial was
commenced in the Court of King's Bench, on the 21st of
February, 1803, before Lord Ellenborough and a special
jury. ( ^

The information was filed by the Attorney General, and
set forth : " That peace existed between Napoleon Bonaparte
and our Lord the King ; but that M. Peltier, intending to
destroy the friendship so existing, and to despoil said
Napoleon of his consular dignity, did devise, print, and
publish, in the French language, to the tenor following "—
what was undoubtedly calculated to stir up the French
against their ruler. The Attorney General, in his speech,
details the libels, and gives the following description of the
paper. " The publication is called The Ambigu, or atrocious
and amusing Varieties. It has on its frontispiece a sphinx,
with a great variety of Egyptian emblematical figures, the
meaning of which may not be very easy to discover, or
material to inquire after. But there is a circumstance
which marks this publication, namely, the head of the
sphinx, with a crown on it. It is a head, which I cannot
pretend to say, never having seen Bonaparte himself, but
only from the different pictures of him, one cannot fail, at
the first blush, to suppose it was .intended as the portrait
of the First Consul," &c.

It is very questionable, nowadays, whether such a press
prosecution would have been inaugurated, or, if so, whether
it would have been successful, yet there was some pretty
hard hitting. u And now this tiger, who dares to call him-
self the founder, or the regenerator, of France, enjoys the
fruit of your labours, as spoil taken from the enemy. This
man, sole master in the midst of those who surround him,
has ordained lists of proscription, and put in execution,
banishment without sentence, by means of which there are
punishments for the French who have not yet seen the light.
Proscribed families give birth to children, oppressed before(i8o3.)	TRIAL OF JEAN PELTIER.	67

*

they are born ; their misery has commenced before their
life. His wickedness increases every day." The Attorney
General gave many similar passages, which it would be too
tedious to reproduce, winding up with the following quota-
tion : "' Kings are at his feet, begging his favour. He is
desired to secure the supreme authority in his hands. The
French, nay, Kings themselves, hasten to congratulate him,
and would take the oath to him like subjects. He is pro-
claimed Chief Consul for life. As for me, far from envying
his lot, let him name, I consent to it, his worthy successor.
Carried on the shield, let him be elected Emperor! Finally
(and Romulus recalls the thing to mind), I wish, on the
morrow, he may have his apotheosis. Amen/ Now, gentle-
men, he says, Romulus suggests that idea. The fate that
is ascribed to him is well known to all of us—according
to ancient history, he was assassinated."

Peltier's counsel, a Mr. Mackintosh, defended him very
ably, asking pertinently: " When Robespierre presided
over the Committee of Public Safety, was not an English-
man to canvass his measures ? Supposing we had then
been at peace with France, would the Attorney General have
filed an information against any one who had expressed
due abhorrence of the furies of that sanguinary monster ?
When Marat demanded 250,000 heads in the Convention,
must we have contemplated that request without speaking
of it in the terms it provoked ? When Carrier placed five
hundred children in a square at Lyons, to fall by the
musketry of the soldiery, and from their size the balls
passed over them, the little innocents flew to the knees
of the soldiery for protection, when they were butchered
by the bayonet! In relating this event, must man restrain
his just indignation, and stifle the expression of indignant
horror such a dreadful massacre must excite ? Would the
Attorney General in his information state, that when
Maximilian Robespierre was first magistrate of France, as
President of the Committee of Public Safety, that those68	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY\ (1803.)

who spoke of him as his crimes deserved, did it with a
wicked and malignant intention to defame and vilify
him. ...

" In the days of Cromwell, he twice sent a satirist upon
his government to be tried by a jury, who sat where this
jury now sit. The scaffold on which the blood of the
monarch was shed was still in their view. The clashing of
the bayonets which turned out the Parliament was still
within their hearing; yet they maintained their integrity,
and twice did they send his Attorney General out of court,
with disgrace and defeat."

However, all the eloquence, and ingenuity, of his counsel
failed to prevent a conviction. Peltier was found guilty
, and, time being taken to consider judgment, he was bound
over to appear, and receive judgment when called upon.
That time never came, for war broke out between France
and England, and Peltier was either forgotten, or his offence
was looked upon in a totally different light.

The English Government looked with great distrust upon
Napoleon, and the increasing armament on the Continent,
and temporized as to the evacuation of Malta, to the First
- Consul's intense disgust. But the Ministry of that day were
watchful, and jealous of England's honour, and as early as
the 8th of March, the King sent the following message to
Parliament:	*

" George R.

" His Majesty thinks it necessary to acquaint the House
of Commons, that, as very considerable military prepara-
tions are carrying on in the ports of France and Holland,
he has judged it expedient to adopt additional measures of
precaution for the security of his dominions ; though the
preparations to which His Majesty refers are avowedly
directed to Colonial service, yet, as discussions of great
importance are now subsisting between His Majesty and
the French Government, the result of which must, at pre-(1803.) THE KINGS MESSAGE TO PARLIAMENT 69

^~sent, be uncertain, His Majesty is induced to make this
communication to his faithful Commons, in the full persua-
sion that, whilst they partake of His Majesty's earnest and
unvarying solicitude for the continuance of peace, he may
rely with perfect confidence on their public spirit, and
liberality, to enable His Majesty to adopt such measures as
circumstances may appear to require, for supporting the
honour of his Crown, and the essential interests of his
people.	" G. R."

An address in accordance with the message was agreed
^ to by both Houses, and, on the 10th, the King sent Parlia-
ment another message, to the effect he intended to draw
out, and embody, the Militia. On the nth of March the
Commons voted the following resolution, " That an addi-
tional number of 10,000 men be employed for the sea
service, for eleven lunar months, to commence from the
26th of February, 1803, including 3400 Marines."

Events were marching quickly. On the 13th of March
Napoleon behaved very rudely to Lord Whitworth; in fact
it was almost a parallel case with the King of Prussia's
rudeness to M. Benedetti on the 13th of July, 1870. But
let our Ambassador tell his own story :

"Despatch from Lord Whitworth to Lord Hawkesbury

dated Paris the 14th of March, 1803.
" My Lord,

"The messenger, Mason, went on Saturday with
my despatches of that date, and, until yesterday, Sunday,
I saw no one likely to give me any further information,
such as I could depend upon, as to the effect which His
Majesty's Message had produced upon the First Consul.

"Atthe Court which was held at the Tuileries upbn that
day, he accosted me, evidently under very considerable
agitation. He began by asking me if I had any news from
England. I told him that I had received letters from your
lordship two days ago. He immediately said,' And so you7°

THE NINETEENTH,\ CENTURY, (1803.)

are determined to go to war/ ' No !' I replied,' we are too
sensible of the advantages of peace.' rNous avons,' said he,
'deja fait la guerre pendant quinze ans.' As he seemed to
wait for an answer, I observed only, 'C'en est deja trop.'
' Mais,' said he, * vous voulez la faire encore quinze annees,
et vous m'y forcez.' I told him that was very far from His
Majesty's intentions. He then proceeded to Count Mar-
cow, and the Chevalier Azara, who were standing together,
at a little distance from me, and said to them,4 Les Anglais
veulent la guerre, mais s'ils sont les premiers a tirer Tepee,
je serai le dernier a la remettre. lis ne respectent pas les
trails. II faut dorenavant les couvrir de crepe noir.' He
then went his round. In a few minutes he came back to
me, and resumed the conversation, if such it can be called,
by saying something civil to me. He began again :
'Pourquoi des armemens? Contre qui des mesures de pre-
caution? Je n'ai pas un seul vaisseau de ligne dans les ports
de France ; mais, si vous voulez armer, j'armerai- aussi; si
vous voulez vous battre, je me battrai aussi. Vous pourrez
peut—etre tuer la France, mais jamais l'intimider.' * On ne
voudrait,' said I ' ni l'un, ni l'autre. On voudrait vivre en
bonne intelligence avec elle.' 4II faut done respecter les
trait^s,' replied he ;( malheur a ceux qui ne respectent pas
les traitds ; ils en serait responsible a toute l'Europe.' He
was too much agitated to make it advisable for me to pro-
long the conversation ; I therefore made no answer, and he
retired to his apartment, repeating the last phrase.

"It is to be remarked, that all this passed loud enough to
be overheard by two hundred people who were present, and
I am persuaded that there was not a single person, who did
not feel the extreme impropriety of his conduct, and the
total want of dignity as well as of decency, on the occasion.

" I propose taking the first opportunity of speaking to M.
Talleyrand on this subject.

" I have the honour to be, &c.

" {Signed) Whitworth."(1803.) HOAX ON THE LORD MAYOR.

He di4 call on Talleyrand, who assured him that it was
very far from the First Consul's intention to distress him,
but that he had felt himself personally insulted by the
charges which were brought against him by the English
Government; and that it was incumbent upon him to take
the first opportunity of exculpating himself in the presence of
the ministers of the different Powers of Europe: and Talley-
rand assured Lord Whitworth that nothing similar would
again occur.

And so things went on, the French wishing to gain time,
the English temporizing also, well knowing that the peace
would soon be broken.

We are not so virtuous ourselves, in the matter of false
news, as to be able to speak of the following Stock Ex-
change ruse in terms of proper indignation. It was boldly
conceived, and well carried out.

On the 5th of May, 1803, at half-past eight in the morn-
ing, a man, booted and spurred, and having all the appear-
ance of just having come off a long journey, rushed up to
the Mansion House, and inquired for the Lord Mayor,
saying he was a messenger from the Foreign Office, and
had a letter for his lordship. When informed that he was
not within, he said he should leave the letter, and told the
servant particularly to place it where the Lord Mayor
should get it the moment of his return. Of course the
thing was well carried out; the letter bore Lord Hawkes-
bury's official seal, and purported to be from him. It ran
thus:

v Downing Street, 8 a.m.
"To the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor.

" Lord Hawkesbury presents his compliments to the
Lord Mayor, and is happy to inform him that the negoti-
ations between this country, and the French Republic, have
been amicably adjusted."

His lordship made inquiries as to the messenger, and,72

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,\ (iSc3.)

as the whole thing seemed to be genuine, he wrote one
copy, which was straightway stuck up outside the Mansion
House, and sent another to Lloyd's, going himself to the
Stock Exchange with the original, and, about 10 a.m., wrote
to Lord Hawkesbury expressing his satisfaction. Before a
reply could be obtained, and the whole fraud exposed, Mr.
Goldsmid called at the Mansion House, saw the letter, and
pronounced it a forgery. Meanwhile, the excitement on
the Stock Exchange had been terrible. Consols opened at
69, and rose, before noon, to over 70, only to sink, when
the truth came out, to 63. If the bargains had been
upheld, it would have been hopeless ruin to many; so a
committee of the Stock Exchange decided that all transac-
tions on that day, whether for money or time, were null and
void. The perpetrators of this fraud, consequently, did not
reap any benefit; nor wrere they ever found out, although
the Lord Mayor offered a reward of £$00.

The Caricaturists were, at this time, very busy with their
satirical pictures, some of which are very good, especially
one by Gillray (May 18, 1803) called "Armed Heroes."
Addington, in military costume, with huge cocked hat and
sword, bestrides a fine sirloin of the " Roast Beef of Old
England," and is vapouring at little Bonaparte, who, on
the other side of the Channel, is drawing his sword, and
hungrily eyeing the beef. Says he :

" Ah, ha ! sacrb dieu ! vat do I see yonder?

Dat look so invitingly Red and de Vite ?

Oh, by Gar ! I see 'tis de Roast Beef of Londres,

Vich I vill chop up, at von letel bite !"

Addington alternately blusters and cringes, " Who's afraid ?
damme ! O Lord, O Lord, what a Fiery Fellow he is!
Who's afraid ? damme ! . O dear ! what will become of ye
Roast Beef? Damme ! who's afraid ? O dear ! O dear ! "
Other figures are introduced, but they are immaterial.

But the crisis was rapidly approaching. On the 12th of(1803.) RETURN OF LORD WHITWORTH. 73

May Lord Whitworth wrote Lord Hawkesbury: " The
remainder of this day passed • without receiving any com-
munication from M. de Talleyrand. Upon this, I deter-
mined to demand my passports, by an official note, which
I sent, this morning by Mr. Mandeville, in order that I
might leave Paris in the evening. At two I renewed my
demand of passports, and was told I should have them
immediately. They arrived at five o'clock, and I propose
setting out as soon as the carriages are ready." He did
not, however, land at Dover until a quarter to twelve on
the night of the 17th of May, where he found the French
Ambassador, General Andreossi, almost ready to embark.
This he did early in the morning of the 19th of, May, being
accompanied to the water side by Lord Whitworth.^fC yfl ^1. WPJV W^V ^V V|\i v]\. ^v ^|v ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^N ^ ^ ^|V /Jv vj\. jyC yfv •/) v vfv vfx vfv yjv

^ ^ ^|» ^ ^ i^ <\|/- %]/» xlr >j^ NLT >|/> >Lr >Lr \^ >Lr *vLr >Lr >Lr	>u ^ %f^ ij,» ^

CHAPTER IX.

Declaration of War against France—Napoleon makes all the English in France
prisoners of war—Patriotic Fund—Squibs on the threatened invasion—" The
New Moses "—Handbill signed "A Shopkeeper"—" Britain's War-song"—
"Who is Bonaparte?"—"Shall Frenchmen rule over us?"—"An Invasion
Sketch."

ON the 16th of May the King sent a message to
Parliament announcing his rupture with the
French Government, and the recall of his ambas-
sador, and laying before them the papers relating to the
previous negotiations ; and on the i8th of May, His
Majesty's Declaration of War against France (a some-
what lengthy document) was laid before Parliament. No
time was lost, for, on the 20th of May, Lord Nelson sailed
from Portsmouth in the Victory, accompanied by the
Amphion, to take the command in the Mediterranean;
and prizes were being brought in daily.

Whether it was in reprisal for this, or not, there are no
means of telling, but Napoleon, on the 22nd of May, took
the most unjustifiable step of making prisoners of war of
all the English in France, and Holland, where, also, an
embargo was laid on all English vessels. This detention
of harmless visitors was unprecedented, and aroused uni-
versal reprobation. They were not well treated, and,
besides, were harassed by being moved from place to
place.

In the Annual Register, vol. xlv. p. 399, we read :(i8o3-)

PATRIOTIC FUND.

75

"In consequence of orders from the Government, the
English, confined at Rouen, have been conducted to Dour-
?lens, six miles from Amiens. The English that were at
Calais when Bonaparte visited that place, have all been
sent to Lisle. The English prisoners at Brussels have been
ordered to repair to Valenciennes. The great Consul, like
a politic shepherd, continually removes the pen of his
bleating English flock from spot to spot, well knowing
that the soil will everywhere be enriched by their tem-
porary residence. How their wool will look when they
return from their summer pasture is of little consequenceI"

It is not my province to write on the progress of the
war, except incidentally, and as it affected England
socially. The old Volunteer Corps, which had been so
hastily disbanded, again came to the fore, in augmented
strength, and better organization ; but of them I shall treat
in another place. As both men, and money, constitute the
sinews of war, the volunteers found one, the merchants
helped with the other. On the 20th of July the merchants,
underwriters, and subscribers of Lloyd's, held a meeting for
the purpose of " setting on foot a general subscription, on
an extended scale, for the encouragement and relief of
those who may be engaged in the defence of their country,
and who may suffer in the common cause ; and of those
who may signalize themselves during this present most
important contest." The Society of Lloyd's gave £20,000
Stock in the Three per Cent. Consols, and over ;£i 2,000 was
subscribed at once, five subscriptions each of ^"iooo coming
from such well-known City names as Sir F. Baring, John
,J. Angerstein, B. and A. Goldsmid, John Thomson, and
Thomson Bonar. Other loyal meetings took place, and
everything was done that could be done, to arouse the
enthusiasm of the people, and the spirit of patriotism.

One method was by distributing heart-stirring handbills,
serious or humorous, but all having the strongest patriotic
basis. Of these very many hundreds are preserved in the76

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1803.)

British Museum,1 and very curious they are. That they
answered their purpose no one could doubt, for, although
the threatened invasion of England was a patent fact, to
which no one could shut their eyes, nor doubt its gravity,
these handbills kept alive an enthusiasm that was worth
anything at the time, and it was an enthusiasm, that
although in its style somewhat bombastic, and with some
insular prejudice, was deep-seated and real; and, had the
invasion ever taken place, there can be little doubt but that,
humanly speaking, it would have resulted in a disastrous
defeat for Napoleon, or, had it been otherwise, it would
not have been the fault of the defenders, for, like Cromwell's
Ironsides, " Every man had a heaft in him."

In these handbills, Bonaparte was accused of many
things—that he became Mohammedan, poisoned his sick at
Jaffa, with many other things which do not come within
the scope of this work,, and have been fully treated in my
"English Caricature and Satire on Napoleon I.," and which
I do not wish to reproduce; only, naturally, Napoleon's
name can hardly be kept out, and, as I took the best for
that book, this must not suffer therefrom. They are of all
dates, as can be seen from internal evidence, but very few
are dated, so that they may be taken nearly haphazard.
The following, from its mention of Lord Whitworth, and
his recall, is evidently an early one :

"The New Moses
or

"Bonaparte's Ten Commandments.

"Translated from a French Manuscript
by

Soliman the Traveller.

"And when the great man came from Egypt, he used

, 1 Notably the following, ^54.*' Squibs on Bonaparte's threatened In-
vasion ; 1890 e. Miss Banks' Collection, Threatened Invasion; and 554 f. 25
Squibs on the Threatened French Invasion.(1803.)

INVASION SQUIBS.

77

cunning and force to subject the people. The good as well
as the wicked of the land trembled before him, because he
had won the hearts of all the fighting men; and after he
had succeeded in many of his schemes, his heart swelled
with pride, and he sought how to ensnare the people more
and more, to be the greatest man under the sun.

" The multitude of the people were of four kinds : some
resembled blind men, that cannot see; some were fearful,
who trembled before him ; others courageous, and for the
good of the people, but too weak in number; and others
yet, who were as wicked as the great man himself. And
when he was at the head of the deluded nation, he gave
strict laws and the following commandments, which were
read before a multitude of people, and in a full congrega-
tion of all his priests—

"i. Ye Frenchmen, ye shall have no other commander
above me ; for I, . Bonaparte, am the supreme head of the
nation, and will make all nations about you bow to you,
and obey me as your Lord and Commander.

"2. Ye shall not have any graven images upon your Coin,
in marble, wood, or metal, which might represent any
person above me; nor shall ye acknowledge any person to
excel me, whether he be among the living, or the dead,
whether he be in the happy land of the enlightened French,
or in the cursed island of the dull English ; for I, the Chief
Consul of France, am a jealous hero, and visit disobedience
of an individual upon a whole nation, and of a father
upon the children, and upon the third and fourth generation
of them that hate me ; and show mercy unto them that love
me, and humble themselves.

"3. Ye shall not trifle with my name, nor take it in vain;
nor shall you suffer that any other nation, treat it disrespect-
fully ; for I will be the sole commander of the earth, and
make you triumph over your enemies.

"4. Remember that ye keep the days of prayers, and pray
for me as the head of the nation, and the future conqueror78	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1803.)

of the base English. Ye shall pray fervently with your
faces cast upon the ground, and not look at the priest
when he pronounces my name ; for I am a jealous hero, and
delight in my priests because they are humble, and I have
regarded the lowliness of their hearts, and forgiven them
all their past iniquities. And, ye priests, remember the
power of him who made you his creatures, and do your duty.

" 5. Respect and honour all French heroes, that ye may
find mercy in mine eyes for all your iniquities, and that ye
may live in the land in which I, the Lord your Commander,
lives.

"6. Ye shall not murder each other, save it be by my own
commands, for purposes that may be known to me alone ;
but of your enemies, and all those nations that will not
acknowledge your, and my greatness, ye may kill an infinite
number ; for that is a pleasing sight in the eyes of your
supreme Commander.

"7. Ye shall not commit adultery at home, whatever ye
may do in the land of the infidels, and the stiff-necked
people ; for they are an abomination to the Lord your
Commander.

" 8. Ye shall not steal at home, but suppress your covet-
ousness and insatiable desire for plunder until ye may
arrive in the land of your enemies. Ye shall neither steal
from them with indiscretion, but seem to give with the
left hand, when the right taketh.

"9. Ye shall not bear false witness against your neighbour,
if he should distinguish himself in the land,of the enemies.

" 10. Ye shall not covet anything of your neighbour, but
everything of your enemies—his jewels, his gold, his silver,
his horse or ass, his maid, his daughter, his wife, or any-
thing in which your hearts find delight; and ye may take
it, but still with cunning ; for the Lord your Commander
loveth mildness more than strength, to please the people
when he plunders. Use the sword in battle, cunning after
it; look for plunder, but subject the people to me. Herein(1803.)

INVASION SQUIBS.

79

lie all my Commandments, and those who keep them shall
be protected by my power, and prosper in all their under-
takings.

" When the reading of these Commandments were over,
the multitude gazed with amazement. There were present
the gentiles, and ambassadors of various nations, and many
looked at each other as if they were looking for the sense
of what they had heard. The Chief Priest, however, more
cunning than all the rest, thus broke silence:

" Bishop. Our mouths shall glorify thee for ever; for thou
hast regarded the lowliness of our hearts, and hast raised
thy servants from the dust.

" Pope. And I will support your holy endeavours ; for
without him I would not sit upon the holy seat of Peter.

"All (Priests and many of the Multitude). Praise be to
him, for he has mercy on those that are humble, and fear
him—throughout all the world, and all nations but the
English, who are an abomination in his sight.

"Bishop of Amiens. Bow to him, for he commands ye.

" A 71 Italian to a Swiss. I bow to him, for I fear and
dread him.

"A Dutchman (to the two former). Ay, ay! I must bow,
at present, with you ; but I would rather make him bow
before me and my nation.

" French Gentleman. Dat be very right to you ! Vy vere
ye sush fools, and bigger fools yet, as we French, to submit
to him, and even to court his tyranny ?

" Bonaparte (in one corner of the hall, and not hearing
part of the preceding discourse, to one of his slaves). Do
you observe that proud Englishman ?

" ist Slave. He neither bows, nor does he seem to
approve of the homage paid to thee by the worshippers.

"2nd Slave. Ay, he is one of the stiff-necked Englishmen.

"Bonaparte. And so are all of his breed, except some of
the meanest rabble.8o

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1803.)

"Lord Whitworth (to himself). I shall bow to thee with
all my heart and soul, as soon as I may have the pleasure
of being recalled.

" Bonaparte. This is an insult which shall be revenged
on the whole nation."

There is not much "go" in the above, but it is mild, as
being one of the first; they soon developed.

" Fellow Citizens,

" Bonaparte threatens to invade us ; he promises to
enrich his soldiers with our property, to glut their lust with
our Wives and Daughters. To incite his Hell Hounds to
execute his vengeance, he has szvom to permit everything.
Shall'we Merit by our Cowardice the titles of sordid Shop-
keepers, Cowardly Scum, and Dastardly Wretches, which in
every proclamation he gives us ? No! we will loudly give
him the lie: Let us make ourselves ready to shut our Shops,
and march to give him the reception his malicious calum-
nies deserve. Let every brave young fellow instantly join
the Army or Navy ; and those among us who, from being
married, or so occupied in business, cannot, let us join
some Volunteer Corps, where we may learn the use of arms,
and yet attend our business. Let us encourage recruiting
in our neighbourhood, and loudly silence the tongues of
those whom Ignorance or Defection (if any such there be)
lead them to doubt of the attempt to invade or inveigh
against the measures taken to resist it. By doing this, and
feeling confidence in ourselves, we shall probably prevent
the attempt; or, if favoured by a dark night/the enemy
should reach our shores, our Unanimity and Strength will
paralyze his efforts, and render him an easy prey to our
brave Army. Let us, in families and neighbourhood,
thus contribute to, so desirable an event, and the blood-
stained banners of the Vaunted Conquerors of Europe will
soon be hung up in our Churches, the honourable Trophies of
our brave Army—an Army ever Victorious when not(i8o3.)

INVASION SQUIBS.

81

doubled in numbers, and the only Army who can stand
the charge of Bayonets. What Army ever withstood
THEIRS !!! Let the welfare of our Country animate all,,
and ' come the World in Arms against us, and we'll shock
'em!'

"A Shopkeeper."

" Prave 'orts," but they answered their purpose. It was
an article of faith that an Englishman was certainly a
match for two ordinary foes, perhaps three, and this, no
doubt, was to a certain extent true. The history of that
time shows victories, both by land and sea, gained against
fearful odds. What then might not have been done under
such stimulant as

"BRITAIN'S WAR-SONG.

" Britons rouse; with Speed advance;

Seize the Musket, grasp the Lance;

See the Hell-born Sons of France !

Now Murder, Lust, and Rapine reign.

Hark ! the Shriek o'er Infants slain 1

See the desolated Plain !

Now's the Day, and now's the Hour,

See the Front of Battle lower !

See curs'd Buonaparte's Power!

Who will be a Traitor Knave ?

Who can fill a Coward's Grave ?

Who so base as live a Slave ?

Rush indignant on the Foe !

Lay the Fiend Invaders low !

Vengeance is on every Blow !

Forward ! lo, the Dastards flee;

Drive them headlong to the Sea;

Britons ever will be free!

Huzza, Huzza, Huzza !

782	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, (1803.)

" Who is BONAPARTE ?

"WHO is he? Why an obscure Corsican, that began
his Murderous Career with turning his Artillery upon the
Citizens of Paris—who boasted in his Public Letters from
Pa via, of having shot the whole Municipality—who put the
helpless, innocent, and uno ffending Inhabitants of Alexandria,
Man, Woman, and Child\ to the sword, till Slaughter was
tired of its work—who, against all the Laws of War, put near
4000 Turks to death, in cold blood, after their Surrender—
who destroyed his own Comrades by Poison, when lying
sick and wounded in Hospitals, because they were unable
to further the plan of Pillage which carried him to St. Jean
d'Acre—who, having thus stained the profession of Arms,
and solemnly and publicly renounced the religious Faith of
Christendom, and embraced Mohametanism, again pretended
to embrace the Christian Religion—who, on his return to
France, destroyed the Representative System—who, after
seducing the Polish Legion into the Service of his pretended
Republic, treacherously transferred it to St. Domingo,
where it has perished to a Man, either by Disease or the
Sword—and who, finally, as it were to fill the Measure of
his Arrogance, has Dared to attack what is most dear and
useful to civilized Society, the Freedom of the Press and
the Freedom of Speech, by proposing to restrict the
British Press and the Deliberations of the British Senate.
Such is the Tyrant we are called upon to oppose ; and such
is the Fate which awaits england should We suffer him
and his degraded Slaves to pollute OUR Soil."

" Shall Frenchmen rule o'er us ? King Edward said, No!
And No ! said King Harry, and Queen Bess she said, No !
And No ! said Old England, and No ! she says still;

They never shall rule Us; let them try if they will.

Hearts of Oak we are all, both our Ships and our Men ;
Then steady, Boys, steady,

Let's always be ready;

We have trimmed them before, let us trim them again.(i8o3.)	INVASIOJV SQ UIBS.

Shall Frenchmen rule o'er us ? King George he says No !
And No 1 say our Lords, and our Commons they say No !
And No ! say All Britons of every degree;

They shall never rule Britons, United and Free.

Hearts of Oak, &c.

Shall Frenchmen rule us, the Free Sons of the Waves ?

Shall England be ruled by a Nation of Slaves ?

Shall the Corsican Tyrant, who bound on their Chains,

Govern Us, in the room of Our Good King who reigns ?

Hearts of Oak, &c.

Though He'd fain stop our Press, yet we'll publish his shame;
We'll proclaim to the World his detestable Fame;

How the Traitor Renounced his Redeemer, and then
How he murder'd his Pris'ners and Poison'd his Men.

Hearts of Oak, &c.

Then Down with the Tyrant, and Down with his Rod !
Let us stand by our Freedom, our King, and our God !

Let us stand by our Children, our Wives, and our Homes !
Then Woe to the Tyrant Whenever he Comes !

Hearts of Oak, &c."

The following is particularly good, as it gives a very
vivid description of what might have occurred, had
Napoleon's threatened invasion been successful, and it will
favourably contrast with its congener of modern times,
" The Battle of Dorking."

"Our Invasion Sketch.

"If there be one Person so lost to all Love for his Country,
and the British Constitution, as to suppose that his Person
or his Property, his Rights and his Freedom, would be
respected under a Foreign Yoke, let him contemplate the
following Picture—not Overcharged, but drawn from Scenes
afforded by every Country: Italy, Holland, Switzerland,
Germany, Spain, Hanover, which has been exposed to the
Miseries of a French Invasion.34

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, (1803.)

" LONDON, 10 Thermidor Year-.

" General bonaparte made his public entrance into the
Capital, over London Bridge, upon a charger from his
Britannic Majesty's Stables at Hanover, preceded by a
detachment of Mamelukes. He stopped upon the bridge
for a few seconds, to survey the number o'f ships in the
river; and, beckoning to one of his Aide-de-camps, ordered
the French flags to be hoisted above the English—the
English sailors on board, who attempted to resist the execu-
tion of this order, were bayonetted, and thrown overboard.

" When he came to the Bank, he smiled with Complaisance
upon a'detachment of French Grenadiers, who had been
sent to load all the bullion in waggons, which had
previously been put in requisition by the Prefect of London,
Citizen 'Mengaud, for the purpose of being conveyed to-
France. The Directors of the Bank were placed under a
strong guard of French soldiers, in the Bank parlour.

"From the Bank, the First consul proceeded, in grand
procession, along Cheapside, St. Paul's, Ludgate Hill, Fleet
Street, and the Strand, to St. James's Palace. He there
held a grand Circle, which was attended by all his officers,
whose congratulations he received upon his entrance into
the Capital of these once proud Islanders. bonaparte,
previous to his arrival, appointed two Prefects, one for
London, and one for Westminster. Citizen Mengaud, late
Commissary at Calais, is the Prefect of London, and Citizen
Rapp, of Westminster. He also nominated Citizen
fouche to the office of Minister of Police. The Mansion-
house has been selected for the residence of the Prefect
of London, and Northumberland House,1 for the residence
of the Prefect of Westminster. As it has been deemed
necessary to have the Minister of Police always near the
person of the first consul, Marlborough House has been
given to Citizen Fouche. Lodgings have been prepared
elsewhere, for the late owners of that splendid palace.

x On the site of which The Grand Hotel, Charing Cross, now stands.(i803.)	INVASION SQUIBS.

85

" London was ordered to be illuminated, and detach-
ments of French Dragoons paraded the principal streets,
and squares, all night.

"11 Thermidor.

" Bonaparte, at five o'clock in the morning, reviewed
the French troops on the Esplanade at the Horse Guards.
A Council was afterwards held, at which the following
Proclamations were drawn up, and ordered to be posted
in every part of the City :

"'By Order of the First Consul.
"4 Proclamation.

"' St. Jameses Palace.

Inhabitants of London, be tranquil. The Hero, the
Pacificator, is come among you. His moderation, and his
mercy, are too well known to you. He delights in
restoring peace and liberty to all mankind. Banish all
alarms. Pursue your usual occupations. Put on the habit
of joy and gladness.

"4 The First Consul orders,

"' That all the Inhabitants of London and Westminster
remain in their own houses for three days.

"'That no molestation shall be offered to the measures
which the French Soldiers will be required to execute.

"'All persons disobeying these Orders, will be im-
mediately carried before the Minister of Police.

"' (Signed) bonaparte.

"' The Minister of Police, Fouche.'

"' Proclamation.

"' To the French Soldiers.

"'Soldiers! Bonaparte has led you to the Shores, and
the Capital of this proud island. He promised to reward
his brave companions in arms. He promised to give up
the Capital of the British Empire to pillage. Brave86

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,

(1803.)

Comrades, take your reward. London, the second Carthage,
is given up to pillage for three days.

"' (Signed) bonaparte.

" ' The Minister of War, par interim, A&gereau.'

"The acclamations of the French Soldiery—Vive Bona-
parte—le Hiros—le Pacificateur—le Magnanime—resound
through every street.

" 12th, 13th, 14th Thermidor.

" London Pillaged ! The doors of private houses
forced. Bands of drunken soldiers dragging wives, and
daughters, from the hands of husbands and fathers. Many
husbands, who had the temerity to resist, butchered in the
presence of their Children. Flames seen in a hundred
different places, bursting from houses which had been set
fire to, by the vivacity of the troops. Churches broken
cpen, and the Church plate plundered—the pews and altars
converted into Stabling. Four Bishops murdered, who had
taken refuge in Westminster Abbey—the screams of
women and of children mix with the cries of the Soldiers—
Vive la Republique ! Vive Bonaparte !

" St. Martin's Church converted into a depot for the
property acquired by the pillage of the Soldiery.

"15 Thermidor.

" a proclamation published by the First consul,
promising protection to the inhabitants.

"The houses of the principal Nobility and Gentry appro-
priated to the use of the French Generals. Every house is
required to furnish so many rations of bread and meat for
the troops.

" At a Council of State, presid'ed over by Bonaparte,
the two Houses of Parliament are solemnly abolished, and
ordered to be replaced by a Senate, and a Council of
State. General massena appointed Provisional President
of the former, and General dessolles of the latter. The(1803.) PRETENDED PROCLAMATION,	8;

Courts of Law are directed to discontinue their sittings,
and are replaced by Military Tribunals.

" 16 Thermidor.

"A < contribution of twenty millions ordered to be levied
upon London. A deputation was sent to bonaparte to
represent the impossibility of complying with the demand,
the Bank and the Capital having been pillaged. After
waiting in the ante-chamber of the Consul for four hours,
the deputation are informed by a Mameluke guard, that
Bonaparte will not see them. Two hundred of the
principal Citizens ordered to be imprisoned till the Contri-
bution is paid.

"17 Thermidor.

" A plot discovered by Fouche against the First
consul, and three hundred, supposed to be implicated in
it, sent to the Tower.

"Insurrections in different parts of the Capital, on account
of the excesses of the Soldiers, and the contribution of
twenty millions. Cannon planted at all the principal
avenues, and a heavy fire of grape shot kept up against the
insurgents.

"Lords Nelson, St. Vincent, and Duncan, Messrs.
Addington, Pitt, Sheridan, Grey, twenty Peers and
Commons, among the latter is Sir sidney smith, tried
by the Military Tribunals for having been concerned in the
insurrection against France, and sentenced to be shot.
Sentence was immediately carried into execution in Hyde
Park.

"18 Thermidor.

"The Dock-yards ordered to send all the timber, hemp,
anchors, masts, &c., to France. The relations of the British
sailors at sea, sent to prison till the ships are brought into
port, and placed at the disposal of the French. Detach-
ments dispatched to the different Counties to disarm the
people.88	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1803.)

"The Island ordered to be divided into departments, and
military divisions—the name of London to be changed for
Bonapart-opolis—and the .appellation of the Country to be
altered from Great Britain, to that of La France insulaire.—
Edinburgh to take the name of Lucien-ville—Dublin, that
of Massen-opolis.

"BRITONS! can this be endured? shkll we suffer
ourselves thus to be parcelled off ? I hear you one and all
say, No! No! No! To your Tents, O Israel!—for
BRITONS NEVER WILL BE SLAVES."

CHAPTER X.

Invasion Squibs continue^—" The Freeman's Oath "—"John Bull and Bonaparte"
—"The Eve of Invasion"—"A Biography of Napoleon"—"Britons, strike
home"—Enrolment of 400,000 Volunteers—Napoleon at Calais—Apprehen-
sion of vagrants, and compulsorily recruiting the Army and Navy with them
—Patriotism of the nation—Preparations in case of reverse—Beacons—Spies—
The French prisoners—Emmett's rebellion in Ireland—Its prompt suppression
—General Fast—Relief of the Roman Catholics.

SEE yet another:

" The Consequences of Buonaparte's succeeding in
his designs against this Country :—Universal Pillage,
Men of all parties slaughtered, Women of all Ranks
violated, Children Murdered, Trade Ruined, the Labouring
Classes thrown out of Employment, Famine with all its
Horrors, Despotism Triumphant. The remaining Inhabi-
tants Carried away by Ship Loads to Foreign Lands.
Britons look beforeyon"

There were sham playbills such as—" Theatre Royal,
england. In Rehearsal, and meant to be speedily at-
tempted, A Farce in one Act, called The Invasion of
England. Principal Buffo, Mr. Buonaparte ; being his
First (and most likely his last) Appearance on the Stage,"
&c. " In Rehearsal, Theatre Royal of the United
Kingdoms. Some dark, foggy night, about November next,
will be Attempted, by a. Strolling Company of French
Vagrants, an Old Pantomimic Farce, called Harlequin's9°

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 1803.)

Invasion, or the Disappointed Banditti," &c. " Thea-
tre Royal, the Ocean. In preparation, A magnificent
Naval ^(/Military SPECTACLE, superior to anything
of the kind ever witnessed ; consisting of an immense
display of Flat-bottomed Boats Burning, Sinking, &c., to

the freeman's oath.

be called BUONAPARTE; or The Free-Booter running
away ; the Triumph of the British Flag," &c.

"THE FREEMAN'S OATH,

" Our bosoms we'll bare for the glorious strife,

And our oath is recorded on high;

To prevail in the cause that is dearer than life,

Or, crush'd in its ruins, to die.

Then rise, fellow freemen, and stretch the right hand,
And swear to prevail in your dear native land.(1803.)	PATRIOTIC HANDBILLS.

91

'Tis the home we hold sacred is laid to our trust,

God bless the green isle of the brave,

Should a conqueror tread on our forefathers' dust,

It would rouse the old dead from their grave.

Then rise, fellow freemen, and stretch the right hand,

And swear to prevail in your dear native land.

In a Briton's sweet home shall the spoiler abide,

Prophaning its loves and its charms ?

Shall a Frenchman insult the lov'd fair at our side ?

To arms ! Oh, my country, to arms !

Then rise, fellow freemen, and stretch the right hand,

And swear to prevail in your dear native land.

Shall Tyrants enslave us, my Countrymen ? No !

Their heads to the sword shall be given :

Let a deathbed repentance be taught the proud foe,

And his blood be an offering to Heaven.

Then rise, fellow freemen, and stretch the right hand,

And swear to prevail in your dear native land."

Turning from the sublimity of this patriotic effusion, we
shall find a change in "john Bull and bonaparte! ! to
the tune of the Blue Bells of Scotland :"

"When and O when does this little Boney come ?

Perhaps he'll come in August! perhaps he'll stay at home;
But it's O in my heart, how I'll hide him should he come.

Where and O where does this little Boney dwell ?

His birth place is in Corsica—but France he likes so well,

That it's O the poor French, how they crouch beneath his spell.

What cloathes and what cloathes does this little Boney wear?
He wears a large cock'd hat for to make the people stare;

But it's O my oak stick ! I'd advise him to take care!

What shall be done, should this little Boney die ?

Nine cats shall squall his dirge, in sweet melodious cry,

And it's O in my heart, if a tear shall dim my eye !

Yet still he boldly brags, with consequence full cramm'd
On England's happy island, his legions he will land;

But it's O in my heart, if he does may I be d-d."92

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1803.)

I will give but one more example, not that the stock is
exhausted by some hundreds, but that I fear to be weari-
some, and this one shows that if occasionally the matter
of invasion was treated with a light heart, there were many,
nay, the large majority, who looked upon its possibility
an grand serieux.

"THE EVE OF INVASION.

" The hour of battle now draws nigh,

We swear to conquer, or to die;

Haste quick away, thou slow pac'd Night,
To-morrow's dawn begins the fight.

Chorus.

Brothers, draw th' avenging sword,

Death or Freedom be the word.

A Soldier.

Did ye not leave, when forc'd to part,

Some treasure precious to the heart ?

And feel ye not your bosoms swell,

Whene'er ye think of that farewell ?

Chorus.

Another Soldier.

My Lucy said, no longer stay,

Thy country calls thee hence away,

Adieu I may angels round thee hover,

But no slave shall be my lover.

, Chorus,

Another.

My Grandsire cried, I cannot go,

But thou, my Son, shall meet the foe;

I need not say, dear Boy, be brave,

No Briton sure would live a slave.

Chorus.

Another.

My Wife, whose glowing looks exprest,

What patriot ardour warm'd her brqast,

Said, 4 In the Battle think of me;

These helpless Babes, they shall be free.'

Chorus.(1803.)

BONAPARTE.

93

All.

Shades of Heroes gone, inspire us,	,

Children, Wives, and Country fire us.

Freedom loves this hallow'd ground—

Hark ! Freedom bids the trumpet sound.

Chorus.

Brothers, draw th' avenging sword,

Death or Freedom be the word."

If the foregoing examples of the Patriotic Handbills of
1803 are not choice specimens of refined literature, they
are at least fairly representative. I have omitted all the
vilification of Napoleon, which permeates all the series in
a greater or less degree, because I have already given it in
another work. It was gravely stated that his great grand-
father was the keeper of a wine-shop, who, being convicted
of robbery and murder, was condemned to the galleys,
where he died in 1724. His wife, Napoleon's great grand-
mother, was said to have died in the House of Correction
at Genoa. " His grandfather was a butcher of Ajaccio,
and his grandmother daughter of a journeyman tanner at
Bastia. His father was a low pettyfogging lawyer, who
served and betrayed his country by turns, during the Civil
Wars. After France conquered Corsica, he was a spy
to the French Government, and his mother their tryll."
General Marbceuf was said to have been Napoleon's father.
He was accused of seducing his sisters, and his brothers
were supposed to be a very bad lot. He massacred the
people at Alexandria and Jaffa, besides poisoning his own
sick soldiers there. There was nothing bad enough for
the Corsican Ogre; they even found that he was the real,
original, and veritable Apocalyptic Beast, whose number
is 666. It is but fair to say that the majority of these
accusations came originally from French sources, but they
were eagerly adopted here; and, although they might be,
and probably were, taken at their proper valuation by the94

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1803.)

educated classes, there is no doubt but the lower classes
regarded him as a ruffianly murderer. " Boney will come
to you," was quite enough to quiet and overawe any re-
fractory youngster, who, however, must have had some
consolation, and satisfaction, in crunching, in sweetstuff,
fionapctrtes Ribs. It was all very well to sing—

" Come, Bonaparte, if you dare ;

John Bull invites you; bring your Host,

Your slaves with Free men to compare ;

Your Frogs shall croak along the Coast.

When slain, thou vilest of thy Tribe,

Wrapped in a sack your Bones shall be,

That the Elements may ne'er imbibe
The venom of a Toad like thee "— <

but there was the flat-bottomed Flotilla, on the opposite
shore, which we were unable to destroy, or even to appreci-
ably damage, and the " Army of England," inactive cer-
tainly, was still there, and a standing menace. The
Volunteers were feted, and praised to the top of their bent.
An old air of Henry Purcell's (1695), which accompanied
some words interpolated in Beaumont and Fletcher's play
of"Bonduca" or "Boadicaea,"became extremely popular; and
the chorus, " Britons, strike home," was married to several
sets of words, and duly shouted by loyal Volunteers. The
Pictorial Satirist delineates the Volunteer as performing
fabulous deeds of daring. Gillray gives us his idea of the
fate of " Buonaparte forty-eight hours after Landing!"
where a burly rustic Volunteer holds the bleeding head of
Napoleon upon a pitchfork, to the delight of his comrades,
and he thus apostrophises the head : " Ha, my little Boney!
what do'st think of Johnny Bull, now? Plunder Old
England ! hay ? make French slaves of us all! hay ? ravish
all our Wives and Daughters ! hay ? O Lord, help that
silly Head ! To think that Johnny Bull would ever suffer
those lanthorn Jaws to become King of Old England Roast
Beef and Plum Pudding !"(1803.)

PATRIOTISM.

95

Ansell, too, treats Bonaparte's probable fate, should he
land, in a somewhat similar manner. His etching is called
x "After the Invasion. The Levee en Masse, or, Britons, strike
home." The French have landed, but have been thoroughly-
routed, of course, by a mere .handful of English, who drive
them into the sea. Our women plunder the French dead,
but are disgusted with their meagre booty—garlic, onions,
and pill-boxes. A rural Volunteer is, of course, the hero of
the day, and raises Napoleon's head aloft on a pitchfork,
whilst he thus addresses two of his comrades. " Here he
is exalted, my Lads, 24 Hours after Landing." One of his
comrades says, "Why, Harkee, d'ye zee, I never liked
soldiering afore, but, somehow or other, when I thought of
our Sal, the beams, the poor Cows, and the Geese, why I
could have killed the whole Army, my own self." The other
rustic remarks, " Dang my Buttons if that beant the head
of that Rogue Boney. I told our Squire this morning,
' What! do you think,' says I, ' the lads of our Village can't
cut up a Regiment of them French Mounseers ? and as soon
as the lasses had given us a kiss for good luck, I could
have sworn we should do it, and so we have."

Well! it is hard to look at these things in cold blood, at
a great distance of time, and without a shadow of a shade
of the fear of invasion before our eyes, so we ought to be
mercifully critical of the bombast of our forefathers. It
certainly has done us no harm, and if it kept up and nour-
ished the flame of patriotism within their breasts, we are
the gainers thereby, as there is no doubt but that the bold
front shown by the English people, and the unwearying
vigilance of our fleet, saved England from an attempted, if
not successful, invasion. Upwards of 400,000 men volun-
' tarily rising up in arms to defend their country, must have
astonished not only Bonaparte, but all Europe; and by being
spontaneous, it prevented any forced measures, such as a
levee en masse. The Prince of Wales, in vain, applied for
active service; but, it is needless to say, it was refused, not96

THE NINETEENTH CENTUR Y (i 803.)

to the colonel of the regiment, but to the heir to the throne.
The refusal was tempered by the intimation that, should
the enemy effect a landing, the Prince should have an
opportunity of showing his courage, a quality which has
always been conspicuous in our Royal Family.

But before we leave the subject of the threatened In-
vasion, it would be as well to read some jottings respecting
it, which have no regular sequence, and yet should on no
account be missed, as they give us, most vividly, the state
of the public mind thereon.

Napoleon was at Boulogne, at the latter end of June,
making a tour of the ports likely to be attacked by the
British, and, as an example of how well his movements
were known, see the following cutting from the Times of 4th
of July : " The Chief Consul reached Calais at five o'clock
on Friday afternoon (the 1st of July). His entry, as might
be expected, was in a grand style of parade : he rode on a
small iron grey horse of great beauty. He was preceded
by about three hundred Infantry, and about thirty Mame-
lukes formed a kind of semicircle about him. ... In a
short time after his arrival he dined at Quillac & Cds. (late
Dessirts) hotel. The time he allowed himself at dinner
was shorter than usual ; he did not exceed ten minutes or
a quarter of an hour. Immediately after dinner he went,
attended by M. Francy, Commissary of Marine, Mengaud,
Commissary of Police, and other municipal officers, through
the Calais gates, to visit the different batteries erected there.
As soon as he and his attendants had passed through the
gates, he ordered them to be shut, to prevent their being
incommoded by the populace. The execution of this
order very much damped the ardour of the Corsican's
admirers, who remained entirely silent, although the moment
before, the whole place resounded with Vive Buonaparte!
The same evening the General went on board the Josephine
packet, Captain Lambert, and, after examining everything
there minutely, he took. a short trip upon the water in a(1803.)	RECRUITING.	97

V

boat as far as the pier-head to the Battery at the entrance
of the harbour, where he himself fired one of the guns;
afterwards, he visited all the different Forts, and at night
slept at Quillac's Hotel."

They had a rough-and-ready method, in those days, of
recruiting for the services, apprehending all vagrants, and
men who could not give a satisfactory account of them-
selves, and giving them the option of serving His Majesty
or going to prison. There is a curious instance of this in
the following police report, containing as it does an amus-
ing anecdote of "diamond cut diamond." Times, the
7th July, 1803: "Public Office, Bow Street. Yester-
day upwards of forty persons were taken into custody,
under authority of privy search warrants, at two houses
of ill fame; the one in Tottenham Court Road, and
the other near Leicester Square. They were brought
before N. Bond, Esq., and Sir W. Parsons, for examina*
tion ; when several of them, not being able to give a
satisfactory account of themselves, and being able-bodied
men, were sent on board a tender lying off the Tower.
Two very notorious fellows among them were arrested
in the office for pretended debts, as it appeared, for
the purpose of preventing their being sent to sea, the
writs having been just taken out, at the suit of persons
as notorious as themselves. The magistrates, however,
could not prevent the execution of the civil process, as
there was no criminal charge against them, which would
justify their commitment." Take also a short paragraph
in the next day's Times: "Several young men, brought
before the Lord Mayor yesterday, charged with petty
offences, were sent on board the tender."

But, perhaps, this was the best use to put them to, as idle
hands were not wanted at such a juncture. Men came
forward in crowds as volunteers. Lloyd's, and the City
generally, subscribed most liberallyto the Patriotic Fund, and
even in minor things, such as transport, the large carriers

898

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

(1803.)

came forward well—as, for instance, the well-known firm
of Pickford and Co. offered for the service of the Govern-
ment, four hundred horses, fifty waggons, and twenty-eight
boats.1 County meetings were held all over England to
organize defence, and to find means of transport for cannon,
men, and ammunition in case of invasion. The people
came forward nobly; as the Times remarked in a leader
(6th of August, 1803): " Eleven Weeks are barely passed
since the Declaration of War, and we defy any man living,
to mention a period when half so much was ever effected, in
the same space of time, for the defence of the country. 1st
A naval force such as Great Britain never had before, has
been completely equipped, manned, and in readiness to
meet the enemy. 2nd. The regular military force of the
kingdom has been put on the most respectable footing.
3rd. The militia has been called forth, and encamped with
the regular forces. 4th. The supplementary militia has
also been embodied, and even encamped. 5th. An army of
reserve of 50,000 men has been already added to this force,
and is now in great forwardness. 6th. A measure has been
adopted for calling out and arming the whole mass of the
people, in case of emergency; and we are confident that
our information is correct, when we say, that at this mo-
ment there are nearly 300,000 men enrolled in different
Volunteer, Yeomanry, and Cavalry Corps, of whom at
least a third may be considered as already disciplined, and
accoutred."

But, naturally, and sensibly, the feeling obtained of what
might occur in case the French did actually land, and,
among other matters, the safety of the King and the
Royal Family was not forgotten. It was settled that the
King should not go far, at least at first, from London, and
both Chelmsford, and Dartford, as emergency might direct,
were settled on as places of refuge for His Majesty: the

1 In two advertisements only of voluntary offers of horses and carriages, in
August, we find they amount to 2,370 horses and 510 carriages.(1803.)

SPIES.

99

Queen, the Royal Family, and the treasure were to go to
Worcester the faithful, Civitas in bello, et in pace fidelis.
The artillery and stores at Woolwich were to be sent into
the Midland districts by means of the Grand Junction
Canal. < Beacons were to be affixed to some of the seaside
churches, such as Lowestoft and Woodbridge, and these
were of very simple construction—only a tar barrel!

But, by and by, a better, and more organized, system of
communication by beacon was adopted, and the beacons
themselves were more calculated to effect their object.
They were to be made of a large stack, or pile, of furze, or
faggots, with some cord-wood—in all, at least, eight waggon
loads, with three or four tar barrels, sufficient to yield a
light unmistakable at a distance of two or three miles.
These were to be used by night; by day, a large quantity of
straw was to be wetted, in order to produce a smoke.

When the orders for these first came out, invasion was
only expected on the Kent and Sussex coasts, and the
beacon stations were proportionately few ; afterwards, they
became general throughout the country. The first lot
(17th of November) were

1. Shorncliffe.	5. Egerton.

1.	Canterbury.	~ 5. Tenderden. •

2.	Barham.	6. Coxheath.

2. Shollenden.	6. Highgate near Hawkehurst.

2.	Lynne Heights.	7. Boxley Hill.

3.	Isle of Thanet.	7. Goodhurst.

3.	Postling Down.	8. Chatham Lines.

4.	Charlmagna.	8. Wrotham Hill.

N.B. Stations marked with the same figures, communicate
directly with each other.

Of course, naturally, there was the Spy craze, and it
sometimes led to mistakes, as the following will show:
Times, the 29th of August, " A respectable person in town
a short time ago, went on a party of pleasure to the Isle of
Wight, and, being anxious to-see all the beauties of the100

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1803.)

place, he rose early one day to indulge himself with a long
morning's walk. In his way he took a great pleasure in
viewing with his glass, the vessels at sea. In the midst of
his observations he was interrupted by an officer, who, after
a few questions, took him into custody upon suspicion of
being a spy. After a proper investigation of his character,
he was liberated."

In more than one case, however, the charge of espionage
seems to have rested on a far more solid basis; but, of course,
the " Intelligence Department" of every nation will have its
agents, in the enemy's camp, if possible. Two persons, one
named Nield, the other Garrick (nephew to the famous
actor), were actually arrested as being Bonaparte! I do
not know how Mr. Nield fared, but Mr. Garrick was enabled
to prosecute his journey under the protection of the follow-
ing certificate from the Mayor of Haverfordwest :

"This is to certify whom it may concern,that the bearer,
Mr. George Garrick, is known to me; who is on a tour
through the country, and intends returning to England, by
the way of Tenby.

" Richard Lloyd, Mayor?

We cannot wonder at the. rumour of spies being in
their midst, when we think' of the number of French
prisoners of war there were in our keeping, one prison
alone (Mill Prison, Plymouth) having 2,500.

Many 'were out on parole, which I regret to say all did
not respect, many broke prison and got away; in fact, they
did not know where to put them, nor what to do with them,
so that it was once seriously proposed that, in an hour of
danger, should such ever arrive, they should be shut up in
the numefous spent mines throughout England. When on
parole, the following were the regulations—they were al-
lowed to walk on the turnpike road within the distance of
one mile from the extremity of the town in which they
resided, but they must not go into any field or cross road,(1803.)

IRISH REBELLION.

101

nor be absent from their lodgings after five o'clock in the
afternoon, during the months of November, December, and
January; after seven o'clock in the months of February,
March, April, August, September, and October; or, after
eight o'clock in the months of May, June, and July; nor
quit their lodgings in the morning until the bell rang at six
o'clock.

If they did not keep to these regulations, they were liable
to be taken up and sent to prison, a reward of one guinea
being offered for their recapture. Should they not behave
peaceably, they would also have to return to durance.

There were also very many refugees here who were not
prisoners of war, and, in order to keep them under super-
vision, a Royal Proclamation was issued on the 12th of
October, citing an Act passed the last session of Parliament^
respecting the Registration of Aliens, and proclaiming that:
all aliens must, within eighteen days from date, register-
themselves and their place of abode—if in London, before*
the Lord Mayor, or some magistrate at one of the police-
offices ; if in any other part of Great Britain, before some-
neighbouring magistrate.

However, enemies nearer home were plaguing John Bull.
"Mannikin Traitors " verily, but still annoying. Then, as
now, England's difficulty was Ireland's opportunity; and of
course, the chance was too tempting to be resisted. The
Union (curious phrase!) was but in the third year of its ex-
istence, and Ireland was once more in open rebellion. Chief
of the spurious patriots was one Robert Emmett, whose
picture in green and gold uniform coat, white tights and
Hessian boots, waving an immense sword, appears periodi-
cally, in some shop windows, whenever Irish sedition is
peculiarly rampant, only to disappear when the inevitable
petty rogue, the approver, has done his work, and the wind-
bag plot is pricked.

Emmett was the son of one of the State physicians in
Dublin, and brother* to that Thomas Eddis Emmett, who102	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1803.)

was prominent in the rebellion of 1798. Robert had so
compromised himself, by his speech and behaviour, that he
deemed it wise to live abroad during the suspension of the
Habeas Corpus Act, but he returned when his father died,
having become possessed of about ^"2,000, which he must
needs spend, in " regenerating " Ireland.

Silly boy ! (he was only twenty-four) with such a sum,
and about one hundred followers, he thought it could be
done. His crazy brain imagined his down-trodden com-
patriots hastening to his side, to fight for the deliverance of
their beloved country from the yoke of the hated Saxon
despot. There were meetings sub rosd—assemblages on
the quiet—as there always will be in Ireland when the pot
is seething; and at last the curtain was to be drawn up,
for the playing of this farce, on the 23rd of July, when
towards evening, large bodies of men began to assemble in
some of the streets of Dublin—but vaguely, and without
leaders.

At last a small cannon was fired, and a single rocket
went upwards to the sky ; and the deliverer, Emmett,
sallied out, waving that big sword. A shot from a blunder-
buss killed Colonel Browne ; and the Lord Chief Justice of
Ireland, Lord Kilwarden, and his nephew, Rev. Richard
Wolfe, were dragged from their carriage, and brutally
murdered.

A little more bluster, and then, some three hours after
its rising, this scum was put down by about one hundred
and twenty soldiers. The ringleaders were caught and
executed. Emmett, tried on the 19th of September, was
hanged next day.

To show how slowly news travelled in those days, the
Times has no notice of this riot on the 23rd till the 28th
of July, and then not a full account. The Government,
however, seems to have estimated the situation quite at its
full gravity, for there was a message from the King to his
faithful Parliament on the subject; the Habeas Corpus<1803.)

FAST DA Y.

Act was once more suspended, and martial law pro-
claimed.

X)n the 19th of October the religious panacea of a general
fast was tried, and "was observed with the utmost decorum"
in the Metropolis. The Volunteers, especially, won the
encomia of the Times iox their goodness in going to church,
and the Annual Register also warms up into unusual
fervour on the occasion : " Such a number of corps attended
this day, that it is impossible to enumerate them. Every
principal church was crowded with the ardent patriots who
fill the voluntary associations ; and there can be no doubt
that, in the present temper.of the people of this country,
not only every other great city and town, but even the
smallest village or hamlet throughout the island, evinced a
proportionate degree of fervour and animation in the holy
cause. The corps who had not before taken the oath of
allegiance, did so this day, either on their drill grounds, or
in their respective churches."

Of the latter part of the year, other than the Invasion
Scare, there is little to say. Among the Acts passed this
year, however, was one of hopeful import, as showing a
glimmer of a better time to come in the era of religious
toleration. It was to relieve the Roman Catholics of some
pains and disabilities* to which they were subject, on sub-
scribing the declaration and oath contained in the Act 31
George III.

Three per Cent. Consols opened this year at 69 ; dropped
in July to 50, an/d left off the 31st of December at 55.

Bread stuffs were cheaper, ithe average price of wheat
being 77s. per quarter, and the quartern loaf, 9d.CHAPTER XI.

1804.

Cxricatures of the Flotilla—Scarcity of money—Stamping Spanish dollars—Illness
of the King—His recovery—General Fast—Fall of the Addington Ministry—
Debate on the Abolition of the Slave Trade—Beacons—Transport—Election
for Middlesex—Reconciliation between the King and the Prince of Wales.

THE year 1804 opens with Britain still in arms,
watching that flotilla which dare not put out,
and cannot be destroyed ; but somehow, whether
familiarity had bred contempt, or whether it had come to be
looked upon as a " bugaboo "—terrible to the sight, but not
so very bad when you knew it-^the patriotic handbills
first cooled down, and then disappeared, and the satirical
artist imparted a lighter tone to his pictures. Take one of
Gillray's (February 10, 1804) : " The king of brobding-
nag and Gulliver" (Plate 2). Scene — "Gulliver
manoeuvring with his little boat in the cistern," vide
Swiffs Gulliver: "I often used to row for my own
diversion, as well as that of the Queen and her ladies, who
thought themselves well entertained with my skill and
agility. Sometimes I would put up my sail and show my
art by steering starboard and larboard. However, my
attempts produced nothing else besides a loud laughter,
which all the respect due to His Majesty from those about
him, could not make them contain. This made me reflect(1804.)	'SCARCITY OF BULLION.	105

how vain an attempt it is for a man to endeavour to do
himself honour among those who are out of all degree of
equality or comparison with him!!!" The King and Queen
look on with amusement at the pigmy's vessel, for the
better; sailing of which, the young princes are blowing; and
creating quite a gale.

Take another by West (March, 1804), which shows equally,
that terror is turning to derision. It is called "A French
Alarmist, or, John Bull looking out for the Grand Flotilla!"
John Bull is guarding his coast, sword on thigh, and
attended by his faithful dog. Through his telescope he
scans the horizon, and is thus addressed by a Frenchman
who is behind him. " Ah, ah ! Monsieur Bull, dere you see
our Grande Flotilla, de grande gon boats, ma foi—dere you
see 'em sailing for de grand attack on your nation—dere
you see de Bombs and de Cannons—dere you see de Grande
Consul himself at de head of his Legions ? Dere you see—*
But John Bull, mindful of the old saying, anent the Spanish
Armada, replies, " Monsieur, all this I cannot see, becausc
'tis not in sight."

Money was scarce in this year ; and in spite of the all-
but million given the King not so long since to pay his
debts, we find (Morning Herald, April 26, 1804), "The
Civil List is now paying up to the Lady-day quarter, 1803."

So scarce was money—i.e., bullion—that a means had to
be found to supplement the currency ; and it so happened
that a large quantity of Spanish dollars were opportunely
taken in prizes. In 1803 the idea of utilizing these as
current English coins was first mooted, and some were
stamped with the King's head, the size of. the ordinary
goldsmith's mark ; but in 1804 a much larger issue of
them was made, and they were stamped with a profile
likeness of the King, in an octagon of about a quarter of
an inch square. They were made to pass for five shillings
each, which was about threepence-halfpenny over their
value as bullion ; and this extra, and fictitious, value wasio6	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1804.)

imposed upon them in order that they should not be melted
down. They were also to be taken back for a time at that
price, and on the 12th of January, 1804, every banking
house received ;£ 1,000 worth of them from the Bank of
England, against the Bank's paper. But, as currency, they
did not last long, the Bank refusing, as early as April the
same year, to receive them back again, on " various frivolous
and ill-founded pretensions." For some reason, probably
forgery, they were recalled, and on the 22nd of May there
was a notice in the Gazette to the effect that a new issue
of them would be made, which would be stamped by the
famous firm of Boulton, Soho Mint, at Birmingham, whose
series of tradesmen's tokens of George the Third's reign
is familiar to every numismatist. They varied from those
stamped at the Tower, by having on the obverse, " Georgius
III., Dei Gratis Rex," and on the reverse, the figure of
Britannia, with the words—" Five shillings dollar, Bank of
England, 1804," but even these were soon forged.

On the 14th of February the King was taken ill so
seriously that bulletins had to be issued. His malady was
stated to be "an Hydrops Pectoris, or a water in the chest
of the body ; " to counteract which they scarified his legs.1
The probability is, that this treatment was not the proper
one, for I observe that the next day's bulletin is signed by
four, instead of two doctprs, who, however, on the succeeding
day, certify that their patient could walk. On the 26th,
which was Sunday, prayers were offered up in all churches
and chapels of the Metropolis, and a week later throughout
England, for His Majesty's recovery. On the 27th of
February, there was a long debate in Parliament on the
subject of His Majesty's health; some members holding
that, looking at the gravity of our relations with France,
the people were not kept sufficiently informed as to the
King's illness. Addington, then Prime Minister, contended
that more information than was made public would be

1 Morning Herald* February 18, 1804.(i804.;	another fast day.

107

injudicious, and prejudicial to the public good ; and after
a long discussion, in which Pitt, Fox, Windham, and
Grenville took part, the subject dropped. Towards the
end of March, the King became quite convalescent, a fact
which is thus quaintly announced in the Morning Herald
of the 28th of March : " We have the sincerest pleasure in
stating that a certain personage is now perfectly restored
to all his domestic comforts. He saw the Queen for the
first time on Saturday (March 24th) afternoon. The
interview, as may well be conceived, was peculiarly
affecting."

Yet another Fast Day; this time on the 25th of May, and
its cause—" for humbling ourselves before Almighty God,
in order to obtain pardon of our sins, and in the most
solemn manner to send up our prayers and supplications
to the Divine Majesty, for averting those heavy judgments
which our manifold provocations have most justly deserved;
and for imploring His blessing and assistance on our arms,
for the restoration of peace and prosperity to these
dominions." A contemporary account tells how it was
kept : " Yesterday, being the day appointed for the
observance of a solemn Fast, was duly observed in the
Metropolis, at least as far as .outward show and decorum
can go. Every shop was shut; for those who on similar
occasions, kept their windows open, have probably learnt
that, to offend against public example and decency, is not
the way to ensure either favour or credit. Most of the
Volunteer Corps attended at their several churches, where
sermons suitable to the day were preached."

The Addington Ministry was on its last legs, and died on
or about the nth of May ; and a very strong government
was formed by Pitt, which included the Duke of Portland,
Lord Eldon, Lord Melville, the Earl of Chatham, Dundas,
Canning, Huskisson, and Spencer Perceval.

They were not very long in power before they stretched
forth their long arm after the notorious William Cobbett108	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, (1804.)

for the publication of certain libels with intent to traduce
His Majesty's Government in Ireland, and the persons
employed in the administration thereof, particularly Lord
Hardwicke, Lord Redesdale, Mr. Marsden, and the Hon.
Charles Osborne, contained in certain letters signed Juverna.
He was tried on the 24th of May, and found guilty. On
the 26th he had another action brought against him
for slandering Mr. Plunket, in his official capacity as
Solicitor-General for Ireland, and was cast in a verdict
for ^500.

On the 27th of June the Abolition of the Slave Trade
was read a third time in the Commons, and some curious
facts came out in debate. One member called attention
to the fact that there were 7,000 French prisoners on the
Island of Barbadoes, besides a great number in prison-
ships, and feared they would foment discontent among the
negroes, who did not distinguish between the abolition of
the slave trade and immediate emancipation. He also-
pointed out that the Moravian missionaries on the island
were teaching, most forcibly, the fact that all men were
alike God's creatures, and that the last should be first and
the first last.

An honourable member immediately replied in vindica-
tion of the missionaries, and said that no fewer than 10,000'
negroes had been converted in the Island of Antigua, and
that their tempers and dispositions had been, thereby, ren-
dered so much better, that they were entitled to an increased
value 0/ £ 10.

Next day the Bill was taken up to the Lords and read
for the .first time, during which debate the Duke of
Clarence said : " Since a very early period of his life, when,
he was in another line of profession—which he knew not
why he had no longer employment in—he had ocular
demonstration of the state of slavery, as it was called, in
the West Indies, and all that he had seen convinced him
that it not only was not deserving of the imputations that<1804.)

ABOLITION OF SLA VERY.

109

had been cast upon it, but that the abolition of it would
be productive of extreme danger and mjschief."

Before the second reading he also presented two petitions
against it, and when the second reading did come on, on
the 3rd of July, Lord Hawkesbury moved that such reading
should be on that day three months, and this motion was
carried without a division,'so that the Bill was lost for that
year.

The Invasion Scare, although dying out, in this year was
far from dead; but, though people did not talk so much
about it, the Government was vigilant and watchful, as was <
shown by many little matters—notably the signals. In the
eastern district of England were 32,000 troops ready to
move at a moment's notice ;> whilst the hoisting of a red
flag at any of the following stations would ensure the
lighting of all the beacons, wherever established :

Colchester.	Mum's, Hedge

Transport seems to have been the weakest spot in the
military organizations, and a Committee sat both at the
Mansion House, and Thatched House Tavern, to stimulate
the patriotic ardour of owners of horses and carriages, in-
order that they might offer them for the use of the Govern-
ment. A large number of job-masters, too, offered to lend
their horses, provided their customers would send their
coachmen and two days' forage with them.

There was in this year a very close election for Middlesex,
between Sir Francis Burdett and Mr. Mainwaring. The
election lasted, as usual, a fortnight, and Sir Francis claimed
a majority of one. This so elated his supporters that they

Brightlingsea.

Earls Colne.
Gosfield.

Sewers End.
Littlebury.

Thaxted.

Hatfield Brdad Oak.

White Notley.
Ongar Park.
Messing.

Rettenden.
Danbury.

Langdon Hill.
Corne Green.no	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1804.)

formed a triumphal procession from Brentford, the county-
town, to. Piccadilly, composed as under:

a Banner, on orange ground, inscribed
Victory.

Horsemen, two and two.

Flags borne by Horsemen.

Persons on foot in files of six, singing " Rule, Britannia."

Handbell Ringers.

Body of foot, as before.

Car with Band of Music.

Large Body of Horsemen.

Sir Francis Burdett
In his Cfrariot, accompanied by his Brother, and another
Gentleman covered with Laurels and drawn by
the Populace, with an allegorical painting of

Liberty and Independence,

and surrounded with lighted flambeaux.

A second Car, with a Musical Band.

A Body of Horsemen.

Gentlemen's and other Carriages in a long Cavalcade,

which closed the Procession.

Was it not a pity, after all this excitement, that on a
scrutiny, the famous majority of one was found to be
fallacious, and that Mr. Main waring had a majority of
five ? a fact of which he duly availed himself, sitting for
Middlesex at the next meeting of Parliament.

The close of the year is not particularly remarkable for
any events other than the arrival in England, on the 1st
of November, of the brother of Louis XVIII. (afterwards
Charles X.), and the reconciliation which took place between
the Prince of Wales, and his royal father, on the 12th of
November, which was made the subject of a scathing
satirical print by Gillray (November 20th). It is called
"The Reconciliation." "And he. arose and came to
his Father, and his Father saw him, and had compassion,
and ran, and fell on his Neck and kissed him." The old
King is in full Court costume, with brocaded Coat arid
Ribbon of the Garter, and presents a striking contrast to(1804.)	" THE RE CONCILIA TION.

in

the tattered prodigal, whose rags show him to be in pitiable
case, and who is faintly murmuring, " Against Heaven and
before thee!' The Queen, with open arms, stands on the
doorstep to welcome the lost one, whilst Pitt and Lord
Bfoira, as confidential advisers, respectively of the King
and the Prince, look on with a curious and puzzled air.

Consols were, January 56^ ; December 58^ ; having
fallen as low as 54y2 in February. The quartern loaf
began the year at 9^d. and left off at is. 4j^d. Average
price of wheat 74s.oocH>vK>303030ooi>ocH>aoooaooooooo£>oooooooo

CHAPTER XII.

1805.

Doings of Napoleon—His letter to George III.—Lord Mulgrave's 'reply—War
declared against Spain—General Fast—Men voted for Army and Navy—The
Salt Duty—Withdrawal of " The Army of England "—Battle of Trafalgar and
death of Nelson—General Thanksgiving.

THE year 1805 was uneventful for many reasons, the
chief of which was that Bonaparte was principally
engaged in consolidating his power after his Coro-
nation. He was elected Emperor on the 20th of May,
1804, but was not crowned until December of the same
year. In March, 1805, was invited by tihe Italian
Republic to be their monarch, and, in April, he and
Josephine left Paris for Milan, and in May he crowned
himself King of Italy.

He was determined, if only nominally, to hold out the
olive branch of peace to England, and on the 2nd of
Janyary, 1805, he addressed the following letter to George
the Third.

" Sir and Brother,—Called to the throne of France by
Providence, and by the suffrages of the senate, the people,
and the army, my first sentiment is a wish for peace; France
and England abuse their prosperity. They may contend for(1805.) LETTER FROM NAPOLEON.	113

ages ; but do their governments well fulfil the most sacred
of their duties, and will not so much blood, shed uselessly,
and without a view to any end, condemn them in their own
consciences ? I consider it as no disgrace to make the
first step. I have, .1 hope, sufficiently proved to the world
that I fear none of the chances of war ; it, besides, presents
nothing that I need to fear: peace is the wish of my heart,
but war has never been inconsistent with my glory. I
conjure your Majesty not to deny yourself the happiness
of giving peace to the world, nor to leave that sweet satis-
faction to your children ; for certainly there never was a
more fortunate opportunity, nor a moment more favourable,
to silence all the passions and listen only to the sentiments
of humanity and reason. This moment once lost, what end
can be assigned to a war which all my efforts will not be
able to terminate ? Your Majesty has gained more within
the last ten years both in territory and riches than the
whole extent of Europe. Your nation is at the highest
point of prosperity : to what can it hope from war ? To
form a coalition with some Powers of the Continent! The
Continent will remain tranquil—a coalition can only in-
crease the preponderance and continental greatness of
France. To renew intestine troubles ? The times are no
longer the same. To destroy our finances? Finances
founded on flourishing agriculture can never be destroyed.
To take from France her colonies ? The Colonies are to
France only a secondary object; and does not your
Majesty already possess more than you know how to
preserve ? If your Majesty would but reflect, you must
perceive that the war is without an object, without any
presumable result to yourself. Alas! what a melancholy
prospect to cause two nations to fight merely for the sake
of fighting. The world is sufficiently large for our two
nations to live in it, and reason is sufficiently powerful to
discover means of reconciling everything, when the wish
for reconciliation exists on both sides. I have, however,

9H4

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1805.)

fulfilled a sacred duty, and one which is precious to my
heart. I trust your Majesty will believe in the sincerity
of my sentiments, and my wish to give you every proof

lt#	" Napoleon."

When the King opened Parliament on the 15th of
January, 1805, he referred to this letter thus: "I have
recently received a communication from the French Govern^
ment, containing professions of a pacific disposition. I
have, in consequence, expressed my earnest desire to
embrace the first opportunity of restoring the blessings of
peace on such grounds as may be consistent with the
permanent safety and interests of my dominions; but I am
confident you will agree with me that those objects are
closely connected with the general security of Europe."

The reply of Lord Mulgrave (who had succeeded Lord
Harrowby as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs)
was both courteous and politic. It was dated the 14th of
January, and was addressed to M. Talleyrand.

" His Britannic Majesty has received the letter which has
been addresed to him by the head of the French Govern-
ment, dated the 2nd of the present month. There is no
object which His Majesty has more at heart, than to avail
himself of the first opportunity to procure again for his
subjects the advantages of a peace, founded on bases which
may not be incompatible with the permanent security
and essential interests of his dominions. His Majesty is
persuaded that this end can only be attained by arrange-
ments which may, at the same time, provide for the future
safety and tranquillity of Europe, and prevent the recurrence
of the dangers and calamities in which it is involved. Con-
formably to this sentiment, His Majesty feels it is impossible
for him to answer more particularly to the overture that
has been made him, till he has had time to communicate
with the Powers on the Continent, with whom he is
engaged with confidential connexions and relations, and(1805.)

GENERAL FAST.

ir5

particularly the Emperor of Russia, who has given the
strongest proofs of the wisdom and elevation of the senti-
ments with which he is animated, and the lively interest
which he takes in the safety and independence of the Con-
tinent. <	"Mulgrave."

Very shortly after this, England declared war against
Spain, and the Declaration was laid before Parliament on
January 24th. A long discussion ensued thereon ; but the
Government had a majority on their side of 313 against 106.

Probably, His Majesty's Government had some inkling of
what was coming, for on the 2nd of January was issued a
proclamation for another general Fast, which was to take
place on the 20th of February, "for the success of His
Majesty's arms." History records that the Volunteers
went dutifully to church ; and also that " a very elegant
and fashionable display of equestrians and charioteers
grace"d the public ride about three o'clock. The Countesses
of Cholmondeley and Harcourt were noticed for the first
time this season, each of whom sported a very elegant
landau. Mr. .Buxton sportetl his four bays in his new
phaeton, in a great style, and Mr. Chartres his fine set of
blacks." Thus showing that different people have different
views of National Fasting and Chastening.

That the arm of the flesh was also relied on, is shown by
the fact that Parliament in January voted His Majesty
120,000 men, including marines, for his Navy ; and in
February 312,048 men for his Army, with suitable sums
for their maintenance and efficiency.

Of course this could not be done without extra taxation,
and the Budget of the 18th of February proposed—an extra
tax of id., 2d., and 3d. respectively on single, double, and
treble letters (as they were called) passing through the
post ; extra tax of 6d. per bushel on salt, extra taxes on
horses, and on legacies. All these were taken without
much demur, with one exception, and that was the Salt Duty116	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1805.)

Bill. Fierce were the squabbles over this tax, and much
good eloquence was expended, both in its behalf and against
it, and it had to be materially altered before it was passed;
one of the chief arguments against it being that it would
injuriously affect the fisheries, as large quantities were used
in curing. But a heavy tax on salt would also hamper
bacon and ham curing, &c., and Mrs. Bull had an objection
to see Pitt as

BILLY IN THE SALT-BOX.1

The Flotilla could not sail, and " the Army of England "
was inactive, when circumstances arose that rendered the
withdrawal of the latter imperative: consequently the
Flotilla was practically useless, for it had no troops ta
transport. Austria had gone to war with France without

1 Pitt says, as he looks from the Salt-box, "How do you do, cookey?"'
She exclaims, " Curse the fellow, how he has frightened me. I think in my
heart he is getting in everywhere! Who the deuce would have thought ot
finding him in the Salt-box ! 1! "(1805.) " THE ARMY OF ENGLAND"

117

the formality of a Declaration, and the forces of the Allies
were computed at 250,000. The French troops were
reckoned at 275,000 men, but "the Army of England"
comprised 180,000 of these, and they must needs be
diverted to the point of danger.

We can, imagine the great wave of relief that spread over
the length and breadth of this land at this good news.
The papers were, of course, most jubilant, and the whole
nation must have felt relieved of a great strain. Even the
Volunteers must have got somewhat sick of airing and
parading their patriotism, with the foe within tangible-
proximity, and must have greatly preferred its absence.

The Times is especially bitter on the subject :

" 1. The scene that .now opens upon the soldiers of
France, by being obliged to leave the coast, and march
eastwards, is sadly different from that Land of Promise
which, for two years, has been held out to them, in all sorts
of gay delusions. After all the efforts of the Imperial
Boat Builder, instead of sailing over the Channel, they have
to cross the Rhine. The bleak forests of Suabia will make
but a sorry exchange for the promised spoils, of our Docks
and Warehouses. They will not find any equivalent for
the plunder of the Bank, in another bloody passage through
' the Valley of Hell;' but they seem to have forgotten the
magnificent promise of the Milliard"1

The Times (September 13th) quoting from a French
paper, shows that they endeavoured to put a totally
different construction on the withdrawal of their troops, or
rather to make light of it. " Whilst the German papers,
with much noise, make more troops march than all the
Powers together possess, France, which . needs not to
augment her forces, in order to display them in an imposing
manner, detaches a few thousand troops from the Army of
England, to cover her frontiers, which are menaced by the
imprudent conduct of Austria. England is preparing fresh

1 September 11, 1805.nS	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, (1805.)

victories for us, and for herself fresh motives for decrying
her ambition. After all, those movements are not yet a
certain sign of war," &c.

The greatest loss the English Nation sustained this year,
was the death of Admiral Lord Nelson at the Battle of
Trafalgar, which was fought on the 21st of October, 1805.

On the 6th of November the glorious news of the Victory
was published, and there was but one opinion—that it was

DEATH OF NELSON.

purchased too dearly. That evening London was but
partially illuminated, On the jth. these symptoms of
rejoicing were 'general, but throughout them there was a
sombre air—a mingling of the cypress with the laurel, and
men went about gloomily, thinking of the dead hero : at
least most did—some did not; even of those who might
have worn a decent semblance of woe—old sailors—some
of whom, according to the Times, behaved in a somewhat(1805.)

VICTOR Y OF TRAFALGAR.

119

unseemly manner. "A squadron of shattered tars were
drawn up in line of battle, opposite the Treasury, at anchor,
with their lights alofty all well stowed with grog, flourishing
their mutilated stumps, cheering all hands, and making the
best of their position, in collecting prize money "

A General Thanksgiving for the Victory was proclaimed
to take place on the 5th of December. The good Volun-
teers were duly marched to church, and one member of the
Royal Family—the Duke of Cambridge—actually attended
Divine Worship on the occasion. At Drury Lane Theatre,
" the Interlude of The Victory and Death of Lord Nelson
seemed to affect the audience exceedingly; but the tear of
sensibility was wiped away by the merry eccentricities of
The Weathercock"—the moral to be learned from which
seems to be, that the good folks of the early century seemed
to think that God should not be thanked, nor heroesl
mourned, too much. This must close this year, for Nelson's
funeral belongs to the next.

After the Battle of Trafalgar, the Patriotic Fund was
again revived, and over £$0,000 subscribed by the end of
the year.

\ Consols were remarkably even during this year, varying
very little even at the news of Trafalgar: January, 61^3 ;
December, 65.

The quartern loaf varied from January is. 4%^d., to
December is. oj^d.

Wheat varied from 95s. to 90s. per quarter.



^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^'i!? ^ ^

<j(» dfy dfy cj^ dfy tfj> djj!» c)|(» tljj dffi dfy C^» tSjft Jfy cj|t cj|» c^jj cjjjj C^(» «)Ji» cjjjj c)^» dfy c^J» cl^>

CHAPTER XIII.

1806.

Nelson's funeral—Epigrams—Death of Pitt—His funeral—General Fast—Large
coinage of copper—Impeachment of Lord Melville—The Abolition of the
Slave Trade passes the Houste of Commons—Death and funeral of Fox—His
warning Napoleon of a plot against him—Negotiations for pea.ce—Napoleon
declares England blockaded.'

THE year opens with the Funeral of Nelson, whose
Victory at Trafalgar had made England Mistress of
the Ocean. He was laid to his rest in St Paul's on
January 9th, much to the profit of the four vergers of that
Cathedral, who are said to have made more than ;£iooo, by
the daily admission of the throngs desirous of witnessing
the preparations for the funeral. The Annual Register
says, " The door money is taken as at a puppet show, and
amounted for several days to more than forty pounds a
day." Seats to view the procession, from the windows
of the houses on the route, commanded any price,
from One Guinea each; and as much as Five Hundred
Guineas is said to have been paid for a house on Ludgate
Hill.1

Enthusiasm was at its height, as it was in later times,

1 Morning Post, January 8, 1806.(i8o6.)

NELSON LYING IN STATE.

121

,within the memory of many of us, when the Duke of
Wellington, came to rest under the same roof as the Gallant
Nelson. His famous signal—which, even now, thrills the
heart of every Englishman—was prostituted to serve trade
Advertisments, vide ' the following: " england expects
every man to do his duty. nelson's victory, or
Twelfth Day. To commemorate that great National
Event, which is the pride of every Englishman to hand
down to the latest posterity, as well as to contribute towards
alleviating the sufferings of our brave wounded Tars, &c.,
H. webb, Confectioner, Little Newport Street, will, on
that day, Cut for Sale, the Largest Rich Twelfth
Cake ever made, weighing, near 600 lbs., part of the
profits of which H. w. intends applying to the Patriotic
Fund at Lloyd's."1

His body lay in State at Greenwich in the " Painted
Hall" (then called the "Painted Chamber") from Sunday the
5th of January until the 8th. Owing to Divine Service not
being finished, a written notice was posted up, that the
public could not be admitted until 11. a.m.; by which time
many thousands of people were assembled. Punctually at
that hour, the doors were thrown open, and, though express
orders had been given that only a limited number should
be admitted at once, yet the mob was so great as tp bear
down everything in its way. Nothing could be heard but
shrieks and groans, as several persons were trodden under
foot and greatly hurt. One man had his right eye literally
torn out, by coming into contact with one of the gate-posts.
Vast numbers of ladies and gentlemen lost their shoes,
hats, shawls, &c., and the ladies fainted in every direc-
tion.

The Hall was hung with black cloth, and lit up with
twenty-eight Silver Sconces, with two wax candles in each
—a light which, in that large Hall, must have only served
to make darkness visible. High above the Coffin hung

1 Morning Post, January 3, 1806.122	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1806.)'

a canopy of black velvet festooned with gold, and by the
coffin was the Hero's Coronet. Shields of Arms were
around, and, at back, was a trophy, which was surmounted
by a gold shield, encircled by a wreath having upon it
"Trafalgar" in black letters.

The bringing of the body from Greenwich to Whitehall
by water, must have been a most impressive sight—and one
not likely to be seen again, owing to the absence of rowing
barges. That which headed the procession bore the Royal
Standard, and carried a Captain and two Lieutenants in
full uniform, with black waistcoats, breeches, and stockings,
and crape round their hats and arms.

In the second barge were the Officers of Arms, bearing
the Shield, Sword, Helm, and Crest, of the deceased, and
the great - banner was borne by Captain Moorsom, sup-
ported by two lieutenants.

The third barge bore the body, and was rowed by forty-
six men from Nelson's flag-ship the Victory. This barge
was covered with black velvet, and black plumes, and
Clarencieux King-at-Arms sat at the head of. the coffin,
bearing a Viscount's Coronet, upon a black velvet cushion.

In the fourth barge came the Chief Mourner, Admiral
Sir Peter Parker, with many assistant Mourners and Naval
grandees.

Then followed His Majesty's barge, that of the Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty, the Lord Mayor's barge,
and many others ; and they all passed slowly up the
silent highway, to the accompaniment of minute guns, the
shores being lined with thousands of spectators, every man
with uncovered head. All traffic on the river was sus-
pended, and the deck, yards, masts, and rigging of every
vessel were crowded with men.

The big guns of the Tower boomed forth, and similar
salutes accompanied the mournful train to Whitehall, from
whence the body was taken, with much solemnity, to the
Admiralty, there to lie till the morrow.nelson's funeral car.124

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1806.)

His resting-place was not fate4 to be that of his choice.
" Victory, or Westminster Abbey," he cried, forgetful that
the Nation had apportioned the Abbey to be the Pantheon
of Genius, and St. Paul's to be the Valhalla of Heroes—and
to the latter he was duly borne.

I refrain from giving the programme of the procession,
because of its length, which jnay be judged by the fact,
that the first part left the Admiralty at 11 a.m., and the
last of the mourning coaches a little before three. The
Procession may be divided into three parts: the Military,
the funeral Pageant proper, and the Mourners. There
were nearly 10,000 regular soldiers, chiefly composed of
those who had fought in Egypt, and knew of Nelson ; and
this was a large body to get together, when the means of
transport were very defective—a great number of troops
in Ireland, and a big European War in progress, causing
a heavy drain upon the Army. The Pageant was as brave
as could be made, with pursuivants and heralds, standards
and trumpets, together with every sort of official procurable,
and all the nobility, from the younger sons of barons, to
George Prince of Wales, who was accompanied by the
Dukes of Clarence and Kent. The Dukes of York and
Cambridge headed the Procession, and the Duke of Sussex
made himself generally useful by first commanding his
regiment of Loyal North Britons, and then riding to St.
Paul's on his chestnut Arabian. The Mourners, besides
the relatives of the deceased, consisted of Naval Officers,
according to their rank—the Seniors nearest the body ;
and, to give some idea of the number of those who followed
Nelson to the grave, there were one hundred and eighty-
four Mourning Coaches, which came after the Body, which
was carried on a triumphal car, fashioned somewhat after
his flag-ship the Victory—the accompanying illustration
of which I have taken from the best contemporary engrav-
ing I could find.

The whole of the Volunteer Corps of the Metropolis, and(i8o6.)

DEATH OF PITT

125

its vicinity, were on duty all day, tp keep the line, of
procession.

At twenty-three and a half minutes past five the coffin
containing Nelson's mortal remains was lowered into its
vault. Garter King-at-Arms had pronounced his style and
duly broken his staff, and then the huge procession, which
had taken so much trouble and length of time to prepare,
melted, and each man went his way; the car being taken
to the King's Mews, where it remained for a day or two,
until it was removed to the grand hall at Greenwich—and
the Hero, or rather his grave, was converted into a sight for
which money was taken.

"EPIGRAM,'

on the shameful exhibition at st. paul's.

Brave Nelson was doubtless a lion in war,,

With terror his enemies filling;

13 ut now he is dead, they are safe from his paw,

And the Lion is shewn for a shilling." 1

" THE INVITATION.

Lo ! where the relics of brave Nelson lie !

And, lo ! each heart with saddest sorrow weeping !

Come then, ye throng, and gaze with anxious eye—
But, ah ! remember, you must—pay for peeping2

The cost of this funeral figures, in the expenses of the
year, at £14,698 us. 6d.

Yet another death: the great Statesman, William Pitt,
who had been sinking for some time, paid the debt of
Nature on the 23rd of January. Parliament voted him,
by a majority of 258 to 89, a public funeral, and sepulture
in Westminster Abbey; and also a sum not exceeding
£40,000 was voted, without opposition, to pay his debts.

He lay in state, in the Painted Chamber of the Palace of
.Westminster, on the 20th and 21st of February, and people
flocked to the sight—19,800 persons passing through in the

1 Morning Post, January 20, 1806.	2 Ibid., January 21, l8c6.126

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1806.)

six hours the doors were kept open ; or, in other words,
they entered and went out at the rate of fifty-five a minute.
This average was exceeded pext day, when the number of
visitors rose to 27,000, or seventy-five a minute.

Of course the accessories of this funeral, which took
place on the 22nd of February, were nothing like so
gorgeous as at that of Nelson ; but there was a vast amount
of State, and the Dukes of York, Cumberland, and Cam-
bridge, were among the long line of the Nobility who paid
their last respects to William Pitt The cost of the funeral
was £6,045 2S* 6d.

It would be without precedent to allow the year to pass
without a Fast, so one was ordered for the 26th of February.
The Houses of Lords and Commons attended Church, so
did the Volunteers. Also " The Lord Mayor, Sheriffs, &c.,
attended Divine Service at St. Paul's, from whence they
returned to the Mansion House—where they dined?

The Copper Coinage having, during the King's long
reign, become somewhat deteriorated, a proclamation of
His Majesty's appeared in the Gazette of the 10th of May,
for a New Coinage of 150 tons of penny pieces, 427^ tons
of halfpenny pieces, and twenty-two and a half tons of
farthings. The penny pieces were to be in the proportion
of twenty-four to the pound, avoirdupois, of copper, and
so on with the others. It was provided that no oiie should
be obliged to take more of such penny pieces, in one pay-
ment, than shall be of the value of one shilling, or more of
such halfpence and farthings than shall be of the value of
sixpence.

This year witnessed the singular sight of a Parliamentary
Impeachment. Lord Melville was accused on ten different
counts, and his trial commenced on the 29th of April;
Westminster Hall being fitted up for the occasion. The
three principal charges against him were—"First, that before
January 10, 1786, he had applied to his private use and
profit, various sums of public money entrusted to him, as(i8o6.)

DEATH OF FOX,

127

Treasurer of the Navy. Secondly, that in violation of the
Act of Parliament, for better regulating that office, he had
permitted Trotter, his paymaster, illegally to take from the
Bank of England, large sums of the money issued on
account pf the Treasurer of the Navy, and , to place those
sums in the hands of his private banker, in his own name,
and subject to his sole control and disposition. Thirdly,
that he had fraudulently and corruptly permitted Trotter
to apply the said money to purposes of private use and
emolument, and had, himself, fraudulently and corruptly
derived profit therefrom."

Of course Lord Melville pleaded " not guilty," and this
was the verdict of his peers.

On the 10th of June, the Abolition of the Slave Trade
again passed the House of Commons, by a majority of
ninety-nine. On the 24th of June the Lords debated on
the same subject, and they carried, without a division, an
address to His Majesty, "praying that he would be
graciously pleased to consult with other Powers towards
the accomplishment of the same end," which would afford
another opportunity to those who were anxious again to
divide upon this question.

On the 13th of September of this year died Pitt's great
rival, Charles James Fox, a man who, had he lived in these
times, would have been a giant Statesman. For him,
however, no public funeral, no payment by the nation of
his debts—this latter probably because in the accounts for
the year figure two items of expenditure : " For secret
services for 1806, ;£ 175,000," and "For the seamen who
served in the Battle of Trafalgar, ^300,000." He was
buried on the 10th of October in Westminster Abbey, and
the funeral, under the direction of his friend, Sheridan, was
a very pompous affair—though, of course, it lacked the
glitter of a State ceremonial. Still there were the King's
Trumpeters and Soldiers, whilst the Horse and Foot Guards
and Volunteers lined the way. So he was carried to his123

THE NINETEENTH CENTUR K (1806.)

grave in the Abbey—which, curiously, was dug within
eighteen inches of his old opponent, Pitt The relation
between the two is well summed up by a contemporary
writer. "We may pronounce of them, that, as rivals for
ppwer and for fame, their equals have not been known in
this country, and perhaps in none were there two such
Statesman,' in so regular and equal a contention for pre-
eminence. In the advantages of birth and fortune they
were equal; in eloquence, dissimilar in their manner, but
superior to all their contemporaries ; in influence upon the
minds of their hearers equal; in talents and reputation,
dividing the nation into two parties of nearly equal
strength; ifi probity, above all suspicion ; in patriotism
rivals, as in all things else." 1

It must not be thought that the year passed by without
attempts being made to stop the war. They were begun
by a charming act of international courtesy and friendship
on the part of Fox, which cannot be better told than in
his own words, contained in a letter to Talleyrand.

" Downing Street, February 20, 1806.

" Sir,—I think it my duty, as an honest man, to com-
municate to you, as soon as possible, a very extraordinary
circumstance which is come to my knowledge. The shortest
way will be to relate to you the fact simply as it happened.

"A few days ago a person informed me that he was just
arrived at Gravesend without a passport, requesting me at
the same time to send him one, as he had lately left Paris,
and had something to communicate to me which would
give me satisfaction. I sent for him ; he came to my house
the following day. I received him alone in my closet;
when, after some unimportant conversation, this villain had
the audacity to tell me, that it was necessary for the
tranquillity of all crowned heads, to put to death the
Ruler of France ; and that, for this purpose, a house had

1 Annual Register, vol. xlviii. p. 916.(i8o6.)

FOX AND NAPOLEON

129

been hired at Passy, from which this detestable project
could be, carried into effect with certainty, and without
risk. I did not perfectly understand if it was to be done
by a common musket, or by fire-arms upon a new principle.

"I am not ashamed to tell you, Sir, who know me, that
my confusion was extreme, in thus finding myself led into
a conversation with an avowed assassin. I instantly
ordered hiiti to leave me, giving, at the same time, orders
to the police officer who accompanied him, to send him
out of the kingdom as soon as possible.

" It is probable that all this is unfounded, and that the
wretch had nothing more in view than to make himself of
consequence, by promising what, according to his ideas,
would afford me satisfaction.

" At all events, I thought it right to acquaint you with
what had happened, before I sent him away. Our laws do
not permit us to detain him long ; but he shall not be sent
away till after you shall have had full time to take pre-
cautions against his attempts, supposing him still to enter-
tain bad designs; and, when he goes, I shall take care to
have him landed at a seaport as remote as possible from
France.

" He calls himself here, Guillet de la Gevrilliere, but I
think it is a false name which he has assumed.

'" At his first entrance I did him the honour to believe
him to be a spy.

" I have the honour to be, with the most perfect attach-
ment,

" Sir,

" Your most obedient servant,

"C.J. FOX."

I have given this letter in extenso, to show how a Gentle
man of the grand Old School could act towards an enemy
—feeling himself dishonoured by even conversing with a
murderous traitor. It was chivalrous and manly, and well130

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1806.)

merited Napoleon's remarks^ contained in Tally rand's reply :
" I recognize here the principles of honour and of virtue,
by which Mt. Fox has ever been actuated. Thank him on
my part"

This episode is the most agreeable one in the whole of
the papers in connection with the negotiations for peace at
that time. The King fully entered into the reasons why
these proposals did not come to a successful issue, in a
Declaration, dated October 21st, which, with many other
papers, was laid before Parliament on December 22nd.

If " Rien n'est sacr^ pour un Sapeur," it is the same with
the Caricaturist. Here were men presumably doing their
honest best to promote peace, and do away with a war that
was exhausting all Europe ; yet the satirist takes it jauntily.
Take only one, the Caricature by Ansell (August, 1806).
"The Pleasing and Instructive'Game of Messengers; or,
Summer Amusement for John Bull." Balls, in the shape
of Messengers, are being sent and returned, in lively suc-
cession, across the Channel; their errands are of a most
extraordinary character. "Peace—Hope—Despair. No
Peace—Passports—Peace to a certainty—No Peace—Cre-
dentials—Despatches, &c." Napoleon and Talleyrand like
the game. " Begar, Talley, dis be ver amusant. Keep it
up as long as you can, so that we may have time for our
project." John Bull merely looks on, leaving Fox, Sheridan,
and the Ministry, to play the game on his behalf; and, in
reply to a query by Fox, " Is it not a pretty game, Johnny ? "
the old man replies, with a somewhat puzzled air, " Pretty
enough as to that—they do fly about monstrous quick, to
be sure; but you don't get any more money out of my
pocket for all that!"

The failure of these pacific negotiations with France,
brought a rejoinder from the French Emperor, which, to
use a familiar expression made John Bull " set his back up."
It was no less than a proclamation of Napoleon's, dated
Berlin, November 21,1806, in which, he attempted, on paper,(i8o6.)	ENGLAND BLOCKADED.

to blockadc England. The principal articles in this famous
proclamation are as follow :—

I* The British Isles are declared to be in a state of
blockade.

2.	All trade and communication with Great Britain is
strictly prohibited.

3.	All letters going to, or coming from England, are not
to be forwarded, and all those written in English are to be
suppressed.

4.	Every individual, who is a subject of Great Britain, is
to be made a prisoner of war, wherever he may be found.

5.	All goods belonging to Englishmen are to be confis-
cated, and the amount paid to those who have suffered
through the detention of ships by the English.

6.	No ships coming from Great Britain, or having been
in a port of that country, are to be admitted.

7.	All trade in English Goods is rigorously prohibited.

Besides these startling facts, the time allowed for the

delivery of all English property was limited to the space
of twenty-four hours after the issue of the Proclamation ;
and if, after that time, any persons were discovered to have
secreted, or withheld, British goods, or articles, of any de-
scription, they were to be subjected to military execution.
The British subjects who were arrested in Hamburgh, and
had not escaped, were ordered to Verdun, or the interior
of France, as Prisoners of War.

This was enough to close all hopes of reconciliation, and,
although the English Newspapers took a courageous view
of the blockade, and attempted to laugh at its ever being
practicable to carry out, yet it undoubtedly created great
uneasiness, and intensified the bitter feeling between the
belligerent's.

This, then, was the position of affairs at the end of 1806.
Consols, during the year, varied from 61 in January to 59
in December, having in July reached 66)4.

The quartern loaf was fairly firm all the year, beginning
at 11 ^d. and ending at is. id. Average price of wheat 52s.CHAPTER XIV.

1807.

Passing of the Slave Trade Bill—Downfall of the " Ministry of all the Talents "—
General Fast—Election for Westminster—Death of Cardinal York—Arrival in
England of Louis XVIII.—Copenhagen bombarded, and the Danish Fleet
captured^— Napoleon again proclaimed England as blockaded.

THE year 1807 began, socially, with the Abolition of
the Slave Trade, the debate on which was opened,'
in the Lords, on January 2nd, and many were the
nights spent in its discussion. On Feburary 10th, it was
read a third time in the Upper House, and sent down to
the Commons, who, on March 15th, read it a third time,,
and passed it without a division. On the 18th, it was sent
again to the Lords, with some amendments. It was printed,,
and these amendments were taken into consideration on
the 23rd, and the alterations agreed to on the same date ;
and exactly at noon on March 25th, the bill received the
Royal Assent by Commission, and became Law, This
Act, be it remembered, did not abolish Slavery, but onl}r
prohibited the Traffic in Slaves; so^that no ship should
clear out from any port within the British dominions after
May 1, 1807, with slaves on board, and th^t no slave should
be landed in the Colonies after March 1, 1808.

This Act was somewhat hurried through, owing to the
downfall of the Coalition Ministry, which will ever be known<1807.) "MINISTRY OF ALL THE TALENTS:1 133

in the political history of England as the " Ministry of all
the talents," or the " Broad-bottomed " Cabinet. While-
this Ministry was in existence, it afforded the Caricaturists
plenty of food for their pencils. One of the last of them
is by Gillray (April 18, 1807), and it is called " The Pigs
Possessed, or, The Broad-bottomed Litter rushing headlong
in the Sea of Perdition." Though the subject is hackneyed,
the treatment is excellent. " Farmer George," as the Kipg
was familiarly termed, has knocked down a portion of his
fence, which stands on the edge of a cliff, and, with brand-
ished dung-fork, and ready heel, he speeds the swine to their
destruction, thus apostrophizing them : " O, you cursed
ungrateful Grunters ! what! after devouring more in a twelve
month, than the good old Litters did in twelve years, you
turn round to kick and bite your old Master ? but, if the
Devil or the Pope has got possession of you all—pray get
•out of my Farm Yard ! out with you all; no hanger-behind !
you're all of a cursed bad breed ; so out with you all
together !!!"

Of course there was the Annual Fast, which was fixed,
for February 25 th. This time " the shops were all shut, and
the utmost solemnity prevailed throughout the day." Their
repetition, evidently, was educating the people as to their
implied meaning.

Sir Francis Burdett wished to retrieve his former defeat,
and we consequently find him, at the General Election in
this year, putting up for Westminster. Paull, who had
contested the seat with Sheridan, was one candidate, Lord
Cochrane, and Elliott, the brewer, at Pimlico, were the
others., This election is chiefly remarkable in illustrating
the manners of the times, by a duel which took place
between two of the candidates, Paull and Burdett, the latter
of whom had squabbled over his name having been adver-
tised as intending to appear at a meeting,' without his
consent having been first obtained. They met at Combe
Wood near Wimbledon, and both were wounded. Sir134

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY (1807.)

Francis was successful, and a short account of his
" chairing "—a custom long since consigned to limbo—may
not be uninteresting. Originally, as the name implies, the
successful candidate was seated in a chair, and carried
about on the shoulders of his enthusiastic supporters, as the
winner of the Queen's prize at Wimbledon is now honoured.
But Sir Francis's admirers had improved upon this. The
procession and triumphal car started from Covent Garden,
and worked its way to the baronet's house in Piccadilly,
where he mounted the car. How he did so, the contem-
porary account does not state, but it does say that " the
car was as high as the one pair of stairs windows," and " the
seat upon which the Baronet was placed, stood upon a lofty
Corinthian pillar." On this uncomfortable elevation, he
rode from Piccadilly, down the Haymarket, up St. Martin's
Lane, and so, into Covent Garden, where a dinner was
provided.

On the 31st of August died, at Rome, Henry Benedict
Maria Clement Stuart, Cardinal York—the last of the
Stuarts. The feeble little attempt he made to assert his
right to the throne of England, would be amusing if it
had been serious; the coiiiing of one medal, in which he
styled himself Henry IX., was his sole affectation of
royalty. Wich him died all hope, if any such existed, of
disturbing the Hanoverian Succession. Curiously enough,
events made him a pensioner on George the Third's bounty,
and the annuity was granted by the one, and received by
the other, not as an act of charity, but as of brotherly
friendship ; and this annuity of ,£4,000 he duly received for
seven years before he died.

In this year, too, England gave shelter to another un-
fortunate scion of royalty—Louis XVIII.—who came from
Sweden in the Swedish Frigate the Freya. He travelled
under the name of the Comte de Lille, and landed at
Yarmouth. He rather ungraciously declined the Palace of
Holyrood, which was placed at his disposal, on the ground(1807.) COPENHAGEN BOMBARDED.

135

that he had not come to England as an asylum, or for
safety, but on political business as King of France. Wisely,
he was allowed to have his own way, and he settled down
at Hartwell, in Buckinghamshire, a seat of the Marquis of
Buckingham, and here he abode until the fall of Napoleon,
when, of course, he went to Paris.

The year ends stormily. After having bombarded
Copenhagen and captured all the Danish fleet, war was
proclaimed against Denmark on the 4th of November. On
the 8th of the month, Portugal was compelled by Napoleon
to confiscate British property, and shut her ports against
England.

Nor was he content with this. Probably he thought the
effect of his former proclamation of blockading England,
was wearing out, so he fulminated a fresh one on the nth
of November from Hamburgh, and another from Milan on
the 27th of December; in both of which he reiterated his
intention of prohibiting intercourse between all subjects
under his control, and contumacious England, and that
this should be properly carried out he appointed com-
mercial residents, at different ports, to attend strictly to the
matter.

This, of course, was met promptly by an Order in Council,
allowing neutral Powers to trade with the enemies of Great
Britain, provided they touched at British ports, and paid
custom dues to the British Government.

Consols this year began at 61^, and left off 62

Wheat varied during the year, from 84s. to 73s., the
highest price being 90s.; and the quartern loaf varied in
proportion from is. i^d. to io^d.CHAPTER XV.

1808.

Gloomy prospects of 1808—King's Speech—Droits of the Admiralty—Regulation
of Cotton Spinners' wages—Riots in the Cotton districts—Battle of Vimiera—
Convention of Cintra— Its unpopularity—Articles of the Convention.

THE year 1808 opened very gloomily. Parliament
met on the 21st of January, and was opened by
Commission. The "King's Speech," on this occa-
sion sketches the political situation better than any pen of
a modern historian can do. I therefore take some portions
of it, not sufficient to weary the reader, but to give him the
clearest idea of the state of Europe at this period.

The King informed Parliament,1 " that, no sooner had the
result of the Negotiations at Tilsit,2 confirmed the influence,
and control, of France over the Powers of the Continent,
than His Majesty was apprized of the intention of the
enemy to combine those Powers in one general confederacy,
to be directed either to the entire subjugation of this
kingdom, or to the imposing upon His Majesty, an insecure

1 " Parliamentary Debates," vol. x.

3 Napoleon met the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia at Tilsit.
His historical meeting with the former took place on the 25th of June, 1807, on
a barge, or raft, sumptuously appointed, moored in the middle of the river
Niemen. '	.{i8o8.)

KING'S SPEECH.

137

and ignominious peace. That for this purpose, it was
determined to force into hostility against His Majesty,
States which had hitherto been allowed by France to
maintain, or to purchase, their neutrality, and to bring to
bear against different points of His Majesty's dominions,
the whole of the Naval Force of Europe, and specifically the
Fleets of Portugal and Denmark. To place these fleets out,
•of the power of such a confederacy became, therefore, the
indispensable duty of His Majesty,

" In the execution of this duty, so far as related to the
Danish Fleet, his Majesty has commanded us to assure you,
that it was with the deepest reluctance that His Majesty
found himself compelled, after1 his earnest endeavours to
open a Negotiation with the Danish Government had failed,
to authorize his commanders to resort to the extremity of
force ; but that he has the greatest satisfaction in congratu-
lating you upon the successful execution of this painful but
necessary service.

" We are commanded further to acquaint you, that the
•course which His Majesty had to pursue with respect to
Portugal, was, happily, of a nature more congenial to His
.Majesty's feelings : That the timely and unreserved com-
munication, by the Court of Lisbon, of the demands, and
designs of France, while it confirmed to His Majesty the
•authenticity of the advices which he had received from
•other quarters, entitled that Court to His Majesty's con-
fidence in the sincerity of' the assurances by which.that
•communication was accompanied. The fleet of Portugal
was destined by France to be employed as an instrument
of vengeance against Great Britain; that fleet has been
•.secured from the grasp of France, and is now employed
in conveying to its American dominions1 the hopes, and
fortunes, of the Portuguese monarchy. His Majesty implores
the protection of Divine Providence upon that enterprize,

1 The King of Portugal, and his family, fled to the Brazils, protected by a
"British squadron, November 29, 1807.i38	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1808.)

rejoicing in the preservation of a Power so long the friend,
and ally, of Great Britain, and, in the prospect of its
establishment in the New World, with augmented strength
and splendour.	. -

("We have it in command from His Majesty to inform you,
that the determination of the enemy to excite hostilities
between His Majesty, and his late Allies, the Emperors of
Russia and Austria, and the King of Prussia, has been but
too successful, and that the ministers from those Powers
have demanded, and received, their passports. This
measure, on the part of Russia, has been attempted to be
justified by a statement of wrongs, and grievances, which
have no real foundation. The Emperor of Russia had,
indeed, proffered his mediation between His Majesty and
France : His Majesty did not refuse that mediation ; but he
is confident you will feel the propriety of its not having
been accepted, until His Majesty should have been able
to ascertain that Russia was in' a condition to mediate
impartially, and, until the principles, and the basis, on which
France was ready to negotiate, were made known to His
Majesty. No pretence of justification has been alleged for
the hostile conduct of the Emperor of Austria, or for that
of his Prussian Majesty. His Majesty has not given the
slightest ground of complaint to either of those sovereigns,
nor even at the moment when they have respectively with-
drawn their ministers, have they assigned to His Majesty
any, distinct cause for that proceeding."

On the other hand, the King congratulates his people on
still retaining the friendship of the Porte, and the King of
Sweden ; and that he had concluded a "Treaty of Amity,
Commerce, ancl Navigation" with the United States of
America : but these were hardly fair offsets against the
powerful European Confederation. Virtually, England was
single-handed to fight the world ; but there was no flinching
—and history records our success.

War takes money, and taxation makes every one feci(1808.) LOAN FROM BANK OF ENGLAND. 139

the burden, directly, or indirectly, so that it must have been
with a sigh of relief that the nation read that portion of the
King's Speech which related to finance. "Gentlemen of the
House of Commons, His Majesty has directed the Estimates
for the (year to be laid before you. * . . His Majesty has
great satisfaction in informing you, that, notwithstanding
the difficulties which the enemy has endeavoured to impose
upon the commerce of his subjects, and upon their inter-
course with other nations, the resources of the country
have continued, in the last year, to be so abundant, as to
have produced both from the permanent, and temporary,
revenue, a receipt considerably larger than that of the
preceding year. The satisfaction which His Majesty feels
assured you will derive, in common with His Majesty, from
this proof of the solidity of these resources, cannot be
greatly increased, if, as His Majesty confidently hopes, it
shall be found possible to raise the necessary supplies for
the present year without material additions to the public
burdens."

This, the Chancellor of the Exchequer was enabled to do,
by taking half a million of money from unclaimed Dividends,
and by other means, shown by the, following resolutions of
the Court of Directors of the Bank of England :

" January 14, 1808. Resolved, That the proposal of
Chancellor of the Exchequer, to take ^500,000, from
the unclaimed Dividends, in addition to the former sum of
£376,397y be acceded to by this Court. „ . .

"Resolved, That the Court of Directors do accede to
the proposal of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to lend,
for the use of government, £3,000,000, on Exchequer bills,
without interest, during the war, provided it is stipulated
to be returned within six months after the ratification of a
treaty of peace, and under the complete understanding, that
all transactions between the public, and the Batik, shall be
continued in the accustomed manner, even though the amount
of public balances should exceed the sum of ten millions."i4o . THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (180B.)

On the 9th of February, Sir Francis Burdett asked a very-
pertinent question in the House, anent the presentation of
.£20,000 by His Majesty to the Duke of York, out of Droits
of Admiralty. He said that " it had been stated in the
public prints that His Majesty had granted large sums out
of the proceeds of property belonging to nations not at
war with this country, to several branches of the Royal
Family, and particularly to the Duke of York. What he
wished to know was, whether this statement was correct;
and, if so, upon what ground it was that His Majesty
could seize the property of nations not at war with this
country?"

The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Right Hon. Spencer
) Perceval) was willing to give the lion, baronet every in-
formation he required on the subject. But first, he must
apprize the hon. baronet of a misapprehension whidi he
seemed to labour under, with respect to the principle
upon which His Majesty's right to the property in question
was founded. It was true that the property had been
seized previous to His Majesty's formal declaration of war,
but war had since been declared, and the question re-
specting the property had been referred to the competent
tribunal, and condemned. The right of His Majesty, there-
fore, grounded upon such a decision, was incontrovertible.
It was true that His Majesty had granted a certain sum
out of the proceeds of such property to each of the junior
male branches of the Royal Family, and to the Duke of York
amongst the rest.

These Droits of the Admiralty formed a very convenient
fund upon which the King drew, as occasion required, when
it was impolitic to ask Parliament for an increase of the
Civil List; but Sir Francis did good service in calling atten-
tion to it, and, after its being mentioned on more than one
occasion, it was settled that an account should be laid
before -the House, of the net proceeds paid into the
Registry of the Court of Admiralty, or to the Receiver-(1808.)	REGULATION OF WAGES.	1*41.

General of Droits, of all property condemned to His
Majesty as Droits, either in right of his Crown, or in right
of* the office of Lord High Admiral, since the 1st of
January, 1793, and of the balance in hand.

The Cotton trade at Manchester was very dull, owing to
the limited trade with the Continent, and* some distress
prevailed among the operatives. On the 19th of May,.
Mr. Rose asked leave of the House of Commons to bring
in a bill to fix a minimum of wages, which the workpeople
should receive.. He said they were now suffering peculiar
hardships, and, at the same time, supporting them with a
patience and resolution, which • did them credit. A short
debate took place on this proposition, which, afterwards,
was withdrawn. One member opined that the distress,
arose, not from the wages being too low, but through their
having been, at one time, too high, which had caused a.
great influx of labour, thus overstocking the market. Sir
Robert Peel said that the great cause of, the distress was,
not the oppression of the masters, but the shutting-up of
the foreign markets; and the fact was, that masters were
now suffering from this cause still more than the men-
And then, as far as Parliament went, the matter dropped.

But not so at Manchester. The demands of the men
were absurd, anil preposterous; they wanted an advance:
of 6s. 8d. in thg pound, or 33^ per cent, Of course, with,
failing trade, ana a bad market, the masters could not grant
this extraordinary rise ; but, after a meeting among them^
selves they offered an immediate advance of 10 per cent, on
all kinds of cotton goods weaving, to take effect that day-
(June 1st), and a further rise of 10 per cent, on the 1st of
August. The men refused to take this offer, and would be.
satisfied with nothing less than their original demand, and
some 60,000 looms lay idle, whilst the operatives peram-
bulated the streets or rushed into house, cellar, or garret,
where any shuttle was going, and deprived that man of his.
means of living.142

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1808.)

On the 30th of May there had been some disturbance
among the weavers at Rochdale, and some were appre-
hended, and put in prison; but the mob forced the gaol,
released the prisoners, and set fire to the New Prison.
Thus it will be seen that it was neccssary for the law to
step in, and vindicate its majesty, and, consequently, cavalry
was freely employed in and about Manchester, Bolton,
Rochdale, and Bury; and, on the 6th of June, a raid was
made upon a house in Manchester, which resulted in the
lodging of about twenty men in the New Bay ley.

Still they went on with disorderly meetings, and destruc-
tion of industrious men's looms, and work, compelling the
troops to be always on the alert. Of course they burnt
the manufacturers in effigy, the women amongst them,
relying on their sex, being the most turbulent and mis-
chievous, acting not quite as petroleuses, but getting as near
that type as opportunity afforded, for vitriol, or aquafortis,
was squirted on to the looms, through broken panes in
the windows, or dropped upon the bags containing pieces
which the industrious, and well-disposed, weaver had
worked hard at, for himself, and employer. It is satis-
factory to know that they did not obtain their demands,
and, after much simmering, and frothing, the scum subsided,
and honest, and hardworking, men were once more enabled
to pursue their avocation in peace.

On the 22nd of August was fought the famous battle of
Vimiera, which thoroughly crippled Napoleon's power in
Portugal, completely defeated Junot's fine army, and led to
the Convention of Cintra, which so disgusted the English
people, and called down on the head of Sir Hugh Dal-
rymple a formal declaration of His Majesty's displeasure.
A commission sat at Chelsea, to report upon his conduct,
and they exonerated him. Still, the general public were
indignant. The Park and Tower guns were fired at night
on the 15 th of September, and, next day, came out an
Extraordinary Gazette> with the text of the Convention.(i8o8.)	CONVENTIONS OF CINTRA.

The accompanying illustration, by Ansell, brings to our
mind far more vividly than is possible to do by any verbal
description, the astonishment, and disgust, with which the
news was received in the City. The scene is outside
Lloyd's Coffee House, in Lombard Street, and it shows us
this commercial institution as it was in its youth, with its
modest premises, and two bow windows with red moreen
dwarf blinds.

The print, itself, is in two parts, one called " The Tower

' jUULJ L1J1 ^

EXTRAORDINARY NEWS.

Guns. Surprize the First." Here, John Bull and his wife
are in their happy home ; J. B. smoking his pipe, and en-
joying his tankard. A servant enters with " Law, sir, if
there isn't the big guns at the Tower going off!" John
kicks up his heels, waves his nightcap, and pipe, crying out,
" The Tower Guns at this time of Night! Extraordinary
News arrived ! By Jupiter, we've sent Juno to the Devil,
and taken the Russian Fleet! Illuminate the House!
Call up the Children, and tap the Gooseberry Wine, Mrs.
Bull; we'll drink to our noble Commanders in Portugal." -144	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1808.)

The companion to this is the illustration given, and it is
called "The Gazette. Surprize the Second." Here,
opposite Lloyd's, an old merchant is reading to his confreres
an Extraordinary Gazette. "Art. IV. The French Army-
shall carry with it all its artillery of French calibre, with
the horses belonging to it, and the tumbrils supplied with
sixty rounds per gun. All oth ..." Universal indigna-
tion prevails, and one calls out, " What! carry away Sixty
Pounds a man, that ought to have been in the pockets of
our brave fellows. D—n me if I ever believe the Tower
Guns again."

The Articles in this Convention ^which excited popular
indignation were—

"II. The French Troops shall evacuate Portugal with
their arms and baggage ; they shall not be considered as
prisoners of war, and, on their arrival in France, they shall
be at liberty to serve.

"III. The English Government shall furnish the means
of conveyance for the French Army, which shall be dis-
embarked in any of the ports of France between Rochfort,
and l'Orient, inclusively.

"IV. The French Army shall carry with it, all its artillery
of French calibre, with the horses belonging to it, and the
tumbrils supplied with sixty rounds per gun. All other
artillery, arms, and ammunition, as also the Military and
Naval Arsenals, shall be given up to the British army and
navy,in the state in which they may be, at the period of the
ratification of the Convention.

" V. The French Army shall carry with it all its equip-
ments, and all that is comprehended under the name of
property 6f the army ; that is to say, its military chest, and
carriages attached to the Field Commissariat, and Field
Hospitals, or shall be allowed to dispose of such part of
the same, on its account, as the Commander-in-chief may
judge it unnecessary to embark. In like manner, all(i8o8.)

END OF 1808.

individuals of the army shall be at liberty to dispose
of their private property, of every description, with full
security, hereafter, for the purchasers."

On the 29th of August of this year, the Queen of France
joined her husband here; where they continued, living in
privacy, until their restoration.

Consols began at 64^, and left off at 66^3, having
reached 70^ in June and July.

Wheat ranged from 69s. per quarter in January, to 8is.
in July, and 91s. in December. The quartern loaf varied
from 1 id. to is. 2d.CHAPTER XVI.

1809.

General Fast—f The Jubilee—Costume—Former Jubilees—Release of poor prisoners
for debt—Jubilee Song—Jubilee literature—Poetry—King pardons deserters
from Army and Navy.

EARLY in the year 1809 (on February 8th) was a
day of Fasting, and prayer, for the success of His
Majesty's arms.

Also, in January, began the celebrated Clarke Scandal,
which ended in the Duke of York resigning his position as
, Commander-in-chief; but this will be fully treated of in
another place, as will the celebrated O. P. Riots, which
occurred in this year.

Socially, the only other important event which occurred
in this year was "The Jubilee," or the celebration of the
fiftieth anniversary of the accession of George III., he
having succeeded to the throne on the 25th of October,
1760; and this Jubilee created quite a craze. A Jubilee
Medal was struck by Bisset, of Birmingham, having, on
the Obverse, a bust of the King, with the following legend:
" King George the Third ascended the Throne of the
Imperial Realms of Great Britain and Ireland, October
25, a.d. 1760. Grand National Jubilee, celebrated
October 25, 1809." On the Reverse, was the Guardian(iSo9.)

THE "JUBILEE."

147

Genius of England, represented as Fame, seated in the
clouds, and triumphing Over Mortality ; she displayed a
centenary circle; one half of which showed the duration of
the King's reign up to that time, whilst rays from, heaven
illuminate a throne.

Not content with this, it was suggested that there should
be a special costume worn on the occasion, and that gentle-
men should dress in the " Windsor uniform," i.e.f blue frock
coats, with scarlet collars, and the ladies' dresses were to be
of garter blue velvet, or satin, with head-dresses containing
devices emblematical of the occasion.

It is no wonder that people went somewhat crazy over
this Jubilee, for it was an event of very rare occurrence,
only three monarchs of England having kept jubilees—
Henry III., Edward III., and George III. Let us, how-
ever, hope that this generation may add yet another to the
list in Queen Victoria. Edward III. celebrated the jubilee
of his birth in a good and kindly manner in 1363, as we
may learn from Guthrie: " Edward was now in the
fiftieth year of his age, and he laid hold of that sera as the
occasion of his performing many other popular acts of
government. For he declared, in his parliament, by Sir
Henry Green, that he was resolved to keep it as a jubilee ;
and that he had given orders to issue out general and
special pardons, without paying any fees, for recalling all
exiles, and setting at liberty all debtors to the Crown, and
all prisoners for criminal matters. He further created his
third son, Lionel, Duke of Clarence, and his fifth son,
Edmund, Earl of Cambridge. The Parliament, on their
parts, not to be wanting in gratitude, having obtained their
petitions, on the day of their rising, presented the King
with a duty of twenty-six shillings and eight pence upon
every sack of wool, for three years, besides continuing the
former duty upon wools, fells, and skins. This year being
declared a year of jubilee, the reader is to expect little
business, as it was spent in hunting throughout the great148	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, (1809.)

forests of England, and other magnificent diversions, in
which the King laid out an immense sum. But we are not
to close the transactions of this year before we inform the
reader that it was from the jubilee then instituted, that the
famous custom took its rise of our Kings washing, feeding,
and clothing, on Maunday Thursday, as many poor people,
as they are years old." 1

The whole of the country was determined to celebrate
this occasion in a way worthy of it, and, of course, every one
had his own theory, and aired it; some were for a general
illumination and feasting everybody, others to relieve poor
debtors, and rejoice the hearts of the poor ; others mingled
the two. " Sir, benevolence is no less amiable for being
attended with gaiety ; without a general illumination the
day would be like a public mourning, or fast; the shops
shut, the bells tolling, the churches open, a cloudy night, a
howling wind, a Jubilee!!! But no such dull Jubilee for
John Bull."

Perhaps one of the most popular ways for people to spend
their money, in order to show their gratitude for the benefi-
cent sway of the sovereign who had ruled them for fifty
years, and who was much beloved of his subjects, was the
release of prisoners for small debts. Their case was cruelly
harsh, and it must have been felt as one of the hardest, and
most pressing, of social evils. Take the following adver-
tisement from the Morning Post, October 23, 1809:
" Jubilee. Prisoners for Debt in the Prison of the
Marshalsea of His Majesty's Household. There are now
confined in the above prison. in the Borough, seventy-two
persons (from the age of twenty-three to seventy-four,
leaving fifty-three wives, and two hundred and three
children) for various debts from seven guineas, up to ^140.
The total amount of the whole sum is ^2092, many of
whom (sic) are in great distress, and objects of charity,,

x u A General History of England from the Landing of Julius Caesar to the
Revolution of 1688," by William Guthrie, London, 1744-1751, vol. ii. p. 213*(1809.) RELEASING POOR DEBTORS.	149

every way worthy the notice of a generous and feeling
public, who are interesting themselves in the cause of
suffering humanity against the approaching Jubilee. It isy
therefore in contemplation to raise a sufficient sum, for the
purpose of endeavouring to effect their release, by offering
compositions to their respective creditors in the following
proportions, viz., 10s. in the pound for every debt not
exceeding £20; above that sum, and not exceeding £50,
the sum of 7s. 6d.; and above £$o, the sum of 5s. in the
pound, in full for debt and costs. Subscriptions . . . will
be received by . , . with whom are left lists containing the
names of the unfortunate Persons immured within the
Prison, and other particulars respecting them, for the
inspection of such Persons as may be desirous of .pro-
moting so benevolent an undertaking."

And that large sums were so raised, we have evidence
in many instances. Take one case :

" At a meeting of merchants and bankers appointed
to conduct the entertainment to be given at Merchant
Taylors' Hall on the 25th inst., held this day—

"Beeston Long, Esq., in the Chair.

" Resolved, That since the advertisement published by
this Committee on the 5th day of September last, various
communications having been made to this Committee
which lead them to imagine that a general Illumination
will not be so acceptable to the Public as was at first
supposed, and, wishing that the day may pass with perfect
unanimity of proceeding, on so happy an Occasion, this
Committee no longer think it expedient to recommend a
general Illumination.

" Resolved, That it appears , to this Committee that,
instead of such general Illumination, it will be more
desirable to open a Subscription for the Relief of Persons
confined for Small Debts, and that the sums collected be:
paid over to the Treasurer of the Society established for
that purpose."THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, (1809.)

To show how warmly this idea of releasing the debtor
was taken up, in this instance alone, considerably more
than £2,000 was collected.

"JUBILEE SONG.

" For Wednesday, 25th October, 1809.

" Tune—4 God Save the King.'

" Britons ! your Voices raise,

Join cheerful Songs of praise,

With grateful lay;

May all our Island ring,

Her Sons' Orisons sing
For their Beloved King
On this bright day.

May he the vale of life
Close free from ev'ry strife;

His subjects see. ,

Bless'd with a lasting Peace,

May War for ever cease,

Pris'ners each Pow'r release,

And all be free.

King George's Fiftieth Year
Of Sceptred greatness cheer

Each loyal Heart;

May the stain'd Sword be sheath'd;

Amity once more breath'd;

Commerce, with Plenty wreath'd,

Sweet Joy impart

Thus may our Children find
Cause which will e'er remind

Them to agree,

That we with Justice sing,
'	God bless our good old King,

For him, our Noble King,

This Jubilee."

This is not the sole attempt at a Jubilee literature.
There was a satirical pamphlet called "The Jubilee; or,
John Bull in his Dotage. A Grand National Pantomime.(1809.)

THE JUBILEE.

As it was to have been acted by His Majesty's subjects on
the 2 5 th of October, 1809." Another pamphlet, by Dr. J oseph
Kemp, was entitled " The Patriotic Entertainment, called
the Jubilee." And yet another book of 203 pages,printed
in Birmingham, which had for title, "An Account of the
Celebration of the Jubilee of 1809 in various parts of the
Kingdom." This was arranged in alphabetical order, and
gave an account of the doings, on this occasion, in the
various cities, towns, and villages of England. It was
published by subscription, and the profits were to go to
the " Society for the Relief of Prisoners for Small
Debts."

There was a poem, too, which is too long to be repro-
duced in its entirety, but which contains somel pretty lines,
such as would go home to a people who really loved
their king—who had suffered when God had afflicted him,
and yearned for his recovery, and who were then spending
both blood, and treasure, to preserve his throne and their
own country.

" Seculo festas referente luces,

Reddidi carmen."—Horace.

" Oft (ah ! how oft) has the revolving Sun
Smiled on Britannia's joy at battles won?

How oft our bosoms felt the conscious glow
For brilliant triumph o'er the stubborn foe ?

If, then, our patriot hearts could proudly feel
Such zealous transports at our Country's weal,

Shall not the Bard his cheerful efforts lend
To praise that Country's first and truest friend ?

For such is George, the pride of England's Throne,

True to his people's rights as to his own.

Mild is the Prince, and glorious were the arts,

That gave him sovereign empire o'er our hearts.

Our love for him is such as ever flows
Spontaneous, warm, and strength'ning as it glows;

Unlike the smiles, and flattery of Courts,

Which int'rest prompts, and tyranny extorts;152

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1809.)

A Monarch so belov'd has nought to fear
From mad ambition's turbulent career;

For subjects ne'er from their allegiance swerve,

Who love his person they are bound to serve.

History shall tell how deep was every groan
When 'erst black sickness struck at England's throne:
For her lov'd King was heard the Nation's sigh,

While public horror star'd in ev'ry eye;

But, when restor'd, to many a daily pray'r,

What heartfelt joy succeeded to despair. •

Then oh ! Thou King of Kings, extend thy arm
To shield thine own anointed George from harm;

Grant, if it so comport with thy behest,

For thy decrees must ever be the best;

Grant that he long may live, and long may stand
(A tow'r of strength ' to guard our native land."

The King, on the 18th of October, issued a proclamation
pardoning all deserters Yrom the Navy and Marines, but not
allowing them any arrears of pay or prize-money ; and he
also pardoned all deserters from the Army, who should give
themselves up within two months from the 2 5th of October,
but then they must rejoin the Army. Not particularly
inviting terms when they come to be analyzed, for the
sailors would certainly be marked, and, eventually, pressed,
and the soldiers were simply asked to exchange their
present liberty, for their old slavery. But he really did a
graceful, and, at the same time, a kindly action in sending
through Mr. Perceval, to the Society for the Relief of
Persons confined for Small Debts, ^"2,000 from his privy
purse.

CHAPTER XVII.

Common Council decide to relieve Small Pebtors—Festivities at Windsor—Ox
roasted whole—How it was done—The Queen and Royal Family present—
Division of the ox, &c.—A bull baited—F£te at Frogmore—Illuminations—
Return of the Scheldt Expedition.

IN the Court of Common Council this feeling of helping
the poor debtor was prevalent, and a Mr. Jacks, at a
Court held on October 5th, proposed, if the Corporation
wished to appropriate a sum for the celebration of the
Jubilee, that they should follow the example of the Jewish
Law, and liberate the prisoner, and captive, which, he said,
would be a much better method of applying their money
than for eating and drinking, and the following resolution
was carried :

"That it will be more acceptable to Almighty God, and
more congenial to the paternal feelings of our beloved
Monarch, if the Court would proceed to the liberation of
the prisoners and captives, on the joyful Jubilee about to
be celebrated, than in spending sums of money in feasting
and illuminations. We therefore resolve, that the sum of
£1,000 be applied to the relief of persons confined for small
debts, and for the relief of persons confined within the
gaols of the City, especially freemen of London."

It would be impossible within the limits of this work,
even to sketch a tithe part of the ways in which the Jubilee154

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1809.)

was • celebrated throughout the country ; but a notice, in
some detail, is necessary, as illustrating the social habits of
this portion of the Century. Take, for instance, the ox and
sheep roasting at Windsor. Roasting beasts >vhole, is a
relic of barbarism, all but exploded in England, a type of
that rude, and plentiful, hospitality which might be expected
from a semi-civilized nation. As it is not probable that the
custom will survive, and as the details may be useful for
some antiquarian reproduction, I give the modus operandi
in full, premising, that from all I have heard from those
who have feasted upon an animal so treated, that it is-
very far from being a gastronomic treat, some parts being
charred to a cinder, others being quite raw. This, then, is
how it was done:

" At two yesterday morning the fire was lighted, and the
ox began to turn on the spit, to the delight of the spectators,
a considerable number of whom were assembled, even at
that hour, to witness so extraordinary a sight. A few of the
Royal Blues attended to guard it; a little rain fell a short
time previous to the kindling of the fire, but, by the time
the ox began to turn, all was fair again.

" At nine o'clock the sheep were put to the fire, on each
side of the ox, in Bachelors' Acre. The apparatus made
use of on this occasion, consisted of two ranges set in brick-
work, and so contrived that a fire should be made on each
side of the ox, and on the outer side of each fire was the
necessary machinery for roasting the sheep. A sort of
scaffolding had been erected, consisting of six poles, three
of which, at each extremity, fixed in the earth, and united
at the top, bore a seventh, from which descended the pulley
by means of which the ox was placed between the ranges
when put down, and raised again when roasted. Over the
animal a long tin dish was placed, into which large quan-
tities of fat were thrown, which, melting, the beef was basted
with it, a ladle at the end of a long pole being used for the
purpose. An immense spit was passed through the body(1809.)	FkTE AT WINDSOR.	155

of the animal, the extremity of which worked in a groove
at each end. A bushel and a half of potatoes were placed
in his belly, and roasted with him.

"At one, the ox and sheep being considered to be suffi-
ciently done, they were taken up. The Bachelors, had
previously caused boards to belaid from the scene of action
to a box, which had been prepared for Her Majesty, and
the Royal Family, to survey it from. They graciously
accepted the invitation of the Bachelors, to view it close.
Their path was railed off and lined by Bachelors, acting as
constables, to keep off the crowd. They appeared much
gratified by the spectacle, walked round the apparatus and
returned to their box. Her Majesty walked with the Duke
of1 York. The Royal party were followed by the Mayor
and Corporation. The animals were now placed on dishes
to be carved, and several persons, attending for that purpose,
immediately set to work. The Bachelors still remained at
their posts to keep the crowd off, and a party of them
offered the first slice to their illustrious visitors, which was
accepted. Shortly after the carving had commenced, and
the pudding had began to be distributed, the efforts of the
Bachelors to keep off the crowd became useless ; some of
the Royal Blues, on horseback, assisted in endeavouring to
repel them, but without effect. The pudding was now
thrown to those who remained at a distance, and now a
hundred scrambles were seen in the same instant. The
bread was next distributed in a similar way, and, lastly, the
meat; a considerable quantity of it was thrown to a butcher,
who, elevated above the crowd, catching large pieces in one
hand, and holding a knife in the other, cut smaller pieces
off, letting them fall into the hands of those beneath who
were on the alert to catch them. The pudding,1 meat, and
bread, being thus distributed, the crowd were finally regaled
with what was denominated a ' sop in the pan that is, with
having the mashed potatoes, gravy, &c., thrown over them."

1 The Bachelors had provided about twenty bushels of plum pudding.THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

(1809.)

Later in the day, Bachelors' Acre was the scene of
renewed festivity, no less than a bull bait. " A fine sturdy
animal, kept for the purpose, given to the Bachelors for their
amusement, by the same gentleman who gave the ox, was
baited ; and, in the opinion of the amateurs of bull baiting,,
furnished fine sport; but, at length, his skin was cut by the
rope so much that he bled profusely, and, as ft was thought
he could not recover, he was led off to be slaughtered."

At Frogmore, the King gave a fete, and a display of fire-
works at night. Everything went off very well, except a
portion of the water pageant, which was not a success.,
" Two cars, or chariots, drawn by seahorses, in one of whom.
(sic) was a figure of Britannia, in the other a representation
of Neptune, appeared majestically moving on the bosom of
the lake, followed by four boats filled with persons dressed
to represent tritons, &c. These last were to have been
composed of choristers, we understand, who were to have
sung ' God save the King,' on the water, but, unfortunately,
the crowd assembled was so immense, that those who -were
to have sung could not gain entrance. The high treat this
could not but have afforded, was,, in consequence, lost to>
the company."

The Jews celebrated the Jubilee with much enthusiasm,
and, in the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, after hear-
ing a sermon preached on a text from Levit. xxv. 13 : " In
the year of this Jubilee ye shall return every man unto his-
possession," we are told "the whole of the 21st Psalm was
sung in most expressive style, to the tune of 4 God save
the King!'

In spite of the want of unanimity as to the expediency
of a general illumination, there were plenty of transparen-
cies, and even letters of cut-glass. I give descriptions of
two of the most important.

" STUBBS'S in Piccadilly, exhibited three transparencies of
various dimensions. In the centre was a portrait of His-
Majesty, in his robes, seated in his coronation chair; the<i8o9.)

FETE AT FROGMORE.

157

figure was nine feet in height, and the canvas occupied 20
-square feet. On the right hand of the King was placed
the crown, on a crimson velvet cushion, supported by a
table, ornamented with embroidery. Over His Majesty's
head appeared Fame, with her attributes ; in her left hand
a wreath of laurel leaves ; her right pointing to a glory.
At the feet of the Sovereign was a group of boys represent-
ing Bacchanalians, with cornucopia. Underneath appeared
a tablet with the words 4 Anno Regni 50. Oct. 25, 1809/
On the right and left of the above transparency, were placed
representations of the two most celebrated oak-trees in
England, and two landscapes—the one of Windsor, and the
other of Kew."

"Messrs. RuNDELL and Bridge's, Ludgate Hill. In the
centre His Majesty is sitting on his throne, dressed in
his coronation robes ; on his right, Wisdom, represented by
Minerva, with her helmet, aegis, and spear ; Justice with
her scales and sword; on his left, Fortitude holding a pillar,
and Piety with her Bible. Next to Wisdom, Victory is
decorating two wrea|hed columns with oak garlands and
gold medallions bearing the names of several successful
engagements 011 land—as Alexandria, Talavera, Vimiera,
Assaye, &c. Behind the figure of Fortitude, a female
figure is placing garlands and medallions on two other
wreathed columns, bearing the names of naval victories—as
the First of June, St. Vincent's, Trafalgar, &c. The base of
the throne is guarded by Mars sitting, and Neptune rising,
holding his trident, and declaring the triumphs obtained in
his dominions ; on the base between Mars and Neptune, are
boys representing the liberal arts, in basso-relievo. The
figures are the size of life."

The disastrous end of the campaign known as the
Walcheren Expedition, brings the year to a somewhat
melancholy conclusion, for on Christmas Day, Admiral
Otway's squadron, with all the transports, arrived in the
Downs, from Walcheren.THE NINETEENTH CENTUR V. (1809.)

Consols began at 67^3, and ended at 70, with remarkably
little fluctuation. The top price of wheat in January
was 90s. iod., and at the end of December 102s. iod. It
did reach 109s. 6d. in the middle of October—a price we
are never likely to see. The quartern loaf, of course, varied
in' like proportion—January is. 2^d., December is.
reaching in October is. £d.CHAPTER XVIII.

1810.

The Scheldt Expedition—The Earl of Chatham and Sir Richard Strachan—The
citizens of London and the King—General Fast—Financial disorganization—
Issue of stamped dollars—How they were smuggled out of the country—
John Gale Jones and John Dean before the House of Commons—Sir Francis
Burdett interferes—Publishes libel in Cobbett's Weekly Political Register—
Debate in the House—Sir Francis Burdett committed to the Tower.

LTHOUGH the Walcheren Expedition* was under-

taken, and failed, in 1809, it was criticized by

the country, both in and out of Parliament, in
this year.

It started in all its pride, and glory, on the 28th of July,
1809, a beautiful fleet of thirty-nine sail of the line, thirty-
six frigates, besides accompanying gunboats and transports.
These were under the command of Sir Richard Strachan,
Admiral Otway, and Lord Gardner; whilst the land force
of forty thousand men was under the chief command of
the Earl of Chatham, who was somewhat notorious for his
indolence and inefficiency.

At first, the destination of the fleet was kept a profound
secret, but it soon leaked out that Vlissing, or Flushing, in
the Island of Walcheren, which lies at the mouth of the
Scheldt, was the point aimed at. Middleburgh surrendered
to the English on the 2nd of August, and on the 15th160	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1810.) '

after a fearful bombardment, the town of Flushing surren-
dered. General Monnet, the commander, and over five
thousand men were taken prisoners of war.

Nothing was done to take advantage of this success, and,
on the 27th of August, when Sir Richard Strachan waited
upon the Earl of Chatham to learn the steps he intended
to take, he found, to his great disgust, that the latter had
come to the conclusion not to advance.

About the middle of September, the Earl, finding that
a large army was collecting at Antwerp, thought it would
be more prudent to leave with a portion of his army for
England, and accordingly did so. He resolved to keep
Flushing, and the Island of Walcheren, to guard the mouth
Qf the Scheldt, and keep it open for British commerce;
but it was a swampy, pestilential place, and the men sick-
ened, and died of fever, until, at last, the wretched remnant
of this fine army was obliged to return, and, on the 23rd of
December, 1809, Flushing was evacuated.

Popular indignation was very fierce with regard to
the Earl of Chatham, and a scathing epigram was made
•on him, of which there are scarce two versions alike.

4'Lord Chatham, with his sword undrawn,

Stood, waiting for Sir Richard Strachan ;

Sir Richard, longing to be at 'em,

Stood waiting for the Earl of Chatham."1

The Caricaturists, of course, could not leave such a
subject alone, and Rowlandson drew two (September 14,
1809). "A design for a Monument to be erected in com-
memoration of the glorious and never to be forgotten
Grand Expedition, so ably planned and executed in the
year 1809." There is nothing particularly witty about
this print. Amongst other things it has a shield on which
is William, the great Earl of Chatham, obscured by

1 This version is taken from " The Life of the Right Hon. George Canning,"
by Robert Bell, London, 1846. The first line, however, is generally rendered,

The Earl of Chatham, with his sword drawn."(1810.) THE CITY AND THE KING.	i6r

clouds; and the supporters are , on one side a " British
seaman in the dumps," and on the other "John Bull, some-
what gloomy, but for what, it is difficult to guess after so
glorious an achievement." The motto is—

" Great Chatham, with one hundred thousand men,
To Flushing sailed, and then sailed back again."

And ten days later—on the 24th of September—he
published " General Chatham's marvellous return from his
Exhibition of Fireworks."

The citizens of London were highly indignant at the
incapacity displayed by1 the Earl of Chatham, and in
December, they, through the Lord Mayor, memorialized
the King, begging him to cause inquiry to be made as to
the cause of the failure of the expedition ; but George the
Third did not brook interference, and he gave them a
right royal snubbing. His answer was as follows :

" I thank you for your expressions of duty and attach-
ment to me and to my family.

" The recent Expedition to the Scheldt was directed to
several objects of great importance to the interest of my
Allies, and to the security of my dominions.

" I regret that, of these objects, a part, only, has been
accomplished. I have not judged it necessary to direct
any Military Inquiry into the conduct of my Commanders
by Sea or Land, in this conjoint service.

" It will be for my Parliament, in their wisdom, to ask
for such information, or to take such measures upon this
subject as they shall judge most conducive to the public
good."

But the citizens, who bore their share of the war right
nobly, would not stand this, and they held a Common Hall
on the 9th of January, 1810, and instructed their representa-
tives to move, 01* support, an Address to His Majesty, pray-
ing for an inquiry into the failures of the late expeditions

12162	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, (1810.)

to Spain, Portugal, and Holland. They drew up a similar
address, and asserted a right to deliver such address, or
petition, to the King upon his throne.

Nothing, however, came of it, and when Parliament was
opened, by Commission, on the 23rd of January, 1810, that
part of His Majesty's speech relating to the Walcheren
Expedition was extremely brief and unsatisfactory: "These
considerations determined His Majesty to employ his forces
on an expedition to the Scheldt. Although the principal
ends of this expedition had not been attained, His Majesty
confidently hopes that advantages, materially affecting the
security of His Majesty's dominions in the further prosecu-
tion of the war, will be found to result from the demolition
of the docks, and arsenals, at Flushing. This important
object His Majesty was enabled to accomplish, in conse-
quence of the reduction of the Island of Walcheren by the
valour of his fleets and armies. His Majesty has given
directions that such documents and papers should be laid
before you, as he trusts will afford satisfactory information
upon the subject of this expedition."

And Parliament had those papers, and fought over them
many nights ; held, also, a Select Committee on the Scheldt
Expedition, and examined many officers thereon; and,
finally, on the 30th of March, they divided on what was
virtually a vote of censure on the Government, if not carried
—a motion declaratory of the approbation of the House in
the retention of Walcheren until its evacuation; when the
numbers were—

Ayes...... ...... ............255

Noes............ ............232

Majority for the Ministry...... 23

John, Earl of Chatham, had, however, to bow to the
storm, and resign his post of Master General of the
Ordnance; but his Court favour soon befriended him again.
Three years afterwards, he was made full General, and on(i8io.)

THE CURRENCY,

the death of the Duke of York he was appointed Governor
of Gibraltar.

The 28th of February was set apart for the Annual Day
of Fasting and Humiliation, and in its routine it resembled
all others. The Lords went to Westminster Abbey, the
Commons to St. Margaret's Church, and the Volunteers
had Church Parades.

On the 1st of February, Mr. Francis Horner, M.P. for
Wendover, moved for a variety of accounts, and returns,
respecting the present state of the circulating medium, and
the bullion trade. The price of gold was abnormally high,
and paper proportionately depreciated. His conjecture to
account for this—and it seems a highly probable one—
was that the high price of gold might be produced partly
by a larger circulation of Bank of England paper than was
necessary, and partly by the new circumstances in which
the foreign trade of this country was placed, by which a
continual demand for bullion was produced, not merely to
discharge the balance of trade, as in the ordinary state of
things, but for the purpose of carrying on some of the
•most iinportant branches of our commerce ; such as the
purchase of naval stores from the Baltic, and grain from
countries under the control and dominion of the enemy.

Recourse was had to an issue of Dollars in order to
relieve the monetary pressure; and we read in the
Morning Post of February 22nd, "A large boat full of
•dollars is now on its way by the canal, from Birmingham.
The dollars have all been re-stamped at Messrs. Bolton
and Watts, and will be issued on their arrival at the Bank."
These must not be confounded with the old Spanish
dollars which were stamped earlier in the century, and
about which there was such an outcry as to the Bank
refusing to retake them ; but from the same handsome die
as those struck in 1804 to guard against forgery—having on
the Obverse, the King's head, with the legend, " georgius
III. Dei Gratia " ; and on the Reverse, the Royal Arms,164

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (18to.)

within lthe garter, crowned, and the legend, " britan-
niarum Rex. Fidei Defensor," and the date.1
, But these were snapped up, and smuggled out of the
country, as we see by a paragraph in the same paper
(March 9th): " Thirty thousand of the re-stamped dollars
were seized on board a Dutch Schuyt in the river, a few
days since. The public are, perhaps, little aware that the
Dutch fishermen, who bring us plaice and eels, will receive
nothing in return but gold and silver." This doubtless was
so, but no cargo of fish could have been worth 30,000 dollars.

Gold was scarce, as will be seen by the following note:
(April 3rd): " Several ships were last week paid at Plymouth
all in new gold coin ; and, on Saturday last, the artificers
belonging to the Dockyard, were paid their wages in new
half-guineas. It was pleasing to see the smiles on the
men's countenances at the sight of these strangers. The
Jews and slop merchants are busily employed in purchasing
this desirable coin, and substituting provincial and other
bank paper in its room."

That a large, and profitable, trade was done in smuggling
the gold coinage out of the country is evident. Morning
Post, 28th of July : ".Two fresh seizures have lately been
made of guineas, which have for some time been so scarce
that it is difficult to conceive whence the supply can have
been drawn. A deposit of 9,000 guineas, was on Thursday
discovered in a snug recess, at the head of the mast of a
small vessel in the Thames, which had just discharged a
cargo of French wheat; another seizure of 4,500 guineas
was made at Deal on the preceding day."

Morning Post, December 10, 1810 : " The tide surveyor
at Harwich seized, a few days since, on board a vessel at

1 The number of dollars issued by the Bank of England to February 8,
1810, inclusive, was:

Dollars stamped in 1797	and issued 2,325,099

„	„ 1804	„ 1,419*484

„	„ 1809 and 1810 ,, 1,073,051

Total ......4,817,634(1810.) PRINTERS BEFORE PARLIAMENT. 165

that port, twenty-two bars of gold, weighing 2,870 ounces.
He found the gold concealed between the timbers of the
vessel, under about thirty tons of shingle ballast."

In writing the social history of this year, it would be
impossible to keep silence as to the episode of Sir Francis
Burdett's behaviour, and subsequent treatment.

Curiously enough, it arose out of the Scheldt Expedition.
On the 19th of February the Right Hon. Charles Yorke,
M.P. for Cambridgeshire, rose, and complained of a breach
of privilege in a placard printed by a certain John Dean—
which was as follows : " Windham and Yorke, British
Forum, 33, Bedford Street, Covent Garden,
Monday, Feb. 19, 1810. Question:—Which was the
greater outrage upon the public feeling, Mr. Yorke's enforce-
ment of the standing order to exclude strangers from the
House of Commons, or Mr. Windham's recent attack upon
the liberty of the press ? The great anxiety manifested by
the public at this critical period to become acquainted with
the proceedings of the House of Commons, and to ascertain
who were the authors and promoters of the late calamitous
expedition to the Scheldt, together with the violent attacks
made by Mr. Windham on the newspaper reporters (whom*
he described as ' bankrupts, lottery office keepers, footmen,
and decayed tradesmen') have stirred up the public feeling,
and excited universal attention. The present question is
therefore brought forward as a comparative inquiry, and
may be justly expected to furnish a contested and interest-
ing debate. Printed by J. Dean, 57, Wardour Street."
It was ordered that the said John Dean do attend at the
bar of the house the next day.

He did so, and pleaded that he was employed to print
the placard by John Gale Jones—and the interview ended
with John Dean being committed to the custody of the
Serjeant-at-Arms—and John Gale Jones, was ordered to
attend the House next day.

When he appeared at the bar, he acknowledged that hei66

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, (1810.)

was the author of the placard, and regretted that the printer
should have been inconvenienced. That he had always
considered it the privilege of every Englishman to ani-
madvert on public measures, and the conduct of public men;
but that, on looking over the paper again, he found he had
erred, and, begging to express his contrition, he threw him-
self on the mercy of the House.

John Dean, meanwhile, had presented a petition, acknow-
ledging printing the bill, but that it was done by his work-
men without his personal attention. He was ordered to-
be brought to the bar, reprimanded, and discharged—all
wThich came to pass. Gale, however, was committed to
Newgate, where he remained until the 21st of June, when
Parliament rose, in spite of a motion of Sir Samuel Romilly
(April 16th) that he be discharged from his confinement ;
the House divided—Ayes 112; Noes 160 ; majority for his
further imprisonment, 48.

On a previous occasion (March 12th), Sir Francis Burdett
had moved his discharge, but, on a division, fourteen only
were for it, and 153 against it. In his speech he denied*
the legal right of the House to commit any one to prison
for such an offence—and he published in Cobbetfs Weekly
Political Register of Saturday, March 24, 1810, a long:
address:"Sir Francis Burdett to his Constituents;

denying the power of the house of commons to
imprison the people of england." It is too long to
reproduce, but its tone may be judged of, by the following
extract : "At this moment, it is true, we see but one man
actually in jail* for having displeased those Gentlemen ; but
the fate of this one man (as is the effect of punishments)
will deter others from expressing their opinions of the
conduct of those who have had the power, to punish him.
And, moreover, it is in the nature of all power, and
especially of assumed and undefined power, to increase as
it advances in age ; and, as Magna Charta and the law of
the land have not been sufficient to protect Mr. Jones; as(1810.) SIR F. BURDETT'S COMMITTAL, 167

we have seen him sent to jail for having described the
conduct of one of the members, as an outrage upon public
feeling, what security have we, unless this power of imprison-
ment be given up, that we shall not see other men sent to
jail for stating their opinion respecting Rotten Boroughs,
respecting Placemen, and Pensioners, sitting in the House ;
or, in short, for making any declaration, giving any opinion,
stating any fact, betraying any feeling, whether by writing,
by word of mouth, or by gesture, which may displease any of
the Gentlemen assembled in St. Stephen's Chapel ?" This
was supplemented by a most elaborate " Argument," and
on the 27th of March the attention of Parliament was
called thereto by Mr. Lethbridge, M.P. for Somerset.

The alleged breach of privilege was read by a clerk, and
Sir Francis was called upon to say whatever he could, in
answer to the charge preferred against him. He admitted
the authorship both of the Address and Argument and
would stand the issue of them. Mr. Lethbridge then moved
the following resolutions: " 1st. Resolved that the Letter
signed Francis Burdett, and the further Argument, which
was published in the paper called Cobbetfs Weekly Register,
On the 24th of this instant, is a libellous and scandalous
paper, reflecting upon the just rights and privileges of this
House. 2nd. Resolved, That Sir Francis Burdett, who
suffered the above articles to be printed with his name, and
by his authority, has been guilty of a violation of the
privileges of this House."

The debate was the fiercest of the session. It was
adjourned to the 28th, and the 5th of April, when Mr.
Lethbridge's resolutions were agreed to without a division,
and Sir Robert Salusbury, M.P. for Brecon, moved that Sir
Francis Burdett be committed to the Tower, An amend-
ment was proposed that he be reprimanded in his place ;
but, on being put, it was lost by 190 to 152—38, and at seven
o'clock in the morning of the 6th of April, Sir Francis's
doom was decreed.>|^	^ >!/■	^ «v|/> >j/ >Lr xLr \lr *\t/" "Vt/1 %!/■ >(/• >|^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^|/> ^ ^ >|/- >|/ ^

CHAPTER XIX.

Warrant served on Sir Francis Burdett—He agrees to go to prison—Subsequently
he declares the warrant illegal—His arrest—His journey to the Tower—The
mob—His incarceration—The mob attack the military—Collision—Killed and
wounded—Sir Francis's letter to the Speaker—His release—Conduct of the
mob.

f T P to this time the proceedings had been grave and
I I dignified, but Sir Francis imported a ludicrous

element into his capture.

Never was any arrest attempted in so gentlemanlike,
and obliging a manner.1 At half-past seven o'clock in the
morning, as soon as the division in the House of Commons
was known, Mr. Jones Burdett, accompanied by Mr.
O'Connor, who had remained all night at the House of
Commons, set off in a post chaise to Wimbledon, and
informed Sir Francis Burdett of the result. Sir Francis
immediately mounted his horse, and rode to town. He
found a letter on his table from Mr. Colman, the Serjeant-
at-Arms, acquainting him that he had received a warrant,
signed by the Speaker, to arrest and convey him to the
Tower, and he begged to know when he might wait on him ;
that it was his wish to show him the utmost respect, and,
therefore, if he preferred to take his horse, and ride to the
Tower, he would meet him there.

1 The account of Sir F. Burdett's arrest, &c., is mainly taken from the
Annual Register, vol. lii.(i8io.)

SIR FRANCIS BURDETT

169

To this very courteous and considerate letter, Sir Francis
replied that he should be happy to receive him at noon
next day. However, before this letter could reach the
Serjeant-at-Arms, he called on Sir Francis, and verbally
informed him that he had a warrant against him. Sir
Francis told him he should be ready for him at twelve
next day, and Mr. Colman bowed, and retired. Indeed it
was so evidently the intention of the baronet to go to his
place of durance quietly, that, in the evening, he sent a
friend to the Tower to see if preparations had been made
to receive him, and it was found that every consideration
for his comfort had been taken.

But the urbane Serjeant-at-Arms, when he made his
report to the Speaker, was mightily scolded by him for
not executing his warrant, and at 8 p.m. he called, with
a messenger, on Sir Francis, and told him that he had
received a severe reprimand from the Speaker for not
executing his warrant in the morning, and remaining with
his prisoner.

Sir Francis replied that he should not have allowed him
to have remained, and that he would not yield a voluntary
assent to the warrant, but would only give in, in presence
of an overwhelming force. The Serjeant-at-Arms then
withdrew, having refused to be the bearer of a letter to the
Speaker, which was afterwards conveyed to that dignitary
by private hands. In this letter he asserted he would only
submit to superior force, and insultingly said, " Your war-
rant, sir, I believe you know to be illegal. I know it to be so."

On the morning of the 7th of April another attempt was
made by a messenger of the House to serve him with the
warrant and arrest him ; but, although Sir Francis read it
and put it in his pocket, he told the messenger that he
might return and inform the Speaker that he would not
obey it. The poor man said his orders were to remain
there ; but he was commanded to retire, and had to go.

'Later in the day, between twelve and one, came a troop170	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1810.)

of Life Guards, who pranced up and down the road and
pavement and dispersed the people, who heartily hissed
them. A magistrate read the Riot Act; the troops cleared
the road, and formed two lines across Piccadilly, where Sir
Francis lived ; and so strictly was this cordon kept, that
they refused to allow his brother to pass to his dinner, until
he was accompanied by a constable. Sir Francis wrote to
the Sheriffs complaining of his house being beset by a
military force.

No further attempt to execute the warrant was made
that day, nor on the following day, which was Sunday,

But the majesty of Parliament would brook no further
trifling, and on the Monday morning (April 9th), after
breakfast, when " Sir Francis was employed in hearing his
son (who had just come from Eton school) read and
translate Magna Charta," a man's head was observed
looking in at the window, the same man advertising his
advent by smashing a pane or two of glass. Great credit
was taken that no one threw this man off his ladder, but,
probably, the sight of the troops in front of the house,
acted as a deterrent. The civil authorities, however, had -
effected an entrance by the basement, and entered the
drawing-room, where a pretty little farce was acted.

" The Serjeant-at-Arms said : 4 Sir Francis, you are my
prisoner.'

" Sir Francis. By what authority do you . act, Mr.
Serjeant ? By what power, sir, have you broken into my
house, in violation of the laws of the land ?

" Serjeant. Sir Francis, I am authorized by the warrant
of the Speaker of the House of Commons.

" Sir Francis. I contest the authority of such a warrant.
Exhibit to me the legal warrant by which you have dared
to violate my house. Where is the Sheriff? Where is the
Magistrate ?

"At this time there was no magistrate, but he soon after-
wards appeared.(1810.)	SIR FRANCIS B URDETT.	I>ji

" Serjeant. Sir Francis, my authority is in my hand: I
will read it to you : it is the warrant of the Right Honour-
able the Speaker of the House of Commons.

" And here Mr. Colman attempted to read the warrant,
but which he did with great trepidation.

" Sir Francis. I repeat to you, that it is no sufficient
warrant. No—not to arrest my person in the open street,
much less to break open my house in violation of all law.
If you have a warrant from His Majesty, or from a proper
officer of the King, I will pay instant obedience to it; but
I will not yield to an illegal order.

" Serjeant. Sir Francis, I demand you to yield in the
name of the Commons House of Parliament, and I trust
you will not compel me to use force. I entreat you to
believe that I wish to show you every respect.

" Sir Francis. I tell you distinctly that I will not
voluntarily submit to an unlawful order ; and I demand, in
the King's name, and in the name of the law, that you
forthwith retire from my house.

" Serjeant. Then, sir, I must call in assistance, and force
you to yield.

"Upon which the constables laid hold of Sir Francis.
Mr. Jones Burdett and Mr. O'Connor immediately stepped
up, and each took him under an arm. The constables
closed in on all three, and drew them downstairs.

" Sir Francis then said: 41 protest in the King's name
against this violation of my person and my house. It is
superior force only that hurries me out of it, and you do it
at your peril.'"

A coach was ready, surrounded by Cavalry, and Sir
Francis and his friends entered it. The possibility of a
popular demonstration, or attempt at rescue, was evidently
feared, for the escort consisted of two squadrons, of the
15th Light Dragoons, two troops of Life Guards, with a
magistrate at their head ; then came the coach, followed by
two more troops of Life Guards, another troop of the 15th172

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1810.)

Light Dragoons, two battalions of Foot Guards, the rear
being formed by another party of the 15th Light Dragoons.
After escorting through Piccadilly, the Foot Guards left,
and marched straight through the City, to await the prisoner
at,the Tower.

His escort went a very circuitous route, ending in
Moorfields, the result of an arrangement betvveen the
authorities and the Lord Mayor, by which, if the one did
not go through Temple Bar and the heart of the City, the
Lord Mayor would exert all his authority within his bounds,"
as indeed he did, meeting, and heading, the cavalcade.

, During his ride, Sir Francis, as might have been expected,
posed, sitting well forward so that he might be well seen.
It could hardly be from apathy, for thfe lower orders con-
sidered him as their champion ; but, either from the body
of accompanying troops, or the curious route taken, the
journey to the Tower passed off almost without incident,
except a little crying out, until the Minories was reached,
when the East End—and it was a hundred times rougher
than now—poured forth its lambs to welcome their shepherd.
The over-awing force on Tower Hill prevented any abso-
lute outbreak. There were shouts of " Burdett for ever! "
and a few of the mob got tumbled into the shallow water
of the Tower ditch, whence they emerged, probably all the
better for the unwonted wash. No attempt at rescue
seems to have been made, and the Tower gates were
safely reached. The coach drew up ; the Serjeant-at-Arms
entered the little wicket to confer with the military authori-
ties ; the great gates swung open ; the cannon boomed
forth their welcome to the' prisoner, and Sir Francis was
safely caged.

Up to this time the roughs had had no fun ; it had been
tame work, and, if the military got away unharmed, it
would have been a day lost; so brickbats, stones, and
sticks were thrown at them without mercy. The soldiers'
tempers had been sorely tried; orders were given to fire,(i8io.)

SIR FRANCIS BURDETT.

173

and some of the mob fell. The riot was kept up until the
troops had left Fenchurch Street, and then the cost thereof
was counted in the shape of one killed and eight wounded.
A contemporary account says : " The confusion was dread-
ful, but, the effect was the almost immediate dispersion of
the mob in every direction. A great part of them seemed
in a very advanced state of intoxication and otherwise
infuriated to madness, for some time braving danger in
every shape. In all the route of the .military the streets
*were crowded beyond all possibility of description ; all the
shops were shut up, and the most dreadful alarm for some
time prevailed."

There were fears of another riot taking place when night
fell, but preparations were made. The Coldstream Guards
were under orders^ and each man was furnished with thirty
rounds of ball cartridge. Several military parties paraded
the streets till a late hour, and the cannon in St. James's
Park were loaded with ball. Happily, however, all was
quiet, and these precautions, although not unnecessary,
were un-needed.

Next day the Metropolis was quiet, showing that the
sympathy with the frothy hero of the hour, however loud
it might be, was not deep. Even at the Tower, which
contained all that there was of the origin of this mischief,
the extra Guards were withdrawn, and ingress and egress
to the fortress were as ordinarily—the prisoner's friends
being allowed. to visit him freely. This episode may be
closed with the consolatory feeling that the one man who
was killed had been exceedingly active in attacking the
military, and, at the moment when the shot was fired
which deprived him of existence, he was in the act of
throwing a brickbat at the soldiers. History does not
record whether he was accompanied to his grave by
weeping brother bricklayers.

• We have seen that Sir Francis Burdett proffered a letter,
addressed to the Speaker to the Serjeant-at-Arms, which174	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1810.)

the latter very properly refused to deliver, and, on the 9th
of April, this letter formed the subject of a debate in the
House of Commons. The Serjeant-at-Arms was examined
.by the House as to the particulars of the recalcitrant
baronet's arrest, and the Speaker added his testimony to
the fact of his reproving the Serjeant for not obeying
•orders. The debate was adjourned until the next day, and
it ended, according to Hansard, thus :

" It appearing to be the general sentiment that the
Letter should not be inserted on the Journals, the Speaker
said he would give directions accordingly. It being also
understood that the Amendments moved should not appear
on the Journals, the Speaker said he would give directions
accordingly, and the question was put as an original
motion,4 That it is the opinion of this House, that the said
'Letter is a high and flagrant breach of the privileges of the
House; but it appearing from the report of the Serjeant-
at-Arms attending this House, that the warrant of the
Speaker for the commitment of Sir Francis Burdett to the
Tower has been executed, this House will not, at this time,
proceed further on the said letter/ Agreed nem con!'

Then followed a scene that has its parallel in our d,ays,
with another demagogue. Sir Francis Burdett commenced
actions against the Speaker, the Serjeant-at-Arms, and the
Earl of Moira, who was then Governor of the Tower. We
know how easily petitions are got up, and this case was
no exception ; but Sir Francis was kept in well-merited
incarceration, until the Prorogatipn of Parliament on the
21 st of June> which set him free. The scene on his libera-
tion is very graphically described by a contemporary:

"The crowd for some time continued but slowly to
increase, but towards three o'clock, their numbers were
rapidly augmented ; and, shortly after three, as fitting a
rabble as ever were 'raked together' appeared on Tower
Hill. The bands in the neighbourhood frequently struck
up a tune; and the assembled rabble as frequently huzzaed(i8io.)

SIR FRANCIS BURDETT

175

(they knew not why), and thus between" them, for an hour
or two, they kept up a scene of continual jollity and
uproar.

" The Moorfields Cavalry1 had by this time arrived at
the scene of action. Everything was prepared to carry
Sir Francis (like the effigy of Guy Fawkes on the 5th of
November) through the City. The air was rent by re-
peated shouts of 4 Burdett for ever !' 4 Magna Charta!'
and 'Trial by Jury!* The blessings of the last, many of
these patriots had doubtless experienced, and were, therefore,
justified in expressing themselves with warmth. While
these shouts burst spontaneously from the elated rabble,
and every eye was turned towards the Tower, with the
eagerness of hope, and the anxiety of expectation—on a
sudden, intelligence was received that they had all been
made fools of by Sir Francis, who, ashamed, probably, of
being escorted through the City by such a band of 'ragged
rumped' vagabonds, had left the Tower, crossed the water,
and proceeded to Wimbledon.

"Todescribe the scene which followed—the vexation of
the Westminster electors, the mortification of the Moorfields
Cavalry y and the despair of' The Hope?an adequate colours,
is impossible. Petrified by the news, for some time they
remained on the spot undetermined how to act, and
affecting to disbelieve the report. Unwilling, however, to
be disappointed of their fondest hope—that of showing
themselves—they determined on going through the streets
in procession, though they could not accompany Sir
Francis. The pageant accordingly commenced, the empty
vehicle intended for Sir Francis took that part in the pro-
cession which he was to have taken, and the rational part
of the mob consoled themselves by reflecting that, as they
had originally set out to accompany emptiness they were
not altogether disappointed.

"It was now proposed by some of the mob, that as they

1 A number of persons on horseback, who met at Moorfields.176

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1810.>

could not have the honour of escorting'Sir Francis Burdett
from the Tower, they should conclude the day by conducting
Mr. Gale Jones from Newgate, and he, shortly after, fell
into the procession in a hackney coach.

"On the arrival of the procession in Piccadilly, it went off
to the northward, and the vehicles returned by a different
route from that which they went. The whole of the
streets and windows were crowded, from Tower Hill, to
Piccadilly.

" About one o'clock a party of Burdettites from Soho,
with blue cockades and colours flying, proceeded d^n
Catherine Street, and the Strand, for the City. They
marched two and two. At Catherine Street they were
met by the 12th Light Dragoons on their way to Hyde
Park Corner. The music of the former was playing St.
Patrick's Day. The Band of the Dragoons immediately
struck up God save the King. The 14th Light Dragoons
followed the 12th; both regiments mustering very strong.
All the Volunteers were under orders; and the Firemen
belonging to the several Insurance Offices paraded the
streets, with music, acting as constables."

jp«* i&t *5*CHAPTER XX.

Good harvest—Thanksgiving for same—List of poor Livings—Another Jubilee-
Illness and death of the Princess Amelia— Effect oli-the ICrng—Prayers for his
restoration to health—Funeral of the Princess—Curious position of the Houses
of Parliament—Proposition for a Regency—Close of the first decade of the
xixth Century.

IT gives great pleasure to record that the Harvest this
year was plentiful, so bountiful, indeed, as to stir up
feelings of gratitude in the national breast, and induce
the manufacture of a "Form of prayer and thanksgiving to
Almighty God, for His mercy in having vouchsafed to bestow
on this Nation an abundant crop, and favourable harvest."
. The farmers and laics benefited thereby, but the position of
*\-Ae Clergy at that - time was far from being very high, at
least with regard to worldly remuneration — vide the
following:

Account of Livings in England and Wales under
£i$o a year.

Not exceeding ^ioa year	..................12

From ^10 to ^20 inclusive	..................72

From ^20 to ^30 „	..................191

From £$o to^40 „	... ............353

From £40 to £50 „	..................433

From £$0 to £60 „	..................407

From ^60 to ^70 „	..................376

From £70 to £80 „	... ... ...	319
13i78

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

(1810.)

From £$0 to ^90 inclusive..................309

From ^90 to ^100	„ ...... ...	315

From ;£ioo to ^110	„ . ..................283

From ^no to ^120	„ ... ............307

From ^120 to ^130	„ ...... ...	246

From ^130 to ^140	„	... ... ...	205

From ^140 to ^150	„ ... ............170

Total...... 3998

" Of these very small livings three are in the diocese of
Lichfield and Coventry, three in that of Norwich, two m
that of St. David's, one in that of Llandaff, one in that of
London, one in that of Peterborough, and one in that of
Winchester."

This does rrot -show a very flourishing state of things,
although money could be spent freely in support of foreign*
clergy as we see by the accounts for this year : " Emigrant
clergy and laity of France, £161,542 2s."

One would think that two Jubilees in one twelvemonth
was almost too much of a good thing, but our great-
grandfathers thought differently. There had already been,
one, to celebrate the fact of the King entering on the
fiftieth year of his reign, they must now have one to
chronicle its close. But, although there was somewhat of
the " poor debtor " element introduced, it was by no means
as enthusiastically received as it had been twelve months,
previously.

This time we hear more of festive meetings: a Jubilee
Ball at the Argyle Rooms—then very decorous and proper
—another at the New Rooms, Kennington, and & grand
dinner at Montpelier House, whilst Camberweli, Vauxhall,
Kennington, and Lambeth all furnished materials for
festivity. Needless, to say, there were new Jubilee medals.

But the poor old King was getting ill, and troubled
about his daughter, the Princess Amelia, who lay a dying.
Poor girl! she knew she had not long to live, and she
wished to give the King some personal souvenir. She-(i8io.)

ILLNESS OF THE KING.

179

had a yery valuable and choice stone, which she wished to
have made into a ring for him. As her great thought and
most earnest wish was to give this to her father before her
death, a jeweller was sent for express from London, and it
was soon made, and she had her desire gratified. On His
Majesty going to the bedside of the Princess, as was his
daily wont, she put the ring upon his finger without saying
a word. The ring told its own tale: it bore as an inscription
her name, and "Remember me when I am gone? A lock of
her hair was also worked into the ring.

The mental anguish caused by this event, and by the
knowledge that death was soon to claim the Princess, was
too much for the King to bear. Almost blind, and with
enfeebled intellect, he had not strength to bear up against
the terrible blow.

At first the papers said he had a slight cold, but the
next day it was found to be of no use concealing his
illness. The Morning Post of the 31st of October says:
" It is with hearfelt sorrow we announce that His Majesty's
indisposition still continues. It commenced with the effect
produced upon, his tender parental feelings on receiving
the ring from the hand of his afflicted, beloved daughter,
the affecting inscription upon which caused him, blessed
and most amiable of men, to burst into tears, with the
most heart-touching lamentations on the present state, aril
approaching dissolution, of the afflicted, and interesting
Princess. His Majesty is attended by Drs. Halford,
Heberden, and Baillie, who issue daily bulletins of the
state of the virtuous and revered monarch, for whose
speedy recovery the prayers of all good men will not fail
to be offered up." And there was public prayer made
" for the restoration of His Majesty's health."

The Princess Amelia died on the ?nd of November, and
was buried with due state. In her coffin were "8,000 nails
—6000 small and 2,000 large; eight large plates and
handles resembling the Tuscan Order; a crown at the top,180	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. (1810.)

of the same description as issued from the Heralds' Office';
two palm branches in a cross saltier, under the crown, with
P. A. (the initials of her Royal Highness). They are very
massy, and have the grandest effect, being executed in the
most highly-finished style, and neat manner possible.
Forty-eight plates, with a crown, two palm branches in
cross saltier, with the Princess Royal's coronet at top ;
eight bevil double corner plates, with the, same ornaments
inscribed, and one at each corner of the cover."

The King's illness placed Parliament in a very awkward
position. It stood prorogued till the 1st of November, on
which day both Houses met, but sorely puzzled how to
proceed, because there was no commission, nor was the
King in a fit state to sign one. The Speaker took his
seat, and said, " The House is now met, this being the last
day to which Parliament was prorogued ; but I am in-
formed, that notwithstanding His Majesty's proclamation
upon the subject of a farther prorogation, no message is to
be expected from His Majesty's commissioners upon that
subject, no commission for prorogation being made out.
Under such circumstances I feel it my duty to take the
chair, in order that the House may be able to adjourn itself."
And both Houses were left to their own devices. The
head was there, but utterly incompetent to direct.

So they kept on, doing no public work, but examining
the King's physicians as to his state. They held out hopes
of his recovery—perhaps in five or six months, perhaps in
twelve or eighteen ; but, in the meantime, really energetic
steps must be taken to meet the emergency. On the 20th
of November, the Chancellor of the Exchequer moved
three resolutions embodying the facts that His Majesty was
incapacitated by illness from attending to business, and
that the personal exercise of the royal authority is thereby
suspended, therefore Parliament must supply the defect.
It was then that the Regency of the Prince of Wales was
proposed, and in January, 1811, an Act was passed, entitled,(i8io.)	ILLNESS OF THE. KING.	181

"An Act to provide for the Administration of the Royal
Authority, and for the Care of the Royal Person during the
Continuance of His Majesty's illness, and for the Resumption
of the Exercise of the Royal Authority.'' The Prince of
Wales ,was to exercise kingly powers, which, however, were
much shorn in the matters of granting peerages, and
granting offices and pensions ; whilst the Queen, assisted
by a Council, was to have the care of His Majesty's person,
and the direction of his household.

As a proof of the sympathy evinced by the people with
the King in his illness, all pageantry was omitted on the
9th of November, when the Lord Mayor went to West-
minster to be sworn in.

At the close of 1810 the National Debt amounted to the
grand total of £811,898,083 12s. 3^d. Three perCent.
Consols began at 70^, touched in July 71^5, and left off
in December 66}£. Wheat averaged 95s, per quarter, and
the quartern loaf was, in January, is. 4j^d.; June, is. 5d.;
December, is. 3d.

Here ends the chronicle of the First Decade of the Nine-
teenth Century.CHAPTER XXI.

The roads—Modern traffic compared with old—The stage coach—Stage waggons
—Their speed—Price of posting—The hackney coach—Sedan chairs—Horse
riding—Improvement in carriages.

PERHAPS as good a test as any, of the civilization
of a nation, is its roads. From the mere foot-tracks
of the savage, to the broader paths necessarily used
when he had brought the horse into subjugation, mark
a distinct advance. When the wheeled carriage was in-
vented, a causeway, artificially strengthened, must be made,
or the wheels would sink into the soft earth, and make ruts,
wrhich would need extra power in order to extricate the
vehicle ; besides the great chance there was of that vehicle
coming to utter grief. Settlers in Africa and Australia
can yet tell tales of the inconveniences of a land without
roads.

To the Romans, as for much else of our civilization, we
are indebted for our knowledge of road making—nay, even
for some of our rpads still existing—but these latter were
the main arteries of the kingdom, the veins had yet to be
developed. ~ That roads mean civilization is apparent,
because without them there could be little or no inter-
communication between communities, and no opportunity
for traffic and barter with each other. We, in our day,THE ROADS.

have been spoilt, by, almost suddenly, having had a road
traffic thrown open to us, which renders every village in our
Isles, of comparatively easy access, so that we are apt to
look with disfavour on the old times. Seated, or lying, in
the luxurious ease of a Pullman car—going at sixty miles
an hour—it is hard to realize a tedious journey by waggon,
or even an outside journey by the swifter, yet slow, mail or
stage coach, with its many stoppages, and its not altogether
pleasant adventures. For, considering the relative numbers
of persons travelling, there were far more accidents, and of

A STAGE COACH—1804.

a serious kind, than in these days of railways.. It was all
very well, on the introduction of steam to say, " If you are
upset off a coach, why there you are ! but if you are in a
railway accident, where are you ?" The coach might break
down, as it often did, a wheel come off, or an axle, or a pole
break—or the coach might be, as it ofttimes was, over-
loaded, and then in a rut—why, over all went The horses,
too, were apt to cast shoes, slip down, get their legs over
the traces, or take to kicking, besides which the harness
would snap, either the traces, or the breeching, or the reins,184

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

and these terrors were amplified by the probability of
encountering highwaymen, who were naturally attracted
to attack the stage coaches, not only on account of
the money and valuables which the passengers carried
with them, but because parcels of great price were en-
trusted to the coachman, such as gold, or notes and
securities, for country banks, remittances between com-
mercial firms, &c.

In the illustration showing a stage coach, it will be seen
that there is a supplementary portion attached, made of

THE STAGE WAGGON.

wicker-work, and called " the basket." This was for the
reception of parcels. The mail cokches, which took long,
direct routes, will be spoken of under the heading of Post
Office.

Inconvenient to a degree, as were these stage coaches,
with exposure to all changes of weather, if outside—or
else cooped up in a very stuffy inside, with possibly dis-
agreeable, or invalid, companions—they were the only
means of communication between those places unvisited by
the mail coach, and also for those which required a more
frequent service. They were very numerous, so much soSTAGE WAGGONS,.

that, although I began to count them, I gave up the task, as
not being " worth the candle."

But it was not every one who could afford to travel by-
stage coach, and for them was the stage waggon, or
caravan, huge and cumbrous machines, with immensely
broad wheels, so as to take a good grip of the road, and
make light of the ruts. These machines, and the few
canals then in existence, did the inland goods carriage of
the whole of England. Slow and laborious was their work,
but they poked a few passengers among the goods, and
carried them very cheaply. They were a remnant of the
previous century, and, in the pages of Smollett, and other
writers, we hear a great deal of these waggons.

To give some idea of them, their route, and the time
they used to take on their journey, I must make one
example suffice, taken haphazard from a quantity. (1802.)

" Tunbridge Wells, and Tunbridge Original Waggon. '1 o
the Queen's Head Inn, Borough.

" By J. Hunt.

" Late Chesseman and Morphew. Under an establish-
ment of more than sixty years. Sets out from the New Inn,
Tunbridge Wells, every Monday and Thursday morning,
and arrives at the above Inn, every Tuesday and Friday
morning, from whence it returns the same days at noon,
and arrives at Tunbridge Wells every Wednesday and
Saturday afternoon, and from September 1st to Decem-
ber 25th a. Waggon sets out from Tunbridge Wells every
Wednesday and Saturday morning, and arrives at the
above Inn every Monday and Thursday morning, from186

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

whence it returns the same days at noon, and arrives at
Tunbridge Wells every Tuesday and Friday afternoon,
carrying goods and parcels to and from—

* Tunbridge Wells.	Mayfield.

Tunbridge.	Wadhurst.

Groombridge.	Ticehurst.

Langton.	Mark Cross.

Spaldhurst.	Frant.

Ashurst.	Eridge.

Rotherfield.	Southboro, &c.

<c No Money, Plate, Jewels, Writings, Watches, Rings,
Lace, Glass, nor any Parcel above Five Pounds Value,
will be accounted for, unless properly entered, and paid
for as such.

" Waggons or Carts from Tunbridge Wells to Brighton,
Eastbourne, &c., occasionally."

Now Tunbridge is only thirty-six miles from London,
and yet it took over twenty-four hqurs to reach.

Of course, those who had carriages of their own, or hired
them, could go " post," i.e.> have fresh horses at certain
recognized stations, leaving the tired ones behind them.
This was of course travelling luxuriously, and people had
to pay for it. In the latter part of the eighteenth century,
there had been, well, not a famine, but a great scarcity of
corn, and oats naturally rose, so much so that the post-
masters had to raise their price, generally to is. 2d. per
horse per mile, a price which seems to have obtained until
the latter part of 1801, when among the advertisements of
the Morning Post, September 23rd, I find, " Four Swans,
Waltham Cross. Dean Wostenholme begs leave most
respectfully to return thanks to the Noblemen and Gentle-
men who have done him the honour to use his house, and
to inform them that he has lowered the price of Posting to
One Shilling per mile," &c.

And there was, of course, the convenient hackney coach,THE ROADS.

187

which was generally the cast-off and used up carriage of
some gentleman, whose arms, even, adorned the panels, a
practice (the bearing of arms) which still obtains in our
cabs. The fares were not extravagant, except in view
of the different values of money. Every distance not
exceeding one mile is., not exceeding one mile and a half,
is. 6d.,not exceeding two miles 2s., and so on. There were
many other clauses, as to payment, waiting, radius, &c.,
but they are uninteresting.

A little book1 says: "The hackney coaches in London
were formerly limited to 1,000; but, by an Act of Parlia-
ment, the number is increased. Hackney coachmen are,
in general, depraved characters, and several of them have
been convicted as receivers of stolen goods," and it goes
on to suggest their being licensed.

The old sedan chair was not obsolete, but was exten-
sively used to take ladies to evening parties ; and, as
perhaps we may never again meet with a table of the
chairmen's charges, I had better take it:

-RATES OF CHAIRMEN.2

s.' d.

For the first hour, if paid by an hour ...	1	6

For every hour afterwards ...........................o	6

For any distance not exceeding one mile	1 , o

For one mile to one mile and a half ............1	6

For every half mile afterwards ......................o	6

In fact, their fares were almost identical with those of the
hackney coachmen, and offending chairmen were subject .
to the same penalties.

The' roads were kept up by means of turnpikes, exemp-
tion from payment of which was very rare; royalty, the mails,
military officers, &c., on duty, and a few more, were all.

The main roads were good, and well kept ; the bye, and
occupation roads were bad. But on the main roads there

1 " A View of London ; or, The Stranger's Guide, 1803-4."

8 "The Picture of London for 1802."i88

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

was plenty of traffic to pay for repairs. It was essentially
a horsey age—by which I do not mean to infer that our
grand and great-grandfathers, copied their grooms either in
their dress or manners, as the youth of this generation
aspire to do ; but the only means of locomotion for any
distance was necessarily on horseback, or by means of
horse-flesh. Every man could ride, and all wore boots and
breeches when out of doors, a style of equine dress unsur-
passed to this day.

The carriages were improving in build ; no longer being
low, and suspended by leather straps, they went to the
other extreme, and were perched a-top of high C springs.
The Times, January 17,1803,says: "Many alterations have
lately taken place in the building of carriages. The roofs
are not so round, nor are the bodies hung so low, as they
have been for the last two years. The circular springs
have given place to whip springs; the reason is, the first
are much more expensive, and are not so light in weight
as the others. No boots are now used, but plain coach
boxes, with open fore ends. Barouche boxes are now the
ton. During the last summer ladies were much oftener
seen travelling seated on the box than in the carriage.
Hammer-cloths, except on state occasions, are quite out of
date, and the dickey box is following their example. To
show the difference between the carriages of the present
day, and those built ten years ago, it is only necessary to
add that in the year 1793 the weight of a fashionable
carriage was about 1,900 pounds; a modern one weighs
from 1,400-to 1,500."

ooooooodoodoooooooooooooooooooooooeoooo

oooooooooooooooooooocooooooococooocoooo



Amateur driving—" The Whip Club "—Their dress—" The Four in Hand Club "—
Their dress—Other driving clubs—" Tommy Onslow "—Rotten Row.

ERTAIN of the jeunesse dorfo took to driving,

probably arising from the fact of riding outside

the stage coaches, and being occasionally indulged
with " handling the ribbons " and " tooling " the horses for
a short distance—of course for a consideration, by means
of which " the. jarvey "1 made no mean addition to his
income, which, l?y the by, was not a bad one, as every
traveller gave him something, and all his refreshment at
the various inns at which the coach stopped was furnished
free. These young men started a " Whip Club," and the
following is a description of a " meet":

"The Whip Club met on Monday morning in Park
Lane, and proceeded from thence to dine at Harrow-on-
the-Hill. There were fifteen barouche landaus with four
horses to each; the drivers were all men of known skill in
the science of charioteering. Lord Hawke, Mr. Buxton,
and the Hon. Lincoln Stanhope were among the leaders.
" The following was the style of the set out: Yellow-

CHAPTER XXII.

1 The generic name for coachman.i9o	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

bodied carriages, with whip springs and dickey boxes ;
cattle of a bright bay colour, with plain silver ornaments
on the harness, and rosettes to the ears. Costume of the
drivers: A light drab colour cloth coat made full, single
breast, with three tiers of pockets, the skirts reaching to
the ankles ; a mother of pearl button of the size of a crown
piece. Waistcoat, blue and yellow stripe, each stripe an
inch in depth. Small cloths corded with silk plush, made
tp button over the calf of the leg, with sixteen strings and
rosettes to each knee. The boots very short, and finished
with very broad straps, which hung over the tops and
down to the ankle. A hat three inches and a half deep in
the crown only, and the same depth in the brim exactly.
Each wore a large bouquet at the breast, thus resembling
the coachmen of our nobility, who, on the natal day of our
beloved sovereign, appear, in that respect, so peculiarly
distinguished. The party moved along the road at a
smart trot; the first whip gave some specimens of supe-
riority at the outset by ' cutting a fly off a leader's ear.'"1

"ON THE WHIP CLUB.

" Two varying races are in Briton born,

One courts a nation's praises, one her scorn ;

Those pant her sons o'er tented fields to guide,

Or steer her thunders thro' the foaming tide;

Whilst these, disgraceful born in luckless hour,

Burn but to guide with skill a coach and four.

To guess their sires each a sure clue affords,

These are the coachmen's sons, and those my Lord's.

Both follow Fame, pursuing different courses;

Those, Britain, scourge thy foes—and these thy horses;
Give them their due, nor let occasion slip;

On those thy laurels lay—on these thy whip ! " 2

According to the Morning Post, April 3, 1809, the title
of the "Whip Club "was changed then to the "Four in

1	Morning Post, June 9, 1808.

2	Annual Register, vol. lix. p. 883." FOUR IN HAND CLUB

191

Hand Club," and their first meet is announced for the 28th
of April. " So fine a cavalcade has not been witnessed in
this country, at any period, as these gentlemen will exhibit
on that day, in respect to elegantly tasteful new carriages
and beautiful horses ; the latter will be all high bred cattle,
and their estimated value will exceed three hundred guineas
each. All superfluous ornaments will be omitted on the
harness ; gilt, instead of plated furniture."

The meet took place, as advised, in Cavendish Square,
the costume of the drivers being as follows : A blue (single
breast) coat, with a long waist, and brass buttons, on which
were engraved the words " Four in Hand Club" ; waistcoat
of Kerseymere, ornamented with alternate stripes of blue
and yellow ; small clothes of white corduroy, made moder-
ately high, and very long over the knee, buttoning in front
over the shin bone. Boots very short, with long tops, only
one outside strap to each, and one.to the back; the latter
were employed to keep the breeches in their proper longi-
tudinal shape. Hat with a conical crown, and the Allen
brim (whatever that was); box, or driving coat, of white
drab cloth, with fifteen capes, two tiers of pockets, and
an inside one for the Belcher handkerchief; cravat of
white muslin spotted with black. Bouquets of myrtle,
pink, and yellow geraniums were worn. In May of
the same year, the club button had already gone out
of fashion, and "Lord Hawke sported yesterday, as buttons,
Queene Anne's shillings ; Mr. Ashurst displayed crown
pieces."

Fancy driving was not confined to one club; besides the
" Four in Hand," there were " The Barouche Club," " The
Defiance Club," and "The Tandem Club."

One of the most showy of these charioteers was a
gentleman, who was irreverently termed " Tommy Onslow"
(afterwards Lord Cranley), whose portrait is given here.
So far did he imitate the regular Jehu that he had his
legs swathed in hay-bands. Of him was written, under192

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

the -picture of which the accompanying is only a por-
tion—

" What can little T. 0. do ?

Why, drive a Phaeton and Two !!

Can little T. O. do no more ?

Yes, drive a Phaeton and Four!!!! "

One of his driving feats- may be chronicled (Morning
Herald\ June 26, 1802): "A curious bet was made last

"TOMMY ONSLOW."

week, that Lord Cranley could drive a phaeton and
four into a certain specified narrow passage, turn about,
and return out of it, without accident to man, horse, or
carriage. Whether it was Cranbourn, or Sidney's Alley,
or Russell Court, or the Ride of a Livery Stable/we
cannot tell; but, without being able to state the particulars,
we understand that the phaetonic feat was performed with
dexterity and success, and that his Lordship was completely
triumphant."HORSES.	193

In London, of course, the Park was the place for showing
off both beautiful horses, and men's riding, and the accom-
panying illustration portrays Lord Dillon, an accomplished
rider, showing people

HOW TO BREAK IN MY OWN HORSE.

The costume here is specially noteworthy, as it shows a
very advanced type of dandy.

That this was not the ordinary costume for riding in
" the Row," is shown in the accompanying illustration,
where it is far more business-like, and fitted for the purpose.

As we see, from every contemporary print and painting,
the horses were of a good serviceable type, as dissimilar as
possible from our racer, but closely resembling a well-bred
hunter. They had plenty of bottom, which was needful,

14194 the nineteenth centur k

for they were often called upon to perform what now would
be considered as miracles of endurance. Take the follow-
ing from the Annual Register; March 24, 1802, and bearing
in mind the sea passage, without steam, and in a little tub

ROTTEN ROW—1803.

of a boat, and it is marvellous : " Mr. Hunter performed
his journey from Paris to London in twenty-two hours,
the shortest space of time that journey has ever been made
in "CHAPTER XXIII.

*' The Silent Highway "—Watermen—Their fares—Margate hoys—A religious hoy
—The bridges over the Thames—The Pool—Water pageants—Necessity for
Docks, and their building—Tunnel at Gravesend—Steamboat on the Thames
—Canals.

HERE was, however, another highway, well called

"the silent." The river Thames was then really

used for traffic, and numerous boats plied for hire
from every " stair," as the steps leading down to the river
were called. The watermen were licensed by their Company,
and had not yet left off wearing the coat and badge, now alas!
obsolete—even the so-called " Doggett's coat and badge "
being now commuted for a money payment These water-
men were not overpaid, and had to work hard for their
living. By their code of honour they ought to take a fare
ii> strict rotation, as is done in our present cab ranks—but
they were rather a rough lot, and sometimes used to
squabble for a fare. Rowlandson gives us such a scene and
places it at Wapping Old Stairs.

In 1803 they had, for their better regulation, to wear
badges in their hats, and, according to the Times of July
the 7th, the Lord Mayor fined several the full penalty of
40s. for disobeying this order, " but promised, if they
brought him a certificate of wearing the badge, and other
good behaviour, for one month, he would remit the fine."196	THE NINETEENTH CENTUR Y.

Their fares were not exorbitant, and they were generally-
given a little more—they could be hired, too, by the day,
or half day, but this was a matter of agreement, generally
from 7s. to 1 os. 6d. per diem ; and, in case of misbehaviour
the number of his boat could be taken, and punishment
fell swiftly upon the offender. Taking London Bridge as
a centre, the longest journey up the river was to Windsor,
and the fare was 14s. for the whole boat, or 2s. each person.
Down the river Gravesend was the farthest, the fare for the
whole boat being 6s. or is. each. These were afterwards
increased to 21s. and 15s. respectively. Just to cross the
water was cheap enough—id. below, and 2d. above the
bridge, for each person. It would seem, however, as if
some did not altogether abide by the legal fares, for " A
Citizen " rushed into print in the Morning Post, September
6,1810, with the following pitiful tale: "The other night,
about nine o'clook, I took , a boat (sculls1) at Westminster
Bridge to Vauxhall, and offered the waterman, on landing,
two shillings (four times his fare) in consideration of
having three friends with me; he not only refused to take
my money, but, with the greatest insolence, insisted upon
having three shillings, to which extortion I was obliged to
yield before he would suffer us to leave the shore, and he
was aided in his robbery, by his fellows, who came mobbing
round us."

Gravesend was, as a rule, the " Ultima Thule" of the
Cockney, although Margate was sometimes reached ; but
Margate and Ramsgate, to say nothing of Brighton, were
considered too aristocratic for tradespeople to frequent,
although some did go to Margate. For these long and
venturesome voyages, boats called " Hoys " were used—
one-masted boats, sometimes with a boom to the mainsail,
and sometimes without; rigged very much like a cutter:
They are said to have taken their name from being hailed
("Ahoy") to stop to take in passengers.

1 Sculls, as being lighter, were always cheaper than the heavy oars.HOYS,	197

People, evidently, thought a voyage on one of these
"hoys" a desperate undertaking; for we read in a little
tract, of the fearsomeness of the adventure. The gentleman
who braves this voyage, is a clergyman, and is bound for
Ramsgate. " Many of us who went on board, had left our
dearer comforts behind us. ' Ah !' said I,' so must it be, my
soul, when the " Master comes and calleth for thee." My

"ONE OF THE MISERIES OF LONDON.

Entering upon any of the Bridges of London, or any of the passages leading
•to the Thames, being assailed by a group of Watermen, holding up their hands,
.and bawling out, " Sculls, Sculls ! Oars, Oars ! "

tender wife ! my tender babes ! my cordial friends ! ...
Our vessel, though it set sail with a fair wind, and gently fell
down the river towards her destined port, yet once, or twice,
was nearly striking against other vessels in the river. And
he winds up with, " About ten o'clock on Friday night we
were brought safely into the harbour of Margate. . . . How
great are the advantages of navigation ! By the skill and198	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,\

care of three men and a boy, a number of persons
were in safety conveyed from one part, to another, of the
kingdom!"

Sydney Smith in an article (1808) in the Edinburgh
Review on " Methodism" quotes a letter in the Evan-
gelical Magazine. "A Religious Hoy sets off every
week for Margate. Religious passengers accommodated
To the Editor. Sir,—It afforded me considerable pleasure
to see upon the Cover of your Magazine for the present
month, an advertisement announcing the establishment of
a packet, to sail weekly between London and Margate,
during the season ; which appears to have been set on foot
for the accommodation of religious characters ; and in which
* no profane conversation is to be allowed.' . . . Totally
unconnected with the concern, and, personally, a stranger
to the worthy owner, I take the liberty of recommending
this vessel to the notice of my fellow Christians ; persuaded
that they will think themselves bound to patronize and
encourage an undertaking that has the honour of our dear
Redeemer for its professed object."

There were but three bridges over the Thames—London,
Blackfriars, and Westminster. London Bridge was doomed
to come down. It was out of repair, and shaky; a good
many arches blocked up, and those which were open had
such a fall, as to be dangerous to shoot. Most of us can
remember Blackfriars Bridge, and a good many Old West-
minster Bridge, which was described in a London guide-
book of 1802, as one of the most beautiful in the world.
The same book says, " The banks of the Thames, con-
tiguous to the bridges, and for a considerable extent, are
lined with manufactories and warehouses ; such as iron
founders, dyers, soap and oil-makers, glass-makers, shot-
makers, boat builders, &c. &c. To explore these will
repay curiosity : in a variety of them, that powerful agent
steam performs the work, and steam engines are daily
erecting in others. They may be viewed by applying a,THE RIVER THAMES.

199

day or two previous to the resident proprietors, and • a
small fee will satisfy the man who shows the works."

The " Pool," as that portion of the river Thames below
London Bridge was called, was a forest of masts. Docks
were few, and most of the ships had to anchor in the stream.
Loading, and unloading, was performed in a quiet, and
leisurely manner, quite foreign to the rush, and hurry of
steam. Consequently, the ships lay longer at anchor, and,
discharging in mid stream, necessitated a fleet of lighters
and barges, which materially added to the crowded state
of the river. Add to this the numerous rowing boats
employed, either for business, or pleasure, and the river
must have presented a far more animated appearance than
it does now, with its few mercantile, and pleasure, steamers,
and its steam tugs, and launches. Gay, too, were the water
pageants, the City Companies barges, for the Lord Mayor's
Show, the Swan Upping, the Conservation of the Thames,
and Civic junkettings generally; and then there were the
Government barges, both belonging to the Admiralty, and
Trinity House, as brave as gold and colour could make
them ; the latter making its annual pilgrimage to visit the
Trinity almshouses at Deptford Strond—all the Brethren
in uniform, with magnificent bouquets, and each thought-
fully provided with a huge bag of fancy cakes and biscuits,
which they gave away to the rising generation. I can well
remember being honoured with a cake, and a kindly pat on
the head, from the great Duke of Wellington.

The pressure of the shipping was so great, extending
as it did, in unbroken sequence, from London Bridge to
Greenwich, that more dock accommodation was needed : the
small ones, such as Hermitage and Shadwell Docks, being
far too small to relieve the congested state of the river. In
1799 several plans were put forward for new Docks, and
some were actually put in progress. The Bill for the West
India Docks was passed in 1799. The first stone was laid
on the 12th of July, 1800, and the docks were partly200

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,

opened in the summer of 1802. The first stone of the
London Docks was laid on the 26th of June, 1802, and
the docks opened on the 30th of January, 1805 ; and, on
the 4th of March of the same year, the foundation of
the East India Docks was laid, and they were opened
in 1806.

Early in 1801, a shaft was sunk at Gravesend, to tunnel
under the Thames, which, although it ultimately came to
nothing, showed the nascent power of civil engineering—
then just budding—which has in later times borne such
fruit as to make it the marvel of the century, in the great
works undertaken and accomplished. Even in 1801, there
was a steamboat on the Thames (Annual Register, July 1st):
" An experiment took place on the river Thames, for the
purpose of working a barge, or any other heavy craft,
against tide, by means of a steam engine on a very simple
construction. The moment the engine was set to work
the barge was brought about, answering her helm quickly,
and she made way against a strong current, at the rate of
two miles and a half an hour.''

Commerce was developing, and the roads, with the
heavy and cumbrous waggons, were insufficient for the
growing trade. Railways, of course, were not yet, so their
precursors, and present rivals, the canals, were made, in
order to afford a cheap, and expeditious, means of inter-
communication. In July, 1800, the Grand Junction Canal
was opened from the Thames at Brentford, to Fenny
Stratford in Buckinghamshire. A year afterwards, on the
10th of July, 1801, the Paddington Canal was opened for
trade, with a grand aquatic procession, and sorne idea may
be formed of the capital employed on these undertakings,
when we find that even in January, 1804, the Grand Junc-
tion Canal had a paid-up capital of ^1,350,000, and this,
too, with land selling at a cheaper proportional rate than
now.CHAPTER XXIV.

Condition of the streets of London—Old oil lamps—Improvement in lamps—Gas
—Its introduction by Murdoch—Its adoption in London by Winsor—Opposi-
tion to it—Lyceum and other places lit with it—Its gradual adoption—The
old tinder box—Improvements thereon.

LONDON was considered the best paved city in the
world, and most likely it was ; but it would hardly
commend itself to our fastidious tastes, The main
thoroughfares were flagged, and had kerbs; sewers under
them, and gratings for the water to run from the gutters
into them—but turn aside into a side street, and then you
would find a narrow trottoir of " kidney " stones on end,
provocative of corns, and ruinous to boots ; no sewers to
-carry off the rain, which swelled the surcharged kennels
until it met in one sheet of water across the road. Cellar
ilaps of wood, closed, or unclosed, and, if closed, often
rotten, made pitfalls for all except the excessively wary.
Insufficient scavenging and watering, and narrow, and
often tortuous, streets, did not improve matters, and when
once smallpox, or fever, got hold in these back streets,
-death held high carnival. Wretchedly lit, too, at night,
by poor, miserable, twinkling oil lamps, flickering with
-every gust, and going out altogether with anything like aLAMPLIGHTER—1805.STREET LAMPS.

203

wind, always wanting the wicks trimming, and fresh oil, as
is shown in the following graphic illustration.

In this, we see a lamp of a most primitive description,
and that, too, used at a time when gas was a recognized
source of light although not publicly employed. Of course
there were improved oil lamps—notably those with the
burners of the celebrated M. Argand—and science had
already added the reflector, by means of which the
amount of light could be increased, or concentrated. In
the Times of May 23, 1803,

is a description of a new street
lamp : " A satisfactory experi-
ment was first made on Friday
evening last at the upper end
of New Bond Street, to dissi-
pate the great darkness which
has too long prevailed in the
streets of this metropolis. It
consisted in the adaptation of
twelve newly invented lamps
with reflectors, in place of
more than double that num-
ber of common ones ; and
notwithstanding the wetness
of the evening, and other
unfavourable circumstances,

we were both pleased, and
surprised to find that part of the street illuminated with
at least twice the quantity of light usually seen, and
that light uniformly spread, not merely on the footways,
but even to the middle of the street, so that the faces of
persons walking, the carriages passing, &c., could be dis-
tinctly seen ; while the lamps and reflectors themselves,
presented no disagreeable glare to the eye on looking at
them, a fault which has been complained of in lamps
furnished with refracting lenses."

9

LAMPLIGHTER—1805.THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Here, then, we have a perfectly independent testimony *
of the inefficiency of the then method of lighting; and, when
once complaint begins, the remedy soon follows.

Gas was known, and was steadily fighting its way.
Murdoch, who was a metal founder at Redruth, had been
experimenting upon gas made from different materials, and
in 1792 he lit up with it, his house and offices. Nay, more,
he nearly earned the fame, and consequent punishment> of
being a wizard; for he not only had a steam carriage, but
in this uncanny conveyance he would take bladders of
this new inflammable air, and actually burn a light without
a wick. From a scientific curiosity, he naturally wished
to develop it into a commercial undertaking, by which he
might reap a substantial reward for his ingenuity; and in
1795 he proposed to James Watt to take out a patent for
gas, instead of oil, as an illuminating medium. In 1797 he
lit up Watt's new foundry at Old Cumnock in Ayrshire;
and in 1798 Boulton and Watt's premises at Soho,
Birmingham, were lit with this new light; and they, on
the peace of Amiens, in 1802, gave the townsfolk of
Birmingham something to stare at, and talk about, for
they illuminated the whole front of their house with gas.
Murdoch, in 1806, received the gold (Rumford) medal of
the Royal Society for a communication detailing how he
had successfully applied gas to illuminate the house and
factory of Messrs. Phillips and Lee at Manchester.

In London we are chiefly indebted to a German, named
Frederic Albert Winzer (or, as he afterwards Anglicised,
his name, Winsor) for introducing gas, and we have to
thank his indomitable perseverance for its ultimate adop-
tion. In 1804, he took out a patent for the manufacture
of both gas and coke, and attempted to start a society
called "The National Light and Heat Company." He
wrote several works not much larger than pamphlets,
notably one on " The superiority of the new Patent Coke
over the use of coals " (1804); and " To be sanctioned byGAS.

205,

• an Act of Parliament. A National Light and Heat Com-
pany, for providing our streets and houses with light and
heat, where is proved that the destruction of smoke would
open unto the Empire of Great Britain new sources of
inexhaustible wealth."

Of course it met with ridicule
everywhere. People would be
asphyxiated. The place would be
blown up. Even scientific men were
not agreed as to its value, and Sir
Humphrey Davy openly laughed at
it. But Winsor, in 1803 and 1804,

demonstrated the possibility of light-
ing houses, &c., by means of the
new light at the Lyceum Theatre,

which was not then used for dramatic
purposes, but more for lectures; and

THE GOOD EFFECTS OF CARBONIC GAS !

as there could be no possibility of confuting his facts, he
necessarily gained proselytes, and money was forthcoming
in support of his schemes. The first experiment in street
lighting was in August, 1807, when Golden Lane Brewery,206

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,

and a portion of Beech, and Whitecross Streets were lit.
This is shown in the illustration, and, by its means, we see
the shape and arrangement, of the first street gas lamps.
That the gas then in use was very impure, and offensive
to the smell, there can be no doubt ; but that it ever
produced the effects so comically, and graphically depicted,
cannot be believed.

It is generally thought that Ackerman's Fine Art Reposi-
tory, in the Strand, was the first shop in London lit with
gas, in 1810; but there is an earlier notice of its being
so used {Morning Posty June 15, 1805): "The shop of
Lardner and Co., the corner of the Albany, Piccadilly, is illu-
minated every evening with tho^Carbonated Hydrogen Gas,
obtained from the decomposition of Coals. It produces a
much more brilliant light than either oil or tallow, and
proves, in a striking manner, the advantages to be derived
from so valuable an application." There is a story, for
which I cannot find any authority, that at Ackerman's a
titled lady was so pleased with the light, that she wanted
to take it home with her in the carriage.

The Light and Heat Company died a natural death,
but the indefatigable Winsor started the Gaslight and
Coke Company, and attempted, in 1809, to obtain a
Charter for the same; but it was refused by Parliament,
which gave rise to the following jeu d* esprit: " Gaslight
Company. The shareholders in this most promising concern
are somewhat disconcerted at the decision of the House of
Commons. Some think that it will prove 'a bottle of smoke',
while others are of opinion that it will at last' end in air?"

The Gaslight and Coke Company had offices in Pall
Mall, and in the street, in front, lamps for public use were
once more exhibited, this time for the benefit of the West-
end loungers. In the engraving a gentleman explains to
his fair companion thus : " The coals being steamed, pro-
duces tar or paint for the outside of houses, the smoke
passing thro' water is depriv'd of substance, and burns, asOLD TINDER-BOX.	207

you see." On hearing this peculiarly elementary scientific
explanation, an Irishman exclaimed, " Arrah, honey, if this
man brings fire thro' water, we shall soon have the Thames
and the Liffey burnt down, and all the pretty little herrings
and whales burnt to cinders."

In 1810 the Gaslight and Coke Company got their
Charter, and thenceforward the use of gas sprang into
life, and although it
may be on its last
legs, as an illumina-
ting power, there is
plenty of vitality in
it yet.

Winsor was buried ^

at Kensal Green,

and on his tombstone
was cut the text from
the Gospel of St.

John, chap. i. ver.

9: " That was the
true Light which
lighteth every man
that cometh into
the world."

To light this gas
or, indeed, to initiate
any illuminating or
heating power, re-
course was only to A PEEP AT THE GAS LIGHTSIN PALL MALL*
be had to the old, original tinder-box and matches; now
things utterly of the past, possibly to be found in
museums, as in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford,
labelled "Method of procuring light in the Nineteenth
Century." This primitive arrangement consisted of a
flat round box of iron or brass, resembling closely a
pocket tobacco-box, which contained tiader. This tinder208

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

was made of charred rag, i.e., linen or cotton rags burnt,
but smothered so as not to smoulder out in "the parson
and clerk " of our childhood, and the means of obtaining
light therefrom was as follows:

The lid of the tinder-box being taken off, a piece of
flint or agate, and another of hard steel, were forcibly struck
together, so as to produce sparks. When one of these fell
upon the tinder, it had to be carefully tended, and blown,
until it became a patch of incandescence, sufficient to light a
thin splint of wood some six inches long, having either end
pointed, and tipped with sulphur. You might be successful
at first trial, or, if the tinder was not well burnt, your
temper might be considerably tried. This was the ordinary
mode, but there was another—made with a pistol lock,
having, in lieu of the priming-pan, a reservoir of tinder.
These two were combined with a small candlestick which
bore a wax-taper, and are frequently to be met with in
bric-d-brac shops. Sometimes, also, in lieu of tinder, amadou
or German tinder, made from a fungus, was used, or else
thick and bibulous paper was soaked in a strong solution
of nitrate <?f potash, and both were ignited by a spark
from the flint and steel.

The first attempt to improve upon this machine, which
was nearly as primitive as an aboriginal " fire stick," came
from France, where, in 1805, M. Chancel invented a very
pretty apparatus for producing light. It consisted of a
bottle containing asbestos, which was saturated with strong
sulphuric acid, and flame was produced by bringing this
into contact with matches of the ordinary type as to shape
or very slightly modified, coated at the ends with sulphur,
and tipped with a mixture of chlorate of potash and sugar.
The phosphorous match, tod, was just beginning to be
known. The following advertisement probably refers to
M. Chancel's invention or some cognate method of pro-
ducing fire—Morning Post, December 27, 1808: "The
success of the Instantaneous Light and Fire MachinesTHE PHOSPHOROUS MATCH.

209

daily increases, and the Manufactory in Frith Street, Soho,
has become now the daily resort of persons of the first
fashion and consequence in town, who express themselves
highly gratified with the utility and ingenuity of these
philosophical curiosities."

15CHAPTER XXV.

Great fires m- London—Number of Insurance Companies—Rates of insurance—
Fire-engines and firemen—Scarcity of water—Supply of water to London—The
streets—Their traffic—Shops—Watering the roads.

THE transition from Matches to Fires is natural, and
easy, and, during the time of which I have treated
in this book, there were several bad ones. In 1800
on the 1 ith of February, three West India Warehouses, near
the Custom House, were burnt down, with an estimated
loss of .£300,000; and on the 6th of October of the same
year, thirty houses were destroyed by fire. On September
27, 1802, an immense amount of property was destroyed
in Store Street, Tottenham Court Road. The great tower
over the choir in Westminster Abbey perished by flames
July 9, 1803. The Theatres seem absolutely to have
courted cremation. Astley's, which had been burnt down on
September 17, 1794, was again made a ruin on September
1, 1803, and forty houses shared its fate at the same time.
Then followed the Surrey, on August 12, 1805; Covent
Garden on September 20, 1808 ; and Drury Lane on
February 24, 1809. These were only the principal con-
' flagrations during the decade; there were, of course, as
many minor ones as ever. Take one instance—the list of
fires within the Bills of Mortality for 1807. In the twelve
months there were 375 fires and 356 chimney alarms.FIREMEN.

211

None could complain of want of Insurance Companies,
for, in 1810, there existed sixteen Fire Insurance Companies,
viz.. The Sun, Phoenix, Royal Exchange, Hand in Hand,
Westminster, London, Union, British, Imperial, Globe,
County, Hope, Atlas, Pelican, Albion, and Eagle. The
rates at which they assured were low, looking the duty
they paid to Government—the Sun so paying, m 1806, no
less a sum than ^95,269 8s. 8d. Common Insurances were
charged a premium of 2s. per cent., Hazardous insurances
3s. per cent., and Doubly Hazardous 5s. per -cefft., qi very
much the present rate. And we must remember that
money was dearer, many buildings were of timber, and

A FIRE ENGINE.

nearly all were faultily constructed, there being no District
Surveyor in these days—added to which, the engines were
but poor manuals ; steam, of course, being unknown.

Each Fire Insurance Company had its badge, or cogni-
zance, which was stamped out in sheet lead, painted and
gilt, and then nailed on to the house insured—probably as
an advertisement of the Company. There was no Fire
Brigade, properly so called—that did not come till 1832 ;
but each Company kept a staff of firemen and engines.
We have seen that these men acted as constables when Sir
Francis Burdett was released from prison. Although the
'dress was of somewhat similar pattern, its colour, &c., was212	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

left to the individual fancy of each Company—the illus-
tration I have given, being the uniform of the Sun Fire
Insurance Company. The coat, waistcoat, and breeches,
were of dark blue cloth with brass buttons, whilst a brass
badge adorned both his left arm, and his helmet This
latter w££ made of horse hide, strengthened by cross
bars of metal ; its inside was of leather, quilted and
stuffed with wool, to protect the head
from falling bricks or spars. The engines
were manuals, and carried with them
spare men to relieve those pumping,
when they were tired. The most power-
ful engine of that time could only throw
a ton of water per minute through a
^(inch.branch, or nozzle, and, as we see,
the fire-plug was simply pulled up, and
the water very wastefully supplied.

Water, by the by, was somewhat scarce,
and certainly not good. Drinking water
was mainly supplied from pumps, both
public and private, and when we see the
arrangement of pumps, in the country,
now-a-days, how, in order to be near the
house, they are, generally, thoughtlessly
placed in close approximation to the cess-
pool—we can imagine, in some degree,
what the supply of drinking water must
a fireman—1805.	keen	crowc|eci London, with

its defective drainage, and its festering graveyards. There
was a supply, to certain districts, of New River water.
Some yet flowed from the heights of Hampstead, and there
were also the Water Works at London Bridge, which were
inaugurated by the "Dutchman," Peter Moritz, in 1582,
and which continued to pump up the muddy, sewaged
water, until the new bridge was built. They are thus
described in a contemporary work (1802): "The Waterwater supply.

2t3

Works, on the north-west side of the Bridge, supply a
considerable part of London with water for domestic pur-
poses, in the same manner as is effected by thq New River.
But as London Bridge lies very low, the water requires to
be forced up to a bason on the top of a tower, 120 feet in
height. From this bason, it again descends int£~the main
pipes, and is conveyed in all directions throughSthe town.
The water is raised by the action of four_great wheels,
which are turned by the stream, and every, turn of the
four wheels causes 114 strokes of the piston-rod^—Ey this

DRINKING WATER SUPPLY—1802,

means 40 to 50,000 hogsheads of water are raised every
24 hours."

There was yet another water supply, which was obtained
from pumps and springs, and which afforded a livelihood
to many hard-working, and industrious, men. Perhaps,
one of the last places in the vicinity of London thus
supplied, was Hampstead—a Neighbourhood noted for
springs, where the water used to be thus fetched from the
"Conduit Meads" and other places, and retailed at id. or
2d. per bucket, according to distance. This only ceased214

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

when the Midland Railway ran a tunnel underneath the
spring, and destroyed it.

The water supply from the Thames, and New River, it
must be remembered, was only turned on three times a
week.

The Streets of London in 1804 are thus contem-
poraneously described : "It may well excite our admira-
tion to gcTTrdtfn Charing Cross to the Exchange, and pass a
double- row of carriages, one coming, another going, with
scarce^ amntermission. Yet,when we recollect the numerous
causes~that -put so many things, and persons, in motion,
we may-admire, but must own it was to be expected.
Not only^are the streets filled with carriages, but with
foot passengers ; so that the great thoroughfares of London
appear like a moving multitude, or a daily fair. To this
deception the endless shops lend their aid ; it is, indeed,,
the remark of strangers in general, that London is a con-
tinual fair. The display made by the traders, the numerous
wares they have to sell, and the continual crowd that is
passing and re-passing, forcibly contribute to the delusion.'*

Yet the streets were narrow, or at least we think them
so, for we have always to widen them for the perpetually
increasing traffic; and the shops could in no ways at all
compare with ours. Small panes of glass, and ?mall
windows were not calculated to show off the traders' wares,
to advantage. Even the contemporary guide-books, can
give no shops of particular excellence—except those which
sold keramic ware. In this, that particular portion of the
century was pre-eminent, and one longs to have had a
stroll, looking in first at Wedgwood's warehouse in St.
James's Square, then at the Worcester China Warehouse^
Coventry Street; from thence to the show rooms of Derby
china, in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden; and finishing
up with Spode's exposition of Staffordshire ware, in
Portugal Street.

The streets were not over well scavenged, and, as I haveWATERING STREETS.

215

before said, sewers did not obtain much more than in
the main thoroughfares. These, too, were watered in the
summer, by means of a wooden tank hung below the
axle-tree of a pair of wheels, delivering the water from a
perforated wooden box at its back. " The Watering Cart
is usually drawn by one horse, but on some roads two
horses are applied, when the leader is rode by a boy, and
the driver sits on the seat upon the cart. In districts
contiguous to ponds, the carts are driven into the water, and
are filled very expeditiously ; but where they have not this
convenience, they are obliged to supply them with water
from the pump, which is hard labour for two men."CHAPTER XXVI

Daily life of the streets—The Chimney Sweep—Mrs. Montagu—Instances of the
hard life of a "climbing boy"—The Milkmaid—Supply of milk to 4he
Metropolis—"Hot loaves"—"Water cresses"—whence they came—Other
cries.

LET us go to authentic sources, and, in our imaginations,
people the streets as they then were, following the
example which Gay has so worthily given in his
"Trivia." Leaving aside the roysterers, and nightly bad
characters, together with the watchmen, the first industrial
perambulator, would probably be the Sweep. In the frontis-
piece to this volume, the " climbing boy," as he was called, is
faithfully depicted, drinking his early cup of saloop, the
utensils of his trade, his brush, shovel, and scraper, lying by
his side ; in his cap is a brass plate containing his. master's
name and address. Poor little fellows! their lives were harsh !
With hard taskmasters, badly constructed chimneys, and
flues to sweep, and laborious work, climbing with back and
knees; with a foul atmqsphere, and lungs choked with soot,
their young days must have been joyless. Of course we can-
not blame the people then living, because they had not suffi-
cient mechanical knowledge to abolish the climbing boy's
raison cPetre. It is pleasing to register within the decade I
write of, one good and kind friend of these little fellows—
a Mrs. Montagu, who died in March, 1800. She was a lady
of good family, and an authoress (founder of the BlueCHIMNE Y S WEEPS.

217

Stocking Club), who even attempted so high a flight as an
"Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakespeare." In
her practical benevolence, her heart felt for these little
pariahs, and she annually regaled them on May-day, with
roast beef and plum pudding. This conduct was so
contrary to the general spirit of the age—which could see
nothing more in a " climbing boy," than a boy being utilized
for his own good, and for that of the community, that her
conduct was scarcely understood—so much so, that a web
of romance had to be woven around her, in order to account
for it. It was rumoured, and credibly believed, that she
had lost a son, and found him again as a " climbing boy " ;
and, to mark her sense of gratitude for his restoration, she
feasted all the boys in London on the sweep's holiday—May-
day. Of course, there is not an atom of foundation for such a
story, but practical philanthropy was then so unusual, that
a reason had to be found for its observance. After her
death the following verses were written :

4'And is all pity for the poor sweeps fled
Since Montagu is numbered with the dead ?

She who did once the many sorrows weep,

That met the wanderings of the woe-worn sweep!
Who, once a year, bade all his griefs depart,

On May's sweet morn would doubly cheer his heart!
Washed was his little form, his shirt was clean,

On that one day, his real face was seen.

His shoeless feet, now boasted pumps, and new.

The brush, and shovel, gaily held to view!

The table spread, his every sense was charmed,

And every savoury smell his bosom warmed ;

His light heart joyed to see such goodly cheer.

And much he longed to taste the mantling beer :
His hunger o'er—the scene was little heaven—

If riches thus can bless, what blessings might be given
But she is gone ! none left to soothe their grief,

Or, once a year, bestow their meed of beef!"

One instance, only, of the hard life of these Httle ones,
will I give, and then pass on to pleasanter themes.218

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Morning Herald, October i, 1802: "Great Marlboroug&i
Street.- Wednesday, an interesting examination took
place a* this office, relative to a male child, about eight
years old, charged to have been kidnapped by the foreman
of Mrs. Bridges, a chimney-sweeper, in Swallow Street. It
was stated by Mrs. Wilson, of No. 5 in the same street, that/
on Saturday last, she was dreadfully alarmed by the cry
of murder, and the screams of the child at Mrs. B.'s, which
induced her to run into the house, where she found the
child stripped, and the prisoner unmercifully beating him
with two switches, or small sticks. She remonstrated with
him, and demanded by what authority he so cruelly treated
the child, as it was well known it had been inveigled from
the street, and unlawfully detained by them. The prisoner
threatened to strike the witness, who, nevertheless, per-
sisted in taking away the child, and did actually take
it to the workhouse, informing the committee there of
the particulars, and the prisoner, in consequence, was
indicted.

" The child, itself, told a very artless and moving tale of
its own sufferings. The prisoner, it appears, used to strip
him naked, and flog him in the dust cellar, to make him go-
up the chimney, to which, it seems, he had an utter aver-
sion. When in the chimney, he was urged to proceed by
the prisoner having a stick, at the top of which was fastened
a pin, with which he goaded the poor infant; at other
times he would make the poor child descend into vaults,,
and used other cruelties too shocking for recital. On
inquiry at the workhouse, the child discovered that his-
father is a smith by trade, a poor man, with six children,,
living near Sloane Street. Its parents had used every^
means to discover their child, and, at length found him in.
the workhouse. The prisoner was committed to Tothill
Fields Bridewell; and we suppose that Mrs. Bridges, as.
soon as she can safely leave her bed, will also be brought
up to answer this charge."STREET CRIES.

219

In 1803, if not before, there was in existence an
" Association for Improving the Situation of Infant
Chimney Sweepers," of which John Julius Angerstein,
Esq. (whose collection of pictures founded the National
Gallery), was the chairman.

May-day was
also sacred to
another class of
early morning
workers — the
M i 1 k m a i d s.

Curiously
enough, the
carriage and
delivery of milk
—by no means
a light task,

whether looked
at from the dis-
tance walked,

or the load
carried — was
entirely in
the hands of
women, strap-
ping country
wenches, princi-
pally recruited
from Wales.

The cows were
kept in hovels
in, and near, London, and
began at from 4 to 6 a.m.

WATER CRESSES! COME BUY MY WATER CRESSES!'

a " milkmaid's" daily life
when the cows had to be

milked ; they ' then delivered the milk at the various
houses until near ten. Then there were the dairy vessels
to wash, and at noon, the cows again to be milked.220

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

The delivery of milk again occupied them till nearly
6 p.m., when they had to wash up all cans, &c., for
the morning. In 1808 it was reckoned that about 8,500
cows were kept in London and its vicinity ; one cowkeeper
at Islington owning between, 800 and 900 cows. It is sad

" HOT CROSS B-UNS! TWO A PENNY BUNS!"

to read/however, in 1804, that "Milk is sold at fourpence
per quart, or fivepence for a better sort; yet the advance
of price does not insure its purity, for it is generally mixed
in a great proportion with water, by the retailers before
they leave the milk houses. The adulteration of the milk,
added to the wholesale cost, leaves an average profit ofSTREET CRIES.

221

cent, per cent., to the vendors of this useful article. Few *
retail trades are exercised with equal gains."

Following the milkwoman, would come the early Baker
calling out " Hot loaves !" and ringing a bell: he would
appear on the scene between 8 and 9 a.m., selling his rolls at

** DO YOU WANT ANY BRICK-DUST ? "

one, or two, a penny—in winter he added, or substituted,
muffins and crumpets.

Then, too, for breakfast, would be heard, either from
male, or female, lips, the cry of " Water cresses!" which
were sold in small bunches a penny each, or three for two-
pence. In those days, they were to be found growing wild222

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

in the ditches near London, and many a weary tramp
of seven or eight miles, before breakfast, of. a morning, did
the sellers have, in order to get them fresh. There was
generally a supply at Covent Garden Market—grown for
sale; but these were considered inferior in flavour to the
wild ones.

From breakfast time, the cries of the miscellaneous
dealers in small wares became general, and hardly any can

Then, too, might be seen a man with band-boxes, carried
on either end of a pole, which rested on his shoulder.
Prom 6d. to 3s. was their price; whilst boxes of slight
deal, with a lock and key, might be purchased from 3s. 6d.
/to 6s. 6d. These boxes were of home manufacture, and
.gave employment to many industrious families.

Brickdust was carried about on donkey back, in small,
sacks, arid retailed at the price of one penny per quart.

" BUY A TRAP ! A RAT TRAP ! BUY MY TRAP ! "

claim pre - emi-
nence, unless it
be on a Good
Friday — when
the old pagan
crossed cakes
were vended, and
evidently as much
relished by the
young folks as
now. " Baking,
or boiling apples"
were sold by
women, a char-
coal stove accom-
panying their
barrow, so that
their customers
might have them
hot, and luscious.STREET CRIES.

2?3

A contemporary remarks, "As brickdust is scarcely used
in London for any other purpose than that of knife clean-
ing, the criers are not numerous; but they are remark-
able for their fondness, and their training, of bull dogs.
This predilection they have in common with the lamp-
lighters of the Metropolis."

The accompanying sketch of a Rat-trap Dealer is graphic
and good; and it shows one glimpse of the past, in the old
cobbler (?) at his hutch> or low open door. This, or a
cellar, always went as an accompaniment to this branch
of the shoe-making trade.

To future antiquarians, it may be useful to know that, at
the commencement of this century, our domestic animals
had their " purveyors of food ; " that cat's, and dog's meat,
consisting of horse flesh, bullock's livers, and tripe cuttings,
were distributed by means of men, or preferably, women,
all over London. The horse flesh, and bullock's liver, was
sold by weight at 2d. per lb.; the tripe, in bundles, at id. each.

" Baskets " were hawked about—not as we know them
(rarer and rarer, year by year) in the gipsy caravans, but
slung around the sellers—of good handy size, and durable
make. One article of domestic economy has all but died out
—the Bellows—and old specimens are almost worth their
weight in silver; but the cry of " Bellows to mend!" was then
heard commonly. The mender carried his tools in a bag
on his back, and, like the chair-mender, plied his calling in
front of his patron's house, or at any convenient street corner.

" Chairs to mend!" might be met with anywhere.
Nursery and common chairs, if not having seats of wood,
were of rushes, cane being a later introduction. These
rushes were, and are now, cut in our rivers, preferably in
the early autumn, before they begin to rot, and sold by a
peculiar measure—a bolt—which is as much as a man can
clasp of rushes, when dried, within his arms. The repairs
were executed before the house, and the charge for re-
seating a chair was very moderate—from is. 6d. to 2s. 6d.224

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

" Door mats " were hawked about, as they are sometimes
now, but Prisons and Industrial Schools had not then
interfered in this trade, so that a poor man had a chance
of getting rid of his handiwork, and the price for rush;and
rope, mats, varied from 6d. to 4s. each.

If we can Relieve a contemporary account, the Dustmen
of those days were the very pink of propriety. " Dust carts
ply the streets through the morning in every part of the
metropolis; two men go with each cart, ringing a large
bell, and calling DUST O ! These men, daily, if necessary,
empty the dust bins of all the refuse that is thrown into
them. They receive no gratuity from the inhabitants of
the houses, the owner of the cart pays them, like other
labourers, weekly wages ; and the dust is carried to yards
in the outskirts of the town, where a number of women and
girls are employed in sifting it, and separating the cinders
and bones from the ashes, and other refuse." I much fear
that this picture is as couleur de rose as the engraving which
accompanies it, wherein the model dustman, with very clean
face, is attired in a yellow jacket, green waistcoat, crimson
knee-breeches, blue ribbed stockings, and brown gaiters.

The sale of" Turnery " was also a street occupation, and
brooms, brushes, sieves, bowls, clothes horses and lines
were thus vended. Some, the Aristos of their trade, had a
cart ; but the perambulating sellers could get a good
living, as their Wares yielded a good profit.

The Knife-grinder, immortalized by Canning, plied his
trade in the sight of the people, and his charges for grinding,
and setting, scissors,- were a penny or twopence each;
penknives, a penny a blade ; table knives, is. 6d. or 2s. per
dozen, according to the polish supplied.

"Lavender'' was a cry redolent of the country, yet
grown near London, at Mitcham. This was generally used
in linen-presses, to counteract the abominably rank? smell
of the soap of those days. It was a favourite scent; as
Isaac Walton says, " I'll now lead you to an honest aleSTREET CRIES.

2 as

house, where we shall find a cleanly room, lavender in the
windows, and twenty ballads stuck against the wall."

' Among the street cries, was that of " Mackerel" ; and
the sellers thereof might even expose them for sale, and
cry them, on Sundays—a proud privilege which no other
fish possessed. There never was a glut of them in the
market, because they could only be brought to Billings-
gate by smacks, so that they were never sold at the very
cheap rates they now are, but were, as we should think,
extremely dear. At first coming in they were sold for is. 6d.
each, and they gradually dropped to iod., 8d., 6d. each, or,
if there was a great haul, three might be sold for a shilling.

" BUY MY GOOSE ! MY FAT GOOSE ! "

might probably bring to remembrance the quotation " Caveat
emptor" but these two purchasers seem quite able to take
care of themselves.

It was but a month, or six weeks since, that I saw a
sight I had not seen for some years—a man selling Rabbits
slung on a pole, which he carried on his shoulder; yet this

16226

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

used to be the usual 'method of exposing them for sale, and
these small dealers were called higglers. The price of
Rabbits, thus sold, at the time of which I write, were "from
ninepence to eighteenpence each, which is cheaper than
they can be bought in the poulterers' shops."

•'ALL A GROWING, A GROWING I HERE'S FLOWERS FOR YOUR GARDENS !"

shows the universal yearning of the dwellers in town, to
make as good a rus in urbe of their surroundings, as
possible. The atmosphere of London was then, un-
doubtedly purer than now, and flowers might then be
grown in the open air, where, now, it would be an impossi-
bility.

As an " Old Clothes " man the Jew was then paramount.STREET CRIES.

22 7

the Irishman not having, as yet, entered into competition
with him. Rosemary Lane (only sweet smelling in its
name) was a thoroughfare now called Royal Mint Street,
leading from Tower Hill; and here was held a Mart, not
only in shops, but all over the pavement and road, of old
clothes, boots, &c., and it fully merited its name of Rag
Fair. A market was built for the buyers and sellers, in
which to transact their business ; but old habits proved
too strong, they would not use it, and " nothing less than
military force constantly exercised would prevail over the
obstinacy of habit." The " high " market was from twelve
to three.

It was a curious custom then, of course not in good
houses, but in those of poor men, such as might be on the
outskirts, and in the suburbs of the Metropolis, to strew
the floor, say of the kitchen, and sometimes of the parlour,
with silver sand. This kept the soles of dirty boots from
actual contact with the newly scrubbed boards—and saved
the housewife much exercise of temper. Sand, too, was
plentifully used in scouring kitchen 'utensils, and it was
sold, the red sand, at 2^d.,and the white at i*^d.,per peck.

Fruit, in its season, was cried; and at night, among other
employments, by which to earn an honest penny, there
were the playbill sellers, and the link boys. The former
were almost invariably women, who also sold oranges; and,
if a purchaser could be found to go to the extent of buying
six, a " Bill of the play" was given. Awful things were
those playbills—none of your dainty, lace-edged, Rimmel-
scented ones—but long strips of flimsy tissue paper, yet
wet from the printers, smearing the hands with ink from
the large capital letters employed. No time had they to
dry them ; there was usually a fresh play every night, and
the playbills had to be* fresh also.

CHAPTER XXVII.

The Postman—His dress—The Post Office—Changes of site—Sir Robert Vyner—
Rates of postage and deliveries—Mail coaches—Places of starting and routes
—Number of houses in London—Description of them—Their furniture.

ONE particular feature of the Streets, was, and still
is, one of our most trusted servants, the POSTMAN.
In those days he was a somebody, who held

personal relations
with his clients.
None of your rat-
tats, and "Look
in the letterbox";
he generally had
something to col-
lect, for there were
no postage stamps
in those days, and
that being the
fact, people very
often left the
a postman.	postage to be col-

lected at the other end. The officials mounted a hat with
a cockade, scarlet coat (the Royal livery), blue breeches,
and, of course, white stockings. They used, as in my young
days, to collect the letters, nay, in many country districts
they do it now.THE POST OFFICE.

229

The location of the Post Office has been changed many-
times. We are apt to associate it with St. Martin's-le-
Grand, but it was not always so. It was originally in
Cloak Lane, near Dowgate, whence it was removed to the
Black Swan, in Bishopsgate Street; and, at the time of
which we write, it occupied the site of Sir Robert Vyner's
mansion, in Lombard Street: that Sir Robert Vyner, who
is historical, if only for his treatment of his king, Charles
II.—a story which is well told in No. 462 of the Spec-
tator: "Sir Robert was a very loyal man, and, if you will
allow me the expression, very fond of his sovereign ;
but, what with the joy he felt at heart for th6 honour done
him by his prince, and through the warmth he was in with
the continual toasting healths to the Royal Family, his lord-
ship grew a little fond of His Majesty, and entered into
a familiarity not altogether so graceful in a public place.
The King understood very well how to extricate himself
in all kinds of difficulties, and, with a hint to the company
to avoid ceremony, stole off and made towards his coach,
which stood ready for him in Guildhall Yard. But the
Mayor liked his company so well, and was grown so
intimate, that he pursued him hastily, and, catching him
fast by the hand, cried out with a vehement oath and
accent,'Sir, you shall stay and take t'other bottle.' The
airy monarch looked kindly at him over his shoulder, and,
with a smile, and graceful air, for I saw him at the time,
and do now, repeated this line of the old song:

* He that's drunk is as great as a king?

and immediately returned back, and complied with his
landlord."

Then, as now, the Lombard Street Post Office was
wasted. " It is a national reproach when edifices of this
kind, which, from our great mercantile concerns, afford
occasion for a display of public architecture, and ornament
to the Metropolis, are lost to those purposes." This was230	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

the comment of a contemporary, and the site of the present
Post Office in St. Martin's-le-Grand was not fixed upon
or, rather, the first stone was not laid, till May, 1824. As
now, the Post Office was always changing its rules and
rates—to meet emergencies and keep abreast of the times
—r-so that it would expand this notice to too great a length,
were I to chronicle all its changes. Perhaps a short rela-
tion of its doings in 1804—which would be the mean of
the decade — will give as good an idea as any other.

"Houses, or boxes, for receiving letters before four o'clock,
at the West end of the town, and five o'clock in the City,
are open in every part of the Metropolis; after that hour
bell-men collect the letters during another hour, receiving
a fee of one penny for each letter; but, at the General Post
Office, in Lombard Street, letters are received till seven
o'clock after that, till half an hour after seven, a fee of
sixpence must be paid ; and from half after seven till a
quarter before eight, the postage must be paid, as well as
the fee of sixpence. Persons, till lately, were, if well known,
permitted to have back any letter put in, if required ; but,
by an order of June, 1802, the masters of receiving houses
are not allowed to return letters on any pretence whatever.

" Letters from (? for) the East Indies must be delivered
at the India House, where a letter-box is provided for
their reception.

" Those for the coast of Africa, or at single settlements in
particular parts of the world, may be sent either through
the ship letter office, or by the bags which await the sailing
of ships, and which are kept at the respective coffee houses
near the Royal Exchange."

We should consider these arrangements somewhat primi-
tive ; but then, telegrams and frequent mails have spoilt
us. The twopenny post was mainly local, there being six
deliveries and collections of letters in town daily, and
many country places had two deliveries and collections.

The letters were distributed throughout the length andMAIL COACHES.

231

breadth of the country by means of Mail Coaches, which
carried passengers at an average rate of sixpence per mile.
This system was inaugurated, and organized, at the latter
end of the Eighteenth Century, by a Mr. John Palmer, of
Bath, who not only suggested the routes, but to prevent
robbery, which, previously, was rife, had every coach
accompanied by a well-armed guard\ and these coaches
accomplished their journeys at . a uniform rate, including
stoppages, of eight miles an hour. They did not start from
the Post Office, but from various inns, and the following is
a list of the coaches, and places of starting:	*

Dover
Portsmouth

Bristol

Bath

Exeter

Liverpool

Manchester

Norwich

Taunton

Yarmouth

Ipswich

Poole

I

Angel, St. Clements.

f Swan with Two Necks, Lad Lane.

Bell and Crown, Holborn.

^^rcester^ Hol^ead 1 Golden Cross, Charing Cross.

Gloucester f	Golden Cross, Charing Cross; and the

(	Angel, St. Clements, Strand.

York and Edinburgh \

Shrewsbury [	anc* Mouth» Bul1 anc* Mouth Street.
Leeds J

Harwich

Chichester
Cambridge
Rye

Brighton

Spread Eagle, Gracechurch Street.
Unknown.THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

The letters were first of all sorted ; then they were
weighed, and their proper amount of postage marked on
them ; they were counted, packed in boxes for the different
towns, and an account kept of their number; they were
then put in1 bags, which were sealed, and given in charge of
the mail guard. Postage was heavy in those days. Take
the charges for 1810:

d.

From any Post Office in England or Wales to any place not

exceeding 15 miles from such Office ............ 4

For any distance above 15 miles, and not exceeding 30 miles 5
>j	3° >J	JJ	5° JJ 6

if	5° j>	jj	JJ 7

JJ	80 „	„ 120	8

JJ	120 JJ	JJ I7° JJ 9

„	170 „	„ 230 „ 10

5j	230 „	„ 300 „ 11

jj ^	3°° JJ	JJ 4°° JJ 12

And so on in proportion, 1 d. for every additional 100 miles.

London, at this time, was not beautiful. Apart from the
public buildings, its 160,000 houses (the number estimated
in 1804) were not lovely to look upon. Utilitarian they
were, to a degree—long rows of brick-built tenements, with
oblong holes for windows. There was no attempt at archi-
tecture : that had gone out with the first George; and,
during the first half of this century, .domestic architecture
in this country was at its lowest possible ebb. Just fancy !
in the first decade, Baker Street was considered "perhaps
the handsomest street in London." Can condemnation go
further ? All the houses were the same pattern, varied
only by the height of the rooms, and the number of stories^
which were mostly three, and very rarely exceeded four.
There was the front parlour, and the back parlour, a
wretched narrow passage, or hall, with a flight of stairs
leading to the drawing-rooms. In the basement were the
kitchen and scullery.

The inside, even, was not redeemed by beautiful furniture.TALES OF WONDER.234

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

The rich, of course, furnished sumptuously, after their
lights — which, at that time, represented anything of
classical Greek, or Roman, shape—no matter whether
suitable to the purpose for which it was employed, or not.
Of course, as now, those lower in the social scale, aped, as
far as they could, the tastes of the upper classes ; and, as
they could not afford the sumptuous gilding, and carving,
of the rich, the ordinary furniture of that time was heavy,
dull, and dispiriting. Take, for example, the accompanying
picture, where, from the style of dress of the ladies, we can
but draw one inference—that they were in a good social
position. The furniture is dull, and heavy ; stiff, high-
backed chairs; a table, which would now only be allowed in
the nursery ; but one candle,, and that with a cotton wick,
needing snuffing! A tall, narrow, and tasteless mantelpiece
frames a poor, starved stove of semi-circular shape, with
flat front; the fire-irons stand against the mantelpiece, and
a bowed fender, of perforated sheet brass, enclosed the
hearth; a small hearth-rug with a fringe, and a bell cord with
a plain brass ring, complete the furniture of the room, as
far as Gillray depicted it. Not quite our idea of luxurious
comfort, yet it was comfort then; tastes were simpler, huge
fortunes had not yet been made in manufactures, railway
contracting, speculations on the Stock Exchange, or pro-
moting companies—people were more localized (in fact,
they could not move), and the intercourse with abroad
was very little; and, if- it had existed, the hatred of any-
thing foreign, or, especially, French, would have, at once,
condemned any innovation.OOOOOOOQgK>OOOOOOOOQOeOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Food—Statistics as to quantity of meat consumed—Scarcity of fish and game—
Supply of latter to London—Venison—A brewer's dinner—Beer—Quantity
brewed—Wine—Its price—Supply of vegetables—Sardines and Harvey's Sauce
—Scarcity of wheat—Forestalling—Rice from India—Bounties given for its
shipment.	'

PEOPLE, then, were conservative with regard to food..
For the ordinary Englishman was no appetizing
plat, no refinement of cookery—anything out of the
usual ruck would be promptly denounced, and fiercely
•spurned, as French kickshaws. Plain roast and boiled
meats were universal, from the highest to the lowest;
the quantity of animal food consumed throughout the
country was enormous; and, what was more, it was all
of home production. No frozen meat, no tinned pro-
visions ; the only known way of preserving then, was the
time-honoured one of salting. In London alone, according
to the very meagre statistics of the day, the number of
bullocks slaughtered yearly was 110,000; of sheep and
lambs 776,000; calves 210,000; hogs 210,000; sucking pigs,
<60,000; besides &n unknown quantity of animals of other
kinds. This may be an approximate estimate of the
number, based, probably, on the quantity sold at the various
markets to the butchers, but can give us no idea of the
weight, and consequent average consumption per head.

Fish was scarce, and dear • the war, naturally, prevented236

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

the fishermen from going* far from the coast, and their
numbers, moreover, were thinned by impressment. No
railways to bring this very perishable commodity quickly to
market, no ice to preserve it on its journeys the smack
must go- to port to unload her cargo, and, being entirely
dependent on her sails, was at the mercy of the winds.

Inland, they never knew the taste of salt-water fish,
unless some kind friend sent a cod, or turbot, packed in
straw, in a basket, as a present by the mail, or stage, coach.
Nor could the Londoner, then, get the abundant supply of
our salmon rivers, which he now, in common with the
whole of England, enjoys.

Game was very scarce, and dear. A country gentleman
would not have dared to brave the public opinion of his
county, by selling his game, and battues were unknown.
The poachers did, undoubtedly, a good trade; and about
Christmas time the mail, and stage, coaches came up,
loaded with hares, &c.—a fact amusingly chronicled in the
Morning Post of the 26th of December, 1807 : " The first
of the Norwich and Yarmouth coaches arrived at a late
hour on Thursday, when, strange to relate, every one of
the passengers, inside and outside, were found dead! Not
less than four hundred brace of dead game being unloaded
from it, for the banqueting of the living Londoners at this
luxurious season." If, however, a story told in the Times
of the 20th of January, 1803, is true, it was not always safe
to buy game from the coaches : " Saturday night last, an
epicure from Fish Street Hill, anxiously watched for the
arrival of a Kentish coach, at the King's Head, in the
Borough, in order to purchase a Hare from the coachman,
for his Sunday's dinner; an outside passenger, having
learned his errand, brought him under the gateway, and sold
him a very large one, as he thought, for nine shillings, which,
however, upon his return home, proved to be a badger"

Poultry was seldom seen except at the tables of the very
well to do. The supply was deficient, and they had notCURIO US DINNER,

*37

the resources we have of railway carriage, and especially
of the Continental markets; consequently prices were ex-
orbitant. Venison was considered the dish for an epicure,
and was sold—chiefly by pastry cooks—at a reasonable
rate : in fact, there were coffee houses where a venison
dinner could be obtained for 2s. 6d. Probably the following
advertisement indicates a somewhat better style of enter-
tainment—Morning Herald, July 18, 1804: "VENISON in
perfection* At the Worcester Coffee House, corner of
Swallow Street, Oxford Street, Gentlemen may depend on
having prime Venison. A Haunch and Neck dressed
every day, ready precisely at five o'clock, at the reasonable
charge for dinner of 3s. 6d. Wines and Liquors of the
finest flavour ; best old Port 4s. 6d. per bottle. Venison
ready dressed, and pasties sent out. N.B. Fifty brace of
good Bucks wanted."

It was an age of eating and drinking—i.e., men ate and
drank in larger quantities than now: but we must not take
the following as a typical feast of the time; it was simply
a brewer's dinner, cooked after a brewer's fashion—yet it
was also typical, for then the cult of beefsteak and porter
was at its culminating point, and people bowed down, and
reverenced them exceedingly. The Morning Post, May 30,
1806: "Alderman Combe's Annual Dinner. Yesterday,
Mr. Combe gave his annual dinner at his brewery, near
Long Acre. The party consisted of the Prince of Wales,
Duke of Norfolk, Lord Chancellor, Earl of Lauderdale,
Lord Robert Spencer, Lord Howick, Sir Gilbert Heathcote,
Lord John Townshend, Mr. R. B. Sheridan, Mr. Tierney,
Mr. Harvey Combe, and Mr. Alderman Combe. At half
an hour past six, the company sat down to dinner. The
entertainment consisted of beefsteaks and porter. It was
served up in the same style as it was last year. An oaken
table, of an oblong form, was set out in the long room
of the brewhouse. This table was covered with a large
hempen sack, and covers, consisting of wooden trenchers,23S	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

were laid for each of the guests. The other paraphernalia
of the table, namely, the spoons, salt-cellars, salad bowls,
&c., were composed of the same material as the plates.
The Steaks were cooked by the Stoker\ a man so called
from his being always employed to keep the fires. This
Stoker dressed the Steaks upon a large plate of iron,
which was placed in the Copper-hole. When done, the
Cook took them out with a pair of tongs, conveyed them
into a wooden dish, and, in that style, they were served up.
At the expiration of half an hour, the Prince, and the
company, retired to Mr. Combe's house, in Great Russell
Street, Bloomsbury, where they partook of a second course,
consisting of every delicacy of the season, together with a
dessert of fruits, the most rare and abundant we have ever
seen. The Madeira, Port, and Claret were the objects of
every one's panegyric."

Beer was the national beverage, and it was brewed from
good malt and hops ; not out of sugar, and chemical
bedevilments, as at present: and the quantity drunk in
London, alone, seems to be enormous. Vide the Annual
Register for 1810:

"The Quantity of strong beer brewed by the first twelve
houses in the London Porter Brewery, from the 5th of

July, 1809, to the 5th of July, 1810.

BARRELS.

Barclay, Perkins and Co. ........................235,°53

Meux, Read and Co............. ...	211,009

Truman, Hanbury and Co. ......... ...	144,990

Felix, Calvert and Co. ........ ...,	t33,491

Whitbread and Co..........................11 o, 9 3 9

Henry Meux and Co............. ...	93,660

Combe and Co.......... ..................85,150

Brown and Parry * ... ........................84,475

Goodwin, Skinner and Co. ......... ...	74,223

Elliott and Co. ............ ............57,251

Taylor ... ...... .............................44>510

Clowes and Co....... ...... ............4i»594

Wines, of course, were drunk by the higher classes, butWINE, VEGETABLES AND MEAT. 239

French wines were comparatively dear, owing to the
closing of the trade with France; still there was a very
fair quantity captured in the prizes taken at sea, and there
was a 'great deal more smuggled.

Frontignac in 1800 might be bought for 19s. 6d. per doz.,
and Muscatel at 24s. In 1804, the following are the prices
from a respectable wine merchant's list.

Superior Old Port ... ..................38s. per dozen.

Prime Old Sherry ...... ............42s. „

„ Madeira ... ......................63s. „

Bucellas ....................................40s. „

Mountain, Lisbon, and Calcavella ...	38s. „

Superior Claret........, ............70s. „

Cognac Brandy ..., ... ...... ...	20s. per gallon.

Old Jamaica Rum ........................15s. • „

Holland's Geneva ........................10s. „

In 1806, Vin de Grave was 66s. per dozen.

For the supply of vegetables, and fruit, large tracts of
land were utilized for the supply of London alone. It was
reckoned that this city swallowed the produce of 10,000
acres of vegetables, and about 4,000 acres of fruit trees.
The market gardens have been gradually disappearing,,
but they used to be situated principally at Camberwell,
Deptford, Fulham, Baitersea, Mortlake, Barnes, and Chis-
wick. This produce found its way to Covent Garden,
where the market days were the same as now—Tuesday,
Thursday, and Saturday.

During the latter part of the first decade of the den-
tury, provisions were not so dear:

Beef averaged from ..................6d. to 9j£d. per lb.

Mutton „ ...... ...	6d. to iod. „

Pork ,,	...................6d. to is. „

Lamb at first coming in... ...	iod. to is. 2d. „

„ Mid Season..................6j^d. to 8d. „

Sugar was about ..................5d. to 5j^d. „

Salt „ ........................20s. per bushel.

Store Candles about ............is. 3d. per lb.240'

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Whilst on the subject of food, I cannot help chronicling
the first notices I have ever met with, of two articles
familiar to us—Sardines, and Harvey's Sauce. The first
occurs in an advertisement in the Morning Post, August
10, 1801: " Sardinias; a Fish cured in a peculiar manner,
are highly esteemed as a Sandwich, and deemed of superior
flavour to the Anchovy. Sold," &c. The second is in the
Morning Herald, February 9, 1804 : " Harvey's Sauce for
Fish, &c. Black Dog, Bedford. Mr. Harvey respectfully
informs the Nobility and Gentry, he has appointed Mrs.
Elizabeth Lazenby to prepare and sell the above sauce,
at her Oil Warehouse, No. 6, Edward's Street, Portman
Square, and that she, alone, is in possession of the original
receipt—signed Peter Harvey."

If, however, the times were somewhat gross feeding, yet,
early in the century, they also knew the pinch, if not of
absolute hunger, yet of that which comes nigh akin to it—
scarcity. As we have seen in the History of the decade,
bread stuffs were, through bad harvests, very dear; and the
strictest attention to economy-in their use, even when mixed
with inferior substitutes, practised. The unreasoning public
laid the whole of the rise in price on the shoulders of the
middle-men, or factors; and they,were branded with the"
then opprobrious, but now obsolete, term of " Forestallers
and Regraters." Take one plaintive wail, which appeared
in the Morning Post of March 7, 1800 : " We are told that
one cause of the high price of Corn is, the consequence of
the practice of selling by sample, instead of the Corn being
fairly brought to market. The middle-man buys the Corn,
but desires the farmer to keep it for him, until he wants it;
or, in other words, until he finds the price suits his expecta-
tions." This rage against "forestalling" was, of course,
very senseless; but it had the advantage of beihg applied
indiscriminately, and to every description of fcod. Two
women at Bristol were imprisoned for " forestalling" a
cart load of mackerel; whilst the trial of Waddington forRICE FROM INDIA.

241

" forestalling" hops is almost a cause celebre. Now, hops
could hardly b6 construed into food; and, after having
carefully read his trial, I can but come to the conclusion
that he was a very hardly-used man, and was imprisoned
for nothing at all.1 I merely mention his case as a proof
of the senseless irritation which the price of food caused
upon the unreasoning public.

Food had to be looked for anywhere. The Continent
was no field for speculation ; a bad harvest had been
universal; and, besides, we were at war. Then, for the
first time, was India drawn upon for our food supply, and
the East India Company—that greatest marvel of all trade
—offered every facility towards the export of rice. Their
instructions were as follow: " That every ship, which takes
on board three quarters of her registered tonnage in rice,
shall have liberty to fill up with such goods as have been
usually imported by country ships, That ships embarking
in this adventure shall be allowed to carry out exports
from this country. That they shall be excused the pay-
ment of the Company's duty of 3 per cent., on the rice
so imported. That, after the ship shall have been approved
Iiy the Company's surveyors, the risk of the rice which she
brings, shall be on account of Government, which will save
the owners the expense of insurance. That, in case the
price of rice shall, on the ships' arrival, be under from 32s.
to 29s. the hundredweight, the difference between what it
may sell for, and the above rates shall be made good to the
owners, on the following conditions—That the ship which
departs from her port of lading, within one month from
the promulgation of these orders, shall be guaranteed 32s.
the hundredweight; if in two months, 31s.; if in three
months, 30s.; and if in four months, 29s. But, that de-
pendence may be safely placed on the rice being of

1 Par parenthhe. This Mr. Waddington, whilst in the King's Bench
Prison, gave away a ton of potatoes a day, about Christmas time. , They were
first of all sold at one halfpenny a pound, and the. produce in money was put
in the poor's box, for the benefit of the poor prisoners.

l7124-2 the nineteenth century.

superior quality, that is, equal, at least, to the best cargo of
rice, it shall be purchased by an agent appointed by
Government. Coppered ships to be preferred, and,
although Convoy 1 will, if possible, be obtained for them,
they must not be detained for Convoy."

1 Owing to the war, it was found safer for many merchant vessels to sail in
company, and these fleets usually had two or three men-of-war in attendance
to act as guards, and to protect them ; they were called " the Convoy."CHAPTER XXIX.

Parliamentary Committee on the high price of provisions —Bounty on imported
corn, and on rice from India and America—The " Brown Bread Bill"—
Prosecution of bakers for light weight—Punishment of a butcher for having
bad meat—Price of beef, mutton, and poultry—Cattle shows—Supply of food
from France—Great fall in prices here—Hotels, &c.—A clerical dessert.

PARLIAMENT bestirred itself in the matter of food
supply, not only in appointing "a Committee to
consider the high price of provisions," who made
their first report on the 24th of November, 1800; but Mr.
Dudley Ryder (afterwards Earl of Harrowby) moved, on
the 12th of November, in the same year, the following
resolutions, which were agreed to:—

" 1. That the average price at which foreign corn shall
.be sold in London, should be ascertained, and published,
in the London Gazette,

"2. That there be given on every quarter of wheat,
weighing 424 lbs., which shall be imported into the port
of London, or into any of the principal ports of each
.district of Great Britain, before the 1st of October, 1801, a
bounty equal to the sum by which the said average price
in London, published in the Gazette, in the third week
-after the importation of such wheat, shall be less than 100s
jper quarter.

" 3. That there shall be given on every quarter of barley,244	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,\

weighing 352 lbs., which shall be imported into the port of
London, or any of the principal ports of each district of
Great Britain before the 1st of October, 1801, a bounty
equal to the sum by which the said average price in
London, published in the Gazette in the third week after
the importation of such barley, shall be less than 45s. per
quarter.

"4. That thefe be given -on every .quarter of rye, weighing
408 lbs., which shall be imported into the port of London,
or into any of the principal ports of each district of Great
Britain, before the 1st of October, 1801, a bounty equal to
the sum by which the said average price in London, pub-
lished in the Gazette of the third week after the importation
of such rye, shall be less than 65s. per quarter.

"5. That there be given on every quarter of oats, weighing
280 lbs., which shall be imported into the port of London,
or into any of the principal ports of each district of Great
Britain, before the 1st of October, 1801, a bounty equal to
the sum by which the average price in London, published
in the Gazette in the third week after the importation of
such oats, shall be less than 30s. per quarter.

"6. That there be given on every barrel of superfine
wheaten flour, of 196 lbs. weight, which shall be imported
into such ports before the 1st of October, 1801, and sold
by public sale by auction, within two months after impor-
tation, a bounty equal to the sum by which the actual price
of each barrel of such flour so sold, shall be less than 70s.

"7. That there be given on every barrel of fine wheaten
flour, of 196 lbs. weight, which shall be imported into sufch
ports before the 1st of October, 1801, and sold by public
sale, by auction^ within two months after importation, a.
bounty equal to the sum by which the actual price of each
barrel of such flour so sold shall be less than 68s.

" 8. That there be given on every cwt. of rice which shall
be imported into such ports in any ship which7 shall have
cleared out from any port in the East Indies before theBOUNTY ON IMPORTED FOOD.

1st of September, 1801, and which shall be sold by public
sale, a bounty equal to the sum by which the actual price
•of each cwt. of rice so sold shall be less than 32s.

"9. That there be given on every cwt. of rice, from
America, which shall be imported into siich ports, before
the 1st of October, 1801, and sold by public sale by auction,
within two months after importation, a bounty equal to the
sum by which the actual price of each cwt. of such rice so
sold, shall be less than 35s."

Thus we see that the paternal government of that day
did all they could to find food for the hungry ; and it is
somewhat curious to note the commencement of a trade
for food, with two countries like India and the United
States of America. Still more did the Government attempt
to alleviate the distress by passing an Act (41 Geo. III. c. 16),
forbidding the manufacture of fine bread, and enacting
that all bread should contain the whole meal—i.e., all the
bran, &c.—and be what we term "brown bread." Indeed
the Act was called, popularly, "The Brown Bread Bill'."
It came into force on the 16th of January, 1801, a date
which was afterwards extended to the 31st of January, but
did not last long ; its repeal receiving the Royal Assent on
the 26th of February of the same year.

So also the authorities did good service in prosecuting
bakers for light weight; and the law punished them
heavily. I will only make one quotation—Morning- Post,
February 5, 1801. "Public Office, Bow Street.
Light Bread. Several complaints having been made
against a baker in the neighbourhood of Bloomsbury, for
selling bread short of weight, he was, yesterday, summoned
on two informations; the one for selling a quartern loaf
deficient of its proper weight eight ounces, arid the other
for a quartern loaf wanting four ounces. A warrant was
also issued to wtigh all the bread, in his shop, when 29
quartern loaves were seized, which wanted, together, 58
ounces of their proper weight; the light bread was brought246	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

to the office, and the defendant appeared to answer the
charges. The parties were sworn as to the purchase of
the first two loaves, which being proved, and the loaves
being weighed in the presence of the Magistrates, the de-
fendant was convicted in the full penalty of five shillings
per ounce for the twelve ounces they were deficient; and,
Mr. Ford observing that as the parties complaining were
entitled to one moiety of the penalty, he could not with
justice remit any part of it.

" Respecting the other 29 loaves, as it was the report of
the officers who executed the warrant, that there were a
considerable number more found in his shop that were of
full weight, it was the opinion of him, and the other
Magistrates then present, thajt the fine should be mitigated
to 2s. per ounce, amounting to ^5 16s., which the defendant
was, accordingly, obliged to pay, and the 29 loaves, which,
of course, were forfeited, Mr. Ford ordered to be distributed
to the poor.

"A search warrant was also executed at the shop of a
baker near Drury Lane, against whom an information had
also been laid for selling light bread; but, it being near
three o'clock in the afternoon when the officers went to the
shop, very little bread remained, out of which, however,
they found eight quarterns, three ha^f quarterns, and four
twopenny loaves, short of weight 28 ounces, and on which
the baker was adjudged to pay 2s. per ounce, and the
bread was disposed of in the same manner as the other."

As we have seen, the price of bread in London was
regulated by the civic authorities, according to the price
of flour—and it is gratifying to find that they fearlessly
exercised their functions. September 1, 1801 : "A numbei
of Bakers were summoned to produce their bills of parcels
of flour purchased by them during the last two weeks, ac-
cording to the returns. Many of them \vere very irregular,
which they said was owing to the mealmen not giving in
their bills of parcels with the price at the time of deliveringAGRICULTURAL SHOWS.

247

the flour. They were ordered to attend on a future day,
when the- mealmen will be summoned to answer that
complaint."

Nor were the bakers, alone, subject to this vigilance, the
butchers were well looked after, and, if evil doers, were
punished in a way worthy of the times of the " Liber
Albus." Vide the Morning Post, April 16, 1800: "Yes-
terday, the carcase of a calf which was' condemned by the
Lord Mayor, as being unwholesome, was burnt before the
butcher's door, in Whitechapel. His Lordship commended
the Inquest of Portsoken Ward very much for their exer-
tions in this business, and hoped it would be an example
to others, that when warm weather comes on they may
have an eye to stalls covered with meat almost putrified,
and very injurious to the health of their fellow citizens."

Just at that time meat was extraordinarily high in price
—in May, only a few weeks after the above quotation,
beef was is. 6d. and mutton is. 3d. per lb., whilst fowls
were 6s. 6d. each, and every other article of food at pro-
portionally high rates. Yet, as was only natural, every
means were taken to increase the food supply. Cattle
shows were inaugurated, and great interest was taken in
them by the neighbouring gentry. As an example we will
take one held in September, 1801, where Mr. Tatton Sykes
was judge, and there were such well-knofan county gentle-
men present as Mr. Denison, Major Osbaldeston, Major
Topham, &c., &c. The prizes were not high ; but, then,
as now, in agricultural contests, honour went before the
money value of the prize.

	£	s.	d.
Best shearling tup from any part of England	... .O	10	0
Best do bred in the East Riding ...	... IO	10	0
Best year old bull do	... 8	8	0
Second best do do	... 6-	6	0
Third best do do ...	• • • 5	5	0
Fourth best do do	... ' 4	4	0
Fifth best do do	... 2	2	0248	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. ,

£ s. d.

Best two year old heifer bred in the East Riding 3 3 o

Second best do	do	•••3 3°

Third best do	do	... 2 2 o

Best boar	do	... 330

But, with the treaty of 'peace with France came com-
parative plenty. The French were keen enough to, at
once, take advantage of the resumption of friendly rela-
tions ; and, knowing that an era of cheaper food was to be
inaugurated, prices fell rapidly here. For instance, no
sooner did the news of peace reach Ireland, than the price
of pork fell, in some markets from 63s. to 30s. per cwt. ;
and beef dropped to 33s. 6d. or 30s. 6d. per cwt. Butter,
arid other farm produce had proportionable reductions. In
London, one shopkeeper somewhat whimsically notified
the change. At the time of illumination for the peace, he
displayed a transparency, on one side of which was a
quartern loaf, under which were the words, "/ am coming
down," and by its side appeared a pot of porter, which
rejoined, " So am /."

When the pioneer boat, loaded with provisions from
France, arrived at Portsmouth, the authorities were at a loss
as to what to do with her; so she was detained until an
order could be received permitting her to trade and depart
within 24 hours. Her cargo was sold out at once, and no
wonder, for she sofd pigs at 16s. each, turkeys 2s. 6d. each,
and fowls 2s. a couple, whilst eggs were going at is. 6d. a
score.

Whilst on this subject, mention may be made of the
kind of provision made for the men's feeding, otherwise
than at home. The Hotel proper, as we know it, was but
in its infancy; and, as far as I can gather, there were but
some fifteen hotels in London. This does not, of course,
include the large coaching inns, which made up beds,
because they catered for a fleeting population ; nor does it
take cognizance of the coffee houses, many of which made
up beds, especially for visitors from various counties,A- LITTLE DINNER.	249

where they might possibly meet with friends, or hear the
last news about them, and see the county newspaper;
whilst all, without exception, and most of the taverns, sup-
plied their customers with dinners, and other food—in fact,
they acted as victuallers, and not as the keepers of
drinkeries, as now. There were, besides, many of the
cheaper class of eating houses, called cook shops, scattered
over every part of the town, at which a plentiful dinner
might be obtained at, from a shilling, to eighteenpence. In
addition, there were very many d la mode beef houses, and
soup shops, so that every taste, and purse, was consulted.

Before closing these notes on feeding, early in the century,
I must chronicle a "little dinner." Morning Post> July 26,
1800 : "At a village in Cheshire, last year, three clergy-
men, after dinner, ate fourteen quarts of nuts, and, during
their sitting, drank six bottles of port wine, and NO other
liquor!"

OOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-G

xgx£xirxi[	^xnx^x^x^^xg^KBt^x^Kg'

Men's dress—the "Jean de Bry " coat—Short coats fashionable at watering-places
—"All Bond Street trembled as he strode"—Rules for the behaviour of a
" Bond Street Lounger."

F Dress, either of men, or women, there is little to

chronicle during this ten years. The mutations-

during a similar period, at the close of the previous

century, had been so numerous, and radical, as to be suffi-
cient to satisfy any ordinary being; so that, with the ex-
ception of the ordinary changes of fashion, which tailors,
and milliners will impose upon their victims, there is little
to record.

At the commencement of the year 1800, men wore what
were then called "Jean de Bry" coats, so named from a
French statesman who was somewhat prominent during
the French Revolution—born 1760, died 1834. The ac-
companying illustration is somewhat exaggerated, not so
much as regards the padding on the shoulders, as to the
Hessian boots, which latter might, almost, have passed a
critical examination, had it not have been that they are
furnished with bells, instead of tassels. The coat was
padded at the shoulders, to give breadth, and buttoned
tight to show the slimness of the waist; yet, as this, under
ordinary circumstances, would have hidden the waistcoat—
the coat had to be made short-waisted.



CHAPTER XXX.MEN'S DRESS.

251

Then, the same year, only towards its close, came a craze
for short coats, or jackets, resembling the Spencers, but
they did not last long, being only fashionable at Brighton,
Cheltenham, &c. There seems to have been very little
change until 1802, when a modification of the Jean de Bry
coat was worn, with the collar increasing very much in
height, and boots were discarded in walking.

The portrait of Colonel Duff,

afterwards Lord Fyfe, on the
next page, is only introduced
as an exemplar of costume,

and not as a " Bond Street
Lounger," of whom we hear
so much, and, as not only may
many of my readers like to
know something about him,

but his character is so amu-
singly sketched by a contem-
porary, and the account gives
such a vivid picture of the
manners of the times, that I
transcribe it. It is from the
Morning Post of the 6th of
February, 1800 ; and, after
premising that the Lounger
is comfortably settled at an
hotel, the following instruc- ;

tions are given him, as being
necessary to establish his character as a young man of
fashion. "In short, find fault with every single article,

without exception, d-n the waiter at almost regular

intervals, and never let him stand one moment still, but
'keep him eternally moving;' having it in remembrance
that he is only an unfortunate, and wretched subordinate,
of course, a stranger to feelings which are an ornament
to Human. Nature; with this recollection on your part

A JEAN DE BRY.THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

that the more illiberal the abuse he has from you, the
greater will be his admiration of your superior abilities,
and Gentleman-like qualifications. Confirm him in the

opinion he has so
justly imbibed, by
swearing the fish is
not warm through ;
the poultry is old,\
and 'tough as your
Grandmother' / the
pastry is made with
butter, rank Irish;
the cheese, which
they call Stilton, is
nothing but pale
'Suffolk; the malt
liquor damnable, a
mere infusion of malty
tobaccoy and cocculus
Indicus; the port
musty; the sherry
sour; and the whole
of the dinner and
dessert were ' infer- •
nally infamous/ and,
of course, not fit for
the entertainment of
a Gentleman; con-
clude the lecture with
an oblique hint, that

ALL BOND STREET TREMBLED AS HE STRODE.	better aCCOm-

modations, and more
ready attention, you shall be under the necessity of leaving
the. house for a more comfortable situation. This spirited
declaration at starting will answer a variety of purposes,
but none so essential as an anticipated objection to the



y,A BOND STREET LOUNGER,

253

payment of your bill whenever it may be presented. With
no small degree of personal ostentation, give the waiter
your name 'because you have ordered your letters there,
and, as they will be of importance, beg they may be taken
care of, particularly those written in a female hand\ of which
description, many may be expected.

" Having thus introduced you to, and fixed you, recruit-
like, in good quarters, I consider it almost unnecessary to
say, however bad you may imagine the wine, I doubt not
your own prudence will point out the characteristic necessity
for drinking enough, not only to afford you the credit of
reeling to bed by the aid of the banister, but the collateral
comfort of calling yourself' damned queer' in the morning,,
owing entirely to the villainous adulteration of the wine,,
for, when mild and genuine, you can take off three bottles
1 without winking or blinking.' When rousing from your
last somniferous reverie in the morning, ring the bell with
no small degree of energy, which will serve to convince the
whole family you are awake ; upon the entrance of either
chamberlain or chambermaid, vociferate half a dozen ques-
tions in succession, without waiting for a single reply. As,,
What morning is it ? does it hail, rain, or shine ? Is it a.
frost? Is, my breakfast ready? Has anybody enquired
for me ? Is my groom here ? &c., &c. And here it be-
comes directly in point to observe, that a groom is become
so evidently necessary to the ton of the present day (par-
ticularly in the neighbourhood of Bond Street) that a great
number of Gentlemen keep a groom, who cannot (except
upon credii) keep a horse; but then, they are always upon
4 the look out for horses;' and, till they are obtained, the
employment of the groom is the embellishment of both ends
of his master, by first dressing his head, and then polishing
his boots and shoes.

" The trifling ceremonies of the morning gone through,
you will sally forth in search of adveptures, taking that
great Mart of every virtue, ' BOND STREET/ in your way.254	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Here it will be impossible for you (between the hours oi
twelve and four) to remain, even a few minutes, without
falling in with various 'feathers of your wing,' so true it is,
in the language of Rowe, 'you herd together/ that you
cannot fear being long alone. So soon as three of you are
met, adopt a Knight of the Bath's motto, and become
literally 'Tria juncta in uno/ or, in other words, link your
arms so as to engross the whole breadth of the pavement;
the fun of driving fine women, and old dons, into the gutter\
is exquisite, and, of course, constitutes a laugh of the most
humane sensibility. Never make these excursions without
spurs, it will afford not only presumptive proof of your
really keeping a horse, but the lucky opportunity of hooking
a fine girl by the gown, apron, or petticoat; and, while she
is under the distressing mortification of disentangling her-
self, you and your companions can add to her dilemma by
•some indelicate innuendoy and, in the moment of extrication,
walk off with an exulting exclamation of having ' cracked
»the musli^.' Let it be a fixed rule never to be seen \n the
LOUNGE without a stick, or cane; this, dangling in a string,
may accidentally get between the feet of any female in
passing; if she falls, in consequence, that can be no fault
•of yours, but the effect of her indiscretion.

" By way of relief to the sameness of the scene, throw
yourself loungingly into a chair at Owen's,1 cut up a pine
with the greatest sang froid\ amuse yourself with a jelly or
two, and, after viewing with a happy indifference whatever
may present itself, throw down a guinea (without con-
descending to ask a question) and walk off; this will not
•only be politically inculcating an idea of your seeming
liberality upon the present; but paving the way to credit
upon a future occasion. I had hitherto omitted to mention
the necessity for previously providing yourself with a glass
suspended from your button-hole by a string) the want of

1 This probably was the shop of Owen and Bradley whose names first appear
an the London Directory of 1812, ds fruiterers, 77, New Bond Street.—J.A.A BOND STREET LOUNGER. > r55

which will inevitably brand you with vulgarity, if not with
indigence; for the true (and, formerly, * unsophisticated')
breed of Old John Bull is so very much altered by bad
crosses, and a deficiency in constitutional stamina, equally
affecting the optic nerves, that-there are very few men of
fashioft can see clear beyond the tip of the nose.

"At the breaking up of the parade, stroll, as it were,
accidentally into the Prince of Wales's Coffee house, in
Conduit Street, walk up with the greatest ease, and con-
summate confidence to every box, in rotation ; look at
everybody with an inexplicable hauteur, bordering upon
contempt; for, although it is most likely you will know
little or nothing of them> the great object is, that they should
-have a perfect knowledge of you. Having repeatedly, and
-vociferously, called the waiter when he is most engaged\
and, at each time asked him various questions equally
frivolous and insignificant, seem to skim the surface of the
Morning Post (if disengaged), humming the March in Blue
Beard * to show the versatility of your genius; whenrfiuding
you have made yourself sufficiently conspicuous, and an
object of general attention (or rather attraction), suddenly
leave the room, but not without such an emphatical mode
of shutting the door, as may afford to the various companies,
and individuals, a most striking proof of your departure."

1 "The grand Dramatic Romance of Blue Beard ; or, Female Curiosity."
The Words by George Colman the younger—the Music composed and selected
t>y M. K. (Michael Kelly). London, 1798.

<JgI» JtSif	JfuCHAPTER XXXI.

"The three Mr. Wiggins's"—The "Crops"—Hair-powdering—The powdering
closet—Cost of clothes—Economy in hats—Taxing hats—Eye-glasses—" The
Green Man " at Brighton—Eccentricities in dress.

" r I ^HE Three Mr. Wiggins's" are real "Bond Street
I Loungers," and are portraits of Lord Llandaff
A and his brothers, the Hon. Montagu, and George,
Matthews. They were dandies of the purest water, with
their white waistcoats. and white satin knee-ribbons. The
title is taken from a farce by Allingham, called " Mrs.
Wiggins," played at the Hay market, May 27, 1803. It is
very laughable, and turns upon the adventures of an old
man named Wiggins, and three Mrs. Wiggins's. It was
very popular, and gave the title to another caricature of
Gillray's.

As will be seen, they wore powder, but this curious
fashion was on its last legs—the Crops, or advanced Whigs,
having given it its death blow; still, it struggled on for
some years yet. There is a little story told in the Morning
Herald of the 20th of June, 1804, which will bear repro-
duction: "The following conversation occurred on Monday
last, in the Gallery of the House of Commons. A gentle-
man, very much powdered, happened to sit before another
who did not wear any. During the course of the debate,POWDER.

257

the son of powder in front, frequently annoyed, by his
nodding, or rather his noddle, his neighbour in the rear, for
which he apologized, as often as any notice was taken of it.
At last, the influence of Morpheus became so powerful, that
the rear rank man found his arm perfectly painted with

THE THREE MR. WIGGINS'S.

powder, in such a manner as to produce some ignition in
his temper, and repel his annoyer with a little more spunk1

than he showed on any of the former occasions. This

♦

1 This word has two meanings, which are here played upon. One is spirit
or pluck; the other is the name indifferently for match splints, or dry, rotten
wood.

18258	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,

being resented, the other presented his arm, and said, * Sir,
you should not be angry; for, if I wished for such an orna-
ment as this, I should, this morning, have left that office to
my hair-dresser. I am a man of such independence that I
t would not, willingly, be indebted to you for a single meal,
■ and here you have forced on me a bushel. If I had been
your greatest enemy, you could do nothing more severe,
than to pulverize me ; and, as I have given you no inten-
tional offence, I must beg of you, in future, not to dust my
jacketThis sally had all the 'effect for which it was in-
tended, and, instead of exchanging cards, the affair ended,
like some senatorial speeches, in a laugh?

As all the members of the family, including the
domestics had to be powdered, most houses of any pre-
tension had a small room set apart for the performance,
called " the powdering room," or closet, where the person)
to be operated upon went behind two curtains, and, by-
putting the head between the two, the body was screened
from the powder, and the head received its due quantity,
without injury to the clothes.

Still, all the world was not rich, and, therefore,, with
some, economy in clothing was a necessity. As is usual,
when a want appears, it is met; and in this case it cer-
tainly was, in a (to us) novel manner — Morning Post,
January' 12, 1805: "INTERESTING to the PUBLIC. W
Welsford, Tailor, No. 142, Bishopsgate Street, respectfully
informs the Public, that he continues to pursue the plan,
originally adopted by him, six years since, of SUPPLYING
CLOTHES, on the following terms:—

Four Suits of Superfine Clothes, the old

Suits to be returned, in one year ... £16	o	o

Five Suits ... .................. 18	18	o

Six Suits ...... ......... ...... 21	10	o

"Those Gentlemen who should not prefer the aboveMEN'S CLOTHES,	•	259

Contract, may be supplied at the undermentioned reduced
price:

A Coat of the best Superfine Cloth, com-
plete .....................^2 12	o

A Fine Fancy Waistcoat ............ 014	o

Superfine double-milled Cassimere Breeches 1 4	0

Superfine Pantaloons............... 1 o	o."

Nor was this the only practical economy in dress in that
age. Hats, which were then, as a rule, made of Beaver,
were somewhat expensive articles; and, in looking dili-
gently over the newspapers of the times, I found that here,
again, a want arose, and was met. These Beaver hats got
shabby, and could be repaired; a firm advertising that
"after several years' practice they have brought the Art of
Rebeavering Old Hats to greater perfection than it is
possible to conceive ; indeed, they are the only persons
that have brought it to perfection; for, by their method,
they can make a gentleman's old hat (apparently not
worth a shilling) as good as it was when new. . . . Gentle-
men who prefer Silk hats, may have them silked, and made
waterproof."

Hats were rendered dearer than they would, otherwise,
have been, by their having to pay a tax—the only portion
of personal clothing wThich did so. This tax, of course,
was evaded ; so we find, in the Morning Post, May 20,
1810, the following "CAUTION TO HATTERS. A Custom
prevailing among hatters, of pasting the stamp upon the
lining, by which the same stamp may frequently be sold
with different hats successively, they are required by the
Commissioners of the Stamp Duties, to conform, in selling
hats, to the provisions of the Act of the 36th of George
III., cap. 125, sees. 3, 4, 7, 9, which directs that the lining,
or inside covering of every hat shall, itself, be stamped ;
and it is the intention of the Commissioners to prosecute
for the penalties of that Act, inflicted on all persons guilty
of violating its regulations. Persons purchasing hats are26o	THE NINETEENTH CENTUR K

requested to be careful in seeing that they are duly-
stamped upon the lining itself, and not by a separate piece
of linen affixed to it; and reminded that the Act above-
mentioned (sec. Io) inflicts a penalty of £10 upon persons
buying, or wearing, hats not legally stamped."

ORIGINALS. A HINT TO THE BON TON.

We have seen it recommended to the Bond Street
Lounger that it was absolutely necessary for him to have
an eye-glass suspended from his button-hole; and the
same fashion is mentioned in the Morning Postf August
28, 1806: "The town has been long amused with the
quizzing glasses of our modern fops, happily ridiculed byTHE GREEN MAN,

261

a door-key in O'Keefe's whimsical farce of The Farmer.
A Buck has lately made his appearance in Bond Street,
daily, between two and four o'clock, with a Telescope, which
he occasionally applies to his eye, as he has a glimpse of
some object passing on the other side of the street, worth
peeping at. At the present season, we cannot but recom-
mend this practice to our fashionable readers, who remain
in the Metropolis. It indicates friendship, as it shows a
disposition to regard those
who are at a distance "

There have been, in all
ages of fashion, some who
outvied the common herd
in eccentricity of costume;

and the early nineteenth
century was no exception
to the rule. It is true that
it had not, in the time of
which I write, arisen to
the dignity of a "pea-green
Haines ;" but still, it could
show its "Green Man."

"Brighton, September
25, 1806. Among the per-
sonages attracting, here,

public notice, is an
original, or would-be Ori-0RIGINALS- a hint to the bon ton.

ginal, generally known by the appellation of * the Green
Man/ He is dressed in green pantaloons, green waist-
coat, green frock, green cravat; and his ears, whiskers,
eyebrows, and chin, are better powdered than his head,
which is, however, covered with flour. He eats nothing
but* green fruits and vegetables ; has his rooms painted
green, and furnished with a green sofa, green chairs,
green tables, green bed, and green curtains. His gig,
his livery, his portmanteau, his gloves, and his whip,262

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

are all green. With a green silk handkerchief in his
hand and a large watch chain, with green seals fastened
to the green buttons of his green waistcoat, he parades
every day on the Steyne, and in the libraries, erect
like a statue, walking, or, rather, moving to music, smiling
and singing, as well contented with his own dear self, as
well as all those round him, who are not few." That he
had money was evident, for his green food, including, as it
♦did,choice fruit, would sometimes cost him a guinea a day;
besides which, he was seen at every place of amusement,
and spent his money lavishly. Eventually, he turned out
to be a lunatic, and, after throwing himself out of windows,
and off a cliff, he was taken care of.

The two preceding illustrations are manifest exagge-
rations of costume ; but the germ of truth which supplies
the satire is there; and, with them, the men's dress of
this period is closed.

c^c^cjj^c)^c)|(»c)^c^c^c^c^c^«!^c^c^c)|^€^€^c^c^c|Jjjc^c)J^c^c^c^cj|^c)J(?c^C»

CHAPTER XXXII.

Ladies' dress — French costume—Madame Recamier — The classical style—
" Progress of the toilet"—False hair—Hair-dresser's advertisement—The
Royal Family and dress—Curiosities of costume.

IN ladies' dress more allowance must be made for the
caprices of fashion ; it always has been their prescrip-
tive right to exercise their ingenuity, and fancy, in
adorning their persons; and, save that the head-dress is
somewhat caricatured, the next illustration gives a very
good idea of the style of dress adopted by ladies at the
commencement of 1800, some phases of which we are
familiar with, owing to their recent reproduction—such as
the cticolletie dress, and clinging, and diaphonous skirt, as
well as the long gloves.

However, the eccentricities of English costume, at this
period, were as nothing compared with their French sisters.
The Countess of Brownlow,1 speaking, as an eye-witness,
says: "The Peace of 1802 brought, I suppose, many French
to England; but I only remember one, the celebrated
Madame Recamier, who created a sensation, partly by her
beauty, but still more by her dress, which was vastly unlike
the unsophisticated style, and poke bonnets, of the English
women. She appeared in Kensington Gardens, d I antique,

1 "Slight Reminiscences of a Septuagenarian," by Emma Sophia,
Countess of Brownlow, p. 2. London, 1867.PARIS FASHIONS FOR WINTER DRESS—1800.MADAME RECAMIER.

265

a muslin dress clinging to her form like the folds of the
drapery on a statue ; her hair in a plait at the back, and
falling in small ringlets round her face, and greasy with
Imile antique; a large veil thrown over the head, completed
her attire, that not unnaturally caused her to be followed
and stared at."

The French Revolution and early Consulate were emi-

FASHIONS, EARLY loOO.

nently classical, as regards ladies' dress; and, as a matter
of course, the mode was followed in England, but never
to the extent that it was in France. No one can doubt
the beauty of this style of dress ; but it was one totally
unfitted for out-door use, and even for evening dress. It
was very slight, and then only fitted for the young and
graceful, certainly not for the middle-aged and rotund.

There was a ladies' magazine, which began in 1806,
called La belle Assemblce; and a very good magazine itFASHIONABLE FURBELOES; OR, THE BACK FRONT OF A LADY OF
FASHION, IN THE YEAR l8oi.LIGHT HEAD-DRESSES AND LONG PETTICOATS FOR THE YEAR l802.258

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

is. In it, of course, are numerous fashion plates ; but I
take it that they were then, much as now, intended to be
looked at as indications of the fashion, more than the fashion
itself. Certainly, in the contemporaneous prints, I have
never met with any costume like them, and I much prefer
for accuracy of detail, to go to the pictorial satirist, who,
if he did somewhat exaggerate, did so on a given basis,
an actual costume ; and, moreover, threw some life and
expression into his groups, which render them better worth

looking at, than the
meaningless lay-
figures, which serve
as pegs, on which
to hang the clothes
of the fashion-
monger.

The next three
illustrations, which,
although designed
by an amateur, are
etched by Gillray,
give us a glimpse
of the mysteries of
the toilet such as
might be sought
' for in vain else-
where ; they are
particularly valuable, as they are in no way exaggerated,
and supply details otherwise unprocurable.

After these revelations, no one will be surprised to find
that ladies wore false hair. It has been done in all ages ;
when done, it is no secret, even from casual observers. It
was thoroughly understood that it was worn, for was there
not always standing witness in the windows of Ross in
Bishopsgate Street, and especially in the two bow windows
of Cryer, 68, Cornhill—one of wrhich had twenty blocks of

PREPARING FOR A BALL—1803.FROGRESS OF THE TOILET. NO. I«

PROGRESS OF THE TOILET. NO. 3.270

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,

gentleman's, and the othei: twenty-one of lady's perukes.
One West-end coiffeur thus advertises—Morning Post,
March 18, 1800:

"Correct Imitations of Nature.
" To Ladies of Rank and Fashion.
" T. Bowman's House and Shop being now repaired, is

PROGRESS OF THE TOILET. NO. 2.

re-opened with every conveniency and accommodation. His
new Stock consists of:

"I. Full Dress Head-dresses, made of long hair,
judiciously matched, and made to correspond with Nature
in every part; the colours genuine ; they will dress in any
style the best head of hair is capable of; and, in beauty,
are far superior. Pricey 5,6^, 8,10,12, 15, and 20 guineas.FALSE HAIR.

271

"II. Real Natural Curl < Head-dresses. These
cannot be described ; they must be seen. Price 5 guineas.

"III. Forced Natural Curl Head-dresses are
made of such of the Natural Curled Hairs, as have not a
sufficient curl; therefore it is assisted by Art: with fine
points, of a soft and silky texture, very beautiful. Price 4
guineas.

"IV. Plain Curled Head-dresses are made of Hair,
originally straight, but curled by baking, boiled, &c.
Price 3 guineas.

"V. The tresse a la grecque, when put over the
short head-dress, is a complete full dress. Price half-a-
guinea, 1, 1^, 2, 3, 4, and 5 guineas.

" In order to account for the apparent high prices of the
above, it is necessary to observe, that there are as many
qualities of Hair as of Silk, Fur, or Wool (the guinea, and
the guinea and a half Wigs, as they are called, can only be
made of the refuse, or of Hair procured in this Country) \
all that Bowman uses is collected at Fairs, from the French
Peasants, on the Continent, which (from ► the presentr
convulsed state) is now very dear ; as, notwithstanding the
artful and false insinuations of interested persons, the
importation of last year is not more than one-fifth of
former years, and no part of it Men's Hair.

" rS3 One thing T. B. intreats Ladies to observe, that
he does not expose, or dress his best articles on Heads,
Poupees, or Dolls, for Show, the common trick at the
Cheap Shops, to hide Defects, as many Ladies know to
their cost. His Head-dresses are, until they are sold, the
same as a Head of Hair that wants cutting; they are then
cut and trimmed to suit the Countenance, or fancy* of the
wearer. No article is sold that is not in every respect
perfect in fitting; and the most disinterested advice given
as to what is fashionable, proper, and becoming. Ladies'

4 Sic in orig.272	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Hair dressed at 3s. 6d., 5s., and 7s. 6d.—No. 102, New
Bond Street."

A few days later on, the same paper (March 21, 1800)
relates a fearful story. "Yesterday a bald-pated lady
lost her wig on Westminster Bridge ; and, to complete her
mortification, a near-sighted gentleman, who was passing
at the time, addressed the back of her head, in mistake for
her face, with a speech of condolence."

In June of the same year, the same paper takes the
ladies- to task for their cttcolletie dresses. " The ladies
continue to uncover thfcir necks behind, and well they may;
for, since they are covering them before, they cannot be so
much afraid of back-biting ."

The Queen and the Princesses set practical lessons in
social economy to the ladies of England. The latter were
not ashamed to embroider their own dresses for a drawing-
roonij and the Queen, in order to encourage home manu-
factures, used Spitalfields silk, or stuffs made in this
country; and " stuff balls," like our " calico" ditto, were
not uncommon.

At the end of the first decade of the century costumes
became even more bizarre; although, of course, Les
Invisibles is an exaggeration. The ordinary out-door dress
of ladies of this year is shown in the two following illus-
trations.



GRACE, FASHION, AND MANNERS. FROM THE
LIFE—l8lO.

WALKING DRESS—l8lO.LES INVISIBLES," l8lO.CHAPTER XXXIII.

Diversions of people of fashion—Daily life of the King—Children—Education—
Girls' education—Matrimonial advertisements—Gretna Green marriages-—
Story of a wedding ring—Wife selling—" A woman to let."

THE Essayists of Anne's time did good work, and
left precious material for Social History behind
them, when they good-humouredly made fun of the
little follies of the day; and two satirical prints of Row-
landson's follow so well in their footprints that I must
needs transcribe them. May i, 1.802. A Man of
Fashion's Journal. ' Queer dreams, owing to Sir Richard's
claret, always drink too much of it—rose at one—dressed
by half-past three—took an hour's, ride—a good horse, my
last purchase, remember to sell him again—nothing like
variety—dined at six with Sir Richard—said several good
things—forgot 'em all—in high spirits—quizzed a parson—
drank three bottles, and loung'd to the theatre—not quite
clear about the play—comedy or tragedy—forget which—
saw the last act—Kemble toll loll—not quite certain whether
it was Kemble or not—-Mrs. Siddons monstrous fine—got
into a hack—$et down in St. James's Street—dipp'd a
little with the boys at hazards—confounded bad luck—lost
all my money."'

"May 1, 1802. A Woman of Fashion's Journal. ' Dreamt
of the Captain—certainly a' fine man—counted my card276	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

money — lost considerably — never play again with the
Dowager—breakfasted at two, . . . dined at seven at Lady
Rackett's—the Captain there-—more than usually agree-
able—went to the Opera-—the Captain in the party—house
prodigiously crowded—my ci devant husband in the oppo-
site box—rather mat a propos—but no matter—telles ckoses
sont—looked into Lady Squander's roiit—positively a mob
—sat down to cards—in great luck—won a cool hundred of
my Lord Lackwit, and fifty of the Baron—returned home
at five in the morning—indulged in half an hour's reflection
—resolved on reformation, and erased my name from the
Picnic Society.'"

This style of life was taken more from the Prince of
Wales than the King, whose way of living was very simple;
and, although this book is intended more to show the daily
life of the middle classes, than that of Royalty, still a sketch
of the jthird George's private daily life cannot be other-
wise thin interesting. It was this quiet, unassuming daily
life of the King, together with his affliction, which won him
the hearts of his people,

Morning Post, November 7,1806: "When the King rises,
which is generally about half-past seven o'clock, he pro-
ceeds immediately to the Queen's saloon, where His
Majesty is met by one of the Princesses ; generally either
Augusta, Sophia, or Amelia; for each, in turn, attend
their revered Parents. From thence the Sovereign and his
Daughter, attended by the Lady in Waiting, proceed to
the Chapel, in the Castle, wherein Divine Service is per-
formed by the Dean, or Sub-Dean : the ceremony occupies
about an hour. Thus the time passes until nine o'clock,
when the King, instead of proceeding to his own apart-
ment, and breakfasting alone, now takes that meal with
the Queen, and the five Princesses. The table is always
set out in the Queen's noble breakfasting-room, which has
been recently decorated with very excellent modern hang-
ings, and, since the late improvements by Mr. Wyatt, com-DAILY LIFE OF THE KING.	277

mands a most delightful and extensive prospect of the
Little Park. The breakfast does not occupy more than
half an hour. The King and Queen sit at the head of the
table, according to seniority. Etiquette, in every other
respect is strictly adhered to. On entering the room the
usual forms are observed, according to rank. After break- -
fast, the King generally rides out on horseback, attended
by his Equerries ; three of the Princesses, namely, Augusta,
Sophia, and Amelia, are usually of the party. Instead of
only walking his horse, His Majesty now proceeds at a good
round trot. When the weather is unfavourable, the King
retires to his favourite sitting-room, and sends for Generals
Fitzroy, or Manners, to play at chess with him. His
Majesty, who knows the game well, is highly pleased when
he beats the former—that gentleman being an excellent
player. The King dines regularly at two o'clock ; the
Queen and Princesses at four. His Majesty visits, and
takes a glass of wine with them, at five. After this period, N
public business is frequently transacted by the King in
his own study, wherein he is attended by his Private
Secretary, Colonel Taylor.* The evening is, as usual,
passed at cards, in the Queen's Drawing-room, where
three tables are set out. To these parties many of the
principal nobility, &c., residing in the neighbourhood, are
invited. When the Castle clock strikes ten, the visitors
retire. The supper is then set out, but that is merely a
matter of form, and of which none of the Family partake.
These illustrious personages retire at eleven o'clock to rest
for the night, and sleep in undisturbed repose until they
rise in the morning. The journal of one day is the history
of the whole year."

Children were, in those days, "seen and not heard;" and
were very different to the precocious little prigs of the
present time. The nursery was their place, and not the
unlimited society of, and association with, their elders, as
now. When the time for school came, the boys were278

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

taught a principally classical education, which was con-
sidered, as now, an absolute necessity for a gentleman.
Modern languages, with the exception of French and
Italian, were not taught. German and the Northern
languages were unknown, and Spanish only came to be
known during, and after, the Peninsular War. There was
no necessity for learning them. As a rule, people did not
travel, and, if they did, their courier did all the conversa-
. tion for them ; and there was no foreign literature to speak
of which would induce a man to take the trouble to learn
languages. The physical sciences were in their infancy,

as they must devoutly have blessed, had they the gift of
prescience, no Girton, nor Newnham, nor St. Margaret's, nor
Somerville Halls. Their brains were not addled by exams,
or Oxford degrees. Here is their curriculum of study, with
its value, in the year 1800. " Terms :—The Young Ladies
are boarded, and taught the English and French languages,
with grammatical purity and correctness, history and
needle-works, for twenty-five guineas per annum, washing
included; parlour boarders, forty guineas a year; day
boarders, three guineas per quarter ; day scholars, a
guinea and a half. No entrance money expected, either
from boarders or day scholars. Writing, arithmetic, music,

and chemistry,
with its wonder-
ful outcome of
electricity, was
in its veriest
babyhood : so
that boys were
not cumbered
with too much
learning.

GROUP OF CHILDREN, 1808.

As to young
ladies' educa-
tion, they had,FILIAL AFFECTION} OR, A TRIP TO GRETNA GREEN.2So

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

dancing, Italian, geography, the use of the globes, and
astronomy, taught by professors of eminence and estab-
lished merit.—Wanted a young lady of a docile disposi-
tion, and genteel address, as an apprentice, or half-boarder;
she will enjoy many advantages which are not to be met
with in the generality of schools. Terms thirty guineas,
for two years."

A few years of school, and then, how to get a husband—
the same then, as it is now, and ever will be. Matrimonial
advertisements were very common, and bear the stamp of
authenticity; but the following beats all I have yet seen :
"Matrimony—To Noblemen, Ladies,or Gentlemen. Any
Nobleman, Lady, or Gentleman, having a female friend
who has been unfortunate, whom they would like to see
comfortably settled, and treated with delicacy and kind-
ness, and that might, notwithstanding errors, have an
opportunity of moving in superior life, by an Union with a
Gentleman holding rank in His Majesty's service, who has
been long in possession of a regular and handsome estab-
lishment, and whose age, manners, and person, are such
(as well as Connections) as, it is to be presumed, will not
be objected to, may, by addressing a few lines, post paid,
to B. Price, Esqre., to be left at the Bar of the Cambridge
Coffee House, Newman Street, form a most desirable
Matrimonial union for their friend. The Advertiser is
serious, and therefore hopes no one will answer this from
idle motives, as much care has been taken to prevent per-
sons from gaining any information, to gratify idle curiosity.
The most inviolable honour and secrecy may be relied on,
and is expected to be observed throughout the treaty.
If the Lady is not naturally vicious, and candour is resorted
to, the Gentleman will study, by every means in his power,
to promote domestic felicity."

Marriage at Gretna Green was then in full force, and
many were the Couples who went post on that Northern
road, and were married by the blacksmith—as we see inGRETNA GREEN MARRIAGES.

281

Rowlandson's picture. These Marriages, which were, ac-
cording to the law of Scotland, perfectly legal and binding,
provided the contracting parties avowed themselves to be
man and wife before witnesses, were only made illegal by
Act of Parliament in 1856, and now it is necessary for one
of the parties married, to have resided in Scotland for
twenty-one days.

A curious story about a wedding ring is told in the
Morning Post of
. the 3rd of Decem-
ber, 1800, under
the heading
" Clerkenwell Ses-
sions ":

"The Prosecutor,

a young man, lately
out of his appren-
ticeship, and in
very confined cir-
cumstances, ap-
plied, about a
month ago, to the
Parish of Shore-
ditch, and stated,

that, it having been
his wish to marry
a young woman in

,,	A TRIP T0 GRETNA GREEN (ROWLANDSON).

the samp street

where he worked, but not having money sufficient to
buy the wedding ring, and, his intended spouse being as
poor as himself, he hoped their Worships would advance
him a small sum to accomplish the purchase; and then
added, that they had already been three times asked in
Church, and the morrow (Sunday) was the day appointed
for the ceremony.

„ " The Vestry taking into consideration the good character282

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

of the applicant, ordered five shillings to be paid him, and
the defendant, who is overseer of that parish, was requested
to furnish him with a ring, which he did, the same night
about ten o'clock, and charged for it 7s. 6d. Before leaving
the shop the purchaser said he hoped it was worth the
money, when the overseer replied it was good gold, and
added, you may pledge it at any pawnbroker's in the town
for 7s. The witness was then satisfied and departed.

" On the Monday following, the affairs of the newly
married couple not having assumed the most flourishing
aspect, the bridegroom was necessitated to resort to a
neighbouring pawnbroker's shop, when, to the surprise of
the party, the ring was declared to be worth nothing, it
being a metal composition gilt. Upon this discovery he
made application to a Magistrate; the affair went before
the Grand Jury, who found a true bill against the jeweller,
and the matter was yesterday brought into Court, but in
consequence of the absence of material witnesses, the
further investigation of this business stands over to a future
day." I regret to say there is no further record of this
case.

On this class, the marriage tie lay lightly, and a rough,
and summary, method was sometimes used to dissolve it.
In a book of mine 1 I have already mentioned the practice
of wife-selling, as being in vogue at this time. What I
then said, can be further confirmed by examples which
come within the range of this book.

Morning Herald, March 11, 1802 : "On the nth of last
month, a person sold, at the market cross, in Chapel en le
Frith, a wife, a child, and as much furniture as would set
up a beggar, for eleven shillings!"

Morning Her aid, April 16, 1802: "A Butcher sold his
wife by auction the last market day at Hereford. The lot
brought £1 4s. and a bowl of punch."

Annual Register, February 14, 1806: "A man named
1 " Old Times." London: Nimmo, 1S85.WIFE SELLING.

283

John Gorsthorpe exposed his wife for sale in the market,
at Hull, about one o'clock ; but, owing to the crowd which
such an extraordinary occurrence had gathered together,
he was obliged to defer the sale, and take her away.
About four o'clock, however, he again brought her out, and
she was sold for 20 guineas, and delivered, in a halter, to a
person named Houseman, who had lodged with them four
or five years."

Morning Post, October 10, 1807 : "One of those dis-
graceful scenes, which have, of late, become too common,
took place on Friday se'nnight at Knaresborough. Owing
to some jealousy, or other family difference, a man brought
his wife, equipped in the usual style, and sold her at the
market cross for 6d. and a quid of tobacco ! "

In the Doncaster Gazette of March 25, 1803, a sale is
thus described : " A fellow sold his wife, as a cow, in
Sheffield market-place a few days ago. The lady was put
into the hands of a butcher, who held her by a halter
fastened round her waist. 4 What do you ask for your
cow?' said a bystander. 'A guinea/ replied the husband.
'Done!' cried the other, and immediately led away his
bargain. We understand that the purchaser and his 1 cow '
live very liappily together."

Enough examples have been given to show that the
French idea of wives being sold in Smithfield, and else-
where, is founded on fact; indeed, there is no reason to
disbelieve the writer of "Six mois a Londres in 1816,"
when he describes a wife sale he saw at Smithfield—at
which the lady was offered at the price of 15s., and, at that
price, was eventually purchased, after due examination,
4t Comme il avait examine quelques instans auparavant,
une jument que je l'avais vu marchander."

We must not throw stones at our grandfathers because
this custom was in their midst. I could quote numerous
instances of it, from time to time, down to our own days.
Vide the South Wales Daily News, May 2, 1882, where, at284

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Alfreton, a woman, was sold by her husband, in a public-
house for a glass of ale; and, again, in the Pall Mall
Gazette, October 20, 1882, where it is recorded, that, at
Belfast, a certain George Drennan sold his wife to one
O'Neill, for one penny and a dinner.

But, before dismissing the social status of women of this
class, at that time, I cannot help chronicling a singular
custom, which, however, appears to be peculiarly local.

Annual Register, March 22,1806 : " A woman to Let I
There is a custom* which, most likely, is peculiar to a small
district in the western part of Cumberland. A few days
ago, a gentleman from the neighbourhood of Whitehaven,
calling upon a person, at his house in Ulpha, was informed
that he was not at home; he was gone to church; there
was 4 a woman to let!' On enquiry as to the meaning of
this singular expression, it was thus explained r-^-When
any single woman, belonging to the parish, had the mis-
fortune to prove with child, a meeting of the parishioners
is called, for the purpose of providing her a maintenance in
some family, at so much a week, from that time to a limited
time after delivery; and, this meeting (to give it the greater
sanction), is uniformly holden in the church, where the
lozvest bidder has the bargain! And on such occasions,
previous notice is given, that on such a day, there will be
a 4 woman to let.' "



OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Gambling—Downfall of Lady Archer, &c.—Card playing in the Royal Circle—
Card money—High play—Play at the Clubs—Lotteries—The method of
drawing them—Horse racing—Turf and horses better than now—Curious
names of race horses—Ladies Lade and Thornton—Lady Thornton's races—
Tattersall and Aldridge.

ONE vice the women of that age had, in common
with the men, and that was Gambling—which,
perhaps, was not so bad among the former, as
during the last years of the preceding century, when Ladies
Archer, and Buckinghamshire, and Mrs. Concannon were
pilloried, and scourged metaphorically by the Satirists, as
they were promised to be treated, physically, by Lord
Kenyon. Their race was run—as expressed in the Morning
Post, January 15, 1800: "Society has reason to rejoice in
the complete downfall of the Faro Dames, who were so
lonjj; the disgrace of human nature. Their die is cast, and
their odd tricks avail no longer. The game is up, and very
few of them have cut with honours."

Mrs. Concannon still' kept on, but not in Londdn, as
is seen by the following paragraph. Morning Herald\
December 18, 1802: "The visitors to Mrs. Concannon's
petits soupers, at Paris} are not attracted by billets pre-
viously circulated, but by cards, afterwards dealt out, in an
elegant and scientific manner; not to mince the matter.286

THE, NINETEENTH CENTURY.

they are the rendezvous of deep play : and the only ques-
tionable point about the matter is, whether the Irish, or the
French, will prove victors at the close of so desperate a
winter's campaign."

Still, we find even in the Royal circle, wrhere the utmost
gravity of demeanour, and purity of manner, were to be
foun^, the card table was the evening's amusement. " The
evening is, as usual, passed at cards, in the Queen's
Drawing Room, where three tables are set out." And
cards were still the staple entertainment both for men and
women, at night. Naturally, the latter did not play for
such high stakes as the men did ; but they contrived to
make, or lose, a sufficient sum, either to elate, or to depress
them, and experience, as far as in them lay, all the fierce
feelings of the gambler. Nay, some made a pitiful profit
out of their friends—in the shape of " card money "—which
meant that the players put so much, every game, into a
pool (generally the snuffer tray) to pay for the cards, and
something for the servants.

It was a practice in its death throes, having been mortally
wounded, by public opinion, at the end of the last century;
but the little meanness still obtained—vide the Morning
Herald, December 15, 1802: "In a pleasant village near
the Metropolis, noted for its constant 'tea and turn out
parties,' the extortion of Card Money had, lately, risen to
such a pitch, that it was no unusual thing for the Lady of
the House, upon the breaking up of a table, to immediately
examine the sub-cargo of the candlestick, and, previous to
the departure of her guests, proclaim aloud the lamentable
defalcation of a pitiful shilling, which they might, perchance,
have forgot to contribute. We are happy to find that some
of the most respectable people in the place have resolved
to discountenance and abolish this shabby genteel custom,
which has too long prevailed ; a shameful degradation of
everything like English hospitality."

But they sometimes played as high as did the oppositeCARD MONEY.

287

sex—the climax, perhaps, coming in the following, from
the Morning Post, April 5, 1805 : "The sum lately lost at
play by a Lady of high rank is variously stated. Some
say it does not amount to more than ^"200,000, while others
assert that it is little short of £700,000. Her Lord is very un-
happy oh the occasion, and is still undecided with respect to
the best mode to be adopted in the unfortunate predicament."

The men lost and gained large sums of a night; and, for
that age, gaming had reached its climax. Little birds
whisper1 that it is not much better now; but, at all events,
it is not so open. From the highest to the lowest—from
the Heir Apparent, and the two great leaders of party, Fox
and Pitt, down to the man who could only afford to punt
his shilling, or half-crown, at a " silver hell"—all were

1 From the Globe, January 26, 1885:

"WEST END GAMBLING HOUSES.

"to the editor of the globe.

" Sir,—Can it be true—as rumour has it—that in an old-established gambling;
club, not 100 miles from St. James's Street, enormous sums are nightly staked,
and that fortunes rapidly change hands ? I hear that three men sat down a few
nights ago to play ecarte in this said club, and that one of their number was at
a certain period of the evening a loser of the enormous sum of ^100,000. That
when this very impossible figure was reduced to limits within which the winners
considered the loser could pay, play ceased and the party broke up. The next
day—so runs the story—one of the winners called with bills to the amount of
£26,000, drawn on stamped paper, for the loser to accept. This gentleman,
however, though he freely admits having played, states that, having dined not
wisely but too well, he has no sort of recollection of losing any specific sum,,
but merely a hazy idea that fabulously large amounts were recklessly staked all
round, and no accounts kept. ' In other words, he repudiates, and finally, after
a lengthened discussion, has consented to place himself in the hands of a friend
to decide what he is to pay. If this is true, and I have no reason to doubt it,
I can only stigmatize the whole affair as a public scandal, and the police should,
promptly interfere and shut up a club where such disgraceful things occur.
When Jenks's baccarat 'hell' was closed, and Mr. J. Campbell Wilkinson
and his six associates were each fined £500 (hence the very excellent bon mot
which appeared in the Sporting Times that * Jenks' babies' had become
'Jenks' monkeys'), the public were justified in believing that, at last, there
was not to be one law for the rich and another for the poor, and that in future
men who broke the law by gambling for thousands, would have the same justice
meted out to them as those who did so by tossing for coppers. However, it
appears such hopes were premature, and before this happy state of things is
arrived at, further attention must be drawn to the matter, hence this letter, for
which I sincerely trust you will be able to find space.—I am, Sir, yours, &c.,
"A Hater of Professional Gamblers.

"January 24th."288

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

bitten, more or less, by this mania of gaming. The
magistrates lashed the petty rogues when they were caught,
but winked discreetly at the West-end Clubs, and ordered
no raids upon them. There they might win or lose their
thousands, secure that the law would not stretch out its arm
to molest them. There the nobility, legislators, country-
gentlemen, and officers of the army, met together on a
common footing, to worship the Demon of Play.

There were three principal Clubs—White's, Brookes', and
Boodles'. White's was originally a " Chocolate House"
in William the Third's time, but became a private club
early in the eighteenth century, and was used by the
Tories. It was a club always noted for high play and
betting, and very curious some of their bets were, the old
wager book being still preserved. Brookes' was the Whig
Clubhand was then conducted by that

"liberal Brookes, whose speculative skill
Is hasty credit and a distant bill;

Who, nurs'd'in Clubs, disdains a vulgar trade,

Exults to trust, and blushes to be paid."

Among the members of. this club were the Prince of
"Wales, and, of course, his fidus Achates, Sheridan, besides
the great Charles James Fox, who here played deeply, and
whose name is oft recorded in the wager book, which, how-
-ever, is of older date, and was kept when the club was held
.at Almack's.

" Lord Northington bets Mr. C. Fox, June 4, 1774, that
lie (Mr. C. F.) is not called to the bar before this day four
years."	-

"March 11, 1775* Lord Bolinbroke gives a guinea to
Mr. Charles Fox and is to receive a thousand from him
-whenever the debt of this country amounts to 171 millions.
Mr. Fox is not to pay the £1,000 till he is one of His
Majesty's Cabinet."

"April 7, 1792. Mr. Sheridan bets Lord LauderdaleGAMBLING.

289

and Lord Thanet, twenty-five guineas each, that Parliament
will not consent to any more lotteries after the present one
voted to be drawn in February next."

At all' the clubs, gaming was practised more or less.
Morning Herald, June 16,1804: " A noble Lord, lately high
in office, and who manifests a strong inclination to be rein-

GREAT SUBSCRIPTION ROOM AT BROOKES'S.

stated in his political power, lost at the Union, a night or
two back 4,000 guineas before twelve o'clock; but, con-
tinuing to play, his luck took a turn, and he rose a winner
of a thousand before five the next morning."

20290

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Again, to show the large sums then won and lost at
gambling, take the following newspaper cuttings.

Morning Post, June 30, 1806: " The Marquis of H-d

is said to have been so successful at play this season, as

to have cleared £60,000. The Earl of B-e has won

upwards of £50,000, clear of all deductions. A Right
Reverend is stated to be amongst those who are minus
on this occasion."

Morning Post, July 8, 1806: "A certain noble Marquis,
who has been so very fortunate this season in his gaming
speculations, had a run of ill luck last week. At one sitting,
his lordship was minus no less a sum than thirteen thousand
pounds ! "

Morning Post, July 15, 1806: "The noble Marquis, who
has been so great a gainer, this season, at hazard\ never
plays with any one, from a Prince, to a Commoner, without
having the stakes first laid on the table. His lordship
was always considered as a sure card, but now his fame is
established, from the circumstance of his having cleared
£35,000, after deducting all his losses for the last six
months."

But) although the magistrates shut their eyes to the sins
of the great, and punished the small, when brought before
them, the Government systematically demoralized the
.people by means of lotteries. True, it was a great tempta-
tion, for it yielded a revenue to the State of about £3 50,000,
besides the licenses of the brokers, £50 each. Very jealous
was the Government to protect its children from the per-
nicious effects of private lotteries; they were anathema,
and, besides, they would absorb some of the profit, which
otherwise would have gone into the pockets of a paternal
rule. In this decade, there were but two private lotteries,
and, for both of them, a special act of Parliament was
required, viz., that of the Pigot diamond in 1800, and
BoydelFs pictures in 1805.

This illustration is by Pyne, and, like all his drawing, isLOTTERIES.

291

extremely graphic. It represents the Life Guards, who
then had to perform many of the duties of our police, con-
veying the Lottery wheels, from Somerset House (or
Somerset Place, as it was then called) to Cooper's Hall, in
Basinghall Street, where the Lottery was then drawn.
There were four sledges employed for the purpose, two
carrying the wheels containing the tickets, with their
blanks, or prizes, and the other two bore the cases for the
wheels. They were drawn by three horses each.

For many years the Lottery had been drawn at Guild-
hall, but it was afterwards removed to Cooper's Hall.

At both places the tickets were drawn out of the wheels
by two scholars of Christ's Hospital, or Bluecoat boys—
who were thus selected for this office because their youth,
and supposed integrity,1 rendered them less liable than

2 In May, 1775, a Bluecoat boy confessed that he had been tampered with,
and had concealed a ticket, which was afterwards drawn. A man was
.arrested as the accomplice, but was discharged ; but the Lottery Committee, in
order to prevent a similar fraud, moved the following resolution (December 12,
1775), which was afterwards always adhered to: "That it be requested of
.the Treasurer of Christ's Hospital, not to make known who are the twelve
boys nominated for drawing the lottery till the morning the drawing begins;
which said boys are all to attend every day, and the two who are to go on duty
at the wheels, are to be taken promiscuously from amongst the whole number,
by either of the Secretaries, without observing any regular course, or order;
so that no boy shall know when it will be his turn to go to either wheel."

mm

LIFE GUARDS ESCORTING A LOTTERY WHEEL.THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

other boys, to be tampered with. The accompanying illus-
tration gives a very life-like presentment of the scene.

The last public Lottery, in England, was drawn in
October, 1826.

Needless to say that Gambling, either in the form of
card playing, dicing, or lotteries, was not the only way that
fools and rogues could throw away their money. Still
there were two resources left—the Turf, and Cock-fighting.
The Turf w;as undoubtedly purer then than now, when it
has reached such a pitch of refinement in blackguardism,

DRAWING THE LOTTERY AT COOPERS HALL.

and scoundrelism, that it must soon either be swept away,
or violently reformed. Racing then was more for encourag-
ing a breed of horses, swift, yet of such staying powers as
to be able to run a four-mile heat without breaking down :
not like our "exaggerated greyhounds," who can barely
stagger over a course of six furlongs, or three quarters of a
mile.

The stakes were not so high, and although there was
much betting on a race, yet it was among the upper class,
or men who could afford to lose to each other, and in the
society of their equals ; and not as at present, when a lordNAMES OF RACE HORSES.

*93

is on familiar terms with a ruffian, so long as he will give
the odds required, and may possibly be able to pay if he
Ipses ; nor, then, did shop boys make books on races, or
talk learnedly of double events, &c., and such scenes as
can ijow be witnessed any race day in Fleet Street, were
utterly unknown, and undreamt of. A King's plate of ,£100
was then considered worth running for, and noblemen, and
gentlemen, matched their horses one against the other, in a
proper spirit of emulation.

There was a fair amount of racing literature—" Baily's
Racing Register," " Pick's Racing Calendar," " The
Turf Register," "The Racing Calendar," and "The
Sporting Magazine," and I know, and care not, whether
this is an exhaustive list. From some of them we
get some curious names of race horses, for their
owners then, seem to have run riot in the nomenclature
of their animals. What should we say nowadays to such
names as "Kiss in a Corner," "Jack, come tickle me,"
"Jenny, come tye me," "I am little, pity my condition,"
"Jack's my favourite," "Britons, strike home," "Why do
you slight me?" "Turn about, Tommy," "Sweeter when
clothed," " Watch them and Catch them," " First time of
Asking," " Fear not, Victorious," " Hop, step, and jump,"
&c., &c.

As a curious incident of manners in the early century, I
may mention that two ladies, Lady Lade and Mrs. Thorn-
ton (wife of Col. Thornton), both rode matches in public.
Mrs. Thornton's brother-in-law, Mr. Flint, was stopping at
the Colonel's seat of Thornville, and riding with the lady
in its grounds. They had a gallop, and Mrs. Thornton's
old horse, aided by her good riding, beat her antagonist,
which so nettled him, that he challenged her to a further
trial, which took place publicly, on the last day of the
York August Meeting, 1804. Mrs. Thornton's horse
broke down, and she lost; but she did not omit to wail
publicly over the matter, asserting that otherwise she294

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,

would have won, and that her opponent took unfair
advantage of her.

This exhibition of herself seems to have fired her ambi-
tion, for we read in the Morning- Post, August 20, 1805 :

"Mrs. Thornton is to ride 9 st. against Mr. Bromford, who
is to ride 13 St., over the York Course, four miles ; to run
the last race on Saturday in the next August meeting, for
four hogsheads of Coti Roti p.p. and 2,000 guineas h. ft. ;
and Mrs. T. bets Mr, B. 700 gs. to 600 gs. p.p.; the
2,000 gs. h. ft. provided it is declared to the Stewards four
days before starting. Mrs. T. to have her choice of four
horses.

" Mr. B. to ride Allegro, sister to Allegranti.

" N.B. Colonel T., or any gentleman he may name, to be
permitted to follow the lady over the course, to assist her
in case of any accident."

When it came to the pinch, Mr. Bromford declined the
race, paid his forfeit, and the lady walked over. Later in
the day, however, she raced Buckle, a jockey, mounted t>n
Allegro—carrying 13 st. 6 lb., whilst Mrs. Thornton scaled
9 st. 6 lb.—and she beat the professional by half a neck.
This match does not seem to have been for any money,
but merely for the honour of the thing.

Before quitting the subject of horses, I cannot help men-
tioning that both Tattersall, and Aldridge, were in existence,
as equine auctioneers, a position which, their thorough
integrity has consolidated, and preserved to the present
day.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOO OO oo oooo oo-c oo oo

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOCOC OCOGOCOC ocococ ocoo

K£XgWKgr£X£X£X£X£KpKffX£iyrLaKpt£X£XnKpt£%p?£t£*nKnr£K£KJtip ript/rtvr

Cock-fighting—Its illegality—Public recognition of it—Description of company at
a cock-fight—High stakes—Bull-baiting—Debate thereon in the House of
Commons—Prize-fighting—Famous pugilists—George IV. as a patron of the
Ring—Attempts to put down prize-fighting—Female physical education —
Cudgel-playing, and other sports.

OCK-FIGHTING was another way of gambling—

a barbarous pastime, yet of great antiquity, and,

changing the name of the combatants to quails, or
partridges, extending all over the world, especially in the
East. The Greeks had their Cock-fights, the Romans
fought both cocks and quails. Of its introduction into
England there is no certain date, but Fitz-Stephen, who
died in 1191, mentions schoolboys as fighting their cocks
on Shrove Tuesday. Edward III., Henry VIII., Elizabeth,
and Cromwell, all prohibited Cock-fighting ; yet, so popular
was it, that no prohibition was of any avail, and the Royal
fulminations passed unheeded, and fell into desuetude
almost as soon as uttered.

In the time of which I write, Cocking was a recognized
sport, publicly advertised. Morning Post, January 5, 1805 :
" Cocking, to be Fought on Monday, January 7, 1805, and
continue all the week, at the Cock Pit Royal, South side
of St. James's Park, the Gentlemen of Suffolk, and the
Gentlemen of Hampshire's Main of Cocks, for Five

CHAPTER XXXV.296	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY\

Guineas the battle, and One Hundred Guineas the odd.
To begin fighting each day precisely at Half-past Five
o'clock." Indeed, " Cock-fighting, Shooting, and Military
Carriages " were advertised.

The Cock Pit Royal was in Bird Cage Walk, St. James's
Park, and was a great institution, until the expiration of
its lease in 1816, when the landlord refused to renew. Of
a sketch of its interior (by Rowlandson, and Pugin, in their
" Microcosm of London") the following description is
given, which will better help to illustrate the sport than
any words of mine, as the account is contemporary:

"This print may, without undue partiality, be acknow-
ledged to excel that of Hogarth, upon the same subject. It
is different in one particular: here the satire is general, not
personal; a collection of peers and pickpockets, grooms
and gentlemen, bons-vivants and bullies ; in short, a scene
which produces a medley of characters, from the highest to
the lowest, has seldom been painted with an adherence to
nature so strict and so interesting. The principal figure in
the front row seems to anticipate the loss of the battle; his
neighbour to the right appears to have some eggs in the same
basket; whilst a stupid sort of despair in the countenance
of the next figure proclaims that all hope is lost; the
smiling gentleman on his left seems to be the winner.
The clenched fists and earnest features of the personage in
the same row, between two sedate contemplaters of the
fight, make one feel that sort of interest which arises from
a belief that victory depends upon only a little assistance
being given at that particular moment to the bird upon
whose side he has betted. In the centre, and on the
highest row behind, are two figures, apparently intended
as hurling defiance to the whole company; they are cer-
tainly offering odds, which no one is disposed to take. A
little to the left, and just above the smart officer with a
cocked hat. is a group inimitably portrayed. A parcel of
knowing ones, who have betted pretty high, finding them*L-BA1TING.

297

selves in the wrong box, appear very desirous of edging off,
and are attacking all together a personage who has been
too much for them; his attitude is expressive, and, with
his fingers thrust into his ears, seems to indicate that he
will take ho more bets; whilst the two figures (one in a
cocked' hat) to the left appear to enjoy the humorous
expedient. . . . On the right we discover a pugilistic
exhibition, and at a little distance horsewhips and sticks
brandished in the air; all these are the natural accompani-
ments of the scene. Upon - the whole, this picture has
great merit, and conveys a more perfect idea of the con-
fusion and bustle of a Cockpit than any description." This
was written in 1808-9.

Sometimes very large sums depended upon these com-
bats—vide Morning Post, April 28, 1800: "A main of
cocks is to be fought this week at Newmarket, as interesting
to the sporting world as that, last summer, at York. The
match is ostensibly made between Mr. Cussans, and Mr,
Germain ; but Sir Harry Vane Tempest, and others we
could name, are supposed to be the real principals. It is
for 1,000 guineas a side, and forty guineas each battle.
Great sums are depending, and much money will be
sported."

The last Act against Cock-fighting was 12 and 13 Vic.,
cap. 92 (August 1, 1849) ; but if any one imagines that,
therefore, this amusement is extinct, he is very much
mistaken.

Another cruel, yet intensely national sport, was Bull-
baiting. Hardly a country town of note but had its "Bull-
ring" ; and, although the bull had but ,a circumscribed
range, being tied by a rope to a stake, yet the dogs did not
always get the best of the combat, and many a tyke met
his death, or went a -limping cripple for the remainder of
his days. I have already noted one bull-baiting in the
account of the Jubilee rejoicings at Windsor in October,
1709, and that must suffice.298

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

A few years previously it had been made the subject of
a debate in the House of Commons, where much special
pleading in its favour was exhibited. On May 24, 1802,1
Mr. John Dent, M.P. for Lancaster, moved that the Bill to
prevent Bull-baiting and Bull-running be read a second
time. Sir Richard Hill pleaded the cause of the poor bulls,
not very eloquently, but as earnestly as he could. He
pointed out that an Act had been passed for the abolition
of Bull-baiting in Ireland, and he called upon the Irish
members to support this Bill.

Then up rose the Right Hon. W. Windham, M.P. for
Norwich, and he contended that the cruelty was no greater
than that comprised in the sports of hunting, shooting, and
fishing. "If the effects of one were to be viewed through
the medium of a microscope, why were not the conse-
quences of the other to be scrutinized with equal severity ?"*
In the course of a long speech he warmed to his view of
the subject, until, at last, in the fervour of his eloquence,
he burst into the following : " He believed that the bull
felt a satisfaction in the contest, not less so than the hound
did when he heard the sound of the horn which summoned
him to the chase. True it was, that young bulls, or those
that were never baited before, showed reluctance to be
tied to the stake ; but those bulls, which, according to the
language of the sport, were called game bulls, who were
used to baiting, approached the stake and stood there,
while preparing for the contest, with the utmost composure.
If the bull felt no pleasure, and was cruelly dealt with,
surely the dogs had also some claim to compassion ; but:
the fact was, that both seemed equally arduous in the
conflict; and the bull, like every other animal, while it
had the better side, did not appear to feel unpleasantly ; it
would be ridiculous to say he felt no pain ; yet, when on
such occasions he exhibited no sign of terror, it was a
demonstrable proof that he felt some pleasure."'

1 "Parliamentary History," vol. xxxvi.DEBATE ON BULL-FIGHTING.	299

Mr. Courtenay rose to a much greater height. Said he:
" What a glorious sight to see a dog attack a bull! It
animates a British heart—

i To see him growl, and snap, and snarl, and bite,

< Pin the bull's nose, and prove instinctive might.'

Besides, if bull-baiting was given up, the characteristic of
our British dogs, so classically celebrated in the Augustan
age of literature, would be totally lost. Claudian says:
i Magnaque taurorum fracturse colla Britannae/ Sym-
machus mentions seven Irish bull-dogs: 4 Septem Scottici
canes/ as then first produced in the circus at Rome, to
the great admiration of the people.'"

General Gascoyne considered it an amusement which
the lower orders were entitled to ; and it was "with regret
he observed a disposition in many of the members to
deprive the poor of their recreations, and force them to
pass their time in chaunting at conventicles."

Then the .gentle William Wilberforce rose, and rebuked
the former speakers, telling them that he thought the
subject had been treated with too much levity. "The
evidence against the practice was derived from respectable
magistrates. From such evidence he had derived a variety
of facts, which were too horrid to detail to the House. A
bull—-that honest, harmless, useful animal—was forcibly
tied to a stake, and a number of bull-dogs set upon him. If
he was not sufficiently roused by the pain of their attacks,
the most barbarous expedients were hit upon to awake
in him that fury which was necessary to the amusement
of the inhuman spectators. One instance of the latter
kind he would state. A bull had been bought for the sole
purpose of being baited; but, upon being fixed to the stake,
he was found of so mild a nature that all the attacks of
the dogs were insufficient to excite him to the requisite
degree of fury ; upon which those who bought him refused
to pay the price to the original owner, unless he could be3oo	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

made to serve their purposes: the owner, after number-
less expedients, at last sawed off his horns, and poured into
them a poignant sort of liquid, that quickly excited the
animal to the wished-for degree of fury. When bulls were
bought merely for the purpose of being baited, the people
who bought them wished to have as much diversion (if
diversion, such cruelty could be called) as possible, for their
money. The consequence was that every art, even fire,
had been employed to rouse the exhausted animal to fresh
exertions, and there were instances where he had expired
in protracted agonies amidst the flames. It had been said,
that it would be wrong to deprive the lower orders of their
amusements, of the only cordial drop of life which sup-
ported them under their complicated burthens. Wrctched,
indeed, must be the condition of the common people of
England, if their whole happiness consisted in the practice
of such barbarity !"

Sheridan joined Wilberforce ; but the Bill was thrown
out by 64 to 51 ; and the practice of Bull-baiting was only
declared illegal in 1835, when it was included in the Act
against Cruelty to Animals, 5th and 6th William IV., cap.
59;

There was yet another brutal sport, not wholly uncon-
nected with money and betting, which was then at its
apogee, and that was Prize-fighting. This decade was at
its Augustan period, when the ruffians, who mauled each
other for lucre's sake, were petted and feted as much as
ever were the gladiators in the time of Rome's decline—
the names of the pugilists then living being those of the
greatest renown in the history of the prize ring. Even
people who are not tainted with a love of the " Noble Art
of Self-defence" must have heard of Jem Belcher, John
Gully, page to George IV., and M.P. for Pontefract;
Dutch Sam, Tom Crib, and his black adversary Thomas
Molineaux ; these names are as familiar to every school-
boy as those of the Homeric heroes. It was an age ofPRIZE-FIGHTING.

muscle, not of brains; and the use of the fists was en-
couraged as the arbiter in disputes which nothing but a little
blood-letting could appease, in preference to the duels, or
to that utter abhorrence of all Englishmen—the knife.

Doubtless, boxing is commendable in many ways, and
should form part of every man's physical education, not
only to the great advantage of his muscular system, and
consequent good health, but, should occasion ever require^
the use of his fists, he is armed at once with weapons in
whose use he is well trained; but that is very different from
two men, possibly very good friends, spending long months
in getting themselves in the best possible physical condition
for pounding each other into a mass of bruised jelly, in order
to put some money in their pockets, and afford sport and
amusement to a parcel of debased brutes, whatever their
social position might be.

The Prince of Wales in his younger days was, to a small
extent, a " Patron of the Ring," i.e.y he once went to a
meeting which took place at Smitham Bottom, near
Croydon, on June 9, 1788, where he saw three fights, one
between the celebrated John Jackson—whose beautiful
tomb is in Brompton Cemetery—and Fewterel, of Birming-
ham ; and, on Jackson's winning, he sent him, by the hand
of his friend, Colonel Hanger, a bank-note. The next fight
was between Stephen Oliver, nicknamed " Death," with a
Jew, named Elisha Crabbe, which ended in " Death's ''
defeat; and the third encounter was between two out-
siders.

Again he was present at three fights which took place
on the Brighton race-course, on August 6, 1788. In the
third—which was between Tom Tyne, "the Tailor," and
Earl—Tyne hit his opponent a sharp, left-handed blow on
the side of the head, which drove him against the rail of the
stage. He fell insensible, and expired very shortly after-
wards. The Prince of Wales openly expressed his deter-
mination to never again witness a prize-fight—and this heTHE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

kept—also to settle an annuity on Earl's widow and chil-
dren ; but history is silent as .to whether this was ever
•carried, out.

Of course, then as now, the better-thinking portion of
the nation discountenanced these blackguard exhibitions,
Which were mainly supported by the " fast" set of that day
—the Jerry Hawthorns and Corinthian Toms of the
next decade. It is refreshing to read such paragraphs as
the following:

Morning Post, January n, 1808: "Prize Fighting.
We are happy to hear that there is some .prospect of this
most disgraceful and mischievous practice being put an
end to by the interference of the Legislature. The conse-
quences resulting from it become every day more and
more serious, and, without a vigorous effort to terminate
the evil, we may shortly expect to find numerous families
reduced to the extremes of poverty and wretchedness, in
-consequence of those who have hitherto supported them
by their industry having given themselves up to idleness
and blackguardism, by entering the foul ranks, and be-
coming the constant associates of prize-fighting vaga-
bonds."

Ibid.: "The magistrates are beginning to do their duty ;
they, last week, dissolved a meeting of Boxers who were
-sparring for money. His Majesty's Navy wants able-
bodied men, and those lovers of fighting could hardly
complain, if they were compelled to box with French
instead of English men."

Morning Post, February 3, 1808: "Prize Fighting.
We are rejoiced to find that we have not in vain called
attention to the growing evil of this disgraceful, mischievous,
and baleful practice. Mr. Justice Grose, in his Charge to
the Grand Jury, yesterday, particularly noticed its per-
nicious effects, and forcibly urged the necessity of a speedy
remedy ; and we may, therefore, hope, ere long, to see the
progress of this species of blackguardism and vice effec-CO UNTR Y SPORTS.

tually arrested. We shall take an early opportunity of
offering some further reflections upon the subject."

But nothing came of it. It is now illegal, but we know
well enough, that fights frequently take place. The police
are half-hearted over it, knowing it to be a thankless task
even to- effect a capture; for no magistrate ever inflicts
more than a very nominal punishment, either on principals
or accessories.

That the physical education of the fair sex was attended

CUDGEL PLAYING— iScO.

to, long before these days of female gymnastic exercises, is
evidenced by the following advertisement in the Morning
Post, February 20, 18io: "patent grand exercise
Frames particularly intended for Young Ladies, the use of
which will not only remove deformities, but will infallibly
produce health, strength, symmetry, beauty, and superior
elegance of deportment," &c.

* The lower classes in the Metropolis were naturally
debarred from manly sports, by want of room ; so that3°4

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

almost , their sole muscular exercise was Skittles. But, in
the country, a wholesome rivalry was engendered among
the rustic youth, by means of foot-racing, wrestling, and
Cudgel-playing. The latter still survives in Berkshire,
where many a crown has been cracked at the Scouring of
the White Horse (of late years fallen into desuetude), and
many an old "gamester" still lingers, who can tell long
yarns of the hats he has won. At fairs, too, and holidays,
the young lasses used to race for smocks, and many sports
were in vogue that are now never practised, save when
resuscitated at some Harvest Home, or some country school
feast.CHAPTER XXXVI.

Hunting then, and now—Hunting near the Metropolis—The Epping Hunt—
Fishing—Shooting then, and now—Guns—Methods of proving gun barrels—
Big charges—Introduction of the Percussion Cap—Size of bags—Colonel
Thornton's bet.

OF course there was Hunting, both Fox and Stag,
but it was not carried out on the same principles
then as now. A man, then, kept a pack of hounds
for his own amusement, that of his friends, and the neigh-
bourhood generally. A meet, then, was a great social
gathering of neighbours, at which, for the time, all were
on a courteous equality, engendered by similarity of taste,
and cemented by means of the Master, who, at some
great expense, kept the pack for others' use. Now, " the old
order changes, yielding place to new ;" the probability is
that it is a subscription pack—with the subscriptions not
too well paid, and the Master frequently changing, owing
to his quarrels with his masters, the subscribers, who carp
at his doings, and try to dictate their own views. The rail-
way brings down the "London Contingent"—sporting
stockbrokers, solicitors, tailors, and publicans—in fact, all
who can scrape together the necessary money to hire the
" hunter," and pay its fare to the nearest station to the
meet. These people have no sympathy with the farmers,
no relations with the county, spend no money, because306 the nineteenth century.

they return to London at night, care nought for the
damage they do, which, probably, is done in ignorance;
and it is no wonder that, now-a-days, hunting is not so
popular among tenant farmers as it might be—and it is
pretty safe to prophesy, that in many districts, before many
mote years, it will be reckoned as a thing of the past.

Then, however, there was never heard a whisper of the

hunting was different—both horses, and hounds were
heavier, and slower then ; it was not the pace of the
run that was discussed at night, but its length, and the
behaviour of both hounds, and horses. Fox hunting
began much earlier in the morning than it does now;
and a good solid meal of cold meat, washed down with a
tankard of home brewed, was vastly superior to a modern
"lawn meet" breakfast, with its wines and liqueurs, to

FOX-HUNTING BREAKFAST.

scarcity of foxes. A
fox found poisoned, or
shot, would have been
considered as an in-
delible disgrace to the
district. The word vul-
pecide was not coined,
because the crime had
not been committed.
No farmer ever sent in
a claim to the Hunt,
and only old women,
.cottagers, ever wanted
compensation for the
gander, or the two or
three hens that they
had lost; as to warning
off land, it had never
been dreamt of, much
less practised.

In other ways, too.HUNTING.

" steady the nerves," to say nothing of the flask of "jumping
powder." Sport, too, was found much nearer the Metropolis
then than now. Morning Post, August 14, 1805: "To
SPORTSMEN and others.—A Deputation to be granted of
the very extensive Manors of HORNSEY and FlNCHLEY,
in the County of Middlesex, with the liberty of Hunting
and Shooting over, and upon, the said Manors, abounding
with game," &c.

The Epping Hunt, too, where the citizens1 annually met

PERCH-FISHING—1S04.

on Easter Monday, to vindicate their right to hunt in the
Forest, was not the farce it afterwards became. Most men,
then, were accustomed to horseback, and could manage to
stick on somehow.

Fishing and shooting Were, of course, as popular as now.
Of the former we have had little to learn since Isaac
Walton's time, and the illustration shows us that the

1 There is a story told of a Lord Mayor in times long past, who went a-
hunting in Epping Forest. Some one riding past him saluted him with, " My
Lord ! the Hare comes this way." His lordship bravely drew his trusty sword,
and, flourishing it, exclaimed, "Let him come I let him come ! I thank my
God, I fear him not."3O8	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

" Contemplative Man," in the early part of this century,
knew how to combine his "Recreation" with the charms
of female society.

Shooting, like hunting, was a totally different thing, in
the first ten years of the century, to what it is now. There
were no battues, no hot, and elaborate, luncheons, no being
posted in " warm corners," no army of beaters, no breech-
loaders, and two attendants to load for you, and, at the end
of a day s sport, no waggon-loads of slain to be sent off to
market to help pay, in some part, the expenses of breeding,
and keeping, such a head of game. Then, a man went out,

AFTER A DAY'S SHOOTING—1809.

preferably with a friend or two, soon after an early break-
fast, accompanied by Don and Ponto, who were his con-
stant companions in his walks, and whose education he had
personally superintended ; to watch their intelligent mover
ments was in itself one of the pleasures of the day. When
a covey rose, not a shot was wasted, if possible, for, by
the time the gun was reloaded, the birds would be far off.
A bit of bread and cheese, as luncheon, at the nearest farm-
house, or the village pub.; if the former, a brace of birds, or
a hare left, with a kindly message. Enoiigh game to carry
home, without being tired, plenty for the larder, and some
for friends ; then dinner, some punch—and Betty wouldSHOOTING.

309

come with the chamber candle and warming-pan, to find
the party asleep and quite ready for bed.

The Guns, with which our grandfathers shot, were vastly
inferior to our modern breechloader; the workmanship
was good, but the flint-lock, with its tardy firing, and the
very weak powder then in use, did not render the " birding
gun " a very efficient weapon.

Thornhill, who wrote the Shooting Directory in 1804, is
as great an authority on the subject of guns as any of his
contemporaries ; and he had quite sense enough to see that

COCK SHOOTING WITH SPANIELS—1804.

the old-fashioned long barrel of four feet, or more, carried no
further than one of three feet, and he counselled the musket
length of two feet ten inches, as the standard length for
fowling-piece barrels, and preferred one that carried its
shot close, to one that scattered. The method of proving
" that a barrel will not burst, was to get a ball to fit the
exact bore, and put the exact weight of the ball in powder,
with which load, and fire it off by a train ; if it does not
burst, you need be under no apprehension. This is called3io	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,

Tower-proof; or put in double the quantity of powder and
shot."

He recommends as a proper charge for a fowling-piece
of ordinary calibre, a drachm and a quarter, or a drachm
and a half, of good powder, and an ounce, or an ounce and
a quarter, of shot; and, when treating on the subject of
recoil, he gives one or two anecdotes of overloading. " The
overloading of the piece is the reason of the recoil; re-
specting sportsmen who are in the habit of overloading
with shot, such are properly ridiculed in a treatise pub-
lished some time since, entitled, ' Cautions to Young
Sportsmen,' in which we find an advertisement levelled at
some persons who were going to a Pigeon Shooting Match
at Ballingbear-Warren House. It was as follows: 1 Take
notice, that no person will be allowed to load with more
than four ounces of shot.' A gamekeeper to whom this
author mentioned the story, told him he thought it a pretty
fair allowance, and, on being told what charge and weight
of shot he generally used, replied, he divided a pound into
five charges. ... A friend of the gentleman who relates
this story, seeing his keeper equipped for a pigeon match,
had the curiosity to examine his charge, and, after trying
it with his rammer, expressed his surprise at finding it
rather less than usual. 'Oh, sir,' replied the keeper, 'I
have only put in the powder yet;' and, on putting in the
shot, the charge, altogether, was eleven fingers. The. reason
he assigned was 4 that he always liked to give his piece a
belly full.'"

The Percussion Cap, which was destined to make such a
revolution in small arms, was patented April n, 1807, by
the inventor, the Rev. A. J. Forsyth, of Belhelvie, Aberdeen-
shire. It soon came into use, for we find an advertisement
in the Morning Post, December 23, 1808: "To sportsmen.
The patent Gun-lock invented by Mr. Forsyth is to be
had at No. 10, Piccadilly, near the Hay market. Those who
may be unacquainted with the excellence of this InventionQUANTITY OF GAME.	311

are informed that' the inflammation is produced without
the assistance of flint, and is much more rapid than in the
common way. The Lock is so constructed as to render it
completely impervious to water, or damp of any kind, and
may, in fact, be fired under water."

Grouse, partridge, and other shooting, commenced on the
same dates as now, and game certificates were as necessary
then, as at the present time. Heavy bags were not the
rule. Thornhill supplies us with his ideal of a luxurious
sportsman of his time, with every appliance for slaughter,
and game ad libitum. Compare his butcher's bill with that
of a modern battue. " A man of fortune, surrounded with
gamekeepers (let us suppose the scene for the present in
Norfolk), pointers, setters, &c., without number, Manton 1
Guns, and all in compleat retinue, going out at, perhaps,
twelve o'clock (the hour of indolent, and feather bed
gunners), into the highest preserved covers in that County,
where the game is so very tame, that twenty birds may be
killed in a few hours ; their servants with clean gyns ready,
and, if necessary, loaded by them ; and probably, if the
dog of one of these elegant sportsmen is admired, or
gains credit, if his master is asked his name, he makes for
answer ' he really cannot tell you, but will ask his game-
keeper.' "

A large bag is spoken of by Daniel, in his Field Sports,
where he says that in 1796, on Mr. Colquhoun's manor at
Wretham, in Norfolk, the Duke of Bedford, and six other
gentlemen, killed eighty cock pheasants, and forty hares,
besides some partridges, in one day.

Mr. Coke, of Holkham, kept up a wonderful head of
game, so that his performances ought not to be looked
upon in the light of phenomenal sportsmanship, because
his victims were so plentifully to hand. As an instance, on
October 7, 1797, upon his manor at Warham, and within a
mile's circumference, he bagged forty brace of partridges,
1 Joseph Manton was at that time the great gun maker.312	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

in eight hours, at ninety-three shots ; and, on the previous
day, over the same ground, he killed twenty-two brace and
a half, in three hours. In 18.01, he killed, in five days,
seven hundred and twenty six partridges.

In January, 1803, Mr. Coke, Sir John Shelley, and Tom
Sheridan went to Lord Cholmondeley's place at Houghton,
in Norfolk, and killed there, in one day, to their three guns
only, fourteen and a half brace of hares, sixteen couples ol
rabbits, twenty-four brace of pheasants, thirteen brace of
partridges, and sixteen couples of woodcock.

In the Morning Post of the 21st of January, 1801, we find:
" Col. Thornton some time ago made a bet that he would
kill 400 head of game at 400 shots, the result was, that, in the
year 1800, he bagged 417 head of game (consisting of part-
ridges, pheasants, hares, snipe, and woodcock) at 411 shots.
Enumerated amongst these are a black wild duck, and a
white pheasant cock, and at the last point he killed a
brace of cock pheasants, one with each barrel; on the leg
of the one last killed (an amazing' fine bird) was found a
ring, proving that he had been taken-by Colonel Thornton
when hawking, and turned out again in the year 1792,"000030QOOQOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO



CHAPTER XXXVII.

A Cockney's account of the First of September—Pigeon shooting—Out-door games
—Cricket—High stakes—Lord's cricket ground—Trap and ball—Billiards—
Life of Andrews the billiard player.

PASSING from recounting the feats of legitimate
sportsmen, let us unbend, and indulge in a con-
temporary account of his cockney congener—Times,
September 2, 1803 :

"A Cockney's Account of Yester'day,

being

The First of September.

" Having sat up all night to be ready and fresh in the
morning, four of us met at the Obelisk, in St. George's
Fields, from whence we proceeded with our dogs, arms,
and ammunition, to Lambeth Marsh, where we expected to
have great sport, but found nothing except a cat, which we
all fired at; but being only four in number, and a cat
having8nine lives, we missed killing her, though, as we
believe, she was severely wounded. In this discharge we
broke a bell glass in a gardener's ground, so, fearing that
we might, on that account, be taken up for poachers, we
made the best of our way to Tothill Fields ; here we re-
loaded our pieces, and gave our dogs a piece of bread
each, but the fox dog would not eat his. We then pro-314	THE NINETEENTH CENTUR Y.

ceeded to look about for sport, when two Westminster
boys claimed the place as their manor, and drove us out
of it. We now beat all about Jenny's Whim, and seeing
something swimming across the water, which a waterman's
boy told us was a dab-chick, we all fired, but without
success, but the terrier caught it, as it ran up the bank
and it proved to be the largest rat we had ever seen.

" As we passed through the five Fields, Chelsea, we saw
several pigeons, but they flew so fast that none of us could
take aim.

" On the other side of Battersea Bridge, met two men
driving geese. Offered them eighteenpence, which they
accepted, for a shot at the flock, at twenty yards. Drew
lots who should fire first; it fell to Billy Candlewick" s
chance, who, from his father belonging many years ago to
one of the regiments of City Militia, knew something of
taking aim.

" The goose driver stepped the ground, and Billy took
aim for above ten minutes, when, shutting both his eyes
lest the pan might flash in his sight, he snapped, and
missed fire. He took aim a second time, snapped and
missed again. Borrowed Bob Tape's scissars, and hammered
the flint—snapped, and missed fire a third time—thought
the Devil had got hold of the gun, examined her, found
she was neither loaded nor primed. The goose driver
refused to let Billy try again, so we gave him another
sixpence, and he sold us a lame gander, which we placed
at about six yards, and, taking a shot apiece at him, killed
him, and put him in Ned Thimble's cabbage net.

" Passed over Clapham Common, where we saw several
parties, but would not interfere with their sport.

" In our way to Stockwell, Ned Simple fired at a pigeon,
which was perched on the top of a tree, and shot a man's
hat and wig off, who stood underneath it. As we thought
he might be killed, we set off as hard as we could run, but
were pursued and overtaken by two gardeners, who insistedCOCKNEY SPORTSMEN,

3i5

upon being paid two shillings for destroying a scarecrow.
We paid the money very readily, and kept our counsel.

" When we came in sight of the Swan, at Stockwell, we
all ran as hard as we could to see who should get in first
as we h^id settled to breakfast there. Unfortunately, our
gun being cock'd, I made a stumble, and the trigger being
touched by something, off went the piece, and lodged the
contents in the body of a sucking pig that was crossing the
road. The squeaking of the poor little animal roused the
maternal affections of the sow, and set the fox dog, the
terrier, the Newfoundland bitch, and the mastiff, a barking.
The noise of the sow, the pig, and the dog, with the report
of the gun, brought the people of the house, and, indeed,
of the neighbourhood ; and, being threatened by one, and
laughed at by another, we thought it best to buy the pig
at four shillings, which we did, and put it into Bob Tape's
game bag, which, by the bye, was nothing but half a bolster
tick.

" We now beat every bush with the muzzle of our guns,
set the dogs on the pigs, and found but one chaffinch,
-which was rather wild, not letting us come within eight
yards, so that we could not make sure of our bird. We
hunted him from spray to spray for above an hour, without
"being able to get in a parallel line, so as to take sure aim
when, at last, he was killed by a little boy, who knocked
him down with a stone. Bought him, and put him into the
net with the goose.

" Hunted a weazle for above an hour, and lost him. The
terrier was remarkably staunch.

" Crossing a field near Camberwell, we thought we saw
.a covey of partridges at the side of a ditch ; so we all made
up to them with our guns cock'd, tying the dogs to our
legs, that they might not run in, and spring the game.

"What we thought to be a covey of partridges, proved
to be a gang of gypsies, who were squatted under the
hedge, peeling turnips and paring potatoes for dinner. It3i6

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

was the mercy of God we did not fire on them, as all our.
pieces were up to our shoulders, and we had but one eye
open, apiece, when that, which we took to be the old cocky
rose up, and said in a loud voice, ' What the devil are ye
about ?'

'" After much difficulties, and but little sport, got, by the
direction of the gypsies, into the Greenwich road, where,
being rather fatigued, we stopped at the Halfway house,
until a coach came by, when, mounting the roof, and the box,
we were conveyed near Blackheath, to our unspeakable joy.

" Never saw the Heath before—amazed at the number of
furze bushes, and the wide extent there is for game. Had
an excellent chase after a jackass, when the mastiff tore
his leg. Kept close together for fear of losing each other.

" Got down near a large round house, shot at a flock of
sparrows, and killed one, which we think is a cock, his
head being rather black.

"Saw several brother sportsmen out, who had killed
nothing but a hedge hog and a tame jack daw, which
belonged to the public house at New Cross Turnpike.

" Got up to the main road, fired at a yellow hammer,
and frightened the horses in the Dover stage. The guard
threatened to shoot us, and we took to our heels.

" Saw some black game flying very high. They looked
for all the world like crows.

" The terrier came to a point at a thick bunch of fern.
We were now sure this must be a covey of partridges, and
we prepared accordingly. The mastiff ran in, and brought
out one of the young ones. It proved to be a nest of grass
mice : took every one, and put them into the bolster. Grass
rnice were better than nothing.

" Much fatigued, and agtied to shoot till the way home,
fired off our guns at the foot of Greenwich Hill, and were
laughed at by the inhabitants—loaded them again, and
fired at a sheet of paper for half an hour without putting a
grain in it.COCKNE Y SPORTSMEN.

3i7

" We went into a cow-house, near Bermondsey Spa, to
get some milk for the dogs, and, laying down upon a heap
of straw, we all fell fast asleep. We were awakened by the
entrance of a cow and her calf, when we found we had been
robbed of our dogs and our guns.

"We went into a public house to console ourselves for
our loss, where we stayed till it was dark, that we might
not be seen returning in such an unsportsmanlike manner.

" Agreed on the way what stories we should tell about
the day's amusement and success: parted at the Monu-
ment, and went to our respective homes."

There was evidently the same tender-hearted sentiment
then, as now, with regard to the " tournament of doves "—
see the Morning Post, November 19, 1810 : " The expert
marksmen in pidgeon killing matches are very properly
denominated slaughtermen ; four of these humane gentle-
men shot no less than thirty-six, for mere amusement, the
other day on Finchley Common."

Perhaps the principal out-door game (for football, as a
game, was not yet organized, and hockey and golf had but
local fame and habitations) was Cricket; and even this
friendly sport, and generous rivalry, as we know it, was
then contaminated by being played for money. Two or
three examples, in one year, will be sufficient to show the
motive of the game.

Morning Herald^ July 1, 1802: "CRICKET. Tuesday
was played a grand match of Cricket on Hampstead Heath,
between eleven Gentlemen of the Mary le bone Club, arid
nine Gentlemen of Hampstead and Highgate, with two
men given, for 500 guineas, which was vVon by the latter,
by 112 runs."

Ibid., July 15, 1802: "Cricket. Tuesday was played
a grand match of Cricket, at Chigwell, Essex, between
eleven Gentlemen of Chigwell and eleven Gentlemen of
the Mile End Club, for 500 guineas, which was won by
the latter by 23 runs. Even betting at starting.318	THE NINETEENTH CENTUR K

"Yesterday a grand match of Cricket was played at
Camberwell, between eleven Gentlemen of Camberwell
and Peckham, and eleven Gentlemen of Clapham, for 500
guineas, which was won by the former by three wickets."

- Ibid., September 3, 1802: u Cricket. Monday last, and
two following days, was played a grand match of Cricket,
on Ripley Green, Surrey, between eleven Gentlemen of All
England, and twenty-two Gentlemen of Surrey, for 1,000
guineas, which was won by the former in one in (? innings),
and twenty-five runs."

Lord, whose Cricket-ground was afterwards bought by
the M.C.C., and which still goes by his name, then had the
ground now covered by Harewood and Dorset Squares :
the date of removal thence to the present ground is noted
in an advertisement in the Morning Post, April 21, 1809:
"Cricket Ground. Lord begs to inform the Noble-
men and Gentlemen, lovers of Cricket, that he has enclosed
and levelled a large piece of Ground, at the top of Lisson
Grove, a short distance from his old Ground, which, for
size and beauty of situation cannot be excelled, which will
be ready for playing on by the beginning of May, to be
known by the name of Lord's Saint John's Wood Cricket
Ground."

Then also was played a game, now practically defunct in
this country, but vigorous enough in America, where it is
known as Base-ball. Morning Herald, September 22,1802 :
" On Monday last was finished, at Haverstock Hill, near
Hampstead, a grand Match of Trap and Ball\ between
twenty-five Gentlemen of the Law, and five of the Gospel,
which was won by the former."

Billiards was an old indoor game, which had somewhat
fallen into abeyance^ but was reviving, for we read, in the
Morning Post, September 28,1809: <f Billiards are becoming
very fashionable; it is an amusement of a gentlemanly
cast—giving at once activity to the limbs, and grace to
the person. A match was played yesterday at Kidman's."BILLIARDS.

3i9

From this illustration, which is taken from a little book
entitled," New Instructions for Playing in all its Varieties,
the Game of Billiards," &c., 1801, there seems to have
been but little difference either in the play, or in the furni-
ture of the room, between the past and the present times*
They must have played a somewhat heavy, and dead game,,
though, for neither india-rubber cushions, nor slate tables,,
were known. The rules for the game are similar to our
own.

This little book gives a curious biography, which I am
tempted, as it is short, to copy.

" Account of Mr. Andrews, the celebrated Billiard

" Mr. Andrews was born to an easy independent for-
tune, but, commencing- life at a time that he was incap-
able of judging of the world, or of himself, was led away by
a single passion ; for he was not actuated by any other.
He devoted himself entirely to the blind goddess, and
worshipped her incessantly, under the form of two ivory
balls. He was remarkably thin, not very tall, though
above the middle size : his face was a perfect vacuum with
respect to every possible idea except Billiards. So in-
fatuated was he in pursuing this game, to attain the summit



BILLIARDS—l8oi.

Player.THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

of excellence at it, that he sacrificed days, nights, weeks,
months, and years to it.

" At length he arrived at such a degree of perfection, as
well in the theoretical, as in the practical part of the game,
that there was no player in Europe could equal him, except
one, who was the celebrated Abraham Carter, who kept the
tables at the corner of the Piazzas, Russel Street, Covent
Garden. Mr. Andrews was the most devoted adept of
this game that ever nature produced; he seemed but to
vegetate in a Billiard Room, and, indeed, he did little
more in any other place. He was a perfect Billiard Vale-
tudinarian, in the most rigid significance of the expression.
He ate, drank, slept, walked, nay, talked but to promote
the system of the balls. His regimen was tea, and toast
and butter, for breakfast, for dinner, and for supper.

" It might reasonably be imagined, that so regular a
professor would obtain all the advantages that could result
from the science. He won considerable sums, but knew
not the value of money; and when playing for only five or
ten pounds, he took no pains, but seemed perfectly indif-
ferent about winning or losing. There was a latent finesse
in this, but it did not operate to his advantage: he was
laying by for bets, but as they were seldom offered, the
strength of his play being very well known, he often lost
by repeated small sums, very considerable ones.

"It is generally believed, however, that he has played
for more money at billiards than any. other person ever
did. The following is a remarkable circumstance: he,

one night, won of Col. W-e upwards of £1,000, and the

Colonel appointed to meet him the next day to go with
him to the City, to transfer Stock to him for the amount of
the sum lost. Being in a hackney coach, they tossed up
who should pay for it. Andrews lost, and upon this small
beginning he was excited to continue, till he had lost the
whole sum he had won the night before at billiards. When
the coachman stopped to get down, he was ordered to getANDREWS, THE BILLIARD PLAYER. 321

up again, and drive them back, as they had no occasion to
get out.

" By these pursuits he lost very large sums which he had
won at billiards; and, in a few years, hazard, and other
games of chance, stripped him of every shilling he could
command. He had still left a small annuity which he
endeavoiured to dispose of, but it was so securely settled upon
himself that he could not sell it; otherwise it is probable
that it would soon have been transferred at the gaming
table. He very lately lived in a retired manner in Kent,
where he declared to an intimate old acquaintance that he
never knew contentment when he was rolling in money;
but, since he was obliged to live upon a scanty pittance, he
thought himself one of the happiest men in the universe."

22CHAPTER XXXVIIL

The Theatre—Number of theatres in London—Famous actors and! actresses—
Disturbances at a theatre—Master Betty, "The Infant Roscius "—His country
experience—Puffs preliminary—His first appearance in London—Crowds to
see him—Presented to the King and the Prince of Wales—Acts at Drury Lane
—His subsequent career.

IN the Dawn of the Nineteenth Century, the theatre was
a favourite amusement for the good folks, probably
because there were no other public forms of amuse-
ment, if we except an occasional concert or masquerade.
The stage supplied this want, and the people took due
advantage of it. The audience, through much frequenting,
were critically educated, and demanded good acting. This>#
as a rule, they obtained, partially, as I think, because there
were fewer actors, and, consequently, not so many mediocre
performers as now, and partly owing to the constant change
of performance—there being no " long runs," as we know
them, where an actor mechanically goes through the same
part 'for hundreds of nights, until, like Sothern, he abso-
lutely, and unconsciously, adopts his own mannerisms, and
spoils himself for a fresh part.

The richer, and titled classes, were not content with
witnessing professional skill, but strove to emulate and
surpass the performers at their own amateur entertain-
ments, and the most notable of these private societies was
the Pic Nic Society.THEATRES.

There were eight Theatres in London, i.e., when one or
other was not burnt down—namely, The King's, Hay-
market ; Covent Garden ; Drury Lane ; Theatre Royal,
Haymarket; The Royalty, in Goodman's Fields ; Sadlers
WellsAstley's ; and the Royal Circus, now the Surrey,
on the other side the river.

Of course, as would be only natural, the best actors were
at the West-end Theatres, and to show their calibre, one
has only to mention such names as John Philip Kemble,
Munden, Bannister, Dowton, Elliston, Liston, Mrs. Siddons,
Fawcett, Mrs. Jordan, Kelly, Johnstone, Young, Cooke, &c.
No wonder, that with such actors, the stage was popular.
Their names are still a tradition of excellence to the pro-
fession, and the performances, with one notable exception,
in the O. P. Riots, were listened to with great decorum, and
there was a vast improvement upon the rougher manners
of the previous century.

I can only find the mention of one fracas in the whole
ten years, and the report of that, in the Annual Register\
December 26, 1801, shows how very far the audience were
from sympathizing with the offender. " At Covent Garden
Theatre the holiday folks were inclined to be mischie-
vous. As soon as the curtain drew up to commence the
play of4 Richard the Third/ a wine glass was thrown on
the stage by way of prologue, but without exciting much
observation ; a few minutes after, determined to attract
notice, a quart bottle was thrown from the two-shilling
gallery on the stage ; it grazed the hat of Mr. Betterton,
who was playing Tressel to Murray's Henry VI., knocked
out some of the jewels, and, falling on the stage, rolled
down to the lamps unbroken. The audience were thunder-
struck, the play stood still, and, for a few seconds, every
one gazed with amazement. Satisfied of what had been
done, a general burst of indignation broke out over the
house, and ' throw him over!' * turn him out!' were
vociferated from all quarters. The villain was pointed out324

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,

by his neighbours, sitting in the front row of the two-
shilling gallery. He was seized, the people in the pit, and
the boxes, rising up, and considerable agitation prevailed.
The fellow, who was drunk, held by the iron railing, and
refused to retire. This provoked the resentment against
him still more, and the cries of vengeance were loud and
general. Three or four laid hold of him, and seemed as if
they would drag rail and all away ; at last, they succeeded
in taking him out of the theatre."

In this decade appeared a theatrical phenomenon—the
like of which has never been seen since ; in the shape of
a boy, who was endowed with a truly marvellous gift of
acting—one Master William Henry West Betty, surnamed
"The Infant Roscius," who was born at Shrewsbury,
September 13, 1791. His parents were extremely respect-
able, and in easy circumstances—so that it was not from
need, but from pure inclination, that he adopted the stage
as a profession. Whilst yet a child, he was fond of
declamation with action, and, before he was twelve, he
acted the part of Osman in Voltaire's tragedy of Zara, at
the Theatre, Belfast. He was, at that time, residing in
Ireland, and the theatres, having been closed for some time
previously, owing to the disturbed state of the country,
were glad of any attraction when they did open—so Betty
took an engagement at the above theatre, for four nights,
on the understanding that he was to share the house, after
deducting twelve pounds, for the expenses of the house.
His first performance was on the 19th of August, 1803,
when he was not yet twelve years old. Next day he was
the talk of Belfast, and on the other three nights he played
Nerval, Rolla, and Romeo.

Then he went to Dublin, Cork, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and
Birmingham, at which latter place he was heard by Mr.
Justice Graham, one of the Board of Management of Drury
Lane Theatre. He reported about the infant genius, and
proposals were made, which were too low to be acceptable." THE INFANT ROSCIUS"	325

He was afterwards engaged to play at Covent Garden, and,
owing to an informality in the agreement, Drury Lane got
hold of him on the intervening nights, at the same salary.

Whoever \yas his entrepreneur, he did his work well, and
the puff preliminary was very delicately administered.
The first notice of this kind that I can find, is in the
Morning Herald, August 6, 1804. " A very extraordinary
phenomenon has lately burst
upon the theatrical world. A
boy of the name of Beatie,

not exceeding twelve years
of age, reads and enacts all
the principal of Shakespeare's
characters, in a stile of supe-
riority that astonishes the
most experienced Actors.

He has performed in Ireland,

and is now exciting general
astonishment at Edinburgh
Off the stage his manners
are puerile, as he is often
seen playing at marbles in
a morning, and Richard the
Third in the evening. He
is rather short of his age,

slight made, but has great
expression of countenance.

TUfl ___, 1 1	. TIIE YOUNG ROSCIUS, AS FREDERICK,

The moment he begins to IN .< L0VERS. vows.»
converse upon stage business,

he appears an inspired being. He has a pleasant turn fpr
repartee, which makes his company much sought for. The
Edinburgh Manager expressed his fears, at first rehearsal,
that his voice would not fill the house. ' My dear Sir/
replied the little hero of the buskin,41 beg yoil will be
under no apprehensions upon that score, for, if my voice
does not fill your house, probably my playing will!' "326	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Here is an anecdote of him, probably got up to suit the
public. Morning Herald\ November 16, 1804: " The
Young Roscius, who is in all respects playful, lately
hesitated in going on the stage when he was to perform
Richard. Young, the chief Liverpool actor, told him the
stage was waiting, and urged him to appear. The boy
declared, that, unless Young would bend his back, that he
might have one jump at leap-frog, he would not appear.
After some demur at this whimsical request, and some
useless remonstrance, Young was obliged to submit; and
the little fellow then went upon the stage, and performed
his part with admirable spirit."

Kept always before the public, in this manner, no wonder
curiosity was stimulated to the highest pitch, and that
when he did appear, he received an ovation. The mildest
contemporary account of his debut in London, is in the
Morning Herald\ of the 3rd of December, 1804, and I
extract a portion. 4<On Saturday evening (December 1st)
this prodigy of early excellence, whose merits have been
as much extolled in the provinces, as they have been
sceptically regarded in the Metropolis, met the fiery ordeal
of a London audience. There has not been, within our
recollection, any manifestation of public anxiety which can
be quoted, as equalling that displayed on this occasion, •
At one o'clock the doors of the Pit and Gallery were
besieged with expectants. At five, the outer doors of the
box passages were forced open, and the boxes were
occupied by an immense crowd, who forcibly ejected the
persons stationed to keep places. The numbers still poured
in with such rapidity, and pressure, that some hundreds
leaped from the Boxes into the Pit, which was so crowded
by this accession, that numbers must have perished, but
for the humane attentions of some Ladies in the Boxes,
who assisted in raising them, and passing them to the
lobbies. The number outside the House and in the
passages still continued to increase, though every effort" THE INFANT ROSCIUS."

3*7

was made to assure them that their exertions must be
unavailing. We have not heard of any fatal accident, but
the faintings, bruises, and minor contingencies are beyond
all enumeration."

The play was "Barbarossa" (by Dr. Browne), and Master
Betty took the part of Selim. In the second scene—"Where
"he sounds the feelings of Othman, he showed exquisite
judgment and sensibility.. In the close of the scene when
he says :

' Oh! thou hast rous'd a thought on which revenge
Mounts with redoubled fire!'

fiis fine blue eyes lighted up a countenance full of expres-
sion—his attitudes were graceful and appropriate, and the
strong emotion seemed to pervade every fibre of his frame.
The applauses which greeted his entree were redoubled,
and loud huzzas and bravos resounded through the Theatre.
In the third act, with his mother, his pathos and his
judgment were both transcendent. When to the caution
of Othman he replies, . . . the energy of his delivery was
such as to leave all description at a distance: but the
closing soliloquy was the very climax of excellence. . . .

" In passing from particulars to generals, we feel our-
selves at a loss how to proceed. We cannot try him as a
boyy who comes forward with such superior pretensions.
We cannot rate him as a man> when so many means of
future excellence are as yet unripened and undisclosed.
When we mention that his step is firm and manly—his
gesticulation free and unembarrassed—and his delivery and
emphasis in general most correct, we speak of things which
might, possibly, through tuition be acquired. But the
intelligence of manner—the eloquence of the eye when
speech was denied—the rapid yet judicious transitions
from prostrate affliction to dignified resentment—are
qualities which a Garrick might display, but which he
raever could transfuse. We do not mean to hold forth this328	THE NINETEENTH CENTUR K

youth as a model of perfection, but that, at his age, and
with so few opportunities, he should approach so nearly
to perfection, is the wonder which it is our province to
record."

THEATRICAL LEAP-FROG.

The great John Kemble was said to have been much
put out at the amount of attention this child received, and
Rowlandson caricatured the young Roscius leaping over
" Black Jack's " head.

The crowding to see him still continued, and fhere fe" THE INFANT ROSCIUS,

329

an amusing caricature by Ansell of the difficulties to be
encountered, in order to obtain a glimpse of the pre-
cocious boy. The scene is vividly depicted. " Has
any lady lost a flannel dickey?" "Who owns a shoe?"
" That Dickey belongs to me, young man," exclaims a
lady whose dress bears palpable tokens of the fray; A

VAIN ATTEMPT TO SEE YOUNG ROSCIUS.

plaintive voice is heard bewailing, "I'm a bran new hat out
of pocketwhilst a cripple inquires, " Has any of the good
people found a Crutch ? "

All sorts of ruses were attempted, in order to see
Master Betty without inconvenience. Here is one of
them—Morning Herald\ December 14, 1804: "A curiousTHE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

trick was last night discovered at Drury Lane Theatre.
Some of the Performers in the Orchestra had been induced
to yield their places to as many sprigs of fashion, who
entered with their violins under their arms, and with
greased bows, that they might not interrupt the harmony
to* which they could not contribute. The fraud was
discovered in time, and the falsetto fashionables were
civilly ushered back to the outer door / "

He was presented to the Prince of Wales at Carlton
House; and, on the 5th of December, 1804, when he was
acting at Covent Garden, the King and the Royal Family
went to Drury Lane to see the " School for Scandal," and
the King having expressed a wish to see the marvellous
boy, Sheridan had him fetched, and hence the illustration
of " The Introduction," by J. B. Sheridan introduces
him to the King as "The Wonder of the Theatrical
World—A Diamond amongst Pebbles—A Snowdrop in a
Mud-pool—The Golden Fleece of the Morning Chronicle I
The Idol of the Sun / The Mirror of the Times ! The
Glory of the Morning Post! The Pride of the Herald!
and the finest Cordial of the Publican's AdvertiserThe
young Roscius thus presented, makes his bow to the
Royal Couple, saying, " Never till this hour stood I in such
a presence, yet there is something in my breast which
makes me bold to say that Norval ne'er will shame thy
favour."

He also visited the Duke of Clarence, and Charles
James Fox; and, when he had an illness, probably
induced by over excitement, and petting, so numerous
were the inquiries after his precious health, that bulletins
had to be issued.

At Drury Lane his first appearance was as enthusias-
tically received, as at Covent Garden ; and, if possible,
more riotously, for the mob broke all the windows within
their reach, on the Vinegar Yard side of the Theatre, and,
when the passages were thrown open, the balustrades, on

\THE INTRODUCTION.332	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

both sides of the staircase which led to the boxes, were
entirely demolished.

From 1805 to 1808, he principally played at the pro-
vincial theatres, and in the latter year, being seventeen
years of age, he was entered as a gentleman Commoner of
Christ's College, Cambridge, and also was gazetted as
Cornet in the North Shropshire Yeomanry Cavalry. His
father died in 1811, and he then left Cambridge, residing
on an estate his father had purchased, near Shrewsbury.
Here he stayed till he was twenty years old, when his
passion for the stage revived; and he acted, with oc-
casional intermissions, until he was thirty-two years old,
when he retired from the stage, and lived a quiet life until
his de&th, which took place on the 24th of August, 1874.CHAPTER XXXIX,

Betty's imitators—Miss Mudie, "The Young Roscia"—Her first appearance in
London — Reception by the audience — Her fate Ireland's forgery of
" Vortigern and Rowena "—Fires among the theatres—Destruction of Covent
Garden and Drury Lane.

BETTY'S success-raised up, of necessity, some imita-
tors—there were other Roscii, who soon disap-
peared ; and, as ladies deny the sterner sex the sole
enjoyment of all the good things of this world, a Roscia
sprang into existence—a Miss Mudie, who entered on her
theatrical career, even earlier than Master Betty. Morning
Post, July 29, 1805 : "The Young Roscia of the Dublin
Stage (only seven years old),~who is called the Phenomenon,
closed her engagement there on Monday last, in the part
of Peggy, in the Country Girl\ which she is stated to have
pourtrayed with 'wonderful archness, vivacity, and dis-
crimination.' "

Children, such as this, however precocious, are, of course
simply ridiculous, and we are not astonished to find fun
being made of them. Says the Morning Post, October 21,
1805: "A young Lady was the other day presented by
her nurse and mamma to one of our managers for an
engagement. She came recommended by the testimony
of an amateur, that she was a capital representative of the
Widow Belmour. The manager, after looking at her from334

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,

head to foot, exclaimed, * But how bid is Miss ?1 ' Seven
years old, sir, next Lammas/ answered the nurse, ' bless
her pretty face.' * Oh! Mrs. Nurse/ replies the manager,
gravely, 4 too old\ too old; nothing above five years will
now do for Widow Belmour.' "

Old playgoers had not quite lost all their wits, although
they had been somewhat crazy on the subject of young-
Roscius ; but he was then fourteen, whilst this baby was
only seven. However, the Phenomenon appeared, and
duly collapsed, the story of which I should spoil did I
not give it in the original. Here it is, as a warning to
ambitious debutantes—Morning Post, November 25, 1805 :
" Covent Garden. The play of the Country Girl was
announced at this house, on Saturday evening, for the
purpose of introducing to a London audience, a very
young lady, a Miss mudie, in the character of Miss Peggy.
Miss Mudie has played, as it has been reported, but we
doubt the truth of the report, with great success at Dublin,
Liverpool, Birmingham, &c., where she has been applauded
and followed nearly as much as Master Betty, The
people of London seem to have been aware that these
reports were unfounded, for no great degree of curiosity

prevailed to see her on Saturday.	____-

" The audience received this child very favourably on her
entrance. She is said to be ten years of age, but in size
she does not look to be more than five. She is extremely
diminutive, and has not the plump, comely, countenance
of an infant: her nose is very short; her eyes not well
placed; she either wants several teeth, or is, perhaps,
shedding them ; and she speaks very inarticulately. It
was difficult to understand what she said. When she
attempts expression of countenance, her features contract
about thev nose, and eyes, in a way that gives reason to
suppose she is older than her person denotes. She seems
to have a young body with an old head.

"In the first passages of her part, she appeared to giveMISS MUDIE.

335

some satisfaction, and was loudly applauded; an in-
dulgent audience wishing, no doubt, to encourage her to
display her full powers ; but when she was talked of as a
wife, as a mistress, and an object of love, the scene became
so ridiculous that hissing and horse laughing ensued. She
made her debut before Miss Brunton, a tall, elegant,
beautiful woman, and looked in size just as if Miss
Brunton'S fan had been walking in before her; Miss
Mudie the married woman, and Miss brunton the
maiden ! When she was with her husband, Mr. Murray,
no very tall man, she did not reach higher than his knee,
and he was obliged to stoop even to lay his hand upon her
head, and bend himself down double to kiss her; when she
had to lay hold of his neckcloth to coax him, and pat his
check, he was obliged to stoop down all fours that she
might reach him ! The whole effect was so out of nature,
so ludicrous, that the audience very soon decided "against
Miss Mudie. At first they did not hiss when she was on
the stage, from delicacy ; but, in her absence, hissed the
performance, to stop the play, if possible. But as she
persevered confidently they hissed her, and at last called
vehemently, Off! off! Miss Mudie was not, however,
without a strong party to support her; but the noise in-
creased to that degree in the latter scenes that not a word
could be heard, on which Miss Mudie walked to the front
of the stage with great confidence and composure, not
without some signs of indignation, and said :

"i Ladies and Gentlemen,

"'I know nothing I have done to offend you, and
has set (sic) those who are sent here to hiss me; I will be
very much obliged to you to turn them out/

"This speech, which, no doubt had been very imprudently
put into the infant's mouth, astonished the audience ;
some roared out with laughter, some hissed, others called
Off! off! and many applauded. Miss Mudie did not
appear to be in the slightest degree chagrined or em-336	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

barrassed, and she went through the scene with as much
glee as if she had been completely successful. At the end
of it the uproar was considerable, and a loud cry arising of
Manager! Manager! Mr. Kemble came forward. In
substance he said:

"4 Ladies and Gentlemen,

Miss Mudie having performed at various pro-
vincial theatres with great success, her friends thought
themselves authorised in presenting her before you. It is
the duty, and the wish, of the proprietors of this House to
please you; and to fulfil both, was their aim in bringing
forward Miss Mudie. 4 The Drama's laws, the Drama's
patrons give*—Miss Mudie intends to withdraw herself
from the stage ; but I entreat you to hear her through the
remainder of her part.' "	v

She came on the stage again, but the audience would
not listen to her, and Miss Searle had to finish her part.
What became of this self-possessed child I know not;
according to the Morning Post, April 5, 180^ she joined
a children's troupe in Leicester Place, where, " though de-
servedly discountenanced at a great threatre, she will, no
doubt, prove an acquisition to the infant establishment."

Late in the last century, the literary and theatrical world
liad been thrown into a state of high excitement, by the
announcement of the discovery of an original play by
Shakespeare, called "Vortigern and Rowena," which was
acted at Drury Lane, and condemned, as spurious, the first
night; but belief in it lasted for some time, and the
question was of such importance, that the Morning Post,
in 1802, took the suffrages of the fashionable world, as to
its authenticity. The question was set at rest in 1805 by
the forger himself, one William Henry Ireland, who had
the audacity to publish a book1 in which he unblushingly
details all his forgeries, and his method of doing them. It

1 "The Confessions of William Henry Ireland, containing the Particulars of
liis Fabrication of the Shakespeare Manuscripts." London, 1805.THEATRES BURNT

337

is an amusing volume, and has recently been utilized by a
novelist.1 The absolute forgeries are still in existence,
including the pseudo-lock of Shakespeare's hair; and they
changed owners some few years since, when they were sold
by auction at very low prices.

There was a great fatality among theatres; there were but
few of them, and they were continually being burnt down.
The Opera House in 1789 ; The Pantheon 1792 ; Astley's
Amphitheatre, September 17, 1794. This-theatre was un-
lucky. It again fell a victim to the flames, September 1,
1803 ; and Astley, on this occasion, seems to have met
with an accident— Times> September7, 1803 : "Fortunately
for Mr. Astley, almost the whole of his plate was at Lower
Esher, from which place he reached the Amphitheatre in
one hour and a quarter. It was not till he came to Vaux-
hall that his horse fell; the same presentiment which fore-
ran the former conflagration of his property, the moment
he heard the gate bell ring, he exclaimed to Mrs. Astley,
* They come to tell me that the Theatre is on fire/ "

The Surrey Theatre, or, as it was then called, the Royal
Circus, was destroyed by fire August 12, 1805 J and Covent
Garden was burnt down September 20, 1808—the fire
being supposed to have been caused by a piece of wadding
from a gun fired during the performance of Pizarro. It
was, of course, a tremendous conflagration, and unfortu-
nately resulted in loss of life, besides the loss of many
original scores of Handel, Arne, and other eminent com-
posers, together with Handel's organ.

Plans for a new theatre were soon got out, and Mr.
Smirke (afterwards Sir Robert, to whom we owe the
beautiful British Museum, and the General Post Office) was
the architect. The first stone was laid, with much Masonic
pomp, on the 31st of December, 1808, by the Prince of Wales,
the Duke of Sussex, and a distinguished circle of guests,
being present. The weather was unpropitious, but immense

1 "Talk of the Town," by James Payn.

23338	THE NINETEENTH CENTUR K

crowds of people were present; and it is curious to learn,
as showing the defective police of the time, that " The
Horse Guards patrolled the streets, and several of the
Volunteer Corps did duty on the occasion."

Within two months from the above date, Drury Lane
Theatre was totally destroyed by fire. On the 24th of Feb-
ruary, about 11 p.m., it was discovered, and it did not take
long before the whole was in a blaze ; not for want of pre-
cautions, for it seems they had adopted the best accepted
preventives of a great theatrical conflagration known to
modern architects, viz., an iron curtain, and a huge reservoir
of water on the top of the building—the latter being
described as " a mere bucket full to the volume of fire on
which it fell, and had no visible effect in damping it/'
which may be comforting for modern playgoers to re-
member. Nor was it long in burning; by 5 a.m. " the
flames were completely subdued"—that is, there was
nothing left to burn. Very little was saved, only a bureau
and some looking-glasses, from Mrs. Jordan's dressing-
room, and the "Treasury" books and some papers.
Sheridan took his loss, outwardly, with great sang froidy
one anecdote affirming that, on a remark being made to
him that it was a wonder he could bear to witness the
destruction of his property, he replied, " Why ! where can
a man warm himself better than at his own fire-side?"
However, by his energy, he soon found temporary premises
for his company, and, having obtained a special license from
the Lord Chamberlain, he took the Lyceum and opened
it on the 25 th of September, or, within a week of the fire.CHAPTER XL.

The O. P. Riots—Causes of—Madame Catalani—Kemble's refutation of charges—
Opening of the theatre, and commencement of the riots—O. P. medals, &p.—
41 The house that Jack built"—A committee of examination—Their report—
A reconciliation dinner—Acceptation of a compromise—" We are satisfied "—
Theatre re-opens—Re-commencement of riots—The proprietors yield, and the
riots end.

E now come to the celebrated O. P. Riots,
which find no parallel in our theatrical history,
and which would require at least two thick
volumes to exhaust. Never was there anything so sense*
less ; never could people have been more persistently
foolish; they would listen to no reason; they denied, or
pooh-poohed, every fact.

O. P. represents " Old Prices," and, as the management
of the new theatre had raised the price of their entertain-
ment, as they had a perfect right to do, these people
demanded that only the old prices should be charged for
admission* It was in vain that it was pointed out that
very early notice was given of the intended rise, as indeed
it was, directly after the destruction of the fire—vide
Morning Post, September 24, 1808,: "The Managers, we
.understand, intend to raise the price of admission, when
.they open at the Opera to 7s. for the boxes, and to 4s. for
the .pit The admission for the galleries to remain as340	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

before. Much clamour has already been excited against
this innovation, but we think unjustly."

Had this been the only grumble, probably no more
would have been heard of it, but all sorts of rumours got
about—That the proprietors, of whom Kemble was one
(and, except on the stage, he was not popular), would make
a handsome profit out of the insurance, and sale of old
materials; that the increased number of private boxes,
with their ante-rooms, were built for the special purpose
of serving as places of assignation for a debauched aristo-
cracy ; and, therefore, a virtuous
public ought to rise in its wrath
against them. And last, but
not least, they tried to enlist pa-
triotic feelings into the question,
and appealed to the passions of
the mob—(remember we were at
war with the French, and the
ignorant public could not dis-
criminate much between the na-
tionality of foreigners) as to
whether it was fair to pay such
enormous nightly sums to a.
madame Catalani. foreigner—which sums were partly
the cause of the rise in price—when native talent was going
unappreciated.

This foreigner was Madame- Angelica Catalani, a lady
who was born at Sinigaglia, in 1779. At the early age of
twelve, when at the convent of St. Lucia, at Gubbio, her
beautiful voice was remarkable, and when she left the
convent, at the age of fifteen, she was compelled to get7 a.
living on the stage, owing to her father's ruin.

At sixteen, she made her debut at Venice, in an opera by
Nasolini; and she afterwards sang at Florence, at La Scala
in Milan, at Trieste, Rome, and Naples. Her fame got
her an engagement at Lisbon, where she married M.MADAME CATALAN.Z

Valabr&gue, a French officer attached to the Portuguese
Embassy ; but she still kept to her name of Catalani—
at all events, on the stage. From Lisbon she went to
Madrid, thence to Paris, where she only sang at concerts ;
and, finally, in October, 1806, she came to London, where
she speedily became the rage. According to one biographer
(F^tis), she gained immense sums here ; but I much doubt his
accuracy. He says : " In a single theatrical season which did
not last more than four months, she gained about 180,000

CATALANI.

francs (£7,200), which included her benefit. Besides that,
she gained, in the same time, about 60,000 francs (£2,400)
by soirees and private concerts. They gave her as much
as 200 guineas for singing at Drury Lane, or Govent
Garden—'God save the King/and ' Rule, Britannia/ and
£2,000 sterling were paid her for a single musical fete."

This, according to the scale paid her at Covent
Garden, said by her opponents to be £75 per night,
must be excessive; but the mob had neither sense, nor342

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

reason, in the matter; she was a foreigner, and native
talent was neglected. Her name suggested a subject
to the caricaturist, of which he speedily availed him-
self.

These were the principal indictments against Kemble
(for he, as manager, had to bear the brunt of the riot) and
the proprietors replied to them categorically—vide Morning
Post, September 18, 1809 ;

"It is stated that the old
materials of the Theatre
were estimated at £25,000.

It is stated that instead
of twelve private boxes,
they have now thirty-four,
being an addition of twenty-
two private boxes.

It is stated that £50,000
was received from the In-
surance of the Theatre.

For £25,000, read £1,000,
The bricks were of so little
value, that not one old brick
was used in the building,
and the greater part now
lie buried near Hart Street.

For 22 read 12 additional
private boxes. In fact, the
Proprietors contend that
they have no private boxes,
as all of them are let annu-
ally to the Public. They
are taken by the higher
classes of society, and, by
that means, the first and
second circles of boxes are
left free for the public at
large. What the Proprie-
tors gain by them annually,
they lose nightly.

For £50,000,read £42,000.
'Tis true that £3 or , 4,000-
was received from the in-
surance of houses, now in-
cluded in the Theatre ; but
it was forgotten that the Pro-
prietors paid near £28,000-DEFENCE OF PROPRIETORS,

343

It is asserted that Madame
Catalani is the cause of the
advance on the prices.

for those houses, to insulate
the Theatre, and render the
avenues safe and commodi-
ous. The increased ground
rent of which will be a heavy
and lasting incumbrance on
the Theatre.

The Proprietors have al-
ready given their reasons
to the Public, which existed
long before Madame Cata-
lan i's engagement. As well
might it be said that the
increased prices were caused
by Mrs. Siddons, whose en-
gagement is fifty guineas a
night and a clear benefit;
or by the other eminent
English Performers of the
Theatre, whose salaries a-
mount to ^32,000."

There was good sound sense in this refutation, yet,
something is wanting to explain more fully the riot which
was to come, and which, at all events, was popularly
supposed to relate to the structure of the building, and to
the rise in prices. The following is much condensed from
a contemporary account of the theatre :

" The Pit of this Theatre is very spacious. . . . The two
Galleries are comparatively small, there not being accommo-
dation in the upper, for more than 150 or 200 persons ! The
Upper Gallery is divided into five compartments, and may
thus be considered a tier of five boxes, with a separate
door at the back of each. These doors open into a
spacious lobby, one side of which is the back of the
gallery, and the other the exterior wall of the Theatre,344

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

with the windows into the street. The lobby to the
middle gallery beneath is similarly situated. Under the
gallery is a row of private boxes, constituting the whole
third tier! They consist of 26 in number, with a private
room behind each. The Carpeting was laid down in these
boxes on Saturday last; but the furniture of each, and also
of the adjoining room, will be according to the taste of the
several occupants, among whom are some of the Royal
Dukes."

And now I have to chronicle one of the most senseless
phases of public opinion that ever made a page, or a para-
graph, of history. The Theatre opened on September 18,
1809, with " Macbeth" and " The Quaker," but not one word
that was delivered on the stage could be heard by the
audience.

When the curtain drew up, Kemble delivered an address,
which was extremely classical-—all about ^Eschylus,
Thespis, and Sophocles, of which the people present knew
nothing, until they saw the next morning's papers. Instead
of listening, they sang " God save the King " with all the
power of their lungs, and in good order; but that once
over, then, with one consent, they began to yell "No
Kembles—no theatrical tyrants—no domineering Napo-
leons !—What! will you fight, will you faint, will you die,
for a Shilling?—No imposition!—no extortion!—English
charity.-—Charity begins at home.—No foreigners—No
Catalanis."

Somebody in the boxes addressed the frantic mob, but
nothing was heard of his speech, and a magistrate named
Read, attended by several Bow Street officers, came on the
stage, and produced the Riot Act; it was no good—he.
could not be heard, and yet, among the audience, were
many men of position, and even some of the Royal Dukes.

The second night the row was as bad, and it now was
becoming organized. People brought placards, which be-
gan mildly with " The Old Prices," and afterwards deve^O. P. RIOTS.

345

loped into all sorts of curious things. One was displayed
in the first circle of the boxes, and " TOWNSEND,1 heading
a posse of constables, rushed into the pit to seize this
standard of sedition, together with the standard bearers.
A contest ensued of the hottest kind, staffs and sticks were
brandished in all directions ; and, after repeated onsets
and retreats, Townsend bore away a few, of the standards,
\>ut failed in capturing the standard bearers. He retired
with these imperfect trophies. But, as the oppositionists
kept the field of battle, they claimed the victory, which
they announced to the boxes and galleries with three
cheers. The standard bearers in the boxes were not
equally successful.. They were but few in number, and
not formed into a. compact body, and had, besides, their
rear and flanks open to the attack of the enemy. Some of
them we saw seized from behind, and dragged most rudely
out of the boxes, and treated, in every respect, with a rigour
certainly beyond the law. One of them, who had all the
appearance of a gentleman, was accompanied by a ladj',
who screamed at seeing the rudeness he suffered, and then
flew out of the box to follow him. This vigorous activity
on the part of the constables made the placards disappear
for a time ; but they were soon after hoisted again in the
pit, and hailed with acclamations every time they were
observed."

On the third night the uproar was as great, many of the
lights had been blown out, and the place was a perfect
pandemonium ; when Kemble, in dress suit of black, and
chapeau bras, appeared, and obtained a momentary hearing.
" Ladies and gentlemen," said he, " permit me to assure
you that the proprietors are most desirous to consult your
wishes (loud and continued applause). I stand here, to
know what you want." If the noise and uproar could
have been greater than before, it was after this brusque,

1 A famous B<nu Street Runner, and one in great favour with, and attend-
ance on, Royalty.346

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

and unfortunate, speech. " You know what we want—the
question is insulting—Off ! off! off! " For five minutes did
the great man face his foes, and then he retired. Then
some one in the boxes addressed the audience in a speech
calculated to inflame, and augment, the riot; and Kemble
once more came forward with a most sensible exposition
as to the sum spent on the,^theatre, its appointments,
and company. He might as well have spoken to the
wind.

Night after night this scene of riot continued, varied
only by the different noises—of bugle and tin horns, rattles,
clubs, yelling, &c.—and the manifold placards, which differed
each night, and were now not disturbed. There were O. P.
medals struck—how many I know not—but there are
three of them in the British Museum. One, which is struck
both in white metal and bronze, has obv. John Bull riding
an Ass (Kemble), and flogging him with two whips—Old
and New Prices. Leg. FROM N TO O JACK YOU
MUST GO ; in exergue—

john bull's advice to you, is go.

'tis but a step from N to O.

Rev. a p within an O, surrounded by laurel, and musical
emblems. Leg. GOD SAVE THE KING; in exergue„
May our rights and privileges remain un-
changed. Another has obv. Kemble's head with asses*
ears ; and the third, which was struck when Mr. Clifford
was being prosecuted for riot, has obv. Kemble's head with
a fool's cap on ; leg. oh ! my head aitches; in exergue,
obstinacy.

Then, too, the Caricaturists took up the tale and worked
their wicked will upon the theme. I only reproduce one
—by Isaac Cruikshank (father to George) which was
published 28th September, 1809.

On the 22nd of September Kemble came forward and said,
inter aliay that the proprietors, anxious that their conductThis is the house that Jack1 built.

o-ld pr ice

—vCATAL/5

These are the Boxes painted so neat, with snug room and sofa all complete,
Where assignations are made by the Great that visit the House that Jack built.

* John Kemble.rHvcite JSox

PRIVAT

C ATArL
DPRIC,



These are the Pigeon Holes over the Boxes, painted so neat, &c.

This is the Cat engaged to squall, to the poor in the Pigeon
Holes, &c.

engagedThis is John Bull with his Bugle Horn
Who hissed the Cat engaged to
squall, &c.

This is the Thieftaker1 shaven and shorn
That took up John Bull with his Bugler
Horny &c.



This is the Manager, full of scorn, who. Raised the Price to the People forlornf
And directed the Thieftaker shaven and ^horn to take up John Bull, &c.
x Townsend—a very good likeness.35°	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

should be fully looked into, were desirous of submitting
their books, and their accounts, to a committee of gentle-
men of unimpeachable integrity and honour, by whose
decision they would abide. Meanwhile the theatre would
be closed, and Madame Catalani, cancelling her engage-
ment, went to Ireland.

"THE DEPARTURE FOR IRELAND.

"When Grimalkin 1 the Spy, took a peep at the house,
And saw such confusion and strife,

He stole to the Green-room as soft as a Mouse,

And thus he address'd his dear wife:

4 Mon Dieu ! don't sit purring, as if all was right,

Our measure of meanness is full,

We cannot stay here to be bark'd at all night,

I'd« rather be toss'd by a Bull"

The committee of gentlemen (of whom the well-known
John Julius Angerstein was one), published their report,
and balance sheet, which was publicly advertised on the
4th of October, and they agreed that the profit to the share-
holders on the capital, employed during the six years, was
6 }i per cent, per annum, and that during that time they
had paid ^307,912. This, of course, would not satisfy the
mob, and on the re-opening of the tlfeatre on the 4th
of October there was the same riot with its concomitant
•din of cat calls, rattles, horns, trumpets, bells, &c. For a
few days the riot was not so bad, although it still con-
tinued ; but, on the 9th of October, it broke out again, and.
the proprietors were compelled to.take proceedings at Bow
Street against some of the worst offenders. This had the
effect, for a time, of stopping the horns, rattles, bells,
bugles, &c., but the rioters only exchanged one noise for
another, for now they imitated all the savage howlings of
wild beasts, and it seemed as if Pidcock's Menagerie had
been turned into the theatre.

This soon got too tame, and on the 20th of October they

1 Supposed to be Madame Catalani's husband. She died at Paris, of
cholera, 12th of June, 1849.O. P. RIOTS.

began fighting among themselves, and stripping the baize
off the seats. On the 24th, the proprietors issued a very
proper address to the people, showing that they were not
getting exorbitant profits, and, consequently, the prices
were not too high ; but it had no effect until the Grand
Jury found true bills against some of the rioters, when
there was a lull for a time, which might have been per-
manent, had not Brandon, the boxkeeper, charged a Mr.
Clifford with having created a commotion in the pit. After
examination, however, at Bow Street, he was released—
and then the mob had another grievance. Brandon must
be dismissed ; nor only so—on the 5th of November a mob
went to Bloomsbury Square, and broke the windows in
Kemble's house, after which, there was another lull; then
onJ:he 25th the turbulent spirits broke out again, because
it was the fiftieth night, or jubilee, of the riots. A few of
them were charged at Bow Street, but that did not stop
the riot till nearly the middle of December, when there
was another lull in the storm.

Both sides were getting weary of the strife ; and, on the
14th of December, a dinner was held at the Crown and
Anchor Tavern, Covent Garden, at which Kemble met
the Opposition, and a compromise was entered into, and
agreed upon, that the boxes were to remain the same price
—7s.—the pit was to revert to the old price of 3s. 6d.; and
the galleries to remain as they were ; the private boxes,
at the end of the season, were to be again restored, and
appropriated to the accommodation of the public. The
rioters wanted Brandon to,be discharged, and at night,
when he had to appear before his sweet masters, they
saluted him with volleys of oranges, and walking-sticks ;
and, the next night, it was announced that Brandon had
been sacrificed to public opinion, and had been dismissed.1
One or two more apologies for small laches, and King Mob
produced a placard," WE ARE SATISFIED."

1 He was afterwards reinstated.352	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

But they were not; they wanted the boxes reduced to
6s.; and, having so long had license, the ferment was not
subdued at once. Take the 19th of December, for instance;
Kemble was hissed, on his appearance on the stage, and
when he spoke the lines—

"The times are out of joint—Oh, cursed spite!

That ever I was born to set them right!"—

there was an universal shout of derision.

For the remainder of that season there was peace ; but,
when the new season opened, on September 10, 1810, with
" The Beggar's Opera," and " Raising the Wind," it was
found that part of the treaty had not been carried out;
as, although the centre portion of the first tier, had been
converted into public boxes ; yet, on either side, were still
the objectionable private boxes, which, last year, had so
excited the prudishly virtuous indignation of a howling
mob. " No foreign sofas! No Italian private boxes." In
vain did Kemble point out that, since the conclusion of
the treaty, an Act of Parliament had been passed for the
rebuilding of Drury Lane Theatre, which allowed the
proprietors to have as many private boxes as they might
find convenient; and, consequently, would place Covent
Garden at a decided disadvantage; therefore, his proprietary
had hoped the public would condone the fact of their still
retaining a few private boxes. Oh, no! The O. P. dance,
and the O. P. song, were immediately revived in all their
glory, and the remainder of the evening was spent in the
old manner, minus the accompaniment of horns, rattles, or
placards; but a quart bottle was thrown from the gallery
into the pit, and the management offered a reward of fifty
guineas for the conviction of the offender.

Next night there were two placards exposed: "O. P.
We have been imposed on!" " O. P. The Treaty is
broken ; open War! " The night after, the row got worse.
On the 14th of September it was as bad as last year—END OF RIOTS.

353

watchmen's rattles were freely used, and mewing, barking,
groaning, braying, and whistling, made a hideous chorus.
The O. P. dance was changed to the " Contract" dance,
but still was danced to the tune of the 0. P. hornpipe.

The proprietors, after their bitter experience of the
previous year, felt that, however right they might be, they
could not contend against the force majeure of the mob ;
and, on the 16th of September, they pledged themselves
" that next season (when they will again have returned into
their possession) the eight annual boxes shall be given up,
and let to the public, at large, as nightly boxes." It was
no use ; that night the row was as bad as ever ; and, after
that performance, the theatre was closed to make the
alterations in the boxes, which were thrown open to the
public. The theatre was re-opened on the 24th of Sep-
tember, and the performances passed off without interrup-
tion. And so ended the eventful O. P. Riots.CHAPTER XLI.

"The Pic-nic Club"—Its supporters—Its entertainment—Its short life—Automata
and wool pictures—Almack's—Pidcock's Menagerie—"The Invisible, Girl"
—VauxhalL—Sir Roger de Coverley — Price of admission, &c. — Ranelagh
Gardens.

THE theatre, although the main source of amuse-
ment, was not the only one. There were mas-
querades at the Pantheon, and a private theatrical
club, called the "Pic-nic Club," of which a Captain Caulfield
was , the manager. Lady Buckinghamshire—foremost in
this, as in gaming—was one of its chief supporters ; and
it took its name from every one drawing lots, as to what
should be his, or her, share of the entertainment. This
club consisted of the leaders of fashion—the Prince of
Wales, Lords Cholmondeley, Valletort, Carlisle, Spooner,
Kirkcudbright, and Derby; and, of course, " old Q," the
Duke of Queensberry. Sir Lumley Skeffington, also, was
an ornament to the society; whilst the lady members
besides Lady Albina Buckinghamshire, numbered in tl||ir
ranks, Lady Salisbury, Lady Jersey, and Mrs. Fitzherbert.
It was crime de la creme, and I find them chronicled in the
Morning Herald of March 16, 1802, thus: "The Pic-nic
Club met last night for the first time, in the Tottenham
Street Rooms.1 The Entertainment commenced with a

1 Used also for the concerts of Ancient Music.« THE TIC-NIC CLUB:'

355

Prologue by Colonel Greville, which was followed by a
French Proverb. An Act of the Bedlamites, a piece trans-
ited from the French, for the occasion, was then per-
formed. A French Proverb, and an Epilogue, succeeded ;
and the whole succeeded with a Pic-nic Supper, provided
from a tavern.1 The company was not numerous, though
300 cards of invitation were issued. Madame Parisot,2 dis-
approving of the dilettanti project, refused to take any part
in the performance. It being apprehended that the public
peace might be disturbed by this irregular assemblage, the
Bow Street officers held themselves in readiness to act,
during the whole of the evening, but happily there was no
occasion for their services."

The society afterwards moved to the Argyle Rooms,
then most highly proper, and fashionable. There were
several caricatures of this society from Gillray's pencil,
one of which (the next illustration) I reprdduce.

Here Gillray has given, as a contrast, Lord Valletort
" the neatest of little beaux," and the smallest man in the
Club, and Lord Cholmondeley, who was very tall and stout.
Lady Buckinghamshire, whose embonpoint Gillray never
spared, plays the piano, and Lady Salisbury, who from her
love of hunting, was frequently satirized under the name of
Diana, performs on a hunting horn. The fashionable
papers of the day were, during the season, seldom without
a paragraph of this society, but it did not last long, and its
death is recorded in the Times, February 28, 1803 : "The
Pic-nie Society is at an end. Many of its members, at a
late meeting, wished to continue the Theatrical amuse-
ments, but no person would undertake the management of
them."

In 1801, there were to be seen in Spring Gardens,
Maillardet's Automata, where a wooden lady performed on

1	This marks, as much as anything, the manners of the times. Fancy the
upper ten, now-a-days, ordering their supper from a tavern !	- '

2	The famous ballet-dancer of that time.

1

THE PIC-NIC ORCHESTRA.ALMACKS.

357

the piano ; also Miss Linwood's Exhibition of Needlework,
i first at the Hanover Square Rooms, and afterwards at
^Saville House, Leicester Square, where were exhibited
marvels of crewel work. There are one or two of her
pictures in the South Kensington Museum; but her
"" Salvat'or Mundi," after Carlo Dolci, for which she refused
3,000 guineas, she bequeathed to the Queen. She had a
rival, whose name, however, has not been so well per-
petuated—vide the Morning Post, June 4, 1800 : "The
wool pictures, so much talked of among the connoisseurs,
are certainly executed with very great taste. Miss Thomp-
son has brought her art to very great perfection," &c.
These were shown in Old Bond Street.

Then, for the extremely select, during the season, was
Almack's 1 which, then, was not quite so exclusive as after-
wards. Morning Herald, April 27,1802 : " Almack's, King
Street, St. James' Square. James and William Willis most
respectfully inform the Nobility and Gentry, the first
Subscription Ball will be on Thursday, the 29th instant,
under the patronage of her Grace the Duchess of Devon-
shire, the Marchioness of Townshend, and the Countess of
Westmoreland. Tickets One Guinea each." The same
newspaper has also an advertisement of a new Panorama
of Paris. This was by a M. de Maria; and there was
also another, " Barker's Panorama," in Leicester Square.

Those who liked such exhibitions could see the Phantas-
magoria, at the Lyceum Theatre, where the Magic Lantern
was exhibited with novel effects, such as moving eyes and
limbs, but they had not yet attained the height of " dis-
solving views." Pidcock's Menagerie 2 was the only sub-

1	Otherwise Willis's Rooms.

2	This Collection was sold in March, 1810—vide Morning Fost, 'March 22,
1810 : "The sale at Pidcock's, Exeter 'Change, has been well attended. The
skeleton of the famous elephant was put up at 20 guineas, and knocked down
at 55. The skeleton of the spermaceti whale, sixty-six feet long, which formerly
appeared in Rackstraw's Museum, sold for nine guineas. Many scarce and
beautiful birds sold at low prices, and the whole collection, consisting of 205
lots, produced about £140."35^

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

stitute they then had for our " Zoo," and was situate
in Exeter 'Change. It is thus described in a guide to
London, 1802: "A collection of divers beasts and birds,
only exceeded in rarity by those of the Royal Menagerie,
in the Tower."

The " Invisible Girl" was exhibited in Leicester Square,
and was " a globe of glass suspended by a ribbon, under
which four tubes are adapted* but they do not communicate
therewith, and are likewise insulated; by these, conversa-
tion is carried on with an invisible lady, who answers every
question, breathes on you, and tells every visitor whatever
they hold in their hands, in an instant. This exhibition is
open from ten o'clock until six. Price of admittance, two
shillings and sixpence

There were two famous out-door places of amusement,
now no more, namely, Vauxhall, and Ranelagh. Vauxhall,
was formerly called Foxhall, or Spring Garden, and is thus
described in No. 383 of the Spectator: "We were now
arrived at Spring Garden, which is excellently pleasantxat
this time of the year. When I considered the fragrancy of
the walks and bowers, with the choir of birds that sung
upon the trees, and the loose tribe of people that walked
under their shades, I could not but look upon the place
as a kind of Mahometan paradise. Sir Roger told me it
put him in mind of a little coppice by his house in the
country, which his chaplain used to call an aviary of
nightingales. 4 You must understand,' says the knight,
4 that there is nothing in the world that pleases a man in
love, so much as your nightingale. Ah, Mr. Spectator, the
many moonlight nights that I have walked by myself, and
thought on the widow by the music of the nightingale!'
He, here, fetched a deep sigh, and was falling into a fit of
musing, when a mask, who came behind him, gave him a
gentle tap upon the shoulder, and asked him if he would
drink a bottle of mead with her ? But the knight being
startled at so unexpected a familiarity, and displeased toVAUXHALL.

359

be interrupted in his thoughts of the widow, told her,4 she
was a wanton baggage;, and bid her go about her
business."

These gardens opened about the middle of May, and
closed about the end of August; they were only open
three days a week—Monday, Wednesday, and Friday ; and

■oodbooit

VAUXHALL GARDENS—l8oS-g.

the price of admission was 3s. 6d., the concert commcncing
at eight, the attendance averaging from 5,000 to 15,000.
At the end of the first part of the concert, about 10 p.m.,
a curtain was drawn up, and disclosed " a view of a bridge,
a water mill, and a cascade; while coaches, waggons,
soldiers, and other figures were exhibited as crossing that360	THE NINETEENTH CENTUR Y.

bridge." The orchestra, which I reproduce, was a blaze of
light, and, altogether, in the gardens, at that time, were
37,000 lamps. Occasionally, a display of fireworks took
place ; whilst, to add to the attractions of the gardens, there
were recesses, and alcoves, provided, where sappers, and
refreshment, could be procured.	\

Ranelagh Gardens were in Chelsea, about where the
Barracks nqw stand. The amusements provided were
almost identical with Vauxhall, but, although consic^red a
place of summer resort, its season commenced in February,
and closed at the end of May, or the middle of June. The
general price of admission was half a crown; but, on a
masquerade night, it rose to 10s. 6d. or £i is., but that
included supper and wine. There were particular fete
nights, notably of the Pic-nic Society, when the price of
admission varied from 5s. to 7s. 6d.CHAPTER XLII.

Music—Composers of the time—Mrs. Billington—Her salaries—Mdlle. Mara—
Mrs. Crouch—Incledon — Braham—Chamber music—Musical societies—
Commeirioration of Dr. Arne—Competition of pipers—Dancing—The Valse.

THESE open-air concerts showed that there was a
natural taste for music in the English character,
and when we look at the composers who then
flourished, and at the singers who expounded their works,
we must own that the dawn of the century could fairly hold
its own with its latter days. Dr. Arnold, Dr. Callcott
(whose glees are still sung in many a home), Shield, Stevens,
and Clementi, were among the composers ; and, for singers
—was there not Mrs. Billington, with her extraordinarily
sweet voice, her forcible expression, and flexible execution ?

Gillray here has kept an excellent likeness of our prima
donna^ and, probably, did not much exaggerate her pro-
portions. She was paid remarkably well, as most divas
are, and, if the satirical prints, and newspaper reports of
the time, do not belie her, she was as voracious after
4t Refreshers" as a modern Queen's Counsel, or she could
not appelar.

Here we see Mrs. Billington utterly prostrate, until re-
vived by golden pills, of which Sheridan is bringing a good
supply. We can see what she earned from a newspaper
cutting, or two.MRS. BILLINGTON, AS CLARA, SINGING A BRAVURA (1802).VQCALISTS.

363

Morning Post, June 12, 1800 : " Mrs. Billington is
engaged for the King's Theatre tiext season, and she is
to have two thousand guineas."

Morning Post, July 15, 1801 : " Mrs. Billington after
humming all the Theatres, has, at last, fixed on the hive in
Covent Garden, where she will, no doubt, make much buzz
and honey next season. .Articles were signed between her
and Mr. Harris yesterday. This we can state as a positive

THEATRICAL DOCTORS RECOVERING CLARA'S NOTES.

fact. It is with much pleasure we find she has resolved to
return to the English stage ; she will revive our Operas, of
late fallen into disrepute, and bring music again into fashion.
The terms are very liberal, but not more so than we ex-
pected so extraordinary, so charming a singej*, to obtain.
She is to have three thousand guineas, and a free benefit,
besides fifty guineas per night at the oratorios; this alto-
gether will amount to upwards of four thousand pounds for
the season, and this season is not to extend beyond half a
year."£

PLAYING IN PARTS.

[Gillray, 15M May, 1801.VOCALISTS.

365

Morning Herald\ Ttpril 2, 1802: "Mrs. Billington will
net this single season, by her professional abilities, no less
than eleven thousand pounds ! "

Mdlle. Mara, too, whose rich, sweet voice was so Qften
heard in oratorio, got her fifty guineas a night at Drury
Lane, in the year 1800, so that we see that in those old
days " singing women " were well paid. Mrs. Crouch, that
sweet songstress, and rival of the Billington, although she
had quitted the stage through an unfortunate accident*
which injured her voice, died in this decade, on the 2nd
of October, 1805. There , were many more of respectable
calibre, but none with the exception of Storace, to compare
with the three named.

Among male voices Incledon, and Braham, were pre-
eminent. Incledon had a beautifully rich voice, the suc-
cessful cultivation of which was doubtless owing to his
early training, under the celebrated "William Jackson, at
Exeter Cathedral.

Many of us now living can remember having heard John
Braham sing, although, of course, only in his decadence.
His was a wonderfully successful musical career, not only
here, but on the Continent; but then he had a most rare
voice, and one of such extensive range, that he could sing
airs written for Mdlle. Mara.

No other male singers of this period are worthy of note,
nor do we find many good, or lasting, names among the
instrumentalists. Wesley on the organ, Clementi and
Cramer on the pianoforte, F. Cramer on the violin, about.
exhaust the list. But the people were musical at heart
and there is no greater fallacy than to think the English
were ever otherwise. Small and select parties would meet
of an evening, and perform concerted chamber music.
The illustration by Gillray is slightly caricatured, but it
gives a very fair view of such a domestic scene.

Or, we might take another drawing-room scene, in366	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

which only two are actors, and are executing a duet to a
harp accompaniment.

That good, and what we term severe, music was then
appreciated, we have evidence in the existence of the
"Academy of Ancient Music/' which was held at the
Crown and Anchor Tavern, Covent Garden—an institution
which began in Queen Anne's reign, under the conduct of
the celebrated musician, Dr. John Christopher Pepsuch ;
and, till 1737, no ladies were admitted in the audience. In

HARMONY BEFORE MATRIMONY—1805.

another twenty years it assumed more of the form of a
public concert; and, in 1786, the society migrated to Free-
mason s Hall, where, in 1788, it was resolved to admit
ladies as subscribers. The subscription, which, at its com-
mencement, was only half a guinea, rose, by degrees, to
five guineas, and then settled down to four, which covered
a season of six, or eight, concerts.

There was a split in the musical camp, and a branch of
the parent society seceded, and established themselves atMUSIC.

367

the Opera House, in the Haymarket, under the title of
"The Concert of Ancient Music," or "King's Concerts.''
They, afterwards moved to the Hanover Square Rooms.
The concerts commenced in February, and continued till
the end of May. Six directors, chosen from the nobility,
selected, in turn, the pieces for each concert—at which all
modern music was utterly excluded, and nothing could be
played unless twenty-five years old. So strictly was this
carried out, that if the director for the night introduced
anything more modern, he was (and it was done more
than once) fined irv a very considerable sum. There were
also popular concerts held at the Hanover Square rooms,
during the season, to which the admission was generally
half a guinea.

And yet, with all this reverence for old music, it was
found impossible to make a success of a "Commemora-
tion of Dr. Arne," which took place at Ranelagh on June
10, 1802; the expenses being ;£ioo, and the actual receipts
for the night only £26 ! Well may the newspaper editor
end the paragraph with "Poor Thomas Arne ! "

In contradistinction to this, a Competition of Pipers,
which was annual, seems to have been a great success,
The Highland Society of London gave the prizes, three in
number: 1st, a handsome set of pipes with a silver plate,
and forty merks Scots ; 2nd and 3rd, thirty merks, and it
was decided at the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh, before an
enthusiastic audience.

The principal dance of this period was the country
dance; but the valse had already been introduced, and
rapidly came into favour, although it was held to be fast,
and rather indecent, and was danced in a somewhat
different style to what it is nowadays.WALTZER AU MOUCHOIR—1800,

LA VALSE — 18IQ.CHAPTER XLIII.

Painting—"The Royal Academy of Art "—The principal private Picture Galleries
—Benjamin West—James Barry—Fuseli—Opie—Minor artists—Turner—Sir
Thomas Laurence—Morland—Sale of his pictures—Sculptors—Engravers—
Boydell^"The Exhibition of Paintings in Water Colours "—Its members—
"The Associated Artists in Water Colours"—Literature—List of literary
persons of the decade—Five-volume novels—Decyphering papyri—Major
Ouseley s Oriental Library—The Pope and the Lord's Prayer—The Alfred Club.

PAINTING was not at its highest at this time, and
yet there were many buyers, even for the pictures
then painted. The Royal Academy of Art (founded
in 1765, when it received its Charter, on the 26th of
January, as the Incorporated Society of British Artists, a
name afterwards changed in 1768) was then located at
Somerset House, where life classes were held, and instruc-
tion given, as shown in the illustration on the next page.

But, as yet, there was no National Gallery of Paintings,
that was reserved till a latter period, when Government
bought the collection of John Julius Angerstein, Esq., in
1824* This formed the nucleus of our magnificent collec-
tion. His gallery, at his house in Pall Mall, had long held
high rank among the private picture collectors, he having
two Murillos, for which he paid 3,500 guineas. The Duke
of Bridge water's, the Marquis of Lansdowne's, the two, or
rather three, Hopes', Lord Radstock's, the Duke of
Northumberland's, the Duke of Devonshire's, and the

2537°

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Miniatures at Strawberry Hill, were all magnificent collec-
tions ; whilst Mr. Charles Townley, at his residence in
Park Lane, had the finest collection of antique statues
and busts, &c., in the world. These are now in the British
Myseum.

The principal painters of this decade, although numerous,
do not represent a school likely to be perpetuated, al-
though, as we read them, they are well known ; many are
respectable, two or three are famous. First must come
Benjamin West, President of the Royal Academy, who

DRAWING FROM LIFE AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY—l8o8.

then lived in Newman Street: and, indeed, if we look'at
the addresses of these old painters, we find them very
humble compared with the palatial habitations of some of
our modern painters. As a Master, West will never live,
he was a respectable painter, but even in his own time, was-
not over belauded. \

There was James Barry, who was once professor of
painting to the Academy, but was deposed, en plein coury
because he could, or would, not confine his lectures to their
proper subjects, besides being coarse and libellous* This, PAINTERS.

37*

made him hypochondriac, and he, besides, became poor—
a position somewhat alleviated by an annuity which was
subscribed for him.* He died in 1806. His dwelling was
in Castle Street, Oxford Street.

Henry Fuseli lived in Queen Anne Street, East His
pictures were noted for the extravagance of their concep-
tion, and their anatomy; he delighted in painting the
horrible, and supernatural, and was, perhaps, seen at his
best in his Milton Gallery, which was opened in 1798, and
closed July 19, 1800.

John Opie made a name, which still lives among col-
lectors, but he never will rank as an Art Master. He
owed much of his celebrity to Dr. Wolcott (Peter Pindar),
who, an artist himself, tried to bring his protegt into
notoriety. He lived in Berner's Street, Oxford Street, and
died in 1807.

De Loutherbourg and his imitator, Sir Francis Bourgeois,
are hardly worthy of a notice. The latter, certainly, left a
collection of pictures to Dulwich Gallery, with ;£ 19,000 to
keep them in preservation ; ^2,000 for the repair of the
gallery, and a complimentary bequest of £i,doo- to the
Masters and Fellows of Dulwich College.

The genius of the age was, undoubtedly, Joseph Mallord
William Turner, who ranks as one of our greatest land-
scape painters. Like all other artists, he had his periods
of excellence; but, when at his best, he was unapproach-
able. Thoroughly appreciated in this decade, he died not
so long ago, December 19, 1851.

From Turner to James Northcote is a long step, but
they were on the same footing as Royal Academicians.
He tried to be, as some of our modern R.A.'s do, an
universal genius; but the verdict of posterity has not
endorsed his pretensions. He lived then in Argyll Street,
and did not die until July 13, 1831.

Another Academician, Thomas Stothard, deserves
notice, and will be most remembered for his " Canterbury372

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Pilgrims;" but his style was mannered, and did he paint
now, he, probably, would not get a living.

Sir Thomas Lawrence did not then occupy the position
he afterwards filled, of President of the Royal Academy;
but, he had the rare honour of being made a "Supplemental
Associate ;" a rank conferred, because his youth would
not entitle him to ask for the ordinary Associateship. He
was then living modestly in Greek Street, Soho, and did
not charge much for his pictures. In 1802 he only got
thirty guineas for a three-quarter size, and sixty guineas
for a ' half - length portrait. In 1806, he obtained fifty
guineas for three-quarter, and whole length, two hundred
guineas. 1808 saw his prices still go higher, similar sizes
eighty and three hundred guineas ; and in 1810, he charged
one hundred guineas for a head, and four hundred guineas
for a full length. Handsome prices, yet poor pay com-
pared to what our pet artists now get.

Robert Smirke, R.A., then living in Charlotte Street,
was a painter of English genre pictures, and was very fond
of painting scenes from Don Quixote. Sir David Wilkie,
however, painted genre subjects inimitably, and stood
pre-eminent in this branch of art, at the period of which
I write.

- Sir William Beechey was a respectable portrait painter,
and filled that office to Her Majesty Queen Charlotte, but
he was not a Sir Joshua. He then lived at Great George
Street, Hanover Square; but he died at Hampstead, in
1839, at a good old age of over eighty. , John Hoppner,
R.A., was another portrait painter of the time, as was also
Sir Martin Archer Shee, President R.A., then living in
Cavendish Square.

Westall, as being an Academician, deserves a passing
notice, and Reinagle, too ; but neither have made a name
that will live. One minor painter deserves to be men-
tioned, Henry Bone, the enamel painter, whose collection
of his own works (vaiued at ;£ 10,000) was offered to thePAINTERS.

373

nation for £^ooo} refused, and sold under the hammer for
^2,000. John Singleton Copley was still alive, as was
also Angelica Kauffman, nor must the name of Sir George
Howland Beaumont be omitted; but he was more of an
amateur than professional artist.

That erratic genius, George Morland, died in 1806,
at the early age of forty-two. Fecund in producing
pictures as he was, he never could have painted a tithe

'AM



CONNOISSEURS EXAMINING A COLLECTION OF GEORGE MORLAND.

part of the genuine Morlands that have been before the
public, and the secret of these forgeries probably lies in
the fact, that his pictures, painted from such familiar
models, as sheep and pigs, were so easily imitated. After
his death a collection of his pictures was exhibited, and
Gillray gave a very graphic sketch of it. The connoisseurs
were well known. The old gentleman in the foreground
looking through his reversed spectacles is Captain Baillie.374

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Behind him, and using a spy glass, is Caleb Whiteford, a
friend of Garrick. The tall stout man, nearest the wall, is
said to be a Mr. Mitchell, a banker; but although I have
carefully examined the ten years' lists of bankers, I cannot
find his name mentioned as a partner in any firm. And, I
believe, the figure without a hat, is generally considered to
be Christie the Auctioneer.

The foregoing is a tolerably correct list of the most
eminent artists of the commencement of the century,
many names of minor note, being of necessity, left out.

In sculptors, this decade was rich. The veteran Nolle-
kens still worked, and continued to work, till his eighty-
second year, and was then living in Mortimer Street. In
Newman Street lived Thomas Banks, R.A., whose colossal
statue of Achilles bewailing the loss of Briseis, is now in
the hall of the British Institution. Sir Francis Chantrey,
R.A., was then a young, and rising, sculptor, as yet but
little known. John Flaxman, R.A., was then in his zenith,
being made professor of sculpture to the Royal Academy in
1810. His successor, Sir Richard Westmacott, was made
A.R.A., in 1805 ; and these names alone form an era of
glyptic art unparalleled in English history.

Engravers, too, furnish a list of well-known names,
among whom, for delicacy of work, Francis Bartoiozzi
probably stands pre-eminent, his engravings challenging
competition at the present day. There were also Thomas
Holloway, and William Sharp; but, perhaps, the most
popular names—none of whom will ever rank as first-class
engravers—are Gillray, Rowlandson, and Isaac and George
Cruikshank. Their names were on every lip, and their
works the theme of every tongue. Nor must we forget
John Boydell, who was Alderman and Lord Mayor of the
City of London. Not only an engraver by profession, he
encouraged art, by commissioning the first artists of the
day to paint pictures, which he afterwards had engraved,
notably his magnificent Shakespeare, than which there isAUTHORS.

375

no more sumptuous English edition. On this he spent no
Jess than ^"350,000, and by this expenditure of capital, and
had trade, owing to the war with France, and the Stoppage
of commercial relations with the Continent, he fell into
debt, and was obliged to get an Act of Parliament passed
to enable him to get rid of the original pictures and plates,
of his Shakespeare Gallery, by a lottery, which was drawn
in 1804.

Besides the Shakespeare Gallery in Pall Mall, and
Alderman Boydell's Gallery in Cheapside, there were
several dealers' collections—the chief of which was " The
European Museum," Gharles Street, St. James's Square.
Here pictures, some of them good, were on sale on com-
mission, and, to prevent its being merely a lounge, a
shilling was charged for admission.

Not to be forgotten are the two Water Colour Societies
—" The Exhibition of Paintings in Water Colours," estab-
lished in 1804, and located in 1808 in Bond Street.
Reinagle was treasurer, and its members were-Messrs.
G. Barrett, J. J. Chalon, J. Christall, W. S. Gilpin* W.
Ha veil, T. Heaphy, J. Hoi worthy, F. Nicholson, N.
Pocock, W. II. Pyne, S. Rigaud, S. Shelley, J. Smith,
J. Varley, C. Varley, and W. F. Wells. The associate
members were Miss Byrne, and Messrs. J. A. Atkinson,
W. Delamotte, P. S. Munn, A. Pugin, F. Stevens, and
W. Turner.

The other society was started in 1808 or 1809, under
the title of " The Associated Artists in Water Colours,"
and their first exhibition was held at 20, Lower Brook
Street, Grosvenor Square, where a picture gallery already
existed.

It is a thankless task to attempt to give a list of names
of literary note, of this epoch, because, as' in the case of
foregoing lists, it is impossible to avoid giving some critic
occasion to slay—an omitted name, being a heinous sin,
outweighing all the patient hard work of research and376

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

reading, necessary fat the writing of a book like this.
Still an attempt thereat is bound to be made:

Austen, Jane.

fiaillie, Joanna.
Parbauld, Mrs.
Beckford, Peter.
Beckford, William.
Bentham, Jeremy.
Bloomfield, Robert.
Brougham, Henry.
Byron. Lord.
Campbell, Thomas.
Canning, George.
Chapone, Mrs.
Colficidge, S. T.
Crabbe, George.
Cobbett, William.
Cumberland, Richard.
Cunningham, Allan.
D'lsragli, Isaac.
De^Quincey, Thomas.
DibdmTT. F., D.D.
Edgeworth, Miss.
Go^sin, William.
"H^zlitt. William.
Heber, Bishop.
Hemans, Mrs. i
Hogg, James.

Hook, Theodore.
Holcroft, Thomas.
Inchbald, Mrs.

Keats, John.

Lewis, M. G. (Monk).
Lingard, John.

Laijil), Charles.

Landor, W. S.

Loncfon, John.

Lysons, Daniel.

Maturin, Charles Robert.
Montgomery, James.
Malthus, Rev. T. R.

Mill, James. .

]Vfoore, Thomas.

More, Hannah.

Morgan, Lady.

Opie, Mrs.

Porter Miss A. M.

Porter, Miss Jane.
Rogers, Samuel.

Roscoe, W.

Shglley, P. B.

Scott. Sir W.

Southey. Robert.

Smith, Sydney.

Tooke, John Home.
Trimmer, Mrs.

Turner, Sharon.
Wilberforce, W.
Wollstonecroft, Mary.
Wordsworth, W.

This was an age of dear books, and not of literature for
the million. We are apt to think that three volumes for
a novel is rather too much—when it can be, and is,
afterwards, published comfortably in one; but, in those
days, novels ran to four or five volumes, as may be seen
by only taking one advertisement. Morning Post, July 18,
1805: "Family Annals; a Domestic Tale, in 5 Vols.
25s. by Mrs. Hunter of Norwich. The Demon of Sicily;PAPYRI.

377

a Romance. 4 Vols., 20s. Friar Hildargo ; a Romance. 5
Vols., 25s."

Mudie's Library was not, but Hookham's, and Colburn's
were in existence, and Ebers' started in 18.09.

It was £ great age for the collection of first editions,
unique copies, and large paper books; and, thanks to the
industry, and good taste of this era, priceless treasures have
been preserved to us, which might otherwise have been
lost. It was a peculiarly classical age, the excavations at
Pompeii, and Herculaneum, and the systematic spoliation
of Etruscan tombs then going on, whetted men's appetites,
and even the Prince of Wales helped to contribute towards
the stock of classical lore : " The business of unrolling the
Herculaneum MSS. at Portici, under the direction of M.
Hayter, and at the expense of His Royal Highness the
Prince of Wales, proceeds with success and rapidity. One
hundred and thirty MSS. have already been opened, or are
unfolding, and M. Hayter hopes to be able to decypher
the six hundred, which still remains in the museum.
Eleven young persons are constantly employed in un-
rolling the MSS., and two more, in copying or drawing
them. M. Hayter expects to find a Menander entire, an
Ennius, and a Polybius," &c. I give this extract merely to
show the classical taste of the time.

Attention was also being aroused to Oriental literature,
and the two Ouseley's gave a great impetus to its study.
Major Ouseley brought over from Bengal, in 1805, 15,000
volumes of Arabic, Persian, and Sanskrit MSS., besides
a vast museum of Oriental curiosities. The Major had
peculiar facilities, and opportunities, for forming his collec-
tion, as he was for some time aide de camp to the Nawab of
Oude. His brother, Sir William, also possessed a choice
library of some 800 Arabic, Persian, and Turkish MSS.

Not only here, but on the Continent, philology was
looking up, for we find' that the Pope, whilst in Paris, at
the Coronation of Napoleon, visited the National Printing3 7 8	THE NINETEENTH CENTUR Y

Office, and, as he passed along the galleries, 150 presses
furnished him with a sheet each, upon which was printed
the Lord's Prayer in a different language or dialect. Asia
furnished 46; Europe, 75 ; Africa, 12 ; America, 17.

In fact, literature was beginning to be aggressive, and,
actually, to ask for a club of its own ; and in 1808 the
Alfred Club took premises in Albemarle Street, and con-
tinued its existence till 1855, when it was merged in the
Oriental. It was extremely dull, and was christened by
the wicked wits, the Half read; and Lord Alvanley was a
rjiember until the seventeenth Bishop saw proposed, and
then he gave up.

CHAPTER XLIV.

The Press—Morning Post and Times—Duty on newspapers—Rise in price—The
publication of circulation to procure advertisements—Paper warfare between
the Times and the Morning Post—The British Museum—fts collection, and
bad arrangement—Obstacles to visitors—Rules relaxed—The Lever Museum
—Its sale by lottery—Anatomical Museums of the two Hunters.

OF the London Daily papers that were then exist-
ing, but two are now alive—the Morning Post
(the Doyen of the daily press) and the Times.
They were heavily taxed, in 1800, with a 3d. stamp per
copy. In July, 1804, this was made 3^d.; pamphlets,
half-sheet, J^d.; whole sheet, id. ; an Almanac had to
have a shilling stamp; and a perpetual Calendar, one of
1 os. And this oppressive stamp, with a comparatively
limited circulation, meant death to a newspaper. In 1809,
the Morning Post, and other papers, boldly went in for a
halfpenny rise, and gave its reasons—May 20: " Since the
settlement with Government took place, which fixed the
price at sixpence, every article necessary for the composi-
sition of a Newspaper, has increased in price to an unpre-
cedented extent. Paper has risen upwards of fifty per
cent.; Types upwards of eighty per cent. ; Printing Ink
thirty-five per cent.; Journeymen's wages ten per cent.,
and everything else in the same proportion. It is therefore
unnecessary for us to observe, that the advance of One
Halfpenny per Paper will go but a short way towards380,	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

placing the Proprietors in the same situation, in tespect to
profits allowed, in which they were left by the settlement of
1797; and, under all these considerations, the Public, we
trust, will not deem us unreasonable in availing ourselves
of the parliamentary provision that has just been made in
favour of all Newspapers. The Bill will receive the Royal
Assent this day, and on Monday, the Price of the Morning
PoSTj in common w'ith that of other Newspapers, will be
Sixpence Halfpenny."

Then, as now, the backbone of a Newspaper was its
advertisements, and then also, did each Newspaper laud
itself as being the best advertising medium, owing to its.
superior circulation. We, who are accustomed to see huge
posters setting forth sworn affidavits that the daily circula-
tion of some London newspapers amounts to some quarter
of a million if not more, will feel some surprise when we learn
that the Morning Post, of June 10, 1800, the then leading
paper, published a sworn return (and exulted over their
number and success) of 10,807 newspapers printed in the
week June 2-7, or a daily average of 1,800 copies.

The World, at one time a rival, had published its circula-
tion when it reached 1,500 daily, and thus laid claim to be
considered a good advertising medium ; and this was when
newspapers were selling at 3d. each. In 1800 they were
6d. each, and the extra tax had diminished the circulation
of the Morning Post during the previous summer by one-
third, which fall they claim to have recovered, and to have
raised their circulation in five 'years from 400 to 1,800-
daily. In June, 1796, the Times published its number ;
and again in 1798, when it confessed to a fall of 1,400 ia
its daily sale.

In 1806 there was a very pretty little war as to the
circulation of rival newspapers.

The Times opened the ball on,the 15th of November by
inserting a paragraph, " Under the Clock " : " XS9 We are
wider the necessity of requesting our Correspondents and« THE TIMES" AND " THE POST:1 381

Advertisers not to be late in their communications, if intended
for the next day's publication ; as the extraordinary Sale of
THE TIMES, which is decidedly superior to that of every
ether Morning Paper, compels us to go to press at a very early
hour?

The Morning Postj November 17th (which number is
unfortunately missing in the British Museum file), chal-
lenged the statement—to which the Times replied on the
18th: " This declaration of our Sale, a Morning Paper of
yesterday has thought proper to contradict, and boldly
claims the superiority. We have ^ only to say on the
subject, that, if the Paper will give an attested account of
its daily Sale for the last two Months, we will willingly
publish it."

And now the strife was waxing hot, for the Morning
Post on the 21st of November wrote : "We admit the sale
of his Paper may>for the present, be many hundreds beyond
any other, except the Morning Post, the decided supe-
riority of which, we trust, he will no longer affect to dispute.
. . . We pledge ourselves to Prove that the regular sale of
the Morning Post is little short of a thousand per day
superior to that of his paper."

Of course the Times, of the 22nd of November, calls this
a preposterous boast, and wishes statistics for the last two
months.

Thus goaded, the Morning Post} of the 24th'of November,
issued affidavits from its printers and publisher, that its
circulation, even at that dead season, was upwards of 4,000
jdaily, and that during the sitting of Parliament it reached,
and exceeded 5>000> the editor remarking: " What is meant
by regular Sale, is the Number which is daily served, to
Subscribers. ... If those who, by the >Low Expedient
of selling their Papers by the noisy nuisance of Horn Boys,
take into their accounts the extra Papers so sold, it is not
for us to follow so unworthy an example ; to such means
the Morning Post never has recourse."382

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

The Timesy November 25 th, has the . last of this wordy
warfare, declaring that its circulation sometimes reached
7,000 or 8,000 a day: and I should not have introduced
this episode, had it not have given such a perfect insight
into the working of the press of that date, which would
have been unobtainable but for this quarrel.

The British Museum then stood where now it does, only-
Montague House, in which its treasures were then en-
shrined, was totally unfitted for their reception—for instance,
a collection of Egyptian antiquities were kept in two sheds
in the courtyard. The whole of the antiquities, and rarities,
were in sad want of arrangement, and classification, and as
many impediments, as possible, were placed in the way of
visitors.

Take what it was like in 1802: "Persons who are
desirous of seeing the Museum, must enter their name
and address, and the time at which they wish to see it, in
a book kept by the porter, and, upon calling again on a
future day, they will be supplied with printed tickets, free
of expense, as all fees are positively prohibited. The tickets
only serve for the particular day and hour specified ; and, if
not called for the day before, are forfeited.

"The Museum is kept open every day in the week,
except Saturday, and the weeks which follow Christmas
day, Easter, and Whitsunday. The hours are from nine
till three, except on Monday and Friday, during the
months of May, June, July, and August, when the hours
are only .from four till eight in the afternoon.

"The spectators are allowed three hours for viewing the
whole—that is, an hour for each of the three departments.
One hour for the Manuscripts and Medals; one for the
natural and artificial productions, and one for the printed
books. Catalogues are deposited in each room, but no book
must be taken down except by the officer attending, who
will also restore it to its place. Children are not admitted.

" Literary characters, or any person who wishes to makeMUSEUMS*

383

use of the Museum Tor purposes of study and reference,
may obtain permission, by applying to the trustees, or the
standing committee. A room is appointed for their ac-
commodation, in which, during the regular hours, they may
have the use of any manuscript or printed book, subject to
certain regulations."

On the 8th of June, 1804, the Trustees somewhat modi-
fied the arrangements, and instead of visitors having to call
twice about their tickets, before their visit, they might be
admitted the day of application (Monday, Wednesday, or
Friday only) subject to the following rule:

"Five Companies, of not more than 15 persons each, may
be admitted in the course of the day ; namely, one at each
of the hours of 10,11, 12, 1, and 2. At each of these hours
the directing officer in waiting shall examine the entries
in the book ; and if none of the persons inscribed be excep-
tionable, he shall consign them to the attendant, whose
turn it will be to conduct the companies through the
House.

" Should more than fifteen persons inscribe their names,
for a given hour, the supernumeraries will be desired to
wait, or return at the next hour, when they will be admitted
preferably to other applicants."

The Museum Gardens were a great attraction, and were
much visited. So much, indeed, were they thought of, that,
in an advertisement of a house to Jet, it is stated, as a
great recommendation that it commands " a view of the
Museum.Gardens, and a part of Hampstead Heath."

There were other museums, notably the Leverian
Museum, the collection of Sir Ashton Lever, of Alkington,
near Manchester, a virtuoso of the first water. He spent
very large sums on this collection, which consisted mainly
of specimens of natural history (over 5,000 stuffed birds),
fossils, shells, corals, a few antiquities, and the usual
country museums' quota of South Sea Island weapons, and
dresses. There was much rubbish, as we should term it—3^4

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

according to the Gentleman*s Magazine of May, 1773
(p. 200), like a double-headed calf, a pig with eight legs,
two tails, one backbone, and one head. Some pictures of
birds'-in straw very natural, a basket of paper flowers, a
head'of his present Majesty, cut in Cannel Coal ; a drawing
of Indian ink of a head of a late Duke of Bridgwater,
&c., &c.

The collection had, of course, much increased, when in
1785, Sir Ashton Lever, shortly before his death, disposed
•of it by lottery. The' winner, Mr. Parkinson, built " a
very elegarit and well-disposed structure for its reception,
about a hundred yards from the foot of Blackfriars Bridge,
•on the Surrey side." 1 The admission was one shilling.
Presumably it did not pay, for it was sold by auction in
1806. The sale lasted sixty-five days. The number of
lots being 7,879, and the catalogue occupying 410 octavo
pages. Then there were the museums of the two Hunters—
that of Dr. William Hunter, F.S.A., &c. In the period of
which I treat, his anatomical specimens, coins, &c., were
•exhibited at the Theatre of Anatomy, in Great Windmill
Street, whence, according to his will, they were after a
certain time transferred to the University of Glasgow,
where they now are. His brother John, who was also a
F.R.S., had a grand collection of anatomical preparations,
which was purchased by the Government for ;£i 5,000, and
-deposited%prd bono publico> in the College of Surgeons.

* Afterwards known as "The Rotunda."

^^^^^^^^cipqpqpcipcpcg3gggB^^gggg^^^gg

CHAPTER XLV.

Medical—The Doctor of the old School—The rising lights—Dr. Jenner—His
discovery of vaccination for smallpox—Opposition thereto—Perkins's Metallic
Tractors—The "Perkinean Institution"—His cures—Eleotricity and Galvanism
—Galvanizing a dead criminal—Lunatic Asylums—Treatment of the insane—
The Hospitals.

APROPOS of Doctors— the medical and surgical
branches of the profession were emerging from
empiricism, and science was beginning to assert
herself, and laying the foundation of the English School of
Medicine, the finest the world has yet seen. The doctor of
the old school (as given in the next page) was still extant,
with his look of portentous sagacity, his Burghley-like shake
of the head, his bag with instruments and medicaments,
and the cane—always the gold-headed cane—which came
in so useful, and gave such a look of sapience when applied
to the side of the nose, affording time for consideration
before giving an opinion on a doubtful case—a relic of
the time when, in its gold top, was carried a febrifuge, such
as aromatic vinegar, or the such like. Similar types are
also given in a political caricature by Isaac Cruikshank.

But these old quacks were disappearing, and the pro-
genitors of the present hardworking, energetic, and scien-
tific men, our medical advisers, were arising, and I append
a list, imperfect as it may be, which contains names
of world-wide reputation, and thoroughly well known to

26386

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY..

every fairly educated Englishman. They are taken in
no sequence, chronological or otherwise. Sir Anthony
Carlisle, F.R.S., President of the Royal College of Sur-
geons ; Sir Charles Mansfield Clarke, so famous for his
treatment of the Diseases of Women and Children;
Sir' Astley Paston Cooper ; Sir ' Henry Halford ; that
rough old bear John Abefftethy; Dr. Matthews Baillie

A DOCTOR OF THE OLD SCHOOL—1803.

the brother of Joanna Baillie ; Sir Benjamin Collins
Brodie—then a young man ; Dr. Edward Jenner, of
whom more anon ; Wm. Lawrence, F.R.S., Surgeon
Extraordinary to the Queen ; Sir Charles Bell, another
famous Surgeon, whose " System of Anatomy," is still
a text book; Geo. James Guthrie, and many others;
but a sufficient number of well-known names have beenDR. JENNER,

387

given to warrant the assertion that it \vas an exceptionally
brilliant time of English medicine and surgery.

Perhaps the medical man of this era, to whom the whole
world is most injdebted, is Dr. Jenner, who thoroughly in-
vestigated the wonderfully prophylactic powers of the cow
pock. He had noticed that milkers of cows could not, as
a rule, be inoculated with the small-pox virus—a means of
prevention then believed in, as the patient generally suffered
but slightly from the inoculation, and it was then a creed,
long since exploded, that small-pox could not be taken
twice. This fact of their resistance to variolous inoculation
set him thinking, and he came to the conclusion that they
had absorbed into their systems, a counter poison in the
shape of some infection taken from the cows. He made
many experiments, and found that this came from a disease
called the cow pock, and that the vaccine lymph could not
only be taken direct from the cow, but also by transmission
from the patients who had been inoculated with that
lymph, and whence the present system of so-called vacci-
nation—the greatest blessing of modern times.

Jenner, of course, was opposed ; fools do not even believe
in vaccination now, and great was the battle for, and
against, in the medical profession, and many were the
books written pro and con, " Vaccination Vindicated,"
Ed. Jones ; "A Reply to the Anti-Vaccinists," Jas. Moore;
"The Vaccine Contest," Wm. Blair; "Cow Pock Vacci-
nation," Rowland Hill; " Birch against Vaccination,"
•"Willan on Vaccination," &c., &c.

• Gillray could not, of course, leave such a promising
subject alone, and he perpetrated the accompanying illus-
tration. Here Dr. Jenner (a very good likeness) is attend-
ing to his patients—vaccinating, rather'too vigorously, one
lady—the lymph, in unlimited quantity, being borne by a
workhouse boy, and receiving his patients who are ex-
hibiting the different phases of their vaccination. As a
rule, they seem to have " taken " too well.IIF COW rCCK ; OR, THE WONDERFUL EFFECTS OF THE NEW INOCULATION!
( Vide the publications of y6 Anti- Vaccine Society.)FERKINSS TRACTORS.

389

A quack, who flourished early in the century, far better
deserved the caricaturists' pencil than Jenner, and he
got it. The illustration on this page represents an
American quack, named Perkins, who pretended to
cure various diseases by means of his metallic tractors
—operating on John Bull. The paper on the table
is the True Briton, and it reads thus: "Theatre—dead
alive—Grand Exhibition in Leicester Square. Just arrived
from America the Rod of -^Esculapius. Perkiiiism in all

METALLIC TRACTORS—1802.

its glory, being a certain cure for all Disorders, Hed Noses,
Gouty Toes, Windy Bowels, Broken Legs, Hump backs.
Just discovered, Grand secret of the Philosopher's Stone,
with the true way of turning all metals into Gold."

The truth is, that, at the end of the eighteenth century,
Galvani and Volta, Sir Joseph Banks, in connection with
the Royal Society, and all the scientific men of the day,
were deeply interested in solving the mysteries of elec-
tricity; and, as nobody, as yet, knew much about it, the
public were liable to be gulled by any empiric, and Benja-THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

min Douglas Perkins was the very man to do it. He,
and others, wrote several pamphlets on " The Influence of
Metallic Tractors on the Human Body, in removing various
Inflammatory Diseases," and such like, and opened a Per-
kinean Institution in London. He must have been fairly
successful, for his advertisements lasted some years. His
published cures were miraculous : " A Lady was afflicted
with an Erysipelas in her face. . . . In a few minutes she
'cheerfully acknowledged that she was quite well." "A
man aged 37 had, for several years, been subject to the
Gout. I found him in bed, and very much distressed with
the disease in one of his feet. After I had operated upon
it with the Tractors he said the pain was entirely gone."
" A Lady burned her hand. I, happily, called at the house
immediately after the accident, and applied the Tractors.
In about ten minutes, the inflammation disappeared, the
vesication was prevented, and she said the pain was gone."
The price of these " blessings to men " was five guineas a
set; and he explains them in the specification of the
patent granted him on the 10th March, 1798, where, speak-
ing of Galvanism, he says, " Among the metals that may
be thus characterised, I have found none more eminently
efficacious in removing diseases than the combinations of
copper, zinc, and a small proportion of gold: a precise
quantity of each is not necessary: also iron united to a
very small proportion of silver and platina ; an exact pro-
portion of these also not necessary. These are constructed
with points, and of such dimensions as convenience shall
dictate. They may be formed with one point, or pointed
at each end, or with two or more points. The point of the
instrument thus formed I apply to those parts of the body
which are affected with diseases, and draw them off on the
skin, to a distance from the complaint, and usually towards
the extremities."

Electricity was then a new toy, of which no one, as yet,
knew the use, and they amused themselves with it irtGAL VAINISM.

391

various ways, one of which must serve as an example.
Times, January 22, 1803 : "The body of Forster, who was
executed on Monday last for murder, was conveyed to a
house not far distant, where it was subjected to the Gal-
vanic process by Professor ALDINI, under the inspection of
Mr. Keate, Mr. Carpue, and several other professional
gentlemen. M. Aldini, who is the nephew of the dis-
coverer of this most interesting science, showed the emi-
nent and superior powers of Galvanism to be far beyond
any other stimulant in nature. On the first application of
the process to the face, the jaw of the deceased criminal
began to quiver, and the adjoining muscles were horribly
contorted, and one eye was actually opened. In the sub-
sequent part of the process, the right hand was raised and
clenched, and the legs and thighs set in motion. It
appeared to the uninformed part of the bystanders as if
the wretched man was on the eve of being restored to life.
This, however, was impossible, as several of his friends
who were under the scaffold had violently pulled his legs,
in order to put a more speedy termination to his sufferings.
The experiment, in fact, was of a better use, and tendency.
Its object was to show the excitability of the human
frame, when this animal electricity is duly applied. In
cases of drowning or suffocation, it promises to be of the
utmost use, by reviving the action of the lungs, and, there-
by, rekindling the expiring spark of vitality. In cases of
apoplexy, or disorders of the head, it offers, also, most
encouraging prospects for the benefit of mankind. The
professor, we understand, has made use of Galvanism, also,
in several cases of insanity, and with complete success."

This latter part—the cure of the insane by means of
electricity—has not been verified by practice. Their treat-
ment was very inefficient, although, even then, whips and
chains .were disappearing—especially in the public mad-
houses, which were at that time Bethlehem, and St. Luke's
Hospitals. Bethlehem Hospital was then situated in392	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Moorfields, and the major part of it had been built in 1675.
Over the entrance gates were two sculptured representa-
tions of Raving and Melancholy madness, by Cibber;
these are now in the hall of the present hospital. Patients
remained until they were cured, or for twelve months if not
cuted. In the latter case if it was thought that a further
sojourn might be of use, they were re-admitted, and they
also were permanently kept, were they hopelessly incurable,
and dangerous to society. There were then about 260

patients who might be visited by their friends every
Monday and Wednesday, from 10 to 12 a.m. Visitors
were only admitted by an order from a governor—a vast
improvement on the old plan, when a visitor could always
obtain admission by payment of a small fee. In fact, in
Queen Anne's reign, and later, it formed, with the lions at
the Tower, and the wax figures at Westminster Abbey,
one of the chief sights in London, thus causing a scandal
to the institution, and, without doubt, injuring the patients.

St. Luke's Hospital for the insane was in Old Street,

women's ward, st. luke's—1S08.HOSPITALS.

393

City Road, and was built because Bethlehem was inade-
quate to the relief of all indigent lunatics ; and their treat-
ment was fairly, rational, even those who were obliged to
wear straight jackets having their meals together, so as to
afford some little break in the monotony of their miserable
lives. Each patient had a separate sleeping apartment,
and there were two large gardens, one for men, the other
for women, where pleasant recreation could be taken in
fine weather.

The other medical hospitals were—Bartholomew's, St.
Thomas's, Guy's, St. George's, the London, Middlesex, the
Westminster Infirmary, and the Lock Hospital, in Gros-
venor Place. The majority of these had regular medical
schools, as now, but there were, also, many private lecturers
and demonstrators of anatomy, as also professors of natural
and experimental philosophy, and chemistry.



CHAPTER XLVI. .

The Royal Society and the Royal Institution—Scientific men of the time—Society
of Arts—Other learned Societies—Ballooning—Steam—Steamboats—Loco-
motives—Fourdrinier and the paper-making machine—Coals—Their price—
Committee of the House of Commons on coal—Price of coals.

THE Royal Institution had -just been founded (incor-
porated 13th January, 1800), and the Gresham
lectures were held. The Royal Institution was
patronized by its big elder brother, the Royal Society, for
in the minutes of the proceedings of the latter, on the 15th
of April, 1802, is the following :

" Resolved, that . . . the Royal Society be requested to
direct their Secretaries to communicate from time to time
to the Editor of the Journals of the Royal Institution, such
information respecting the Papers read at the Meetings of
the Society, as it may be thought proper to allow to be
published in these Journals."

In the first ten years of this century, no great scientific
discoveries were made; the most prominent being the
researches of that marvellous scientist and Egyptologist,
Dr. Thomas Young,1 in connection with physical optics,
which led to his theory of undulatory light.3 Yet there
were good men coming forward, the pioneers of this present

1	He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society—the "guinea stamp" of a
scientific man, at the age of 21.

2	See "A Course of Lectures on Natural Philosophy and the Mechanic
Arts " by Dr. Thomas Young. 2 vols. 1807.STEAM,

395

age, to whose labours we are much indebted; and any
decade might be proud of such names as Faraday, Banks,
Rennie, Dr. Wollaston, Count Rumford, Humphrey Davy,
and Henry Cavendish, whose discovery of the gaseous
composition of water laid the foundation of the modern
school of chemistry.

The Society of Arts, too, was doing good work, and the
Society of Antiquaries, and the Linnsean Society, were
also in existence; but the Horticultural, and Geological
Societies, alone, vyere born during this ten years.

Ballooning was in the same position as now, i.e., bags
of gas could, as is only natural, rise in the air, and be
Carried whither the wind listed; and, especially in the
year 1802, aerostatics formed one of the chief topics
of conversation, as Garnerin and Barrett were causing
excitement by their aerial flights.

Man had enslaved steam, but had hardly begun to utilize
it, and knew but very little of the capabilities of its ener-
getic servant. Then it was but a poor hard-working
drudge, who could but turn a wheel, or pump water. Cer-
tainly a steamboat had been tried on the Thames, and
Fulton's steamboat Clermont was tried on the Seine in
1803, at New York in 1806, and ran on the Hudson in
' 1807 ; but the locomotive was being hatched. The use of
iron rails to ease the draft was well known, and several
patents were granted for different patterns of rail, but they
were mainly used in mines, to save horse power. Under
the date of 24th March, 1802, is a " Specification of the
Patents granted to Richard Trevithick and Andrew Vivian,
, of the Parish of Camborne, in the County of Cornwall.
Engineers and Miners, for Methods for improving the con-
struction of Steam Engines, and the Application thereof
for driving Carriages, and for other purposes." Here,
then, we have the germ of the locomotive, which has
been one of the most powerful agents of civilization the
world ever saw. But it was not till 1811 that the loco-396	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

motive was used, and then only op a railway connected
with a colliery.

It was not a mechanical age, or rather, applied mechanics
was as a yotfng child, and babbled sillily. The only thing
I regret, in writing this book, is the time I have wasted in
looking oyer Patent Specifications, to find something
worthy to illustrate the mechanical genius of the time.
The most useful invention I have found, is the paper-making
machine, This was originally the conception of a French-
man, Louis Robert, who sold his invention to Didot, the
great printer, who, bringing it to England, got Fourdrinier
to join with him in perfecting it. It did not, Minerva-like,
spring ready armed from its parent's brain ; but was the
subject of several patents ; but the one which approaches
nearest to, and is identical in all essential points with, the
present paper-making machine, is his "Specification, en-
rolled pursuant to Act of Parliament of the 47th of George
the Third, of the Invention of Henry Fourdrinier and Sealy
Fourdrinier, of Sherborne Lane, London, and John Gamble,
of Saint Neots, in the County of Huntingdon, Paper Manu-
facturers; for making Paper by means of Machines, for
which several Letters Patent have been obtained at dif-
ferent periods. Term extended to 15 years from 14th
August, 1807." This extension had been obtained by
means of an Act of Parliament passed the previous session,
and the machine was capable of making the endless web of
paper now in vogue.

The primitive state of our manufactures at this date
may be, perhaps, best understood by a typical illustration
or two, taken by Pyne; a most conscientious draughtsman,
who drew all his studies from nature. The first, on the
next page, is an Iron Foundry, casting shot.

Coals were very dear, and that was owing to two things.
First, that only the Sunderland district coals were used in
London, because they only could, in any quantity, be
shipped to London; the vast Staffordshire, and otherCOALS.

397

inland basins, being out of the question, owing to lack of
carriage, except where a canal was handy; and the other
reason for their high price was that there being no steam
vessels, a contrary wind would keep the coal-ships out of
port, and, consequently, denude the market.

The inland coals were cheap enough in their own
localities—vide the Morning Post, August 6, 1800: " At
Oldham, in Lancashire, the best coals are only 6s. gd.
equal to a London chaldron.1 At Barnsley, in Yorkshire,
the best coals are sold at the pit's mouth for only if4d*

AN IRON FOUNDRY—lS02.

per cwt. Surely, permission ought to be granted for coals
to be brought to London, if they can be conveyed by
water. This might be done, as the canals from Lancashire
are now cut so as a barge with twenty-five tons of coals
would arrive in London in fourteen days. They cost at
the pit only 8s. 4d. per ton."

But not only were they unattainable, but many of the
coal-fields from which we now draw our supplies were
absolutely unknown. Here is an instance—Morning Post,

1 Thirty-six bushels, similar to the sealed measure kept at the Guildhall,
heaped up; average weight, 28J cwt. The Newcastle chaldron weighed
53 cwt.A COLLIERY—lSo2.COALS.

399

July 25, 1805 :v "A very fine stratum of coal, 15 feet deep,
has been lately discovered on the Earl- of Moira's estate at
Donnington, and by which the Leicestershire Canal Shares
have been doubled in their value."

In looking at the following list of prices of coals, it
must be borne in mind that these are the market prices
for coals ex ship; and it was reckoned that 12s. per ton
was a fair price to allow for metage, carriage, and profit.
Add this, and remember that a sovereign at the commence-
ment of the century had the purchasing power of, and,
consequently, worth, about 30s.; it will then be seen that
coals were excessively dear—such as would now practically
extinguish every manufacture.

Even in 1800, when coals were only about 48s. or 48s. 6d.,
the price was considered so excessive, that a Committee of
the House of Commons sat upon the subject, and issued a
report, imputing it to the following causes:

w 1. The agreement among the Coal Owners in the
North, called ' The Limitation of Vends/ by which each
colliery on the Tyne is limited, so as not to exceed a
certain quantity in each year. Those Coal Owners who
are found to have shipped more than their stipulated
quantities, being bound to make a certain allowance at
the end of.each year, to those who have shipped less, and
to conform to certain other regulations adopted by the
Coal Owners on the river Wear.

"2. The detention of the ships at Newcastle, waiting for
the best coals, sometimes a month or six weeks.

" 3. The want of a market in London which would
admit of a competition, perfectly free, in the purchase of
coals.

" 4. The circumstance of the coal-buyer being, in many
instances, owners both of ship and cargo; which (as
appears by the evidence) lqads to considerable abuse.

" 5. The want of a sufficient number of Meters, and of4oo	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

craft, for unloading the ships on their arrival in the river,
and the occasional delays in procuring ballast on their
return voyage.

" 6. The practice of mixing the best coals with those of
an inferior quality, and selling the whole so mixed as of
th6 best kind ; and

"7. To frauds in the measurement, carriage, and delivery
of coals."

That there were great profits made by coals, there can
be no doubt. Mr. Walter, the proprietor of the Times> had
been a coal-factor, and had failed in business, before he
started his newspaper—in which, in its early days, he
keenly scanned the state of the Coal Market for the benefit
of the public.

Here is a paragraph advertisement from the Morning
Herald\ June 2, 1802, which shows that o.ur grandfathers
could advertise in as catching a style as the present
generation: " On Saturday, the following conversation
occurred between two sailors opposite Somerset House :
'Ah! Sam, how are you ?' ' Why, Jack, when I saw you,
a few days ago, I was near a Gentleman ; but now, through
my folly, am a complete beggar 1 ' ' Cheer up, Sam, for
you are near a Gentleman now. I have just received all
my prize money and wages ; we have been partners in
many a hard battle; we will be partners now. I am going
to the London Sea Coal Company, in Southampton Street,
Holborn, to buy a score of coals; and, by retailing of which,
I'll prove to you, there's a devilish deal more satisfaction
and pleasure than in throwing the gold dust away on bad
women or public-houses." This company were in Sep-
tember, 1804, selling their coals at 58s. per chaldron.

October 8, 1804: "Pool1 price of coals: Wallsend,
54s. 6d.; Hebburn and Percy, 52s. 6d.; Wellington, 52s. 3d.;

1 That part of the Thames from the east side of London Bridge is called
*' The Pool."COALS.

40 i

Temples, 51s. 8d.; Eighton, 48s. 3d. Eight ships at
market, and all sold, The addition of 12s. to the above
will give the price at which the coals should be delivered
in town."

That was in .face of approaching winter. In summer
time the<price was naturally lower—July 1, 1805: "Coals.
Monday, 24 June, 20 cargoes sold from 39s. 3d. to 49s. 6d.
per chaldron. Wednesday, 26 do.; 10 ditto 42s. 9d. to
49s. Friday, 28: 15 ditto 43s. 9d. to 49s. 6d. in the Pool."

In February, 1808, the retail price of coals was 64s.;
and this did not include metage and -shooting. In October,
1809, they rose to 74s., and in November of the same year
they reached 84sCHAPTER XLVII,

The Navy—Sailor's carelessness—"The Sailor's Journal"—The sailor and "a
dilly "—Dress of the sailors—Rough life both for officers and men -Number
of ships in Commission—Pressing—A man killed by a press-gang—Mutinies—
That of the Danae—Mutiny on board the Hermione, and cold-blooded
slaughter of the officers—Mutiny in Bantry Bay—Pay of the officers—French
prisoners of war.

IT was the fashion then, as it is now, to portray a
sailor, as a harum-scarum, jovial, rollicking, care-for-
nought; and doubtless, in the main, he was, at that
time, as unlike as possible to the blue-riband, savings-bank
Jack that he very frequently is now. Prize money was
pretty plentiful; such things as a temperance captain and
ship, were unknown ; and the constant active service in
which they were engaged, with its concomitant insecurity
to life and limb, must have made them somewhat reckless,
and inclined to enjoy life, after their fashion, whilst they
still possessed that life. Rowlandson—May 30, 1802—
drew two of them in a caricature, called "The Sailor's
Journal." They are dividing a bowl of punch, one is
smoking, the other gives his mate some extracts from his
Journal: " Entered the port of London. Steered to Nan's
lodgings, and unshipped my Cargo ; Nan admired the
shiners—so did the landlord—gave 'em a handful a-piece ;
emptied a bottle of the right sort with the landlord to theSAILORS.

health of his honour Lord Nelson. All three set sail for
the play; got a berth in a cabin on the larboard side—-
wanted to smoke a pipe, but the boatswain wouldn't let
me ; remember to rig out Nan like the fine folks in the
cabin right ahead. Saw Tom Junk aloft in the corner of
the upper deck—hailed him; the signal returned. Some
of the land-lubbers in the cockpit began to laugh—tipped
them a little foremast lingo till they sheered off. Emptied
the grog bottle ; fell fast asleep—dreamt of the battle of
Camperdown. My landlord told me the play was over-
glad of it. Crowded sail for a hackney coach. Squally
weather—rather inclined to be sea-sick. Gave the pilot a
two pound-note, and told him not to mind the change. In
the morning, looked over my Rhino—a great deal of it, to
be sure; but I hope, with the help of a few friends, to spend
every shilling in a little time, to the honour and glory of
old England."

This was the ideal, and typical, sailor ; the reality was
sometimes as foolish. Morning Herald, June 12, 1805 5
" One day last week a sailor belonging to a man-of-war at
Plymouth had leave to go on shore ; but, having staid
much longer than the allowed time, he received a sharp
reprimand on his return. Jack's reply ,was that he was
very sorry, but that he had taken a ditty (a kind of chaise
used about Plymouth) for the purpose of making the
utmost haste, but the coachman could riot give him change
for half a guinea, and he, therefore, was obliged to keep
him driving fore and aft between Plymouth and the Dock,
till he had drove the half-guinea out! Unfortunately for
poor Jack, it so happened, that when the half-guinea
was drove out, he was set down at the spot whence he
started, and had just as far to walk, as though he had not
been drove at all."

When in full uniform, ,a sailor in the Royal Navy was
a sight to see—with his pigtail properly clubbed and
tied with black silk. We have already seen them in the- 4H	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

picture of Nelson's funeral car, and the accompanying
illustration is of the same epoch, and shows a British sailor
weeping over Lord Nelson's death.

It was a rough school, both for officers and men. We
may judge somewhat of what the life of the former was
likfc by Captain Martyat's novels; but, lest they should be
highly coloured, let us take a few lines from the first page
of the " Memoir of Admiral Sir Edward Codrington " :1

" He spent nine years at sea as a
midshipman; and I have repeatedly
heard him say, that during those
nine years (so important for the
formation of character) he never
was invited to open a book, nor
received a word of advice or in-
struction, except professional, from
any one. More than that, he was
thrown among a set in the gun-
room mess, older than himself, whose
amusement it was—a too customary
amusement in those days—to teach
the lad to drink, and to lead him
into their own habitual practice in
that respect."

If this was the case with the
officers, how did the men fare ?

Volunteer recruits did not come
from the pick of the labouring British sailor-i805.
class, and the pressed men soon fell into the ways of
those surrounding them. No doubt they were better off
in the Royal Navy than in the Mercantile Marine;
but the ship's stores of that day consisted but of salt
pork, and beef, the latter being indifferently called junk
or old horse. The biscuits, too, were nothing like those
now supplied on board Her Majesty's ships. Wheat was

1 Edited by his daughter, Lady Bourchier. London, 1873.SHIPS IN COMMISSION.	405

very dear, and these sailors did not get the best of that
Inferior corn, bad package, and old age soon generated
weevils, and the biscuit, when these were knocked out, was
often but an empty shell. Bullied by their officers, and
brutally flogged and punished for trifling faults, Jack's life
could not have been a pleasant one; and we can hardly
wonder that he often deserted, and sometimes mutinied.
Yet, whenever a fight was imminent, or did actually occur,
all bad treatment was banished from his mind, and he
fought like a Briton.

And there were many ships to man. Not only were all
our dockyards hard at work building and repairing, but
prizes were continually coming in ; and the French men-of-
war were better designed than ours—in fact, it may be
said that we learned, at that time, our Naval Architecture
from the prizes we took. In October, 1804, there were in
commission 103 ships of the line, 24 fifty-gun vessels, 135
frigates, and 398 sloops—total 660. In March, 1806, there
were 721 ships in commission, of which 128 were of the
line. On January 1, 1808, there were 795 in commission,
144 being ships of the line. Many of these were taken
from the French, as the following exultant paragraph from
the Annual Register, August 19, 1808, will show:

" It must be proudly gratifying to the minds of Britons,
as it must be degradingly mortifying to the spirit of
Bonaparte, to know that we have, at this moment, in the
British Navy, 68 sail of the line, prizes taken from the
enemies of this country at different periods, besides 21
ships carrying from 40 to 50 guns each, 62 ships from 30
to 40 guns each, 15 carrying from 20 to 30 guns each, and
66 from 10 to 20 guns each ; making a total of 232 ships."

To man these ships, &c., some 100,000 men were need-
ful, and as they would not come of their own will, they
must be taken vi et armis. Impressing men for the King's
Naval Service had always been in use* since the fourteenth
century, so that it was no novelty; but it must have been4o6	THE NINETEENTH CENTUR Y

hard indeed for a sailor coming from a long voyage (and
they had long voyages in those days—no rushing three
times round the world in a twelvemonth, and time to spare),
full of hope to find his wife and children well, to be bodily
seized, without even so much as landing, and sent on board
a King's ship, to serve for an indefinite period. A few
extracts from the newspapers will show what a press was
like.

Morning Post, January 21, 1801 : "The press for seamen
on the river and on shore is warmer than was ever known
in any former war."

Times, March 11, 1803: "The impress service, particu-
larly in the Metropolis, has proved uncommonly productive
in the number of excellent seamen. The returns at the
Admiralty of the seamen impressed on Tuesday night
amounted to 1,080, of whom no less than two-thirds are
considered prime hands. At Portsmouth, Portsea, Gosport,
and Cowes, a general press took place the same night.
Every merchant ship in the harbours and at Spithead, was
stripped of its hands, and all the watermen deemed fit for
His Majesty's service were carried off. Upwards of six
hundred seamen were collected in consequence of the
promptitude of the measures adopted. ... Government,
we-understand, relies upon increasing our naval force with
ten thousand seamen, either volunteers, or impressed men,
io less than a fortnight, in consequence of the exertions
which are making in all the principal ports. Those
collected on the river, and in London, will be instantly
conveyed to Chatham, Sheerness, and Portsmouth. Several
frigates and gun brigs have sailed for the islands of Jersey
and Guernsey with impress warrants."

Times, May 9, 1803 : "On Sunday afternoon two gallies,
each having an officer and press-gang in it, in endeavour-
ing to impress some persons at Hungerford Stairs, were
resisted by a party of coal-heavers belonging to a wharf
adjoining, who assailed them with coals and glass-bottles ;

\PXESS GANGS.	4°7

several of the gang were cut in a most shocking manner,
on their heads and legs, and a woman who happened to be
in a wherry, was wounded in so dreadful a manner, that it
is fearecj she will not survive. ♦ • • The impress on Satur-
day, both above and below Bridge, was the hottest that has
been for some time; the boats belonging to the ships at
Deptford were particularly active, and it is supposed they
obtained upwards of two hundred men, who were regulated
(sic) on board the Enterprize till late at night, and sent
in the different tenders to the Nore, to be put on board
such ships whose crews are not completed. • . . The
impressed men, for whom there was not room on board
the Entei'prize, on Saturday were put into the 'fower,
and the gates shut, to prevent any of them effecting their
escape."

Morning Herald\ December 11, 1804: "A very smart
press took place yesterday morning upon the river, and
"the west part of the town. A great many useful hands
were picked up."

Morning Post, May 8, 1805: "The embargo to which
we alluded in our Paper of Monday has taken place. At
two o'clock yesterday afternoon, orders for that purpose
were issued at the Custom House, and upwards of a thou-
sand able seamen are said to have been already procured
for the Navy, from on board the ships in the river/'

Morning Post, April 11, 1808 : " On Saturday the hottest
press ever known took place on the Thames, when an un-
precedented number of able seamen were procured for His
Majesty's service. A flotilla of small smacks was sur-
rounded by one of the gangs, and the whole of the hands,
amounting to' upwards of a hundred, were carried off."

These raids on seamen were not always conducted on
"rose-water" principles, and the slightest resistance met
with a cracked crown, or worse. Witness a case tried at
the Kingston Assizes, March 22,1800, where John Salmon,
a midshipman in His Majesty's navy, was indicted for the4q8

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

wilful murder of William Jones. The facts of the case
were as follow. The prisoner was an officer on board His
Majesty's ship Dromedary, lying in the Thames off Dept-
ford. He and his lieutenant, William Wright ,(who was
charged with being present, and assisting), went on shore
on the night of the 19th of February, with nine of the crew,
on the impress service ; Wright had a pistol, Salmon a
dirk, one of the sailors a hanger, and the rest were unarmed.
After waiting some time in search of prey, the deceased,
and one Brown, accompanied by two women, passed by;
they were, instantly seized upon, and carried to a public-
house, from whence they endeavoured to effect their escape;
a scuffle ensued, in the course of which the deceased called
out he had been pricked. At this time three men had hold
of him—a sufficient proof that he was overpowered—and
whoever wounded him, most probably did so with malice
prepense. The poor fellow was taken, in this state, to a
boat, and thence on board a ship, where, for a considerable
time, he received no medical assistance. The women, who
were with him, accompanied him to the boat, and he told
them that the midshipman had wounded him, and that he
was bleeding to death ; that #every time he fetched his
breath, he felt the air rushing in at the wound. He was
afterwards taken to the hospital, and there, in the face of
death, declared he had been murdered by the midshipman.
The case was thoroughly pfoved as to the facts, but the
prisoner was acquitted of the capital charge of murder, and
I do not know whether Jie was ever prosecuted for man-
slaughter.

. Men thus obtained, could scarcely be expected to be
contented with their lot, and, therefore, we are not surprised
to hear of more than one mutiny—the marvel is there were
so few. Of course, they are not pleasant episodes in history,
but they have to be written about.

The first in this decade (for the famous mutiny at the
Nore occurred in the previous century), was that on boardMUTINIES.

the Dande, 20 guns, Captain Lord Proby. It is difficult to
accurately ascertain the date, for it is variously given in
different accounts, as March 16th, 17th, and 27th, 1800;
but, at all events, in that month the Dande was cruising off
the coast of France, with some thirty of her crew, and
officers,' absent in prizes, and having on board some French-
men who had been captured on board the privateer Borde-
laisy and had subsequently entered the English service.
On board was one Jackson (who had been secretary to
Parker, the ringleader of the Nore Mutiny in 1798), who
had been tried for participation in that mutiny and ac-
quitted, since when, he had borne a good character, refusing
the rank of petty officer which had been offered to him,
giving as a reason, that being an impressed man, he held
himself at liberty {o make his escape whenever he had a
chance, whereas, if he took rank, he should consider
himself a volunteer.

With him as a ringleader, and a crew probably contain-
ing some fellow sufferers, and the Frenchmen, who would
certainly join, on board, things were ripe for what followed.
The ship was suddenly seized, and the officers overpowered,
Lord Proby and the master being seriously wounded.
The mutineers then set all sail, and steered for Brest
Harbour, and on reaching Camaret Bay, they were boarded
by a lieutenant of La Colore, who asked Lord Proby to
whom he surrendered. He replied, to the French nation,
but not to the mutineers. La Colombe and the Dande thfen
sailed for Brest, being chased by the Anson and Boadiccea,
and would, in all probability, have been captured, had not
false signals been made by the Dande that she was in
chase. Lord Proby had previously thrown the private code
of signals out of his cabin window. They were all confined
in Dinan prison.

The Hermioney also, was carried over to the enemy by a
mutinous crew ; but in October, 1800, was cut out of Porto
Cavello, after a gallant resistance, by the boat's crew of theTHE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Surprise-, Captain Hamilton, and brought in triumph to
Port Royal, Jamaica. On this occasion justice overtook
two of the mutineers, who were hanged on the 14th of
August—one in Portsmouth Harbour, the other at Spithead.
Another of the mutineers, one David Forester, was after-
wards caught and executed, and, before he died, he con-
fessed (Annual Register, April 19, 1802), "That he went
into the cabin, and forced Captain Pigot overboard, through
> the port, while he was alive. He then got on the quarter
deck, and found the first lieutenant begging for his life,
saying he had.a wife and three children depending on him
for support; he took hold of him, and assisted in heaving
him overboard alive, and declared he did not think he
would have taken his life had he not first took hold of him.
A cry was then heard through the ship that Lieutenant
Douglas could not be found : he took a lantern and candle,
and went into the gun-room, and found the Lieutenant
under the marine officer's cabin. He called in the rest of
the people, when they dragged him on deck, and threw him
overboard. He next caught hold of Mr. Smith, a mid-
shipman ; a scuffle ensued, and, finding him likely to get
away, he struck him with his tomahawk, and threw him
overboard. The next cry was for putting all the officers to
death, that they might not appear as evidence against
them, and he seized on the Captain's Clerk, who was
immediately put to death."

I have to chronicle yet one more mutiny, happily not so
tragical as the last, but ending in fearful punishment to the
mutineers. It occurred principally on board the Temeraire
then in Bantry Bay, but pervaded the squadron ; and the
culprits were tried early in January, 1802, by a court martial
at Portsmouth, for " using mutinous and seditious words,
and taking an active part in mutinous and seditious assem-
blies.'' Nineteen were found guilty, twelve sentenced to
death, and ten, certainly, hanged.

There seems to have been no grumble about their pay,FRENCH PRISONERS OF WAR.

4ii

or food, or accommodation—a sea life was looked upon as
a hard one, and accepted as such. The officers, at all
events, did not get paid too well, for we read in the Morn-
ing Post, October 19, 1801 : "We understand the Post
Captains in the Navy are to have eight shillings a day in-
stead of six. And it is supposed that Lieutenants will be
advanced to four shillings instead7 of three." They occa-
sionally got a haul in prize money—like the Lively, which
in August, 1805, was awarded the sum of £200,000 for^he
capture of some Spanish frigates.1

Spite of everything, the naval power of England reached
the highest point it has ever attained, and no matter whatever
grievances they may have been suffering from, the sailors,
from the admiral to the powder monkey, behaved nobly in
action, and, between the Navy and Army, we had rather
more prisoners of war to take care of than was agreeable.
Speaking of an exchange of prisoners, the Morning Post,
October 15, 1810, says: "There are in France, of all kinds
of prisoners and detained persons, about 12,000; in England
there are about 50,000 prisoners," and the disproportion
was so great that terms could not be come to.

1 Lord St. Vincent had a lawsuit which was decided in March, 1801, for an
eighth share of two Spanish ships captured in 1799. Its value was .£9,674,
ana he won his case.



CHAPTER XLVIII.

The Army—Number of men—Dress—Hair-powder—Militia—Commissions easily
obtained—Price of substitutes—The Volunteers—Dress of the Honourable
and Ancient Artillery Company—Bloomsbury Volunteers, and Rifle Volunteers
—Review at Hatfield—Grand rising of Volunteers in 1803.

IN the year 1800, our Army consisted of between'80,000
and 90,000 men, besides the foreign legions, such as
the Bavarians, in our pay. In 1810, there were 105,000,
foreigners not included.

The British soldier of that day was, outwardly, largely
compounded of a tight coat and gaiters, many buttons
and straps, finished off with hog's lard and flour; and an
excellent representation of him, in the midst of the decade,
is taken from a memorial picture of the death of Nelson,
and also from his funeral; but these latter may have been
volunteers, as they were much utilized on that occasion.
Be they what they may, both had one thing in common—
the pig-tail—which was duly soaped, or larded and floured,
until flour became so scarce that its use was first modified,
and then discontinued, about 1808. Otherwise the variety
of uniforms was infinite, as now.

Of the threatened Invasion I have already treated. Of
the glorious campaigns abroad I have nothing to say,
except that all did their duty, or more, with very few
blunders, if we except the Expedition to the Scheldt.THE MILITIA AND VOLUNTEERS. 413

From the highest to the lowest, there was a wish to be
with the colours. Fain would the Prince of Wales have
joined any regiment of which he was colonel, on active
service, and, in fact, he made application to be allowed to
do so, but met with a refusal, at which he chafed greatly.
Should' any one be curious to read the " Correspondence
between His Majesty, The Prince of Wales, the Duke of
York, and Mr. Addington, respecting the Offer of Military
Service made by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales,1"
it can be found in the appendix to the chronicle of the
Annual Register for 1803, PP- 5^4, &c.

The Army was fighting our battles abroad\ so that for
the purposes of this book, we are left only to deal with the
Militia and Volunteers. The Militia were in a state of
almost permanent embodiment, except during the lull
about 1802. March, 1803, saw them once more under
arms; the Yeomanry had not been disembodied. Com-
missions in the Militia seem to have been easily procurable.
Morning Post, December 3, 1800 : " MILITIA ENSIGNCY.
A young Gentleman of respectability can be introduced
to an Ensigncy in the Militia, direct," &c. Times, July
1803 : "An Adjutancy of English Militia to be sold," &c.
Substitutes could be bought, but at fluctuating prices,
according to the chance of active service being required.
When first called out in 1803, one could be got for £ 10
but the Times, September 15, 1803, in its Brighton news,
says: " The price of substitutes now is as high as forty
guineas, and this tempting boon, added to the stimulus of
patriotism, has changed the occupation of many a Sussex
swain." The Annual Register; October 15, 1803, says:
" Sixty pounds was last week paid at Plymouth for a sub-
stitute for the Militia. One man went, on condition of
receiving is. per day during the war, and another sold
himself for ys. 3d. per lb."

The Volunteer movement has been glanced at when
treating of the threatened Invasion of 1803. There had,BRITISH SOLDIER—1805.

SOLDIERS— I £06.

DRESSING PIG-TAILS IN THE OPEN AIR—l8oi.HON. ARTILLERY COM-
PANY— 1803.

VOLUNTEER RIFLE CORrS—1803.BLOOMSBURY AND INNS OF COURT VOLUNTEER-VOLUNTEERS.

4i7

in the previous century, been a grand Volunteer force called
into existence, but nothing like the magnificent general
uprising that took place in 1803. Their uniforms, and
accoutrements, nearly approached the regulars, as ours do
now ; but there was much more scope for individual fancy.
The Honourable and Ancient Artillery Company wore a
blue uniform, with scarlet and gold facings, pipe-clayed
belts, and* black gaiters. The Bloomsbury, and Inns of
Court Volunteers dressed in scarlet, with yellow facings,
white waistcoat and breeches, and black gaiters, whilst the
Rifles were wholly clad in dark green.

The whole of the old Volunteers of 1798 did not disband ;
some old corps still kept on. On June 18, 1800, the King,
accompanied by his family, the Ministers, &c., went to
Hatfield, the seat of the Marquis of Salisbury, and there
reviewed the Volunteers and Militia, to the number of
1,500, all of whom the Marquis most hospitably dined.
Of this dinner I give a contemporary account, as it gives us
a good insight into the fare of a public entertainment,
especially one given by a nobleman, in honour of his sove-
reign and country: " 80 hams, and as many rounds of
beef; 100 joints of veal; 100 legs of lamb ; 100 tongues ;
100 meat pies ; 25 rumps of beef roasted; 100 joints of
mutton ; 25 briskets • 25 edge bones of beef; 71 dishes of
other roast beef; 100 gooseberry pies: besides very
sumptuous covers at the tables of the King, the Cabinet
Ministers, &c. For the country people, there were killed
at the Salisbury Arms, 3 bullocks, 16 sheep, and 25 lambs.
The expense is estimated at ^3,000."

There was a grand Volunteer Review on July 22, 1801,
of nearly 5,000 men, by the Prince of Wales, supported by
his two brothers, the Dukes of York and Kent, some 30,000
peopje being present.

But the moment invasion was threatened, there sprang,
from the ground, armed men. A new levy of 50,000
regulars was raised, and the Volunteers responded to the

284i8	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

call for men in larger numbers than they did in 1859-60.
In 1804, the " List of such Yeomanry and Volunteer Corps
as have been accepted and placed on the Establishment
in Great Britain," gives a total of 379,943 officers and men
(effective rank and file 341,687), whilst Ireland furnished,
besides 82,241 officers and men, a grand total of 462,184,
against which we can but show some 214,000, less about
5,000 non-efficients, with a much larger population.oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

CHAPTER XLIX.

Volunteer Regulations—The Brunswick Rifle—" Brown Bess "—Volunteer shooting
—Amount subscribed to Patriotic Fund—Mr. Miller's patriotic offer.

THE Volunteers were a useful body. They served as
police, and were duly drummed to church on the
National Fast and Thanksgiving days, to represent
the national party; and, as I do not know whether the
terms under which they were called into being, are generally
known, I venture to transcribe them, even though they be
at some length. Times, September 30, 1803 :

"Regulations
for the

Establishments, Allowances, &c.

of

Corps and Companies of Volunteer Infantry,
accepted subsequently to August 3, 1803.

War Office, September 3, 1803.
" A Regiment to consist of not more than 12 Companies,
nor less than 8 Companies.

" A Battallion to consist of not more than 7 Companies,
nor less than 4 Companies.

" A Corps to consist of not less than 3 Companies.

/420

THE NINETEENTH CENTUR Y.

" Companies to consist of not less than 60, nor more than
120 Privates.

"To each Company 1 Captain, 1 Lieutenant, 1 Scconcl
Lieutenant or Ensign.

" It is, however\ to be understood that where the establish-
ment of any Companies has already been fixed at a lower
number by Government, it is to remain unaltered by the
Regulation.

"Companies of 90 Privates and upwards to have 2
Lieutenants and 1 Second Lieutenant or Ensign ; or 3
Lieutenants, if a Grenadier or Light Infantry Company,

" Regiments consisting of 1,000 Privates to have 1 Lieut-
Col. Commandant, 2 Lieut.-Colonels, and 2 Majors.

"No higher rank than that of Lieut.-Col. Commandant
to be given, unless where persons have, already, borne high
rank Jn Hi& Majesty's forces.

"Regiments of not less than 800 Privates, to have 1
Lieut-Col. Commandant, 1 Lieut-Colonel, and 2 Majors.

"Regiments of not more than 480 Privates to have 1
Lieut.-Col. Commandant, 1 Lieut.-Colonel, and 1 Major.

" Battalions of less than 480 Privates to have 1 Lieut.-
Colonel, and 1 Major.

" Corps consisting of 3 Companies, to have 1 Major Com-
mandant, and no other Field Officer.

"Every Regiment of 8 Companies, or more, may have
1 Company of Grenadiers, and 1 Company of Light
Infantry, each of which to have 2 Lieutenants instead of
1 Lieutenant, and 1 Second Lieutenant or Ensign.

" Every Battalion of 7 Companies, and not less than 4,
may have 1 Company of Grenadiers, or 1 Company of
Light Infantry, which Company may have 2 Lieutenants
instead of I, and 1 Second Lieutenant or Ensign.

" One Serjeant and 1 Corporal to every 20 Privates.

" One Drummer to every Company, when not called out
into actual service.

" Two Drummers when called out.VOLUNTEER REGULATIONS.

421

"Staff.

" An Adjutant, Surgeon, Quarter-Master, and Serjeant-
Major, may be allowed on the establishment of Corps of
sufficient strength, as directed by the Militia Laws ; but
neither the said Staff Officers^ nor any other Commissioned
Officer, will have any pay or allowance whatever, except
in the following cases, viz.:

" If a Corps, or any part thereof, shall be callcd upon to
act in cases of riot or disturbance, the charge of constant pay
may be made for such services, for all the effective Officers
and Men employed on such duty, at the following rates,
the same being supported by a Certificate from His
Majesty's Lieutenant, or the Sheriff of the County; but,
if called out in case of actual invasion, the corps is to be
paid and disciplined in all respects, as the regular Infantry ;
the Artillery Companies excepted, which are then to be
paid as the Royal Artillery.

Per diem.	s.	d.
Field Officer or Captain of a Company	9	5
Lieutenant ............... ......	5	8
Second Lieutenant or Ensign ............	4	8
Adjutant........................	8	0
Quarter-Master ...... ...............	5	8
Surgeon ........................	10	0
Serjeant-Major, and 2s. 6d. per week in addition	1	6
Serjeant ... ... ... ...... »...... ...	1	6
Corporal ... ............... ......	X	2
Drummer........................	1	0
Private............ ...............	1	0

" The only instances in which pay will be allowed, by
Government, for any individual of the Corps when not
so called out, are those of an Adjutant and Serjeant^Major,
for whom pay will be granted at the rates following:
Adjutant 6s. a day, Serjeant-Major is. 6d. per diem, and
2S. 6d. per week-^in addition, if authorized by His Majesty's
Secretary of State, in consequence of a particular applica-
tion from the Lord Lieutenant of the County, founded422

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

upon the necessity of the case; but this indulgence
cannot be allowed under any circumstances unless the
Corps to which the Adjutant may belong, shall consist of
not less than 500 effective rank and file, and he shall have
served at least five years as a Commissioned Officer in
the Regulars, embodied Militia, Fencibles, or East India
Company's Service; and, unless the Corps to whi<!h the
Serjeant-Major may belong, shall consist of not. less than
200 effective rank and file, and he shall have served at
least three years in some of His Majesty's forces.

"Drill Serjeants of Companies are to be paid by the
Parishes to which their respective Companies belong, as is
provided in the 43rd Geo. III. cap. 120. sec. 11, and no
charge to be made for them in the accounts to be trans-
mitted to the War Office.

" Pay at the rate of one shilling per man per day for
twenty days' exercise within the year to the effective Non-
commissioned Officers—(not being Drill Serjeants paid by
the Parish) Drummers and Privates of the Corps, agree-
ably to their terms of service. No pay can be allowed for
any man who shall not have attended for the complete
period of twenty days.

"When a charge of constant pay is made for an Adjutant,
or Serjeant-Major, his former services must be particularly
stated in the pay list wherein the first charge is made.

"The allowance for clothing is twenty shillings per
man, once in three years, to the effective non-commis-
sioned officers, drummers, and privates of the Corps.

" The necessary pay lists will be sent from the War
Office, addressed to the several Commandants, who will
take care that the Certificates be regularly signed when-
ever the twenty days' exercise shall have been completed,
and the clothing actually furnished to the man. The
allowance for the twenty days' exercise may be drawn for
immediately, and that for clothing, in one month from the'
receipt of such pay lists at the War Office, by bills,VOLUNTEER REGULATIONS,	423

signed by the several Commandants, at thirty days' sight,
upon the general agent: unless any objection to the latter
charges shall be signified officially to the said Command-
ant in the meantime.

" The whole to be clothed in red, with the exception of
the Corps of Artillery, which may have blue clothing, and
Rifle Corps, which may have green, with black belts.

" Serjeant-Major receiving constant pay and Drill
Serjeants paid by the parish, to be attested, and to be
subject to military law, as under 43 Geo. III. cap. 121.

" All applications for arms and accoutrements should
be made through the Lord Lieutenant of the County,
directly to the Board of Ordnance, and all applications
for ammunition, for exercise, or practice, should be made
through the inspecting Field Officers of Yeomanry and
Volunteers to the Board of Ordnance annually. Ammu-
nition for service should be drawn through the medium of
the inspecting Field Officer, from the depdt under the
orders of the General Officer of the District.

"The arms furnished by the Board of Ordnance to
Corps of Volunteer Infantry are as follows: Musquets,
complete with accoutrements ; drummer's swords ; drums
with sticks ; spears for serjeants.

"The articles furnished to Volunteer Artillery by the
Board of Ordnance, are pikes, drummer's swords, and
drums with sticks,

" Spears are allowed for Serjeants, and pikes to any
extent for accepted men not otherwise armed.

" The following allowances, in lieu of accoutrements,
&c., when required, may be obtained on application by
the Commandant of the Corps to the Board of Ordnance :
10s. 6& per set in lieu of accoutrements; 3s. each drum-
mer's sword belt; 2s. each drum carriage.

"Such Corps as have offered to serve free of expense,
and have been accepted on those terms, can claim no
allowance under these heads of service.424

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

"Every Officer, Non-commissioned Officer, Corporal,
Drummer, and Private Man, to take the oath of allegiance
and fidelity to His Majesty, his heirs and successors.

"If the Commandant of a Corps should at any time
desire an augmentation in the establishment thereof, or
alteration in the title of the Corps, or the names, or
dates of commissions of the officers, the same must
be transmitted through the Lord Lieutenant of the
County, in order to the amendment being submitted to
His Majesty,

"All effective Members of Volunteer Corps and Com-
panies accepted by His Majesty, are entitled to the ex-
emptions from ballot allowed by 42 Geo. III. cap. 66, and
Geo. III. cap. 121, provided that such persons are regularly
returned in the muster rolls to be sent in to the Lord
Lieutenant, or Clerk of the General Meetings of his
County, at the times, in the manner, and certified upon
honour by the Commandant, in the form prescribed by
those Acts, and schedules thereto annexed.

"The Monthly Returns should be transmitted to the
Inspecting Field Officer appointed to superintend the
District in which the Corps is situated, and to the
Secretary of State for the Home Department."

Thus, we see that the regulations for the Volunteers
were very similar to what they are now.

Of course the arms served out to them were, to our
modern ideas, beneath contempt. There were a few
Rifle Corps, who were armed with what was then called
the Brunswick Rifle. It was short, because the barrel was
very thick and heavy. The rifling was poly-grooved, the
bullet spherical, and somewhat larger than the bore, so
that when wrapped in a greased linen patch (carried in a
box, or tr^p, in the butt of the gun) it 'required a mallet
applied to-the ramrod—to drive the bullet home—and" fill
up the grooves of the rifling. Of course it was a far

1PATRIOTISM.	425

superior weapon to the musket, or " Brown Bess " x—-which
was not calculated even to " hit a haystack" at thirty-
yards. The Morning Post, July 24, 1810, thus speaks of
the shooting of a Corps: "The Hampstead Volunteers
fired at a target yesterday on the Heath. Many excellent
shots were fired, and some nearly entered ' the Bull's eye.'w

They were always holding Volunteer reviews, and having
Volunteer dinners, and Volunteers, generally, were raised
to the rank, at least, of demigods—they were the saviours
of their country. Never was there such bravery as that
of these fire-eaters: and, if Boney dared show his nose on
English soil—why—every British Volunteer would, in-
dividually, capture him! Volunteering even made them
moral, and religious—teste the Times, September 3, 1803 :
i( Since the formation of Volunteer Corps, the very
manners of many have taken a more moral turn: public-
houses are deserted for the drill, our churches are better
frequented, profane swearing is banished, every man looks
to his character, respects the Corps in which he is enrolled,
and is cautious in all he says or does, lest he should
disgrace the name of a British Volunteer."

There was a large Patriotic Fund got up, which on
December 31, 1803, amounted in Consols to £21,000, and
in Money, to £153,982 5s. yd., and it must; be remembered
that the taxes were very heavy. But there is an individual
case of patriotism I cannot help chronicling, it is so typical

1 So called from the brown barrel. Atone time all gun barrels were not
only bright, but burnished—the date of the abolition of which, is fixed by the
following—Morning Post> October 3, 1808: "The system of cropping the
hair of the soldiers is on the point of being followed up by the adoption of a
plan which will, no doubt, give equal satisfaction to the whole army : we
mean the abolition of that absurd practice of polishing the arms, which, in
sqme regiments, has been carried to such an excess as materially to injure the
piece, and render it totally unfit for use in half the time estimated for fair wear
in usual service. Fire-locks upon a new principle, with brown locks and
barrels, have been already issued to the light companies of several regiments,
and the Board of Ordnance have received orders to complete the ^ssue to the
remainder of the army, with all the expedition possible; in consequence of
which, a requisition has been made of the gunsmiths in the several regiments
to repair, without loss of tirtie, to the Royal Manufactory of Arms at Lewisham."426

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

of the predominant feeling of' that time, that a man, and his
goods, belonged to his country, and should be at his coun-
try's disposal. Times, September 6, 1803: "A Mr.
Miller,1 of Dalswinton, in Scotland, has written a letter to
the Deputy Lieutenants of the County wherein he resides,
in which he says : 41 wish to insure my property, my share
in the British Constitution, my family, myself, and my
religion, against the French Invasion. As a premium, I
offer to clothe and arm with pikes one hundred Volunteers,
to be raised in this, or any of the neighbouring parishes,
and to furnish them with three light field pieces ready for
service. This way of arming, I consider superior with
infantry, whether for attack or defence, to that now in use ;
but as to this, Government must determine. I am too old
and infirm to march with these men, but I desire my eldest
son to do so. He was ten years a soldier in the Foot,
and Horse service. In case of an invasion, I will be ready
to furnish, when requested, 20 horses, 16 carts, and 16
drivers; and Government may command all my crops of
hay, straw, and grain, which I estimate at 16,700 stones of
hay, 14 lbs. to the stone, 14,000 bushels of pease, 5,000
bushels of oats, 3,080 bushels of barte^.'"

1 Dalswinton is in county Dumfries, and the estate was about 5j00C) acres,
formerly belonging to the Comyns, but it came into the possession of Patrick
Miller, Esq., who built a fine mansion on the site of the old/castle. He was
a man well up to his time, for here, in 1788, he launched, on a lake, the first
steamboat ever attempted.



«Jo c2>	rl?	ftfe ftjp f^j rTrflafv*fir

jj^ it* ^ #§\ #j* JJK #r» *#* *»» *n v ™ n *1* T	*#» >♦*	«♦* *P »p ^ »i» • v

>t/ ><»	v«# it# if# %t# vff	i|f vf# %|< %|| vtf vi< \if if# ilf k|< ^ iff \(| t|f ktc \ff \Cf lit Ub

«5pC%c!roWCTOtFjcpt)JutTOtWC^«^tTOCTOC)WCJfjCTOC™C^C^

CHAPTER L.

The Clarke Scandal—Biography of Mrs. Clarke—Her levies—Her scale of prices
for preferments—Commission of the House of Commons—Exculpation of the
Duke of York—His resignation—Open sale of places—Caution thereon—Duels
—That between Colonel Montgomery and Captain Macnamara.

IT would be utterly impossible, whilst writing of things
military, of this part of the century, to ignore the
Clarke Scandal—it is a portion of the history of the
times.

Mrs. Mary Ann Clarke was of humble parentage, of a
lively and sprightly temperament, and of decidedly lax
morality. She had married a stonemason named Clarke,
who became bankrupt; she, however, cleaved to him and
his altered %fortunes, until his scandalous mode of living
induced her to separate from him, and seek a livelihood as
best she might. Her personal attractions, and lively disposi-
tion, soon attracted men's notice, and after some time she
went upon the stage, where she essayed the rdle of Portia.
There must have been some fascination about her, for each
of her various lovers rose higher in the social scale, until, at
last, she became the mistress of the Duke of York, and
was installed in a mansion in Gloucester Place. Here the
establishment consisted of upwards of twenty servants.
The furniture is described as having been most magnificent
The pier glasses cost from 400 to 500 pounds each, and428	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

1 '

her wine glasses, which cost upwards of two guineas apiece*

sold afterwards, by public auction, for a guinea each.

She kept two carriages, and from eight to ten horses, and
had an elegant mansion at Weybridge, the dimensions of

which may be guessed, by the fact that the oil cloth

MRS. CLARKE.

for the hall cost fifty pounds; The furniture of the
kitchen at Gloucester Place cost upwards of two thousand
pounds.

These things swallowed up a great deal of money, and,
although the Duke had a fine income, yet he had the
capacity for spending it; nor only so—could contract debtsMRS. CLARKE.

with great facility, so that the money which he nominally
allowed Mrs. Clarke (for it was not always paid), was insuf-
ficient to provide for such extravagance, and other means
had to be found. This was done by her using the influence
she possessed over the Duke, and getting him to grant
commissions in the army, for which the recipients paid Mrs.
Clarke a lower price than the regulation scale. The satirical
prints relating to her are most numerous. I only repro-
duce two. Her levee was supposed not only to be attended

mrs. Clarke's lev£e.*

. by military men, but by the clergy; and it was alleged that
applications had been made through her both for a bishopric,
and a deanery, and that she had procured for Dr. O'Meara,
the privilege of preaching before Royalty. Itat it was
chiefly in the sale of army commissions that she ctealt, thus
causing young officers to be promoted "over the heads"

1 Mrs. Clarke is saying :

"Ye Captains and ye Colonels, ye parsons wanting place,

Advice I'll give you gratis, and think upon your case,

If there's any possibility, for you I'll raise the dust,

But then you must excuse me, if I serve myself the first./3o	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:

of veterans. Certainly her scale of prices, compared with
those of the regulation, were very tempting, resulting in a
great saving to the recipient of the commission.

Mrs. Clarke's Price.	Regulation Price,

A Majority ...... £>9°°	^2,600

• A Captaincy ' ...... 700	*>500

A Lieutenancy ...... 400 "	550

An Ensigncy ...... 200	400

I have no wish to go into the minute details of this

MILITARY LEAP FROG J OR, HINTS TO YOUNG GENTLEMfiN.

scandal, but -on January 27, 1809, G. Lloyd Wardell,1 Esq.,
M.P. for Oakhampton, began his indictment of the Duke of
York, in this matter, before the House of Commons ; and
he showed that every sale effected through Mrs. Clarke's
means, was a robbery of the Half Pay Fund, and he asked
forsa Parliamentary Committee to investigate the affair;
this was granted, and Mrs. Clarke, and very numerous

1 Commonly known as Colonel Wardell, or Wardle. His real military rank
was Major, in which capacity he served in Sir W. W. Wynne's regiment during
the rebellion in Ireland.	'	jTHE DUKE OF YORK.

witnesses were examined. The lady was perfectly self-
possessed, and able to take care of herself; and the evidence,
all through, was most damaging to the Duke. Mrs. Clarke
is thus described in the Morning Post of Friday, February
3, 1809: "Mrs. Clarke, when she appeared before the House
of Commons, on Wednesday, was dressed as if she had
been going to an evening party, in a light blue silk gown
and coat, edged with white fur, and a white muff. On her
head she wore a white cap, or veil, which at no time was let
down over her face. In size she is rather small, and does

THE PRODIGAL SON'S RESIGNATION.

not seem to be particularly well made. She has a fair,
smooth skin, and lively blue eyes, but her features are not
handsome. Her nose is rather short and turning up, and
her teeth are very indifferent; yet she has the appearance
of great vivacity of manners, but is said not to be a well-
bred or accomplished woman. She appears to be about
thirty-five years of age."

The Duke took the extraordinary course of writing a
letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons, whilst the
matter was sub judice) in which he asserted his innocence ;THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

and, foreseeing what was to follow, gave out that for the
future he meant to be a very good boy, and that he would
retrench in his expenditure, in order to attempt to liquidate
his debts.

The House eventually found that there was nothing in
the evidence to prove personal corruption, or criminal con-
nivance on the part of His Royal Highness ; but, although
thus partially whitewashed, the public opinion against him
was too strong, and he placed his resignation, as Com-
mander in Chief, in the King's hands.

Places were openly bought and sold, although it was
known to be illegal, such advertisements as the following
being common—Morning Post, June 14, 1800 :4

"Public Offices.

" A young Man of good Connections, well educated
in writing and accounts, and can find security, wishes for
a Clerkship in any of the Public Offices. Any Lady or
Gentleman having interest to procure such a situation, will
be presented with the full value of the place. The greatest
secrecy and honour will be observed."

So common were they, that it w^s found necessary to
issue notices on the subject. Here is one :

1 " Custom House, London, December 7, 1802.

" Whereas Advertisements have, at different times,
appeared in the Newspapers, offering Sums of Money for
the procuring of Places, or Situations, in the Customs, in-
serted either by persons not aware of the serious conse-
quences which attach upon transactions of this nature, or
by persons of a different description, with a view to delude
the ignorant, and unwary : The Commissioners of His
Majesty's Customs think it necessary to have it generally
made known that, in addition to the punishment which the
Common Law would inflict upon , the offence of bribing, orDUELS.

433

attempting to bribe, any person entrusted with the disposal
of any Office, the Statute passed in the fifth and sixth year
of the reign of King Edward the Sixth, inflicts the penalty
of incapacity to hold such office in the person purchas-
ing, and the forfeiture of office in the person selling ; and
that in case any such place or situation, either shall have
been, or shall hereafter be procured, or obtained, by such
Corrupt means, they are determined to enforce the penal-
ties of the Law, and to prosecute the offenders with the
utmost severity. And thty do hereby promise a Reward
of One Hundred Pounds, to any person or persons who
will give information and satisfactory proof, of any place
or situation in the Customs being so obtained, so that the
parties concerned thereii) may be proceeded against
accordingly."

Duels were most frequent, so much so, as not to excite
any interest in the student of history of that time, for it is
difficult to pick up a newspaper and not find one recorded.
The reasons are not always given, but it did not take much
to get up a duel; any excuse would serve. As an example,
let us take the duel between Colonel Montgomery, and
Captain Macnamara, at Chalk Farm fApril, 1803) in which
the former was killed, and the latter wounded. Lord
Burghersh, in giving evidence before the coroner's jury,
said : "On coming out of St. James's Park on Wednesday
afternoon, he saw a number of horsemen, and Colonel
Montgomery among them; he rode up to him; at that
time, he was about twenty yards from the railing next to
Hyde Park Gate. On one side of Colonel Montgomery
was a gentleman on horseback, whom he believed was
Captain Macnamara. The first words he heard were uttered
by Colonel Montgomery, who said : 4 Well, Sir, and I will
repeat what I said, if your dog attacks mine, I will knock
him down.' To this, Captain Macnamara replied, 4 Well,
Sir, but I conceive the language you hold is arrogant, and

29434	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

not to be pardoned.' Colonel Montgomery said : 4 This is
not a proper place to argue the matter ; if you feel yourself
injured, and wish for satisfaction, you know where to find
me.'" And so these two poor fools met, and one was
killed—all because two dogs fought, and their masters could
not keep their temper !CHAPTER LI.

Police—Dr. Colquhoun's book—The old Watchmen—Their inadequacy admitted
—Description of them—Constables—" First new mode of robbing in 1800 "—
Robbery in the House of Lords—Whipping—Severe sentence—The Stocks—
The Pillory—Severe punishment—Another instance.

THE police authorities very seldom attempted to
interfere with these duels ; indeed, practically there
was no police. There were some men attached to
the different police courts, and there were the parochial
constables with their watchmen ; but, according to our
ideas, they were the merest apology for a police. Indeed,
our grandfathers thought so themselves, and Dr. Colquhoun
wrote a book upon the inefficiency of the police, which made
a great stir. It was felt that some better protection was
needed, as may be seen from two contemporary accounts:
"Two things in London that fill the mind of the intelligent
observer with the most delight, are the slight restraints of
the police, and the general good order. A few old men
armed with a staff, a rattle, and a lantern, called watchmen, are
the only guard throughout the night against depredation;
and a few magistrates and police officers the only persons
whose employment it is to detect and punish depredators ;
yet we venture to assert that no city, in proportion to its
trade, luxury, and population, is so free from danger, or
from depredations, open or concealed, on property."43^

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,

" The streets of London are better paved, and better
lighted than those of any metropolis in Europe; we have
fewer street robberies, and scarcely ever a midnight assas-
sination. Yet it is singular, where the police is so ably
regulated, that the watchmen, our guardians of the night,
are, generally, old decrepit men, who have scarcely strength

WATCHMEN GOING ON DUTY—1808.

to use the alarum which is their signal of distress in cases
of emergency."

Thus we see that even contemporaries were not enthu-
siastic over their protectors; and a glance at the two
accompanying illustrations fully justify their opinion.
"The Microcosm of London," from which they are taken,
says: " The watch is a parochial establishment supported
by a parochial rate, and subject to the jurisdiction of theWATCHMEN,

437

magistrates: it is necessary to the peace and security of
the Metropolis, and is of considerable utility: but that it
might be rendered much more useful, cannot be denied.
That the watch should consist of able-bodied men, is, we
presume, essential to the complete design of its institution,
as it forms a part of its legal description: but that the
watchmen are persons of this character, experience will
not vouch; and why they are so frequently chosen from

WATCH-HOUSE. MARYLEBONE—1808.

among the aged, and incapable, must be answered by
those who make the choice. In the early part of the last
century, an halbert was their weapon; it was then changed
into a long staff; but the great coat and the lantern are
now accompanied with more advantageous implements of
duty—a bludgeon, and a rattle. It is almost superfluous
to add, that the watch-house is a place where the appointed
watchmen assemble to be accoutred for their nocturnal438

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,

rounds, under the direction of a Constable, whose duty,
being taken by rotation, enjoys the title of Constable of
the night. It is also the receptacle for such unfortunate
persons as are apprehended by the watch, and where they
remain in custody till they can be conducted to the tribunal
of a police office, for the examination of the magistrate.

The following little anecdote further illustrates the
inefficiency of these guar-
dians of the peace—Morning
Herald, October 30, 1802 :

"It is said that a man who
presented himself for the
office of watchman to a
parish at the West-end of
the town, very much infested
by depredators, was lately
turned away from the vestry
with this reprimand: 'I am
astonished at the impudence
of such a great, sturdy, strong
fellow as you, being so idle
as to apply for a Watch-
man's situation, when you are
capable of labour!' "

Part of their duty was to

.	,	CONSTABLES—1805. .

go their rounds once every

hour, calling out the time, and the state of the weather,
and this was done to insure their watchfulness, but it must
also have given warning to. thieves. This duty done, they
retired to a somewhat roomy sentry box, where, should
they fall asleep, it was a favourite trick of the mad wags
of the town to overturn them face downwards. Being old
and infirm, they naturally became the butts and prey of the
bucks, and bloods, in their nocturnal rambles ; but such
injuries as they received, either to their dignity, or persons,
were generally compounded for by a pecuniary recompense.NEW MODE OF ROBBING,

The Constable, was a superior being, he was the Dogberry,
and was armed with a long staff.

Crime then was very much what it is now ; there is very-
little new under the sun in wickedness—still, the Morning
Post of February 3, 1800, has the

" First new mode of Robbing
in 1800.

"A few days past, a man entered a little public-house, near
Kingston, called for a pint of ale, drank it, and, whilst his.
host was away, put the pot in his pocket, and, without
even paying for the beer, withdrew. The landlord, re-
turning, two other men, who were in the room, asked him
whether he knew the person who had just left the house ?
'•No/7 he replied. 4 Did he pay for the ale ?' said they.
' No,' answered the other. ' Why, d—n him/ cried one of
the guests, 4 he put the pot in his pocket.' 4 The devil, he
did !•' exclaimed the host,' I will soon be after him/

" Saying this, he ran to the doorr and the two men with
him. 'There, there, he's going round the corner now!' said
one, pointing. Upon which the landlord immediately set
off, and, cutting across a field, quickly came up to him.
'Holloa! my friend,' said he,'you forgot to pay for your
beer.' 'Yes,' replied the other, 'I know that!' 'And,
perhaps you know, too,' added the host,'that you took
away the pot ? • Come, come, I must have that back again,
at any rate.' ' Well, well,' said the man, and put his hand
into his pocket, as'if about to return the pot; but, instead
of that, he produced a pistol, and robbed the ale-house
keeper of his watch and money.

"This might seem calamity enough for the pbor man ;
but, to fill up his ,cup of misfortune to the brim, he found,
on reaching his home, that the two he had left behind, had,
during his absence, plundered his till, stolen his silver
spoons, and decamped."44°	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

.One of the most audacious robberies of those ten years,
was one which took .place on September 21, 1801, when
the House of Lords was robbed of all the gold lace, and the
ornaments of the throne, the King's arms excepted, were
stripped, and carried a way. Nor was the thief ever found.

For minor offences the punishments were, Whipping, the
Stocks, and the Pillory ; for graver ones, Imprisonment,
Transportation, and Death.

As a specimen of the offence for which Whipping was
prescribed, and the whipping itself, take the following—
Morning Post, November 4, 1800: "This day, being
hay-market day at Whitechapel, John Butler, pursuant
to his sentence at the last General Quarter Sessions, held
at Clerkenwell, is to be publicly whipped from White-
chapel Bars, to the further end of Mile End, Town, the
distance of two miles, for having received several trusses
of hay, knowing them to have been stolen, and for which
he gave an inferior price."

The Stocks were only for pitiful rogues and vagabonds,
and for very minor offences; but the Pillory, when the
criminals were well known, and the crime an heinous one,
must have been at very severe punishment; for, settiqg aside
the acute sense of shame which such publicity must have
awoke in any heart not absolutely callous, the physical
pain, if the mob was ill-tempered, must have been great.
As a proof, I will give two instances.

The first is from the Morning Herald, January 28, 1804 :
"The enormity of Thomas Scott's offence, in endeavouring
to accuse Capt. Kennah, a respectable officer, together with
his servant, of robbery, having attracted much public
notice, his conviction, that followed the attempt, could not
but be gratifying to all lovers of justice. Yesterday, the
culprit underwent a part of his punishment; he was
placed in the pillory, at Charing Cross, for one hour. On
his first appearance, he was greeted by a large mob, with a
discharge of small shot, such as rotten eggs, filth, and dirtTHE PILLORY.

441

from . the streets, which was followed up by dead cats,
rats, &c., which had been collected in the vicinity of the
Metropolis by the boys in the morning. When he was
taken away to Cold Bath Fields, to which place he is
sentenced for twelve months, the mob broke the windows
of the coach, and would have proceeded to violence1 had the
Police Officers not been at hand."

The other is taken from the Annual Register, September

PILLORY. CHARING CROSS.

27, 1810: "Cooke, the publican of the Swan, in Vere
Street, Clare Market, and five others of the eleven mis-
creants convicted of detestable practices, stood in the
pillory in the Hay market, opposite to Panton Street.
Such was the degree of popular indignation excited
against these wretches, and such the general eagerness to
witness their punishment that by ten in the morning, all
the windows and even the roofs of the houses were
1 The italics are mine.—J. A.442

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

crowded with persons of both sexes; and every coach,
waggon, hay-cart, dray, and other vehicle which blocked
up great part of the streets, were crowded with spectators..

"The Sheriffs, attended by the two City marshals, with an
immense number of constables, accompanied the procession

CT;

THE PILLORY.

of the prisoners from Newgate, whence they set out in the
transport caravan, and proceeded through Fleet Street and
the Strand ; and the prisoners were hooted and pelted the
whole way by the populace. At one o'clock, four of the,
culprits were fixed in the pillory, erected for, and accom-THE PILLORY,

443

modated to, the occasion, with two additional wings, one
being allotted to each criminal. Immediately a new
torrent of popular vengeance poured upon them from all
sides; blood, garbage, and ordure from the slaughter
houses, diversified with dead cats, turnips, potatoes, addled
eggs, and other missiles to the last moment.

"Two wings of the pillory were then taken off to
place Cooke and Amos in, who, although they came in
only for the second course, had no reason to complain of
short allowance. The vengeance of the crowd pursued
them back to Newgate, and the caravan was filled with
mud and ordure.

"No interference from the Sheriffs and police officers
could restrain the popular rage ; but, notwithstanding the
immensity of the multitude, no accident of any note
occurred."CHAPTER LI I.

Smuggling—An exciting smuggling adventure—The Brighton fishermen and the
Excise—" Body-snatching "—" Benefit of Clergy"—Tyburn tickets—Death the
penalty for many crimes—" Last dying Speech "—The " condemned pew " at
Newgate—Horrible execution at Jersey—The new drop—An impenitent
criminal.

THE offence of Smuggling, now all but died out, was
common enough, and people in very good positions
in life thought it no harm to, at least, indirectly
participate in it. The feats of smugglers were of such
every-day occurrence, that they were seldom recorded in
the papers, unless there were some peculiar circumstances
about them, such as shooting an excise man, or the like.
In one paper, however, the Morning Post, September 3,
1801, there are two cases, one only of which I shall
transcribe. " A singular circumstance occurred on Tuesday
last, at King Harry Passage, Cornwall. A smuggler, with
two ankers of brandy on the horse under him, was dis-
covered by an exciseman, also on horseback, on the road
leading to the Passage. The smuggler immediately rode
off at full speed, pursued by the officer, who pressed so close
upon him, that, after rushing down the steep hill to the
Passage, with the greatest rapidity, he plunged his horse
into the water, and attempted to gain the opposite shore.
The horse had not swam half way over, before, exhausted
with fatigue, and the load on his back, he was on theSMUGGLING.

445

point of sinking, when the intrepid rider slid from his
back, apd, with his knife, cut the slings of the ankers,
and swafn alongside his horse, exerting himself to keep his
head above water, but all to no purpose; the horse was
drowned, and the man, with difficulty, reached the shore.
The less mettlesome exciseman had halted on the shore,
where he surveyed the ineffectual struggle, and, afterwards,
with the help of the ferryman, got possession of the
ankers."

Sometimes it was done wholesale, see the Morning
Herald\ February 17, 1802 : " Last Thursday morning, the
Brighton fishermen picked up at sea, and brought to shore,
at that place, upwards of five hundred casks of Contraband
spirits, of which the Revenue officers soon got scent,
and proceeded, very actively, to unburden the fishermen.
This landing and seizing continued, with little intermission,
from six to ten, to the great amusement of upwards of two
thousand people, who had became spectators of the scene.
When the officers had loaded themselves with as many
tubs as they could carry, the fishermen, in spite of their
% assiduity, found means to convey away as many more, and
by that means seemed to make a pretty equal division.
The above spirits, it appeared, had been thrown overboard
by the crew of a smuggling vessel, when closely chased by
a Revenue Cutter."

We may claim that one detestable offence, then rife, is
now extinct. I allude to " Body-snatching." It is true
that anatomists had, legally, no way of procuring subjects
to practise on, other than those criminals who had been
executed, and their bodies not claimed by their friends ;
but, although the instances on record are, unfortunately
numerous, I have already written of them in another
book, and once is quite sufficient.

Of one or two legal curiosities now extinct, I may
mention " Benefit of Clergy," an institution established in
our early history, in order to screen a clerk, or learned man>446	THE NINETEENTH CENTUR Y,

from the consequences of his' crime. In case of felony, one
had but to plead ability to read, and prove it, and the
sentence was commuted to branding the hand with a hot
iron. It was a privilege much abused, but it lingered on
until 1827, when it was abolished by the Act, 7 and 8 Geo.
IV. cap. 28.

Another curious custom, now also done away with,
we meet with, in an advertisement in the Morning Herald,
March 17, 1802 : "WANTED, one or two Tyburn Tickets,
for the Parish of St. George's, Hanover Square. Any
person or persons having the same to dispose of, may hear
of a purchaser," &c. These tickets were granted to a
prosecutor who succeeded in getting a felon convicted, and
they carried with them the privilege of immunity from
serving all parochial offices. They were transferable by
sale (but only once), and the purchaser enjoyed its privi-
leges. They were abolished in 1818. They had a con-
siderable pecuniary value, and in the year of their abolition,
one was sold for £280!

"Tyburn " reminds us of the fearful numbers sentenced
to death at that time. The law sadly wanted reformation
in this respect; besides murder, coining, forgery, &c.,
many minor offences were punishable with death, although
all convicted and sentenced were not executed ; some being
reprieved, and punished with transportation. George III.
■had a great dislike to capital punishment, and remitted the
sentence to as many as he could. Take as an example of
the awful severity of the law, only one sessions at the Old
Bailey, ending September 24; 1801 : " Sentence of death
was then passed upon Thomas Fitzroy, alias Peter Fitzwater,
for breaking and entering the dwelling-house of James
Harris, in the daytime, and stealing a cotton counterpane.
Wm. Cooper for stealing a linen cloth, the property of'
George Singleton, in his dwelling-house. J. Davies for a
burglary. Richard Emms for breaking into the dwelling'-
house of Mary Humphreys, in the daytime, and stealingHANGING.

447

a pair of stockings. Richard Forster for a burglary.
Magnus Kerner for a burglary, and stealing six silver
spoons. Robert Pearce, for returning from transportation,.
Richard Alcorn for stealing a horse. John Nowland and
Rd. Freke for burglary and stealing four tea spoons, a
gold sntiff-box, &c. John Goldjried for stealing a blue
coat. Joseph Huff, for, stealing a lamb, and John Pass for
stealing two lambs."

In fact, the " Tyburn tree " was kept well employed, and
yet, apparently, the punishment of death hardly acted as a
deterrent. A sad, very sad street cry, yet one I have often

4 t ?-C

TIIE CONDEMNED SERMON. NEWGATE.

heard, was of these poor wretches ; true, it had been made
specially to order, in Catnach's factory for these articles, in
Monmouth Court, Seven Dials; but still it was the an-
nouncement of another fellow-creature having been done
to death.

The executions which would arise from the batch of
sentences I have just recorded, would take place at New-
gate. The last person hanged at Tyburn, having suffered,
November 7, 1783, and the above illustration shows in a
peculiarly graphic manner, the condemned sermon, which
was preach.ed to those about to die on the morrow. To
make the service thoroughly intelligible to them, and toTHE LAST DYING SPEECH AND CONFESSION.HANGING.

449

impress them with the reality of their impending fate, a
coffin was set in the midst of the " condemned pew."

Cfdwds witnessed the executions, which took place in
the front of Newgate, and on one occasion, on the 23rd of
February, 1807, an accident occurred, by the breaking of
the axle of a cart, whereon many people were standing;
they were not only hurt, but the crowd surged over them,
and it ended in the death of twenty-eight people, besides
injuries to many more.

We have seen, in February, 1885, a murderer reprieved,
because the drop would not act; but in the following
instance, the criminal did suffer, at all events, actual pain.
It happened at Jersey, on the nth of May, 1807, an<^ is
thus chronicled in the Annual Register for that year:
4< After hanging for about a minute and a half, the
executioner suspended himself to his body; by whose
additional weight the rope extended in such a nianner that
the feet of the criminal touched the ground. -The exe-
cutioner then pulled him sideways, in order to strangle
him; and being unable to effect this, got upon his
shoulders ; when, to the no small surprise of the spectators,
the criminal rose straight upon his feet, with the hangman
upon his shoulders, and loosened the rope from his throat
with his fingers. The Sheriff ordered another rope to be
prepared ; but the spectators interfered, and, at length, it
was agreed to defer the execution till the will of the
magistrates should be known. It was subsequently de-
termined that the whole case should be transmitted to His
Majesty, aftd the execution of the sentence was deferred till
His Majesty's pleasure should be known."

A platform which suddenly disappeared from under the
criminal seems to have been invented in 1807, for we read
under 27th of July of that year, that John Robinson was
executed at York "on the new drop," but something of
the same kind had certainly been used in 1805.

As a rule, the, poor creatures died creditably; but there
3045°

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

is one case to the contrary, which is mentioned in the Euro
fean Magazine, vol. xlvii. pp. 232-40. A man named
Hay ward was to be hanged for cutting and niESSning
another. The scene at the execution is thus described:
" When the time for quitting the courtyard arrived,
Hay ward was called to a friend to deliver him a bundle,
out of which he took an old jacket, and a pair of old shoes,
and put them on. ' Thus/ said he, 4 will I defeat the
prophecies of my enemies ; they have often said I should
die in my coat and shoes, and I am determined to die in
neither/ Being told it was time to be conducted to the
scaffold, he cheerfully attended the summons, having first
ate some bread and cheese, and drank a quantity of coffee.
Before he departed, however, he called out, in a loud voice,
to the prisoners who were looking through the upper
windows at him, 4 Farewell, my lads, I am just a going off;
God bless you!' * We are sorry for you,' replied the
prisoners. '1 want no more of your pity,' rejoined Hay-
ward ; 4 keep your snivelling till it be your otvn turn.' Im-
mediately on his arrival upon the scaffold, he gave the mob
three cheers, introducing each with a ' Hip, ho!' While
the cord was preparing he continued hallooing to the mob.

" It was found necessary, before the usual time, to put
the cap over his eyes, besides a silk handkerchief, by way
of bandage, that his attention might be entirely abstracted
from the spectators. . . . He then gave another halloa, and
kicked off his shoes among the spectators, many of whom
were deeply affected at the obduracy of his conduct."

t®r t®r tXr tlr i3Sr tXt tXt tiSr

053505 35 eBcJBSbSS

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO





CHAPTER LI 11.

Execution for treason—Burying a suicide at the junction of a cross-road—Supposed
last such burial in London—The Prisons—List, and description of them—
Bow Street Police Office—Expense of the Police and Magistracy—Number of
watchmen, &c., in 1804—The poor, and provision for them—Educational
establishments.

BUT of all brutal sentences, that for the crime of
high treason, was the worst. When Colonel
Bespard was sentenced to death for conspiracy,
on the 9th of February, 1802, the words used by the
Judge, were as follow :—

" The only thing now remaining for me, is the painful
task of pronouncing against you, and each of you, the
awful sentence which the law denounces against your
crime, which is, that you, and each of you (here his
lordship named the prisoners severally), be taken to the
place from whence you came, and from thence you are to
be drawn on hurdles to the place of Execution, where you
are to be hanged by the neck, but not until you are dead ;
for while you are still lining, your bodies are to be taken 1
down, your bowels torn out, and burnt before your faces!
your heads are to be then cut off, and your bodies divided
each into four quarters, and your heads and quarters to
be then at the King's disposal; and may the Almighty
God have mercy on your Souls."'452	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Iii this case the disembowelling and dismemberment
were remitted, but they were dragged to the place of
execution on a hurdle, which, in this instance, was the
body of a small cart, on which two trusses of clean straw
were laid. They were hanged, and after hanging for
about twenty-five minutes, " till they were quite dead" they
were cut down. "Colonel1 Despard was first cut down,
his body placed upon saw dust, and his head on a block.
After his coat had been taken off, 4iis head was severed
from his body. The executioner then took the head by
the hair, and carrying it to the edge of the parapet on the
right hand, held it up to the view of the populace, and
exclaimed, " This is the head of a traitor — Edward
Marcus Despard ! . . . The bodies were then put into-
their different shells, and are to be delivered to their
friends for interment."

Another relic of barbarism was the driving a stake
through the body of a suicide, and burying him at the
junction of a cross road—Morning Post, April 27, 1810:
"The Officers appointed to execute the ceremony of
driving a stake through the dead body of James Cowlings
a deserter from the London Militia, who deprived himself
of existence, by cutting his throat, at a public-house in
Gilbert Street, Clare Market, in consequence of which,,
the Coroner's Jury found a verdict of Self-murder, very
properly delayed the business until twelve o'clock on
Wednesday night, when the deceased was buried in the
, cross roads at the end of Blackmoor Street, Clare Market."
< The motive for this practice was, that by fastening the
body to the ground, by means of a stake, it rendered it " of
the earth, earthy," and thus prevented its perturbed spirit:
from wandering about. It is believed that the last burial
of a suicide in London, at a cross road, was in June, 1823,
when a man, named Griffiths, was buried about half-past
one a.m., at the junction of Eaton Street, Grosvenor Place,.

* The Times, February 22, 1805.DEBTORS' PRISONS.

453

and the King's Road, but no stake was driven through
the body.

The Prisons in London were fairly numerous, but
several of them were for debtors, whose case was very
evil There they languished, many in the most abject
poverty, for years, trusting to the charity of individuals,
or to funds either bequeathed, or set aside, for bettering
their condition. In 1804, an Act was passed (44 Geo. III.
cap. 108, afterwards repealed by the Stat. Law. Rev. Act,
1872) for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors, and they were
not slow in taking advantage of it. Not only had they
poverty, and loss of liberty, to contend with, but gaol
fever, which carried them off at times, and cleared the
prisons. So contagious was' it, that in February, 1805,
almost all the cadets at Woolwich suffered from it, and
several died. It was imported into the school, by one of
the cadets, who had been to visit some prison.

The prisons were as follow, in 1805 :—

1.	King's Bench Prison, for debtors on process or
execution, and for persons under sentence for misde-
meanour, &c. This was in St. George's Fields, Southwark,
and was considered more wholesome than the London
prisons. There were districts surrounding the prison both
here, and at the Fleet, where prisoners could dwell, without
going inside, by payment of fees. The .prisoners inside
th6 King's Bench, could but obtain leave to go out once
every term, or four times a year. There were 300 rooms
in the prison, but it was always full, and decent accommo-
dation was even more expensive to obtain, than at the Fleet

2.	The Fleet Prison was one belonging to the Courts
of Common Pleas, and Chancery, to which debtors might
remove themselves from any other prison, at the expense
of six or seven pounds. A contemporary account says ;

(i It contains 125 rooms, besides a common kitchen, coffee
and tap rooms, but the number of prisoners is generally
so great, that two, or even three, persons are obliged to454

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,

submit to the shocking inconvenience of living in one
small room !! Those who can afford it, pay their com-
panion to chum off, and thus have a room to themselves.
Each person so paid off, receives four shillings a week.
The prisoner pays one shilling and threepence a week for
his roo^n without furniture, and an additional sevenpence

iiru

INTERIOR OF FLEET PRISON.

for furniture. Matters are sometimes so managed, that a
room costs the needy and distressed prisoner from ten to
thirteen shillings a week.

Those who have trades that can be carried on in a
room, generally work, and some gain more than they
would out of doors, after they become acquainted with thePRISONS.

455

ways of the place. During the quarterly terms,1 when the
court sits, prisoners, on paying five shillings a day, and on
giving security, are allowed to go out when they please,
and there is a certain space round the prison, called the
rules, in which prisoners may live, on furnishing two good
securities to the warden for their debt, and on paying
about 3 per cent, on the amount of their debts to the
warden. The rules extend only from Fleet Market to
the London Coffee House, and from Ludgate Hill to Fleet
Lane, so that lodgings are bad, and very dear. Within
the, walls there is a yard for walking in, and a good
racquet ground."

3.	Ludgate Prison, or Giltspur Street Compter, for
debtors who were freemen of the City of London.

4.	Poultry Compter—a dark, small, ill-aired dungeon—
used as a House of Detention.

5.	Newgate—which was the gaol both for Criminals,
and Debtors, for the County of Middlesex. On the
debtors' side, the overcrowding was something terrible.
The felons', or State side, as it was called, was far more
comfortable, and the criminals better accommodated. The
prison might, then, be visited on payment of two or three
shillings to the turnkeys, and giving away a few more to
the most distressed debtors.

6.	The New Prison, Clerkenwell, was also a gaol for the
County of Middlesex, and was built in 1775. The fare
here was very meagre—only a pound of bread a day.

7.	Prison for the liberty of the ,Tower of London,
Wellclose Square.

8.	Whitechapel Prison, for dqbtors in actions in the
Five Pounds Courts, or the Court of the Manor of
Stepney.

9.	The Savoy Prison, used as a Military prison, princi-
pally for deserters.

1 These days amounted to 80 or 90 in the year.456	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,

10.	Horsemonger Lane Gaol, the County; prison for
Surrey.	<

11.	The Clink, a small debtors prison in Southwark.

12.	The Marshalsea Gaol, in Southwark, for pirates.

13.	The House of Correction, Cold Bath Fields, which
was built according to a plan of Howard, the philan-
thropist, on the-basis of solitary confinement. At this
time it was dreaded as a place of punishment, and went

—\

HOUSE OF CORRECTION. COLD BATH FIELDS.

by the name of the Bastille. (Its slang name now is the

Steel.)

The prisoners were not too well fed. A pound of
bread, and twopenny worth of rpeat a day, and a very fair
amount of work to do—was not calculated to make it
popular among the criminal classes.

It was the only prison in which the inmates wore
uniform. That of the men was blue jacket and trousers,
with yellow stockings, whilst the women had a blue jacketPOLICE OFFICES.

457

and blue petticoat. They had clean linen every week;
so that, probably, it was a healthy prison. One good
thing about it was, that a portion of the prisoners'
earnings was reserved, and given to them when they
quitted prison.

14.	City Bridewell, Blackfriars, was a house of Correc-
tion for the City.

15.	Tothill Fields, Bridewell, was a similar institution
for Westminster.

16.	New Bridewell, Southwark, for Surrey.

Besides theje public prisons, were several private estab-
lishments used as provisional prisons—kept by the Sheriff's
Officers, called lock-up, or, sponging houses, where for
twelve, or fourteen shillings a day, a debtor might remain,
either until he found the means to repay the debt, or it
was necessary to go to a public prison, when the writ
against him became returnable. They were nests of
extortion and robbery.*

The Police Offices in London were:

"The Mansion House.	Lambeth Street, Whitechapel.

- Guildhall.	High Street, Shadwell.

v Bow Street.	Union Street, South wark.

Hatton Garden.	Queen's Square, Westttiinster.

Worship Street.	Great Marlborough Street.

Wapping New Stairs, for offences committed on the
Thames. Of those extra the City, Bow Street was the
chief, and the head magistrate there, was called the Chief
Magistrate, and received a stipend of ;£i,ooo per annum;
a large sum in those days. He was assisted by two
others, at a salary of £$00 each.

Dr. Patrick Colquhoun called so much attention to the
inefficiency of the police, that a Committee of the House,
of Commons, in the session of 1798, sifted the matter, and
from the report of this Committee, only, can we gather
the criminal statistics of the kingdom (at least with regard
to its expense).B3W STREET POLICE OFFICE— l8o8.POLICE OFFICES.

459

The amount of the general expense of the criminal
police of the kingdom, is stated by the Committee as
follows :

i st. The annual average of the total expense
of th(e seven public offices in the Metro-
, polis from their institution in 1792, to

the end of the year 1797 ...... ... ^18,281 io 6

2nd. Total expenses of the office in Bow
Street in the year 1797, including remu-
neration to, the magistrates in lieu of
fees, perquisites, &c., and the expense
of a patrol of sixty-eight persons ... ■	7,901 7 7

Total for the Metropolis... ... ^26,183 6 1

The other expenses for the prosecution
and conviction of felons, the mainten-
ance, clothing, employment, and trans-
portation of convicts, to which may be
added the farther sums annually.charged
on the county rates, amounted in 179710 ^215,869 13 10J-

In 1804, ft was estimated that there were 2,044 beadles
and watchmen, and 38 patrols, on nightly duty in, and
around the Metropolis. Of these, the City proper, with
its 25 wards, contributed 765 watchmen, and 38 patrols.

The poor were pretty well taken care of. Besides the
parochial workhouses, there were 107 endowed almshouses,
and many other like institutions; the City Companies, it
was computed, giving upwards of £75,000, yearly, away in
charity. There were very many institutions for charitable,
and humane purposes—mostly founded during the pre-
vious century—for the relief of widows and orphans, deaf
and dumb persons, lunatics, relief of small debtors, the
blind, the industrious poor, &c. And there were 1,600
Friendly Societies in the Metropolis, and its vicinity,
enrolled under the Act, 33 George III. cap. 54. These had
80,000 members, and their average payments were £1
each per annum.460	THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,

For education in London, there were :

16 Jnns of Court and Chancery, for education in the
law.

5 Colleges, viz., Zion College, Gresham, Physicians,
Doctors Commons, and Herald's College.

62 Schools or public Seminaries, such as Westminster,
the Blue Coat, St. Paul's, Merchant Taylors,
Charterhouse, &c., educating some 5,000 children.

237 Schools, belonging to< the different parishes, edu-
cating some 9000.

3,730 Private Schools.

4,050 Total Seminaries of Education.

This does not include nearly twenty educational estab-
lishments such as the Orphan Working School, the Marine
Society, Freemasons School, &c.

And there were about the same number of -Religious
and Moral Societies, such as the Society for Promoting
Christian Knowledge, the Society for the Propagation of
the Gospel in Foreign Parts, Religious Tract Society,
Missionary Societies, &c.; besides a number of Sunday
Schools—so that we see education, and philanthropy,
were hard at work in the Dawn of the nineteenth
Century.

the end.IND

EX.

Abbot, Rt. Hon. Chas., elected
• Speaker, 47.

Abbot's, Mr., M. P., plan for census,
29.

Abolition of Slave Trade, 132.

~—- Debates on, 108, 127.

"Academy of Ancient Music/' 366.

Accident at Review in Hyde Park,
8.

Account of Walcheren Expedition,
159-160.

Acre, Battle of, 3.

Act against cockfighting, 297.

to relieve Roman Catholics,
103.

Actor^, Child, 333.

--Famous, 323.

Addington Ministry on its last legs,
1074

.-- Mr. Chancellor, presents mes-
sage to George III., 46.

Address of Sir Francis Burdett,
166.

Admiralty Droits, 140.

Age of dear books, 376.

Agricultural Shows, 247.

Aldridge's a,nd Tattersalls, 294.

Alfred Club, The, 378.

Almack's, 357.

Almshouses, Endowed, 459.

Alteration of Great Seal, 33.

■- „ Prayer-book, 34.

Amateur driving, 189.

Amelia, Princess, Death of, 179. •
American War, The, 12.

Amiens, Treaty of, 50, 53.

Andrews, billiard player, 319.
Androssi, General, Departure of,,

319-321.

Antecedents of Napoleon, 73.
Antiquated Prosecutions, 93.
Antiquity of Cock-fighting, 22.
Appointments bought and sold,.
295-

Argyle Rooms, Jubilee ball at, 432.
Armistice, Cost of, 49.

Army Estimates, Enormous expen-
diture, 59.

—- 50,000 men added to, 98.
"Army of England,'5 Withdrawal.

of the, 117.

—— 312,048 men voted for, 115.
Arrest of Sir F. Burdett, 170.
Arrival of brother of Louis XVIII.,„
110.

--of Queen of France, 145.

Artists, 369-374.

Associated Artists in Water Colours,,
375-

Attempt to assassinate George III.,
9-

Attempts to stop war with France,,
128.

Australia, Wheat imported from,.
28.

Austria at war with France, 116.462

INDEX,

Austrians on the Rhine, 3.

Authors, List of celebrated, 376. %
Automaton Piano-player, 355.

Bad Harvest throughout Europe,
28.

Bag of Game, Large, 311.

Bakers fined for light weight, 245,
246.

Ballooning, 395.

Bank of England, Loans from, 6,
139.

Banks, Thomas, R. A., sculptor, 374.
Bantry Bay, Mutiny in, 410.
Barbadoes, Moravian missionaries

in, 108.

Barouche Club, 191.

Barry, James, Professor of Painting,
37o. #

Bartolozzi, Francis, 374.

Base-ball match, 318.

Battle of Trafalgar, 118.

--„ Vimiera, 142.

Beacons, Sea-side, affixed to

churches, 99.

Beaumont, Sir Geo. H., Artist, 373.
Beaver Hats, 259.

Bedlam, 12, 391.

Beechey, Sir Wm., Portrait Painter,
37 2.

Beer made from sugar, 16.

--Quantity brewed, 238.

--the National beverage, 238.

" Benefit of Clergy," 445.

Bets at Clubs, 288-289.

--- Curious, 192, 312.

Betty, W. H. W., Anecdotes of,
325,326.

--Career of, 332.

---Crowds to see, 329.

--Death of, 332.

---First appearance in London,

326.

--presented to Royal Family,

33°.

---Puff preliminary of, 325.,

Billiards, 318-319.

--Large sums lost at, 320.

Billington, Mrs., Salaries of, 361-

363-

Bills, Increase of Stamp duty on,

36.

Blockade of England, Attempting

to, 130, 131, 135.
Body-snatching, 445.

Bond Street lounger, Rules for,
251-255.

--„ loungers, Three cele-
brated, 256.

Bone, Henry, enamel painter, 372.
Books, Age of dearx 376.

--collection of 'first editions,

377-

Boulogne, Napoleon at, 96.
Bourgeois, Sir Francis, Artist, 371.
Bow Street Officers, 27.

Boydell's Gallery in Cheapside,
375.

-Shakespeare, 375.

Boys, Education of, 277, 278.
Braham, John, Vocalist, 375.

Bread, Consumption of, reduced,
28.

-— New, Sale of forbidden, 5.

--Variation in price of, 26, 36,

44, 240.

Bridges, Thames, 198.

Britain's War-Song, 81.

British Museum Gardens, 383.

---- „ Regulations of,

382.

--Property, Confiscation of,

135-

" Broad-bottomed " Cabinet, 133.
" Brown Bread Bill," 245.

Browne, Colonel, Death of, 102.
Bull-baiting, 156, 297.

--Debate on, 298-300.

Bullion, Scarcity of, 105.

Burdett and Paull, Duel between,
133-

--Sir Francis, Address of, 166.

Arrest of, 170.
Committal of, 167.
Imprisoned in the
Tower, 172.
Release of, 174.
Riot after arrest
Of, 172, 173-
Burial, Last, at cross roads, 452.

59	JJ

)>	. JJ

35	V

JJ	if

JJ	JJINDEX.

463

Butchers, Prosecution of, 22, 247.

Calats, Inspection of by Napoleon,
96.

Calicoes, Duty on, 36.

Cannon, Transport Inefficient for,
98. .

Card money, 286, 287.

Cardinal York, Death of, 134.

-—A pensioner of George III.,

. W

Caricaturing the Royal Family, 24.

Carriages, Improvements in, 188.

-Weights of, 188.

Catalani, Appearance in London,
341.

---Dibut of, 340.

Pay of, 341.

Catnach Press, The, 447.

Caution to Hatters, 259.

Census, The first, 30.

Ceres (Planet), discovery of, 35.

Certificate of identity of Mr. G.
Garrick, 100.

Chantry, Sir Francis, R.A., Sculp-
tor, 374.

Chatham, Earl of, Indignation
against, 160.

--Appointed Governor of Gib-
raltar, 163.

Child actors, 333.

Children "seen and not heard,"277.

Chimney sweeps, 216-219.

Christie the Auctioneer, 274.

Chronology of last Century, Rectifi-
cation of, 30,

Cintra, Convention of, 142-145.

City subscribe liberally to Patriotic
Fund, 97.

Civil List five quarters in arrear, 6.

Claim by Prince of Wales, 47.

——for -Revenues of Duchy of
Cornwall, 47.

Clarke, Mrs., before Hotfse of Com-
mons, 431.

—---Biography of, 427.

—Her Levees, 429.

-Mistress of Duke of York,

.427-

Clarke, Mrs., mansion described,
427,428. ■

-prices for preferment, 430.

Clergymen prevented from sitting
in House of Commons, 37.

Clerical dinner, A, 249.

-livings, 178.

" Climbing boys," 216.

Clothes, Mens', Prices for, 258, 259.

Cloth-working machines, Introduc-
tion of, 61.

--Men hanged for destroying,

62.

Clubs, Bets at, 288, 289.

-Gambling at, 290.

Coalition Ministry, Downfall of,
132.

Coals, Parliamentary Committee
on, 399.

--Price of, 396-401.

Coaches, Hackney, 187.

--Mail, List of, 231.

--„ Rates of, 232.

--Stage, 184.

Cobbett, W., tried and found guilty,
108.

Cock Pitt, Royal Description of,
295«

Cock-fighting, Act against, 297. \

--Antiquity of, 295.

Cockney's Account of September
first, 313-317.

Codrington, Sir Edw., Early life of,
404.

Coinage, copper, Deterioration of,
126.

--New, 126.

Colonies, to France, a secondary
object, 113.

Commerce, Development of, 200.

Committal of Sir F. Burdett, 167I

Common Council, Relief of debtors
by, 152.

Compensation of Prince of Orange,
5o.

Competition of Pipers, 367.

"Concert of ancient music," 366.

Concerts, Open-air, 361.

Condemned Pew, The, 447.

—— Sermon, The, 447.464

INDEX.

Condition of London Streets, 201.
Conditions of Peace, 49.
Confiscation of British Property,
135-

Conspirators, Meeting of, 27.
—— dispersed ,, „ 28.
-- Raid on, 63.

Constitutional liberty, Supporters
of, 28.

Consumption of Bread reduced, 28.
Convention of Cintra, 142.
Conveyance, deeds of, Duty on, 37.
Cooper's Hall, Lotteries drawn at,
291.

Copley, John Singleton, Artik, 373.
Copper coinage, Deterioration of,

126.

Corn Riots, 19.

-- Scarcity of, 16.

Cornwallis, Marquis, Treaty of

peace signed by, 48. *

Cost of Armistice, 49.

- „ Living, 16.

Costume, Eccentricity of, 261, 262.
Cotton spinners, Distress anjong,

141.

--Wages, Regulation of, 141.

Council of Five Hundred, 2.

---„ Nice, 30.

Country, Feeling of the, 65.

--Sports, 303.

Courage conspicuous in Royal

Family, 96*

Covent Garden Theatre, Burning
of, 337.

--Description of, 343,344.

—— Fracas at, 323.

Covent Garden Theatre, Founda-
tion Stone laid by Prince of
Wales, 337.

Crewel work, Marvels of, 357.
Cricket Ground, Lord's, 318.

-Matches, 317, 318.

Cries, Street, 219-227.

Criminal, An impenitent, 450.

-Dead, Galvanizing a, 391.

Criminals, Fugitive, restored to re-
spective powers, 50.

Cross Roads, Last burial at, 452.
Crouch. Mrs., Prima donna, 365.

Curious bets, 192, 312.
-Dinner, A, 237.

Daily life of George III., 276, 277.

- „ Royal Family, 276, 277.

Dancing, 367.

Dead Criminal, Galvanizing a, 391.
Death and burial of Fox, 127.

- „ Funeral of Pitt, 126.

-at a prize fight, 301.

-of Cardinal York, 134.

-- „ George Morland, 373.

•- „ „ Washington, 2. \

- „ Nelson, 118.

- „ Princess Amelia, 179.

Debate on Bull-Baiting, 293.

- „ war with Spain, 115.

- „ Abolition of Slave Trade,

108.

- „ the Union, 7.

Debtors, poor, Release of, 148.
—— Prisons, 453-457..

-Relief of, by Common Council,,

XS3*

-Scheme for pay creditors of

poor, 148, 149.

Deciphering papyri, 377.
Declaration of war with France, 74.
Deeds of Conveyance, Duty on, 37.
Defeat of Junot's Army, 142.
Defiance Club, 191.
De Loqtherbourg, Artist, 371.
Demonstration at Kennington, 26

2 7- i

Departure of Nelson in the Victoryy
75:

Description of a gun, 309.

-- / London houses, 232, 234.

Deserters pardoned, 152.

Despard, Colonel, Arrest of, 63.
—— Committal of, 37.

-before Privy Council, 63.

-Execution of, 64, 152.

—— Trial of, 63.

D estroy ing cloth-working machines,
62.

Detention of visitors in France, 74.
Difference in value of money, 29.
Dinner, A clerical, 249.
- „ Curious, 237.Disarmament and Retrenchment,
45-

Discovery of Planet Ceres, 35.
Distress among cotton-spinners,
141.

Diversions of people of fashion,

275,27^.

Doctor Jenner, 387.

Doctors, List of famous, 386.

--Old school, 385.

" Doggett's Coat and Badge," 195.
Dollars, Re-stamping ofj 163.
Driving, Amateurs, 189.

Droits of the Admiralty, 140.

Drury Lai\e Theatre, Burning of,

338.

-George III. at, 9.

—-"Lord Nelson" played at,
119.

Duchy of Cornwall, Claim for Re-
venues, 47.

Duel between Montgomery and
Macnamara, 433.

- between Paull and Burdetf,

133-

-Cause of, between Montgomery

and Macnamara, 433.

Duke of Richmond Bill, f.

Eccentricity of costume, 261.
Economy in use of grain, 28.
Education of boys, 277.

- „ girls, 278.

- v Physical, of women,

303.

Educational Establishments, 460.
Egypt, War in, 2.

Election, Middlesex, 58, 109.
Elections, General, 58, 133.
Electricity and Galvanism, 389-
391*

Emmett, Robert, Antecedents of,
101.

-Execution of, 102.

End of Walcheren Expedition, 157.
England and Wales, First census,

29.

Engravers, 374.

Enormous -expenditure on Army,
' 59. .

mx.	465

Entertainment by the " Picnic
Club," 354.

Enthusiasm of the people, 78-88.

Estimates, Army, 59.

"European Museum," The, 375.

Evacuation of Naples by French
troops, 50.

Excitement on Stock Exchange,
72.

Execution, Accident at an, 449.

--for treason, 452.

-Horrible, at Jersey, 449.

-- of Colonel Despard, 64, 452.

-of ringleaders of Irish Rebel-
lion, 102.

-of Robert Emmett, 102.

Exhibition of Needlework, 357.

--„ Paintings in Water,

Colours, 375.

Expenditure on Army, 59.

Extravagance of Farmers, 35.

Eye-glasses, 260.

Fall of Napoleon, 135.

False hair, 268-272.

-rumours^ Fluctuation of Stocks,

through, 39,

Famous actors, 323.

Farmers, Extravagance of, 35.

-Prosperity ofj 35.

Fashion, People of, Diyersions of,
275, 276.

Fasts, General, 103, 107, 115, 126,
133,146,163.

Fearful odds, Victories gained
against, 81.

Feeling of the country, 65.

Fete at Frogmore, 156.

- „ Windsor, 154-156.

Fifty thousand men added to Army,
98.

Fire among theatres, 337.

-engines, Manual, 211.

Firemen, London, 212.

Fires, Great, in London, 210.

First census, 30.

--of September, Account off

311-317. 1

-street gas lamps, 205.466

INDEX,

Fish, Scarcity of, 235.

Fishing, 307.

Fishmongers' Hall, 20.

Five Hundred, Council of, 2.
Five-volume novels, 376.

Flaxman, John, R.A., Sculptor,
, 374.

Fleet of Portugal against England,
137.

Flotilla practically useless, 116.
Flour, Paste a substitute for, 44.
Food, Plainness of, 235.

-Riots, 19-26.

•-Scarcity of, 5, 16.

--Supply of, from France, 248.

" Forestallers and Regraters," 240.
" Forestalling and Regrating," Act

against, 16.

--in meat, 22.

Forgery of " VortigernandRowena,"

336.

Four-in-hand Club, 191.
Fox, Courtesy of, 128.

--and his wife introduced to

Napoleon, 52.

-Death and burial of, 127.

-Elected for Westminster, 52.

-Letter to Talleyrand, 128,129.

-Napoleon's admiration for,

53-

-Visit of, to Pans, 52.

-Mrs., publicly acknowledged

as Fox's wife, 52.

Fracas at Covent Garden Theatre,

323, 324.

France, Austria £t war with, 116.
-Colonies to, a secondary ob-
ject, 113.

-Declaration of war with, 74.

-Failure of peace negotiations

with, 130.

-Greatness of, 113.

-Queen of, Arrival of, 145.

-Rupture with, 65.

-Supply of Food from, 248.

--Trade with, 45.

-Wild rush of English over,

5i.

Fraud at a lottery, 291.

Freedom of Speech, 82.

Freedom of the, Press, 82. .

Freeman's oath, The, 9CH91.

French Ambassador, Departure of,
73-

-Army crippled, 3.

-Government, O'Connor in

treaty with, 52.

-more than doubted, 26.

-- Press, England libelled by,

65.

—— Prisoners break parole, 100.

-- „ fed at expense of

English Govern-
ment, 38.

---Ingenuity of, 5.

-- j, Liberation of, 54.

- „ Maintenance of, 49*

-—- „ Number of, 5, 38,
417.

-- „ Offer to feed, by

French Government,
38.

- „ Proposed disposal

of, 100.

-- „ Question of feeding

37, 38.

-- „ Refusal of French

Government to pro-
vide for, 4.

—— „ Some, confined for
eight years, 38.

- „ Stoppage of supplies.

to, by French Go-'
vernment, 38.

- „ Sufferings of, 36.

-Refugees, 101.

-Refusal of, to supply clothes

to compatriots, 36.

-Republic, 2.

—— Revolution, 26.

-Troops, Evacuation of Naples

by, 50.

Friendly Societies, 459.

Frogmore fete, 156.

Fugitive criminals restored to re-
spective powers, 50.

Funeral of Nelson, Prices given to»
view, 120.

Furniture, Style of, 234.

Fuseli, Henry, Artist, 371.INDEX.

467

Galloway, Committal of, 37.
Galvanism and Electricity, 390,
391.

-—— Cure of insane by, 391.
Galvanizing dead criminal, 391.
Gambling in the Royal circle, 286.

-Universal, 285-287.

— Vice of women, 285.

Game, Bags of, large, 311.

-- Quantity of, 311.

--Scarcity of, 236.

-Supply of, 236.

Gaol Fever, Woolwich Cadets ill

with, 453.

Garrick, George, Certificate of iden-
tity of, 100.

Gas introduced by Murdoch, 204.

-- „ into London, 204.

-lamps, First Street, 205.

-ridiculed, 205.

General elections, 58, 133.

-Fasts, 103, 107, 115, 126, 133,

146, 163.

Geological Society, 395.

George III. and Royal Family,
98.

-and Walcheren Expedition,

161.

-Attempt to assassinate, 9.

-Cardinal York, a pensioner of,

134.

--convalescent, 107.

-Daily life of, 276, 277.

-Expenses of household of, 47.

-greatly in debt, 47.

-Illness of, 179.

--Jubilee of, 146-152.

-Messages to House of Com-
mons, 46, 66.

-pardons deserters, 152.

-Parliament opened by, 114.

—— Proclamation of peace by,

-Reference to Napoleon's let-
ter, 114.

-Reconciliation between Prince

of Wales and, 110.
-Review of Volunteers by,

417.

—— Sanction of peace by, 39.

George III. seriously ill, ro6.

-W. H. W. Betty presented to,

330.	^

George III.'s Jubilee, Medal struck
to commemorate, 146.

-servants, petition for wages,

6.

-sixty-third birthday, 12.

George Washington, Death of, 2.
Germany ravaged, 4.

Girls, Education of, 278-280.

Gold coinage. Smuggling of, 164.

-High price of, 163.

-Scarcity of, 16.

Government bill dishonoured,
60, 61.

-formed by Pitt, 107.

-Insolvency of, 61.

-Lotteries, 290, 291.

-- vigilant and watchful, 109.

Grain, Consumption of, restricted,
29.

Grand Junction Canal, Opening of,
208.

Great Britain and Ireland, Union

between, 6.

—— fall in wheat, 43. -»

-fires in London, 211.

-seal, Alteration of, 33.

Greatness of Fiance, 113.

Gregory XIII., 30.

Grenville's, Lord, letters to M. Otto,
26.

-Reply to Napoleon, 3, 4.

Gretna Green Marriages, 280, 281.
Grouse shooting, 311.

Guildhall, Lotteries at, 291.
Guineas, Temptation to melt, 16.
Gun, Description of a, 309.

-How to load a, 310.

Gymnastic exercises, 303.

Habeas Corpus Act, Suspension,
37, 102.

Hadfield, James, Acquitted, 12.

-Biography of, 10.

—— Escape and capture of, 12.
-Would-be assassin of George

hi., 9.

Hackney coaches, 187. .468

INDEX.

Hair-dresser's Advertisement, 270,
272.

—— False, 268, 272.

-powdering, 256,257.

Handbills, Inflammatory, 26.

-Patriotic, 89-93.

Hanging, 446-450.

Harvest, Bad, throughout Europe,
28.

-Good and plentiful, 177.

Harvey's Sauce, Advertisement of,
240.

Hatfield, Review at, ,417.

Hats, Beaver, 259.

-7— Tax on, 259.

Hatters, Caution to, 259.
Hawkesbury, Lord, Letter to Lord

Mayor, 40.

Hawkesbury,Lord, Peace prelimin-
aries signed by, 40.
Head-dresses, 268-272.

Hesitation to evacuate Malta, 64.
Highland Society of London, 367.
Highwaymen, 184.

Hoax on the Lord Mayor, 71.
Home, Privations at, 50.
Honourable Artillery Company,

Uniform of, 417.

Hoppner, John, R.A., 372.

H6rse Guards, New standard
hoisted at, 32.

-Riding, 193, 194.

Horses, Quality of, 193.

-Taxes on, 36, 115.

Horticultural Society, The, 395.
Hospitals, Medical, 393.

Hostility of Austria and Prussia,
138.

Hotels, &c., 248, 249.

House of Lords, Robbery from,
440.

House-keeping, Cost of, 16.

Houses in London, Description of,
, 232.	,4 ,

-in London, Number of, 232;

-Pattern of the, 232.

" Hoys," Margate, 196.

Hunters' Museums, The, ,384.
Hunting Breakfast, A, 306.
-then and now, 305.

Hyde Park, Review in, accident at,

Illness of George III., 106, 180.
181.

Illuminations, Jubilee, 156, 157.
-Accident at, 58.

— Peace, 40, 41,43.

Impeachment of Lord Melville,
126, 127.

Improvements in Carriages, 188.
Improvements on old tinder-box,
208.

Incledon, vocalist, 265.

Income Tax on £200, 17.

- „ Repeal of, 47.

Increase of stamp duty, 36.

India, Rice from, 241.

——• Wheat from, 28.

Inefficiency of Police, 24.

" Infant Roscius," The, 324.
Inflammatory handbills, 26.

Insane, Cure of, by galvanism, 391.
Insolvency of Government, 61.
Insolvent Debtors' Act, 453.
Insurance Companies, List of, 211.
Intellect, Retarding march of, 62.
Introduction of the Percussion

Cap, 310.

Invasion expected on Kent and
, Sussex coasts, 99.

-Possibility of, treated lightly,

92, „ •

-scare dying out, 109.

-signals, 99.

-squibs, 78-88.

-Threatened, of England, 76,

96.

Invisible lady, The, 3$8.

Ireland, First Census of, 30.
—~ Union with,"6, 32.

Ireland's forgery of " Vortigern and

Rowena," 336.

Irish Rebellion, 101.
- „ Execution of ring-
leaders of, 102.

" Jean de bry " coats, 250.

Jersey, Horrible execution in, 449.INDEX.

469

Jews, Jubilee celebrated by, 1^56.
Jockeys, Lady, 293,294.

Jubilee Ball at Argyle Rooms, 178.

-celebrated by Jews, 156.

-George III.'s, 146-152.

-illuminations, 156,157.

-Pamphlets on, 150, 151.

—— Poem on, 151.

—— Song, 150.

Julian Calendar, The, 30.

Junot's Army, Defeat of, 142.

Kauffman, Angelica, Artist, 173.
Kennington, Demonstration at,
26,27.

Kent Coast, Invasion expected on,
99.

Kilwarden, Lord, Murder of, 102.
King of Prussia's rudeness, 69.
" King's concerts," 367.
-servants petition for wages, 6.

Ladies' costumes, Eccentricity of,
261.

-out-door dress, 272.

Lady jockeys, 293, 294.

Lamps, Street, 203.

Large Bags of Game, 311.
Lawrence, Sir Thomas, Artist, 372.
Lauriston, General, Arrival of, 42.

--„ Treatment of by

mob, 42.

Law to prevent sale of new bread,
5-

Lead, Tax on, 36.

Legacies, Duty on, 115.

Letters, Postage of, 232.

-Tax on, 115.

Leverean Museum, 38.

Liberation of French Prisoners,
54-

Liberty of English Press, 39.
License of the Press, 65.

Linnaean Society, 395.

List of celebrated Authors, 376.

-of famous doctors, 386.

Living, Cost of, 16.

Livings, Clerical, 178.

Lloyd's Coffee House a great power,

40. ,

Lloyd's, Meeting at, 75.

Loaf, Quartern, Price of, 29.

Loans from Bank of England, 6,
I39*>

Locomotives, 395.

London Docks, Laying of first
stone, 200.

-Firemen, 212.

-Great fires in, 211.

-not beautiful, 232.

-streets, Condition of, 201.

- „ Description of, 214.

-water supply, 212-214.

Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, Mur-
der of, 102.

-Mayor Combe, Proclamation

by, 23.

-Mayor hoaxed, 71.

-Mayor's show, 44.

Lord's Cricket ground, 318.

Loss of Trade, 50.

Lotteries, Government, 290, 391.
Lottery, Fraud at a, 291.

-Last public, 292.

Louis XVIII., Arrival of brother of,
110.

Lunatics, Treatment 0^391-393.
Luxurious travelling, 186.

Lyceum Theatre, 357.	*

Lying in state of Nelson, 121, 122.

Machinery, Introduction of into

cloth-working, 61.

Madhouses, Public, 391.

Mail Coaches, List of, 231.

- „ Routes of, 231.

Malcontents, Political, lightly deajt

with, 37.

Malta, Evacuation of, 50.

--Hesitation of England to

evacuate, 64.

Mara, Mdlle., Salary of, 365.

March of intellect, Retarding, 62.
Margate "Hoys," 196.

Marriage of Prince of Wales, 47.
M&rshalsea, Prison of the, 148, 456.
Martin, Mr., M.P., called to order,
35-

Mary-le-bone Cricket Club, 318.
Matrimonial Advertisements, 280.INDEX.

Maunday Thursday, 148.

Meat, Forestalling in, 22.
-—- Quantity consumed, 235.
Medical Hospitals, 393.

Meeting at Lloyd's^ 75.

Meetings held all over the country,
98.

-met with vigorous repression,

28.

Melville, Lord, Impeachment of,

126, 127.

Middlesex Elections, 58-109.
Militia almost permanently em-
bodied, 413.

-reviewed at Hatfield, 417.

Milk, Prices of, 220.

Miller, Patrick, Esq., Offer of, 426.

Ministry jealous of England's

honour, 68.

Mobbing Quakers, 19.

Modified Postal arrangements, 37.
Montagu, Mrs.,friend of "climbing

boys," 216.

Money, Difference in value of, 29.

-Scarcity of, 105.

—— thrown to the mob, 42.
Moravian missionaries in Barba-

does, 108.

Morland George, Death of, 373.
Morning Post and Times, 380-382.

-Number printed, 380.

-Rise in price of, 380.

Mudie, Miss, Description of, 334.

- „ Fate of, 336.

-First appearance in London,

334-

—Reception of, 335.

Mulgrave's, Lord, Reply to Napo-
leon, 114.

Murder of Lord Chief Justice of
Ireland, 102.

-of Lord Kilwarden, 102.

- „ Rev. Richard Wolfe, 102.

Murdoch, Gas introduced by, 204.
Mutinies on board ship, 408-410.
Mutiny in Bantry Bay, 410.
—— on board Hermione> 408.

Names of race-horses, 293.

Naples, Evacuation of, by French

Troops, 50.

Napoleon, Ambition of, 65.

-at Boulogne, 96.

-Caricature on, 72.

-cordially hated, 39.

-Coronation of, the Pope at,

377-	• •

—— crowned King of Italy, 112.

-distrusted, 3, 26, 68.

-elected Emperor, 112.

-English^roposal accepted by,

39-

-Fall of, 135.

-Fox introduced to, 52.

-Letters from, 2, 3, 112,114.

-Lord Mulgrave's Reply to,

114,115.

-Plot to assassinate, 128, 129.

-— Treaty of Peace signed by,
49.

-Unjust conduct of, 74.

-unpleasant to deal with, 65.

Napoleon's admiration for Fox,
53-

-antecedents, 93.

-ignorance of our laws, 65.

-inspection of Calais, 96.

-insult to Lord Whitworth,

69.

—— movements well known, 96.
—— power crippled in Portugal,
142.

-threatened invasion, 82.

National Beverage, Beer the, 238.

-Debt, Total of, 181.

Naval force completely equipped,
98.

Navy a rough school, 404.

-120,000 men voted for, 115.

-Officers, Increase of pay of,

417. 4 ,

-State of, 402.

Needlework, Exhibition of, 357.
Negotiation See-saw, 39.
Negotiations at Tilsit, 136.

-Peace, Failure of, 130.

Nelson, cost of funeral of, 126.

-Death of, 118.

-Departure in the Victoryy']4.INDEX;

471

.Nelson, Funeral of, 120-124.
—— lying in state, 121.

Nelson's Signal serves trade ad-
vertisements, 121.

New Bread, Sale o£ forbidden, 5.
——Coinage, 126.

--*- Drop, the first used, 449.

•—- Standard hoisted at Horse

Guards, 32.

—- Standard hoisted at the Tower,
32.

Newspapers and Advertisements,
380.

—*— Heavily taxed, 379.

Nice, Council of, 30.

Nile, Battle of the, 3.

Nollekens, Sculptor, 374.
. Northcote, James, R.A., 371.

Notes, Increase of Duty on, 36.
Novels, Five-volume, 376.

Number of houses in London, 232.
-of Theatres, 323.

Oath, The Freeman's, 301.

Offer by Patrick Miller, 426.

-of Messrs. Pickford & Co.,

98.

Officers, Navy, Increase of pay of,

417.

Old Sarum, a rotten borough, 37.

-tinder-box, description of,

208.

One quartern loaf a week, 28.
Open-air concerts, 361.

Opening of Parliament by George

III., 114*

Opie, John, Artist, 371.

O. P. Riots, 146, 339-353-
Orange, Prince of, compensated,
5°.

Otto, M., and his wife, guests of
Lord Mayor, 44.

-An unofficial agent, 26.

-Commissary for exchange of

prisoners, 38..

-Peace preliminaries signed

by, 40.

Otto's, M., house illuminated, 58.
—— letter to French prisoners, 58.
Ouseley's, Major, Library, 377.

Out-dobr dress, Ladies', 272.
Ox roasted at Windsor, 154. ~

Paddington Canal, opening" of,

20°.	_ —;

Painters, 370-373.

Pall Mall, First gas-lamps iri, 205.
Paper, Tax on, 36.

-making machine, 396. ^

Papyri, Deciphering, 377.

Paris Fashions, 265.	—

-Fox's visit to, 52.

-to London, rapid journey, 194.

Parisot, Mdme., Famous ballet-

dancer, 355.

Parliament, Message from George

III. to, 6.

—— on price of provisions, 243.
—— Printers before, 165.
Parliamentary Impeachment, 126.
Parliaments opened by George

HI., 35,152.

Parole Regulations, 100.

Partridge Shooting, 311.

Paste a substitute for bread, 44.
Patriotic Fund, The, 119, 425.

-Fund, City subscribes to, 97.

-Handbills, 89-93.

Paull and Burdett, Duel between,
133-

Peace, Conditions of, 49.

-Definite treaty of, 48.

—Negotiations, Failure of, 130.
—— Preliminaries signed, 40.

-procession, 55-57.

- „ in theXity, 57.

-Proclamation of, 56.

- „ Reading of, 56-

58.

Peace. Public thanksgiving for, 55,

58.

-rejoicings, 4i~43-

-Treaties of, 39.

Peltier, jean, Editor of LAmbigu,
-65.

—— Found guilty, 68.

—— Trial of, 65-68.

Penny post to be two-pence, 37.
Pensions to late Ministers, 47.
People, Arming the, 98.472

INDEX.

People of Fashion, Diversions of,

575,276.

Pepper, Tax on, 36.

Pepttsch, l^r. John Christopher,

musician, 365.

- Percussion Cap, Introduction of,310.
~Perkin®an Institution, 390.
—Perkinses Metallic Tractors, 389.
Phajitasmagorik at the Lyceum

^Theatre, 357.

Phenomenon, A theatrical, 324.
Philanthropic Societies, 460.
Physical education of women, 303.
Piano, Automaton, player on, 355.
Piazzi, Italian Astronomer, 35.
Pickford and Co., Offer of, 98.
" Pic-nic Club," Entertainment by,
354.

-Club, Supporters of the, 355.

Picture Galleries, Private, 369.
Pidcock's Menagerie, Sale of, 357.
Pigeon Shooting, 310.

Pigott Diamond Bill,7.

Pillory, Treatment of prisoners in,

440-443.

Pitt, Cost of funeral of, 125.
—r— Death of, 125.
——• Government formed by, 107.
Pitt's Budget, 36.

Plainness of food, 235.

Plot to assassinate George III.,
62.

—— to assassinate Napoleon, 128.
Police authorities, 435.

-Criminal, expense of, 459.

-Inefficiency of, 24.

-officers, List of, 457.

Political Caricatures, 65.

-dissatisfaction, 37.

-malcontents lightly dealt with,

37-

Poor's Rates, 17. ,

Portugal, Fleet ofyagainst England,
137.

Portugal, Napoleon's power crip-
pled in, 142.

Possibility of invasion treated

lightly, 92.

Post Office, Chief, in Cloak Lane,
229.

Post Office, General, First stone

laid, 230.

—— Office, Rules of, 230.

Postage of letters, 232.

Postal Arrangements, 37.

Postmen, Uniform of, 228.

Poultry, supply of, 236.

Prayer-book, Alteration of, 34.
Preliminaries of peace signed, 40.
Press, Freedom of the, 82.
-French, England libelled bv,.

65.

-Liberty of, 39.

-License of the, 65.

-Gang, man killed by a, 408.

-Gangs, 406-408.

Price, High, of Gold, 163.

-of Bread, 36, 44, 240.

-of Corn, 29.

—- of Milk, 220.

Prices of Wheat, 2r, 35, 43.

Primitive state of Manufactures^.

396.

Prince of Orange compensated^,
50.

-of Wales, First stone of Covent

Garden Theatre laid by, 337.
—— of Wales, Claim by, 47.

- „ Regency of, 18o<

-- „ Marriage of, 47.

Princess Amelia, death of, 179.
Printers before Parliament, 165..
Prints, Satirical, 65, 72.

Prisoners of war, Release of, 53.
-— Treatment of, in pillory, 440—
443.

Prisons, list and descriptions of,.

. 453-457.

Privations at home, 50.

Privy Council, Colonel Despard

before, 63.

Prize-fight, death at a, 301.
Prize-fighting discountenanced,.
302.

Prize-fights, Prince of Wales at,.
301.

Proclamation of Peace, 56.
Proclamations of George III.,-28,
32.

Progression, Rate of, 17..INDEX.

Proposals accepted by Napoleon,
39-

Prosecutions, Antiquated, 22.
Provisions, Prices of, 45, 239-243.
Public Madhouses, 391.
——- Roads, State of, 182, 183.
-thanksgiving for Peace, 55,

s\:.. '

—-g— whipping, 440.

Quakers mobbed, 19.

Quartern loaf, Price of, 29.

Queen of France, arrival of, 145.

Race-horses, names of, 293.

Raid on Conspirators, 63.

Raisins, Tax on, 36.

Ranelagh Gardens, Description of,
360.

Rapid journey from Paris to Lon-
don, 194k
Rate of Progression, 17.

Rates, Poor's, 17.	\

Reconciliation between George III.

and Prince of Wales, 110.
Recruiting, Rough and ready me-
thod of, 97.	-
Rectification of Chronology, 30. „•
Refusal of Bank of England to take

back Spanish dollars, 106.
Regency of Prince of Wales, 180.
Regulations, Volunteer, 419-424.
Reinagle, Artist, 372.

Release of debtors, 148.
—— „ prisoners of war, 53.
—r-7 „ Sir F. Burdett, 174.
Relief of debtors by Common

Council, 152^

Repeal of Income Tax, 47.
Re-stamping dollars, 163.

Retarding march of intellect, 62.
Retrenchment, 44.

Review at Hatfield, 417.
. —=- by Prirfce of Wales, 417.

-• in Hyde Park, 8.

-of Volunteers, 12-15, 4*7«

Rice from India, 241. .

Riot Act read by Lord Mayor,
20.

Riot after arrest of Sir F. Burdett,

172.	-

Riots, Corn, 19.

—— Food ; Attempt to ^wr€ck a
house, 24.	_ "

-Food, Termination 0^26^

—<— in Cotton districts, 14^. ~

-in Wiltshire^ 1. "

-O. P., 146. * ~

- „ Caricatures on, 347-

349- ,

-- „ Committee on, 350.

- „ Compromise agreed on,

35i.

—— O.P., Defence of Proprietors,
342, 343-

- „ End of, 353.

- „ Kemble's appearance

at, 345.

- „ Kemble's windows bro-

ken, 357.

- „ Medals struck, 346.

- „ Revived, 352.

- „ Riot Act read at, 344.

Roads, Public, State of, 182,*83.
Robbery, Impudent^'439.

Roman Catholics, Aqt to relieve,
103,

Rotten Row, Horses in, 193.

Rough and ready method of Re-
cruiting, 97.

Royal Academy of Art, 369.
—— Assent given to the Union,
7*

—— Circle, Gambling in the, 286.

-P^amily and dress, 272.

- „ caricatured, 24.

-- „ Courage conspicuous

in, 96.

- „ Daily life of the, 276,

277.

- ,, W. H. W. Betty pre-

sented to, 330.

-Institution, The, 394.

--Society, The, 394.

Rupture with France, 65.

Rusby, Trial of, 17.

Rusby's house sacked, 21.

Rush of English over France,
S1*474

INDEX.

Russia, Emperor of, Strong proofs
of wisdom of, ji 5.

Safety of George III. and Royal

Family, 98.

Sailor, Typical, 403.	*

Sailors' Food, 404.

Sailors^ Full uniform of, 403..
St. Clement Danes Association, 25.
St*James's, New Standard hoisted
at, 32.

Salt > Duty Bill, Fierce debate on,

Scarcity of Bumon, 105.

-• v Corn, 16, 28., •

- „ Fish, 235.

- „ Food, 5, 16.

- „ Game, 236.

- „ Gold, 16.

Scheldt Expedition, 412.'

--„ .. select committed

on, 162.

Scheme-'for payment of prisoners'

debts, 148, 14*9.

Scientific men of the time, 394, 395.
Scotland, First Census of, 30.
Sculptors, 374.

Seal, Great, Alteration of, 33.

Sedan Chairs, Rates of hire, 187.
Shakespeare Gallery Lottery, 375.
Shee, Sir Martin A;, P.R.A., 372.
Sheep roasted at Windsor; 154-
155.

Sheridan, Anecdote of, 338.

Ships, Number in commission, 405.
Shooting, A day's, 308.

-Pigeon, 310.

Shows, Agricultural,.247.

Sick and Hurt Office, 61.

" Silent Highway," The, 195.

Sinews of War, The, 75.

Skittles, 304.

Slave Trade, Debates on Abolition,
108-127-.

-Trade prohibited, 132.

Smirke, Thos., R.A., 58, 372.
Smuggling Adventure, 444.

-of Gold coinage, 164.

-Wholesale, 445.

Societies, Philanthropic, 460.

Society of Antiquaries, The, 395.

„ Arts, 395.

Soldiers, yniform of, 412.

Spain,. War against, Debate - on,
•115.:

-War'.declared against, 115.

Spanish dollars called in, 106.
Speech, Freedom of, 82. ,
" Spinning-Jenny," 62. . V
Sponging-houses, 457.

Sports, Country, 303.

Sportsmen, Cockney, 313-317.
Spy craze, 99.

Squibs, Invasion, 78-88.

Stage coaches, 184.

-waggons, 185.

- # Speed of, 186.

Stamp duty, Increase of, 36.
Stamping Spanish dollars, 163.
Standard, New, hoisted at Horse
Guards, 32.

-New, hoisted at'Tower, 32.

Steam, 395, 396.

Stock Exchange, Excitement on,
72.

--Exchange ruse, 71.

Stocks, Fluctuation through false
rumours, 39.

--used for minor offences, 440.

Storace, ftriina donna, 365.
Stothard, Thos., R.A., 371.

Street cries, 219-227.

-lamps, 203.

Streets, London, Description of,
214.

-London, Superiority of, 236.

—— vendors, 219-226.

-watering, 215.

Sugar, Beer made from, 16.

--Tax on, 36.

Suicides, Burial of, 452. .
Superiority of London Streets, 236.
Supply of Game, 236.	, .

- „ Poultry, 236.

Suspension of Habeas Corpus Act,

37, 102.	_

Sussex Coast, Invasion Expected
on, 99.

Tandem Club, The, 191.^INDEX,.

175

Tattersairs and Aldridge*s, 294.
Tax, Extra, on letters, 115,'

-■ „ „ salt, 115. -

—— Income, on ^200,17.
—— „ Repeal of, 47.

■-on hats, 259. .

-- „ horses, 36, 115.

-— „ lead, 36. -

- „ paper, 36.

r— „ pepper, 36.

-— ,, raisins, 36. • -

-- » sugar, 36.

- „ tea, 36.

- „ timber, 36

Tea, Tax on, 36.

Thames, Appearance of, 199.

-as a means of traffic, 1^5.

—:—Bridges, 198.

-dock accommodation needed,

199'<

—— Early steamboat on,* 200.

-watermen, 195.

- „ Fares of, 196.

Thanksgiving, Public, for peace,
55-58.

"The Horns," Kennington, 26.
Theatres burnt, 337, 338,

-Number of, 323.

Theatrical Phenomenon, A, 324.
Thornton, Colonel, Bet of, 312.
Threatened Invasion, 76, 96.

Three Mr. Wiggins's, The, 356.
Tilsit, Negotiations at, 136.

Timber, Tax on, 36.

Times and Morning Post, 380-
382.

Tinder-box, Old, Description of,
208.

--Old,jlmptrovements on, 208.

" Tommy Onslow," 191.

Tooke, Rev, J. H., partizan of

Wilkes, 37.

Total of National Debt, 181.
Tower, New Standard hoisted at,
32.

Townsend, Bow Street runner,
345-

Trade, Loss of, 50.

-with France, 45.

Trafalgar, Battle of, 118.

Trafalgar, Battle of, London-illumi-
nated ill honour of, 118.

-Thanksgiving for victory of,,

119.

Traffic in slaves prohibited, 132.

:-Thames as a means of, 195.

Transport defective, 98, 109.
Travelling, Luxurious, 186.

-Old and new styles compared,,

783.

Treason, Execution for, 452.
Treaties, of Peace, 39.

Treaty of Amiens, 50, 53.

—— with United. States, 138.
Trinidad, Island of, 49.

Turf purer than nbw,'292:

Turner; Joseph'Malloccl Wm., 37 r.
Tvburn, Last person hangfed at,,

447- * ;

" Tyburn Tiqkets," 446.

Union between Great Britain and
Ireland carried in Irish House
' of Lords, 6 .

-Debate on the, 7.

—Royal assent given to, 7.
" United Britons," The, 37.

United States, Treaty with, 13S.
Unlawful to sell new bread, 5.

Vaccination, 387.

*-Pamphlets, 387.

Valse, The, 367.

Value of money, Difference in, 29.
Variation in price of bread, 26, 36,,

44, 240.

Vauxhall Gardens, 358, 359.
Vegetables, Supply of, 239.

Vendors, Street, 219-226.

Venison an epicurean dish, 237.
Vernal Equinox, 30.

Victories gained against fearful1

odds, 81.

Victory, Departure of Nelson in,
74-

Vimiera, Battle of, 142.

Visitors, Detention of, in France,,
74.

Volunteer movement, 12, 417.
-regulations, 419-424.476

INDEX.

Volurfteer reviews, 12-15, 417.
Volunteers, Arms of, 424.

-Dinner to, 417.

—— in plenty, 97.

-Pay of, 421.

——^erve as police, 419.
" Vortigern and Rowena," Forgery
of, 336.	-

Vyner, Sir Robert, AheCdote of,
229.

Wages, George 111.'s ^ servants

petition for, 6.	*

Waggons, Stage, 185.

--„ Speed of, 186.

Wales, Prince of, Claim by, 47.

-First stone of Covent Garden

Theatre laid by, 337.

-Marriage of, 47.

-- Regency of, 180. * '

-Review by, 417..

Walcheren Expedition, Accqunt of,
159, 160.

-Citizens of London and. 161.

-End of, 157.	•

-George III. and, 161. *

Walter, Mr., Proprietor , of the

Times, 400.

War, Attempts to stop the, 128.

-declared against Spain, 115.

--France and Austria at, 116.

-in Egypt, 2.

--song, 81.

-with France, Declaration of,

74.

Washington, George, Death of,
2.

Watch-house, The, 437* *
Watchmen, Old London, 435.

-Practical jokes on,4438.

Water Colours, Associated artists
in, 375-

Water Colours, Exhibition of paint-
ings in, 375.

-supply, London, 212, 214.

Watering streets, 215.
Wedding-ring, Story of a, 281.
Weights of carriages, 188.

West, Benj., P.R.A., 370.

West India Docks Bill passed,
199.

Westell, Artist, 372.

Westmacott, Sir Richard, R.A.,
474.

Wheat, Importation of, 28.

-Prices of, 21, 35,43.

Whip Club, Description of the,

, 189-191.

* Whipping, Public, 440.

Whitworth, Lord, and his recall,
76.

-Despatches from, 69-73.

-insulted by Napoleon, 69.

-Return of, 73..

Wife-selling, 282, 283.

Wilkes, Rev. J. JLTooke apartizan,

" 37- .

Wiltshire, Riots in, 61:

Windsor, Bull baited at, 156.

-Fete at, 154-156. *

--Ox and sheep roasted at, 155.

Wines, Prices of, 239.

Wolfe, Rev. Richard,, Murder of,

102. "

" Women to Jet," 284.

Workhouses, Parochial, 459.

York, Cardinal, A Pensioner of
George III., j34.

-Death of, 134.

—— Duke of, Exculpation of, 430*

-Resignation of, 432.

'York's, Duke of, letter to Speaker,
431.

</NWIN BROTHERS, THE GRESHAM PRESS, CHILWORTH AND LONDONThis book is a preservation facsimile produced for
the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
It is made in compliance with copyright law
and produced on acid-free archival

60# book weight paper
which meets the requirements of
ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (permanence of paper).

Preservation facsimile printing and binding

by.

Northern Micrographics
Brookhaven Bindery
La Crosse, Wisconsin
2015