vi. 9, 10, 11: 'Beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and

things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not unrighteous, to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed towards his name, in that ye have ministered unto the saints, and do minister. And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence, to the full assurance of hope unto the end:' And with this trust and confidence in you, I remain, Gentlemen,

"Your loving Friend, and faithful Servant in Christ Jesus,

"THOMAS BRISTOL."

_March 21, 1768._

"To the Right Reverend Father in God THOMAS Lord Bishop of Bristol, Rector of the Three United Parishes of St. Mary-le-Bow, St. Pancras, and Allhallows, Honey-lane.

"My Lord,

"The first sentence in your Address to our united Parishes gave us inexpressible concern, as we found ourselves charged with some behaviour which had been the occasion _of great pain and grief to your Lordship_; but we were happily relieved from this distress, as soon as your Lordship condescended to mention the nature of the crime with which we are charged; _viz._ 'That we had suffered the subscription for the daily prayers to be diminished, and reduced almost to nothing.'

"When we reflect for twenty-four years past you have laboured amongst us in the Lord, we can have no doubt but this endearing connection which has so long subsisted between us will occasion your Lordship to receive with _paternal candour_ every plea we have to offer in our defence.

"Permit us then to remind your Lordship, that, though the attendance on the morning prayers has been generally omitted, and the subscription to them reduced, yet we have hitherto endeavoured to promote the honour and reputation of St. Mary-le-Bow, all that we could. We acknowledge with your Lordship, 'that it is one of the first and most conspicuous Churches in the City,' and we often view its lofty spire both with pride and pleasure; we are happy in 'its being the principal of the Archbishop of Canterbury's _peculiars_, the chief Court of Arches, where so many Bishops are confirmed, and so much public business is transacted;' and we have always endeavoured, at a great expence, to keep every part of the Church in such good order, as that it might both decently and conveniently accommodate the good company which frequently resort there on the above solemn occasions.--Surely, my Lord, this part of our conduct must convince the world, and your Lordship, that those motives which you have suggested to us _have already produced_ every effect which ought to be expected from them.

"But to enter more particularly into our defence.--Our not attending these _subscription prayers_ is not generally owing either _to the want of time_, or to _the desire of saving the expence_, but proceeds from a very different motive--a motive which we cannot urge, till we have again bespoke your Lordship's affectionate candour. It is this: That we are not convinced of 'the reasonableness, the propriety, the expediency, and necessity of having the daily prayers' at those hours, and under those circumstances, for which your Lordship so warmly recommends a subscription; and there are two reasons on which our doubts are founded.

"The first is, that as your Lordship has undertaken the care of our souls, and in consequence of this trust, receives at least three hundred pounds _per annum_, we think ourselves fully authorised to believe, that this _extraordinary duty_, as your Lordship properly calls it, cannot be essentially necessary to our salvation; for, if it was so, it would, and must have been, a part of your _Lordship's own duty_, and consequently have rendered any extraordinary allowance unnecessary: And we think ourselves assured, that the other high offices which your Lordship sustains in the Christian Church could by no means divert you from duly executing the prior engagements made with us,--even though you had been obliged to employ a Deputy to share with you the honour of attempting our salvation.

"Nor, secondly, is it possible that these services referred to should be omitted, if they were really so absolutely necessary to prevent 'the eternal reproach and infamy in this world, and the next,' of _us_ who are committed to your care. Your Lordship, receiving 300_l. per annum_ for watching over this flock, could never permit it to be involved in _eternal infamy_, when so small a boon (as your Lordship acknowledges) as 25_l. per annum_ would prevent it. Far from us be such imaginary fears as these! The great _Apostles_, to whom your Lordship succeeds in an uninterrupted line, were inspired with such divine zeal to promote the salvation of men, that so far from their hesitating to part with twenty-five pounds out of three hundred pounds _per annum_, which is but 8_l._ 6_s._ 8_d. per cent._ deduction, they calmly received 'bonds and afflictions, neither counted they their lives dear unto themselves, so that they might finish their course with joy, and the ministry which they had received.' (Acts xx. 24, &c.) 'They gloried in having coveted no man's silver or gold' (neither for themselves nor their Curates); and were enabled to make this honourable appeal to their flock,--'Ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto our necessities, and to those who were with us.'

"For our part, therefore, we shall rest assured, that as 'the line of the Apostolic Succession is uninterrupted,' so also is the 'Apostolic Zeal;' and that, 'as the labourer is worthy of his hire,' so also is 'the hire worthy of a labourer;' and therefore we hope your Lordship will permit us to conclude, that when a wise, a learned, and pious Minister of Christ receives _the hire_, he will conscientiously perform _the labour_, or cause it to be performed.

"Our dependance, therefore, on your Lordship's exact and devout views of this _awful_ and _responsible connection_ must necessarily calm every fear on our part concerning our _own_ 'eternal infamy and reproach on this account;' for we are legally committed to your care, for the established outward _means of grace_;--and such means as are absolutely necessary for rendering your Lordship a good Shepherd, or us a well-fed flock, we are very confident we shall never want, whilst we have the pleasure of being under your spiritual guidance and instruction.

"We are, my Lord, your Lordship's

"Most respectful, affectionate,

"and obliged humble servants, A B C D E F G."

_St. Mary-le-Bow, April 12, 1768._

When the King of Denmark visited our Court in 1768, he observed the eagerness of the middle and lower ranks in their attempts to view his person; and politely ordered that they should be admitted while he dined. The consequent press and rudeness was such, that the permission was rescinded after _one_ trial: that rudeness may be estimated by the following paragraph: "A correspondent observes, in the London Chronicle, that the crowds which follow after and so rudely press upon the King of Denmark, render his situation very disagreeable, as he is constantly obstructed in the gratification of his curiosity at any public place of diversion, or of seeing any thing curious in or near the Metropolis, for fear of being stifled. He adds, that he wishes the people would consider the great rudeness they are guilty of, by thus treating so very high and respectable a Personage: and let all who have once had a view of him in any public place pass on, and not stand staring in the King's face with such intolerable effrontery as too many have done, to the annoyance of his Majesty, as well as the hindrance of others from the pleasure of seeing him."

The hospitality with which this Prince was received by the superior ranks and all the public bodies, particularly the Corporation of London, deserves the highest commendation.

The practice of Betting is tolerably prevalent at present, and by no means confined to any particular class of the community. In short, I am afraid it might be traced very far back in the history of our customs; but it will be sufficient for the information of the reader, that I present him with an article from the London Chronicle for 1768, which I think will remind him of some recent transactions in the City.

"The introduction and amazing progress of illicit gaming at Lloyd's Coffee-house is, among others, a powerful and very melancholy proof of the degeneracy of the times. It is astonishing that this practice was begun, and has been hitherto carried on, by the matchless effrontery and impudence of one man. It is equally so, that he has met with so much encouragement from many of the principal Under-writers, who are, in every other respect, useful members of society: and it is owing to the lenity of our laws, and want of spirit in the present administration, that this pernicious practice has not hitherto been suppressed. Though gaming in any degree (except what is warranted by law) is perverting the original and useful design of that Coffee-house, it may in some measure be excusable to speculate on the following subjects:

"Mr. Wilkes being elected Member for London, which was done from 5 to 50 guineas _per cent._

"Ditto for Middlesex, from 20 to 70 guineas _per cent._

"Alderman B----d's life for one year, now doing at 7 _per cent._

"On Sir J---- H---- being turned out in one year, now doing at 20 guineas _per cent._

"On John Wilkes's life for one year, now doing at 5 _per cent._--N. B. Warranted to remain in prison during that period.

"On a declaration of war with France or Spain in one year, 8 guineas _per cent._

"And many other innocent things of that kind.

"But when policies come to be opened on two of the first Peers in Britain losing their heads within a year, at 10_s._ 6_d. per cent._ and on the dissolution of the present Parliament within one year, at 5 guineas _per cent._ which are now actually doing, and underwrote, chiefly by Scotsmen, at the above Coffee-house; it is surely high time for Administration to interfere, and by exerting the rigour of the laws against the authors and encouragers of such insurances (which must be done for some bad purpose) effectually put a stop to it."

There are certain wags who find great amusement in contriving wonderful stories for the publick, which are sometimes circulated verbally, and frequently inserted in the newspapers.--This waggery has recently received the elegant term of _hoaxing_. Twice very lately crowds have been sent to the ship-yards below London to witness the launching of men of war and Indiamen which were not ready to launch; and last winter _re-produced_ an old story of a gardener digging a pit to receive the body of a servant he had seduced, _whom he intended to have murdered_, had not his master luckily discovered the plan by the intervention of a dream. Many of these inventions are so slightly contrived that persons of very little sagacity might detect the impostor; and yet numbers are deceived.

The newspapers of 1772 furnish a rare instance of this description, which take _verbatim_:

"At the house of one Mrs. Goulding, a single gentlewoman, at Stockwell, in the parish of Lambeth, in Surrey, about eleven o'clock in the forenoon on Monday last, there being no person except herself and servant (Ann Robinson, aged fifteen years or thereabouts) several earthen plates, and one dish, of what is called the Queen's-ware, which were placed on a shelf in one of the kitchens, fell down, and all broke except the dish, without any visible cause; in a little time after, several candlesticks, and other things, the furniture of a mantle-piece in the back kitchen, were thrown into the middle of the floor, though no person was in that room; then some china, &c. on the mantle-piece in the other kitchen was in like manner thrown into the middle of the floor, and broke, and as the pieces lay, they snapped and flew just as though they had been thrown on an exceeding hot fire; a glazed lanthorn, which hung on the staircase, was thrown down; a clock also was thrown down and broke; a red earthen pan, containing salt beef, flew in pieces, and the beef fell about; and many such like uncommon things happened; which causing an alarm, the people from the road, without distinction, ran into the house, some supposing it to be on fire, others thought the house had received a shock from the explosion of a powder-mill at Hounslow, which was blown up about an hour before. However, all concurred in moving the goods; and Mrs. Goulding, together with her maid-servant, went to Mr. Gresham's, a gentleman who lives in the next house to Mrs. Goulding's, whither the goods were carried, and particularly a tray full of china, an iron bread-basket japanned, two mahogany waiters, several bottles of different sorts of liquors, a gallipot of jelly, and a pier-glass worth about five pounds, which glass was taken down by one Mr. Saville (a neighbour to Mrs. Goulding) who handed it to one Robert Hames, and a part of the gilt-work on each side of the frame flew off before he could put it down in the garden; but when it was laid down, remained without farther damage till it was taken into Mr. Gresham's, and put under a side-board, where it flew to pieces. Mr. Saville and others going to drink of a bottle of rum and a bottle of wine, they both flew in pieces, though they were uncorked; the china in the tray flew in pieces, some while it was in the house, and the rest in the garden, whither it was removed by the affrighted spectators after it began to break; the bread-basket was thrown down and broke, as also were the two mahogany waiters, and the pot of jelly, together with bottles of liquors and jars of pickles, all of them the property of Mrs. Goulding. Mrs Goulding, being ill with the fright, was let blood by Mr. Gardener, a Surgeon of Clapham, who borrowed a pint china bowl of Mr. Gresham's people to receive the blood, which being afterwards set upon a side-board, near a bottle of rum, the property of Mrs. Goulding, both bottle and bowl jumped on the floor and broke, the bowl going into five pieces (a piece of which is now in the possession of Mr. Waterfield at the Royal Oak Inn, Vauxhall). Mrs. Goulding and her servant then went to Mr. Maylin's next door to Mr. Gresham's; but during their stay there (which was but very short) nothing extraordinary happened; from thence they went to the house of Farmer Payne (to whose wife Mrs. Goulding is related) on Rush-common, near the Wash-way, about half a mile distant from her own house, where they found Mr. and Miss Gresham, Mr. Payne and his family; it being about dinner-time, they all dined with Mr. Payne; some time after dinner Mrs. Goulding's servant was sent home to examine into the state of the house, and returned with an account that every thing there had been quiet from the time they left it. In a little time after the return of the servant, Mr. and Miss Gresham went home (nothing unaccountable having yet happened at Mr. Payne's); but Mrs. Goulding and her servant staid, and about seven o'clock in the evening the same kind of uncommon operations as had been seen at Mrs. Goulding's began at Mr. Payne's, by seven pewter dishes out of eight falling from the top shelf over a dresser in the kitchen, without any apparent cause, which was followed by an infinite number of examples not less strange, and particularly the following: a pestle and mortar jumped from the mantle-piece in the kitchen to the floor, about six feet; a row of pewter plates fell from the second shelf (over the dresser) to the ground, and being taken up, and put one in the other on the dresser, which is about three feet high, they were thrown down again, and lay in the same manner as plates are generally placed on a shelf; the pewter, china, earthen-ware, &c. were then almost all set upon the floors in the kitchen and parlour (to prevent being broke or bruised by falling), but four pewter plates were left on one of the shelves over the dresser, which plates did not move the whole night. While the things were putting on the ground, a stone tea-cup jumped out of a beaufet to the floor; on the floor a glass tumbler jumped about a foot and a half and broke; another that stood near it jumped also about the same distance, but remained whole for some hours after, then took another spring and broke also; a china bowl jumped from the floor in the middle of the parlour, and went behind the feet of a claw table, which was standing in the same parlour, at the distance of about eight feet, but did not break at that time, but being replaced by one Mr. Fowler, remained whole for a considerable time afterwards, and then flew to pieces; three china cups, which had been left on the dresser in the kitchen, flew slant-wise across the kitchen about twelve feet, by which two were broke: an egg flew from the lower shelf over the dresser, taking the same direction as the cups had done, and went nearly the same distance; there was another egg on the shelf, which did not move the whole night: a candlestick flew from the mantle-piece in the kitchen into the parlour door-way, about fifteen feet from the place where it stood; a tea-kettle under the dresser was thrown out about two feet: another tea-kettle, which stood on the side of the grate, was thrown off against an iron that is fixed to keep the children from the fire; a mustard-glass, which was a little broke by some natural accident, was thrown from a table into a pewter-dish on the floor, at about seven feet distance, but did not break, neither was it broke afterwards; the cup that had escaped when the other two were broke (as is before-mentioned) being set on a table in the parlour, flew off to the distance of nine feet, and broke; a tumbler, with a little rum and water in it, standing on a waiter upon a table in the same parlour, jumped about ten feet, and broke; the table then overset, and threw off a silver tankard of Mrs. Goulding's, a candlestick, and the waiter the tumbler had jumped from; two hams, which had been hung up in the chimney to dry, fell down, though the nail and strings on and by which they had hung were not broke or misplaced; a case-bottle of liquor, part of which they had just drank, flew into pieces; and, in short, about four o'clock in the morning of Tuesday, almost every thing in the parlour and kitchen were animated, and made such a racket, that Mr. Payne's maid-servant ran up stairs, and took a child out of bed, and carried it into the stable naked, thinking it was not safe longer to stay in the house. Mrs. Goulding then seeing the general confusion, went with her servant across the road to Mr. Fowler's (the same Mr. Fowler as is before-mentioned in this narrative) and were accompanied by Mrs. Payne and her son, about nine years of age; and the confusion at Mr. Payne's immediately ceased, when Mr. Fowler had let them into his house, he proceeded to light a fire in his back room, which done, he put the candlestick and candle he had used upon a table in his fore-room (through which Mrs. Goulding and her servant had passed), where also stood another candlestick with a tin lamp in it, but they did not stand long before they were knocked against each other, and thrown to the ground by some invisible agent; then a lanthorn in the back-room, that had been used in lighting Mrs. Goulding, &c. across the road, was thrown to the ground; and lastly a basket of coals, which was brought from Mr. Payne's, overset, and emptied itself upon the floor. Mr. Fowler upon this told Mrs. Goulding he feared she had been guilty of some bad act, as it was plain the cause of such wonderful events was carried with her; but Mrs. Goulding answered, that her conscience was clear from any extraordinary evil, and that she could not tell the cause why she was so troubled, or such like words; however, Mr. Fowler desired her to quit his house, as he could not afford to have his goods destroyed; whereupon Mrs. Goulding and her servant left his house, which has been quiet ever since, and returned to her own house; and, in a little time after their arrival, a cask with some beer in it was thrown from its stand, and a pail of water was moved from its place a little, and some of the water spilled, but nothing more happened; then she discharged her servant, and has remained quiet ever since."

Another account has the following additional circumstance:

"Some plates of Mr. Gresham's, by way of trial, were placed upon the same shelf with those of Mrs. Goulding's; the former stood unhurt, the whole of Mrs. Goulding's were broke in pieces.

"The servant girl is gone home to her father, the clerk of Lewisham parish; and what remains are now just as inanimate as the furniture of other houses."

The following extracts from Nugent's translation of M. Grosley's Tour to London are inserted as the means by which the reader may collect facts in proof of my opinion, that the manners of the populace are greatly improved since the above period.

"Amongst the people of London we should properly distinguish the Porters, Sailors, Chairmen, and the Day-labourers who work in the streets, not only from persons of condition, most of whom walk a-foot merely because it is their fancy, but even from the lowest class of shopkeepers.

"The former are as insolent a rabble as can be met with in countries without law or police. The French, at whom their rudeness is chiefly levelled, would be in the wrong to complain, since even the better sort of Londoners are not exempt from it. Inquire of them your way to a street: if it be upon the right, they direct you to the left, or they send you from one of their vulgar comrades to another. The most shocking abuse and ill language make a part of their pleasantry upon these occasions. To be assailed in such a manner, it is not absolutely necessary to be engaged in conversation with them; it is sufficient to pass by them. My French air, notwithstanding the simplicity of my dress, drew upon me, at the corner of every street, a volley of abusive litanies, in the midst of which I slipped on, returning thanks to God I did not understand English. The constant burthen of these litanies was, French dog, French b--: to make any answer to them, was accepting a challenge to fight; and my curiosity did not carry me so far. I saw in the streets a scuffle of this kind, between a Porter and a Frenchman, who spit in his face, not being able to make any other answer to the torrent of abuse which the former poured out against the latter without any provocation. The late Marshal Saxe, walking through London streets, happened to have a dispute with a scavenger, which ended in a boxing bout, wherein his dexterity received the general applause of the spectators: he let the scavenger come upon him, then seized him by the neck, and made him fly up into the air, in such a direction, that he fell into the middle of his cart, which was brimful of dirt.

"Happening to pass one day through Chelsea, in company with an English gentleman, a number of Watermen drew themselves up in a line, and attacked him, on my account, with all the opprobrious terms which the English language can supply, succeeding each other, like students who defend a thesis: at the third attack, my friend, stepping short, cried out to them, that they said the finest things in the world, but unluckily he was deaf: and that, as for me, I did not understand a word of English, and that their wit was of consequence thrown away upon me. This remonstrance appeased them; and they returned laughing to their business.

"M. de la Condamine, in his journey to London two or three years ago, was followed, wherever he went, by a numerous crowd, who were drawn together by a great tube of block-tin, which he had always to his ear; by an unfolded map of London which he held in his hand; and by frequent pauses, whenever he met with any object worthy of his attention. At his first going abroad, being frequently hemmed in by the crowd, which prevented his advancing forward, he cried out to his interpreter, 'What would all these people have?' Upon this, the interpreter, applying his mouth to the tube, answered by crying out to him, 'They are making game of you.' At last they became used to the sight; and ceased to crowd about him as he walked the streets.

"The day after my arrival, my servant discovered, by sad experience, what liberties the mob are accustomed to take with the French, and all who have the appearance of being such. He had followed the crowd to Tyburn, where three rogues were hanged, two of whom were father and son. The execution being over, as he was returning home through Oxford-road with the remains of the numerous multitude which had been present at the execution, he was attacked by two or three blackguards; and, the crowd having soon surrounded him, he made a sight for the rabble. Jack Ketch, the executioner, joined in the sport, and entering the circle, struck the poor sufferer upon the shoulder. They began to drag him about by the skirts of his coat, and by his shoulder-knot; when luckily for him, he was perceived by three grenadiers belonging to the French guards, who, having deserted, and crossed the seas, were then drinking at an ale-house hard by the scene of action. Armed with such weapons as chance presented them, they suddenly attacked the mob, laid on soundly upon such as came within their reach, and brought their countryman off safe to the ale-house, and from thence to my lodgings. Seven or eight campaigns which he had served with an officer in the gens-d'armes, and a year which he afterwards passed in Italy, had not sufficiently inured him to bear this rough treatment; it had a most surprising effect upon him. He shut himself up in the house a fortnight, where he vented his indignation in continual imprecations against England and the English. Strong and robust as he was, if he had had any knowledge of the language and the country, he might have come off nobly, by proposing a boxing bout to the man whom he thought weakest amongst the crowd of assailants: if victorious, he would have been honourably brought home, and had his triumph celebrated even by those who now joined against him. This is the first law of this species of combat; a law which the English punctually observe in the heat of battle, where the vanquished always find a generous conqueror in that nation. This should seem to prove, in contradiction to Hobbes, that in the state of nature, a state with which the street-scufflers of London are closely connected, man, who is by fits wicked and cruel, is, at the bottom, good-natured and generous.

"I have already observed, that the English themselves are not secure from the insolence of the London mob. I had a proof of this from the young Surgeon who accompanied me from Paris to Boulogne.

"At the first visit which he paid me in London, he informed me, that, a few days after his arrival, happening to take a walk through the fields on the Surrey-side of the Thames, dressed in a little green frock which he had brought from Paris, he was attacked by three of those gentlemen of the mobility, who, taking him for a Frenchman, not only abused him with the foulest language, but gave him two or three slaps on the face. 'Luckily,' added he in French, 'I did not return their ill language; for, if I had, they would certainly have thrown me into the Thames, as they assured me they would, as soon as they perceived I was an Englishman, if I ever happened to come in their way again in my Paris dress.'

"A Portuguese of my acquaintance, taking a walk in the same fields, with three of his countrymen, their conversation in Portuguese was interrupted by two Watermen, who, doubling their fists at them, cried, 'French dogs, speak your damned French, if you dare.'

"Happening to go one evening from the part of the town where I lived to the Museum, I passed by the Seven-dials. The place was crowded with people waiting to see a poor wretch stand in the pillory, whose punishment was deferred to another day. The mob, provoked at this disappointment, vented their rage upon all that passed that way, whether a-foot or in coaches; and threw at them dirt, rotten eggs, dead dogs, and all sorts of trash and ordure, which they had provided to pelt the unhappy wretch, according to custom. Their fury fell chiefly upon the hackney-coaches, the drivers of which they forced to salute them with their whips and their hats, and to cry _huzza_; which word is a signal for rallying in all public frays. The disturbance upon this occasion was so much the greater, as the person who was to have acted the principal part in the scene, which by being postponed had put the rabble into such an ill-humour, belonged to the nation which that rabble thinks it has most right to insult.

"In England, no rank or dignity is secure from their insults. The young Queen herself was exposed to them upon her first arrival at London: the rabble was affronted at her Majesty's keeping one window of her sedan chair drawn up.

"The politeness, the civility, and the officiousness of people of good breeding, whom we meet in the streets, as well as the obliging readiness of the citizens and shopkeepers, even of the inferior sort, sufficiently indemnify and console us for the insolence of the mob, as I have often experienced.

"Whatever haste a gentleman may be in, whom you happen to meet in the streets, as soon as you speak to him, he stops to answer, and often steps out of his way to direct you, or to consign you to the care of some one who seems to be going the same way. A gentleman one day put me in this manner under the care of a handsome young directress, who was returning home with a fine young child in her arms. I travelled on very agreeably, though I had a great way to go, lending an arm to my guide; and we conversed together as well as two persons could do, one of whom scarce understood a word spoken by the other. I had frequent conversations of this sort in the streets, in which, notwithstanding all the pains I took to make myself understood, and others took to understand me, I could not succeed: I then would quit my guide, and say to him, with a laugh, and squeeze of the hand, _Tower of Babylon_! He would laugh on his side likewise; and so we used to part.

"Having occasion to inquire for a certain person in Oxford-road, I shewed his address at the first shop I came to; when out stepped a young man, in white silk stockings, a waistcoat of fine cloth, and an apron about his waist. After having examined whether I was able to follow him, he made me a sign, and began to run on before me. During this race, which was from one end of the street to the other, I thought that my guide had interest in view; and therefore I got ready a shilling, which I offered him upon arriving at the proper place; but he refused it with generous disdain, and taking hold of my hand, which he shook violently, he thanked me for the pleasure I had procured him. I afterwards saw him at the tabernacle of the Methodists.

"To take a man in this manner by the arm, and shake it till his shoulder is almost dislocated, is one of the grand testimonies of friendship which the English give each other, when they happen to meet: this they do very coolly; there is no expression of friendship in their countenances, yet the whole soul enters the arm which gives the shake. This supplies the place of the embraces and salutes of the French. The English seem to regulate their behaviour upon these occasions by the rules prescribed by Alexander Severus to those who approached his person[390:A].

"I met with the same politeness and civil treatment at all the public and private assemblies to which I was admitted. At the House of Lords as well as at the House of Commons, a foreigner may take the liberty to address himself to any gentleman who understands his language; and those who are applied to upon these occasions think it their duty to answer his questions. At the first meeting of the House of Lords to try Lord Byron, I happened to be seated amidst a family as much distinguished by their high rank as their amiable qualities. They all shewed the utmost eagerness to satisfy my curiosity with regard to the several particulars of this extraordinary spectacle; to explain to me all that was said; to instruct me with regard to the origin of the most remarkable ceremonies; and, in fine, to share with me the refreshments, which the length of the trial made it necessary for them to provide.

"When the King came to the House of Lords to give the royal assent to Bills, one of the Bishops near whom I was seated offered to be my interpreter; and he took upon him to serve me in that capacity during the whole time I staid.

"At the courts of Common Pleas, King's Bench, and Exchequer, in Westminster, I seated myself amongst the Lawyers; and upon my speaking French to the two next me, neither of whom happened to understand that language, one of them rose, and brought a brother Lawyer, who, being acquainted with the French tongue, explained to me the best he could all that passed.

"At the play-houses and other public diversions, I had the same good fortune. Those that did not understand me, were eager to look for somebody that did; and my interpreter, who had taken a bottle of wine with him, never drank without afterwards presenting me with it: I made it a rule to drink, because having declined the first time it was offered, I was given to understand, that such a refusal was contrary to the laws of English politeness.

"It must, however, be observed, that this obliging behaviour is not accompanied with all those external demonstrations of civility, which are customary upon such occasions in France. If an English gentleman, who did not understand me, went in quest of an interpreter, he rose, and quitted me with an air, which seemed rather to be that of a whimsical humourist, than of a gentleman who was going to do a polite action; and I saw no more of him.

"I met with the same civility and complaisance amongst all the shop-keepers, whether great or little. The tradesman sent his son or his daughter to me, who often served me as guide, after having first acted as an interpreter: for some years past, the French language has been taught as universally as the English, in all the boarding-schools of London; so that French will soon be by choice the language of the people of England, as it was by constraint and necessity under the Norman Kings. This is a demonstration, that the antipathy of that Nation for every thing belonging to the French is not universal and without exception.

"The French are apt to imagine, that it is on account of their country they are pushed and shoved in the most frequented streets, and often driven into the kennel; but they are mistaken. The English walk very fast: their thoughts being entirely engrossed by business, they are very punctual to their appointments, and those who happen to be in their way are sure to be sufferers by it: constantly darting forward, they jostle them with a force proportioned to their bulk and the velocity of their motion. I have seen foreigners, not used to this exercise, let themselves be tossed and whirled about a long time, in the midst of a crowd of passengers, who had nothing else in view but to get forward. Having soon adopted the English custom, I made the best of my way through crowded streets, exerting my utmost efforts to shun persons who were equally careful to avoid me.

"We should be equally in an error, if we were to imagine that the English fashions, diametrically opposite to those of France, are contrived in the manner they are, in order to avoid all resemblance to those of our Nation: on the contrary, if the former are any way influenced by the latter, it is by the desire of imitating them. A mode begins to be out of date at Paris, just when it has been introduced at London by some English Nobleman. The Court and the first-rate Nobility immediately take it up: it is next introduced about St. James's by those that ape the manners of the Court; and by the time it has reached the City, a contrary mode already prevails at Paris, where the English, bringing with them the obsolete mode, appear like the people of another world. The little hats, for example, at present so fashionable in France, begin to be wore by the Nobility, who borrowed the model from Paris: by degrees the English will come at the diminutive size; but the great hats will then be resumed at Paris. This holds good in general, with regard both to men and women's apparel."

It has long been customary for the lower classes to hold a burlesque election at Wandsworth after a dissolution of Parliament for the choice of a Mayor of Garratt. To describe the strange proceedings of the candidates, who are always selected from the most ludicrous or most hideous of the community, or the riotous freaks of the mob, would be impossible. One vast wave of the populace rolls impetuous from London after the candidates and officers of the election; and, if there is but little taste in their dresses, there is always much "unreal mockery" of finery disposed in a manner which cannot but excite laughter, and the curiosity of those who are but little satisfied to witness the quarrels and intoxication that distinguish the electors of the borough of Garratt.

Many whimsical and satirical imitations of speeches and promises are made upon these occasions; but the electors, contrary to the customs of other elections, always _treat themselves_, though _tin_ sixpences have sometimes been thrown amongst the mob _as bribes_.

The present member for Garratt is _Sir_ Henry Dimsdale, Citizen and Muffin-seller, one of the oddest productions of injured nature, _and an idiot_. It is strange that the people who act these follies cannot perceive they are satirizing themselves. If they were not willing to be deceived, promises never meant to be performed would not be made; and, if they would neither receive bribes nor be treated, candidates would never offer the former, or furnish materials for the latter. When they chair a real member through Westminster, after having violated the freedom of election by deeds which deserve hanging, these wanton fools pull the hustings over their own heads, and frequently maim peaceable spectators.--Such are the electors of Garratt and . . . . . . . . !

FOOTNOTES:

[231:A] "This should be _Cuper's_ gardens, formerly the Bear Garden." _European Magazine._

[231:B] "This should be the _Folly_; a very large vessel, said to have been the hulk of a ship of war or frigate, which was moored on the Surrey-side of the Thames, nearly opposite Hungerford stairs, and, consequently, abreast of _Cuper's_ gardens. It was used as a floating _tavern_ and _bagnio_. The proprietors had an idea, that a licence was not necessary for a place of this _description on the river_, and it was continued many years unrestrained, till at length its enormities became so notorious, that its suppression was deemed a most necessary object of Police." _Ibid._

[232:A] At Hoxton.

[233:A] Heraclitus Ridens.

[244:A] No Coaches to be admitted but with six horses, nor any Coach to come into the Park after ten of the clock in the morning.

[257:A] Daughter to the earl of Ranelagh.

[266:A] Original Weekly Journal, May 21, 1720.

[280:A] "This house was one of the last of the hundreds of Drury Taverns (for in that district it was included). Tradition formerly said it had, in the reign of Charles II. been much celebrated for the gaiety of its visitors. The rooms in which the concerts were performed and balls given, were at the top of the house: these were large, others smaller; the bar conveniently situated to see who went up stairs. All the premises, except the Tavern part, which dwindled into a public-house, were let to an organ-builder and harpsichord-maker."

_European Magazine._

[336:A] _Vide_ London Chronicle, vol. IX. p. 375.

[390:A] "If any Courtier bowed in a cringing manner, or used flattering expressions, he was either banished the Court, if the nature of his place admitted of it; or turned into ridicule, if his dignity exempted him from any severer punishment." Lampridius, Life of Alexander Severus.

CHAP. IV.

ANECDOTES OF ECCENTRICITY.

To particularise every species of Eccentricity which has distinguished this great community would be useless; but the whims of certain individuals of it ought to be noticed, in order that a just estimate may be formed of the grand whole. In the month of November 1700 an old gentleman was found lifeless on the floor of his apartment in Dartmouth-street by his landlady, who had been alarmed by hearing him fall. He died intestate, and worth 600_l. per annum_; but his manner of living was penurious to the most extravagant degree, allowing nature barely four-penny worth of boiled meat and broth _per_ day. When he went from home he was under the necessity of hiring a boy for a penny to lead him across the Park, as he was near-sighted; but this was almost the only intercourse he had with mankind, except to receive his rents, which may be imagined from the state of his clothing as he lay dead: the body had seven shirts on it, each dreadfully soiled, and that next the skin actually decayed; and his other clothing was tied on with cords, that had even lacerated the flesh.

Eccentricity may exist in the brain of the most exalted character; the best intentions are often marked by it; therefore the reader must not suppose that censure is implied when good actions are classed under this head: he that deviates from the common path is eccentric; but, if his purposes are virtuous, the good man will forgive the deviation.

Some Professors of Religion are very apt to be eccentric in their conduct. Joseph Jacobs was the leader of a set of enthusiasts in 1702, who preached to his votaries at Turners-hall: he was originally a Linen-draper. "Observator" says, his congregation were "the remnant of the tribe of Ishmael; for their hand is against every body, and every body's hand against them. By their bristles (they suffered their hair to flourish luxuriantly) one would take them to be a herd of the Gaderines swine into which the Devil has newly entered, from whom at latter Lammas we shall have great cry and little wool. They are compounded of Philadelphians, Sweet-singers, Seekers, and Muggletonians. Their system of Divinity is a hodge-podge of Jacobs' putting together, and their philosophy is that of Jacob Behmen's. If their women do not backslide from the truth, it is their native virtue keeps them steadfast; for their Pastor by trade is authorised to examine their clouts. He that has the longest whiskers amongst them is by so much the better member; but Jacobs measures their profession by the Mustachio, and not by the ell and yard, as he used to do his linen. By their look you would take them to be of the Society of Bedlam; madmen we found them, and so we leave them."

This eccentric preacher died in June 1722. He retained the name of Whisker Jacobs to the day of his death. As he was singular in his life, so was he at his departure, having given orders that no mourning should be used at his interment in Bunhill-fields. Accordingly his executors gave the company white gloves and rings, but no scarfs or hatbands.

It would be extremely wrong not to include Dr. Sacheverell in the list. This gentleman contrived to turn his talents in eccentricity to some account, and was the cause of a wonderful acquisition of members to the class of oddities. I shall leave the Doctor's "birth, parentage, and education," to the biographers who have treated of the subject; and introduce him as a _singular_ character, and a willing instrument in the hands of faction, and as one that contrived to confound the State, rouse the passions, and raise a mob wherever he chose to exhibit himself; nay, even to animate the Rev. Mr. Palmer, preacher at Whitehall, at the risk of suspension, to pray for him by name as a patient sufferer under the persecution of the House of Lords, who brought him to trial, Feb. 27, 1709-10, on charges of having maintained that the necessary means used to bring about the Revolution were odious and unjustifiable; that resistance to the Supreme Power was illegal under any pretence whatever; that it was the duty of superior pastors to thunder out their ecclesiastical anathema's against persons entitled to the benefit of the toleration, &c. &c.; which they decreed the Commons had substantiated, contents 69, non-contents 52. After this event he became the idol of the mob, and of several well-meaning but weak people. His vanity led him to make a kind of triumphal journey through the country, where he was generally received as a conqueror, and in some instances by Corporations and the Clergy with flags displayed, ringing of bells, and bonfires. However disgraceful such conduct, he furnished the industrious of many classes with the means of enriching themselves: the Printers and Publishers fattened on his Sermons and his Trial; the Engraver on his physiognomy; and even the Fan-maker sold his "Emblematical fans with the true effigies of the Rev. Dr. Henry Sacheverell done to the life, and several curious hieroglyphicks in honour of the Church of England finely painted and mounted on extraordinary genteel sticks." After this summary of the Doctor's exploits, who will deny his claim to eccentricity, or that he was a most unworthy son of the Church, a teacher of bigotry, not of peace? But he is forgotten; and but one small marble lozenge shews his present resting-place.

In 1711 Gustavus Parker entertained the publick with a specimen of his eccentricity, exhibited in a "Monthly Weather-paper," or baroscopical prognosticks of the description of Weather to happen a month _after_ his publication. He even pronounced whether there would be warm or cold rain, or be clear, for the day and night, and from which point the wind would blow. Though Mr. Parker entered into a laboured explanation of the principles on which he founded his infallible judgment, they were confuted most completely by the observations of an individual, who placed the real state of the weather opposite the anticipated; from which I pronounce him no conjurer.

Politicks had arrived to a dreadful state of effervescence in 1713. Many authors exerted themselves to fan the flames, and but few endeavoured to extinguish them. One eccentric person ("which lived at the sign of the Queen's-arms _and Corn-cutter_ in King-street, Westminster, where a blue sign-board is fixed to _the other_ that shews what cures I perform, _viz._ the scurvy in the gums, or tooth-ache, likewise the piles and all casual sores, and fasteneth loose teeth, and causeth decayed gums to grow firm and well again") with more zeal than ability collected a _farrago_ of scraps of religion and moral sayings, and connected them in a way peculiar to himself by fervent wishes and pious ejaculations; which he published twice a-week under the title of the "Balm of Gilead, or the Healer of Divisions, by Thomas Smith, Operator."--I consider this Thomas Smith a worthy predecessor of many an Itinerant Methodist.

The public-house is a hot-bed for vulgar eccentricity; and without doubt the following mad exploit of four men in January 1715-16 originated in one of them, which is thus described in the London Post of the 21st. They solemnly bound themselves to support each other in every difficulty and danger that might occur during an excursion up the Thames on the ice for four days, in which they determined to avoid every track made by man, and to explore a way for themselves. They set out provided with poles from the Old Swan near London-bridge; and two of them were seen to fall through air-holes opposite Somerset-house and Lambeth, but the others were never heard of.

I am rather at a loss under what title to place the ignorance and absurdity displayed in the ensuing paragraph, copied from the News Letter of Feb. 25, 1716; but, as superstition is closely allied to folly, and eccentricity is a species of folly, I believe this to be the proper one. "The Flying Horse, a noted victualling-house in Moor-fields, _next to that of the late Astrologer Trotter_, has been molested for several nights past in an _unaccountable manner_; abundance of stones, glass bottles, clay, &c. being thrown into the back side of the house, to the great _amazement and terror_ of the family and guests. It is altogether unknown how it happened, though all the neighbouring houses were diligently searched, and men appointed in proper places to find the occasion."

The unknown author of the Advertisement which follows appears to have been nearly related to Thomas Smith the Corn-cutter, but far more enlightened. The motives that dictated it must be approved, however extraordinary such a production may appear in the Postman of July 31, 1716. "Whoever you are to whose hands this comes, let the truth it contains abide upon your mind, as what is intended for your greatest benefit. The method taken I know is uncommon; yet, if there is the least probability of success, though it be only with a few, the design will be justified, as intending the glory of God in your salvation. Remember then that you were once told in this manner, that being zealous for names and parties is what will stand you in no stead at death, except you have the life in you that shall never die. Are you a Christian? or, have you only the name from education, as it is the professed Religion of your Country? If you can say on your conscience you have endeavoured to lay aside prejudice wherein you might have reason to suspect yourself of it, and, apprehending your lost condition without a Saviour as revealed in the Gospel, you have devoted yourself to God in him, and therefore hope you are a true Christian, it is well--give God the praise; but, if in your conscience you must say you have no more than the name, stay Man, Woman, whoever you be, consider, think before this go out of your mind or hand how you shall escape, if you neglect so great salvation."

The nobility and young men of fashion of most countries are rather eccentric in their amusements; and surely this observation may safely be applied to those of England in 1717, when a set of _escape graces_ subscribed for a piece of plate, which was run for in Tyburn-road by six Asses rode by Chimney-sweepers; and two boys rode two Asses at Hampstead-heath for a _wooden spoon_ attended by above 500 persons on horseback. Women running for Holland smocks was not uncommon; nay, a match was talked of for a race of women in hooped petticoats; and another actually took place in consequence of a wager of 1000_l._ between the Earl of Lichfield and Esquire Gage, that Gage's Chaise and pair would outrun the Earl's Chariot and four. The ground was from Tyburn to Hayes; and Gage lost through some accident. Vast sums were betted on all these eccentric operations.

In the month of February 1717-18, James Austin, inventor of the Persian Ink-powder, most extravagantly grateful to his customers, determined to do an act which renders him a fit subject for my groupe of oddities. He selected the Boar's-head in East-cheap for the reception of those persons, and provided for them a Pudding, to be boiled fourteen days, for which he allowed a chaldron of coals; and another baked, a cube of one foot; and nearly a whole Ox roasted. Such was the fare. The musick was commensurate with the vastness of the entertainment, at least in one particular; which was a drum, that had served as an alarm in some Turkish army, eighteen feet in length, and near four feet in diameter. Swift might have made good use of Austin in the travels of Lemuel Gulliver.

Mist's Journal notices the Austin feast a second time, and asserts that the copper for boiling the great pudding was then, April 19, erected at the Red-lion in Southwark Park, where crowds of people went to see it. Mist adds that the pudding would weigh 900lb.; and when boiled was to be conveyed to the _Swan Tavern_, Fish-street-hill, Monday, May 26, to the tune of "What lumps of pudding my mother gave me!"

Poor Austin boiled his pudding, and advertised that the company expected was so numerous, he should be under the necessity of carrying it to the Restoration-gardens in St. George's-fields, where he _attempted_ to convey it, as appears from a second notice; but the rabble, attracted by the ridiculous cavalcade, broke through every restraint, and carried off banners, streamers, &c. &c. which he demanded should be restored by the 6th of June under pain of prosecution for robbery. He says nothing of the fate of his Pudding; I must therefore leave him, in order to pay attention to a fellow-labourer in the works of singularity--a poor Benedict, who declared in the Flying Post of July 8, 1718, "About two years ago I intermarried with the daughter of Ben Bound of Foster-lane, ironmonger, who agreed to give me 600_l._ Soon after he furnished me three rooms to the value of 50_l._, for which he pretended he gave 300_l._; upon which I asked him for the remainder of the 600_l._; but he answered, if I insisted upon any money, he would sue me for the goods. Whereupon I filed a bill in Chancery against him, and he owned in his answer he had given me the goods; but, being resolved to have them again at any rate, upon the 11th of June last he persuaded my wife to carry them away; and upon the 12th I was arrested in a sham action for 200_l._ at the suit of one Jeffery Sharpe (whom I never heard of before), and by 14 officers carried to prison; and in the mean time my house was ransacked; and, had it not been for an Attorney, I had not saved the value of one penny, most of my goods being carried away, and the rest packed up. And after they had kept my wife a fortnight, they were so barbarous to let her lie two nights upon chairs; so that she is returned to me again: and I hope if her father desist from giving her ill advice, and coveting the rest of my goods, she will still prove a good wife.

JOHN NEWALL."

A woman who lived in great apparent poverty died in March 1718 within the parish of St. Dunstan in the East. Those who prepared her for burial are said to have found 8000_l._ concealed in her bed.

The malicious Miser deserves a niche in this temple of worthies. Such was Mr. Elderton, a farmer of Bow, who went by the name of the old Farmer of Newgate; where he was confined, and even died, because he had determined not to pay the assessments in common with his neighbours[406:A].

Another worthy was Mr. Dyche, whose singularity is thus mentioned in the Whitehall Evening-Post for August 1619: "Yesterday died Mr. Dyche, late School-master to the Charity Children of St. Andrew Holborn. He was a strict Nonjuror, and formerly _amanuensis_ to the famous Sir Roger L'Estrange. It is said he wore a piece of the halter in which parson Paul was executed (in the rebellion of 1715, for carrying arms against the King) in his bosom; and some time before his death had made a solemn vow _not to shift his linen_ till the Pretender was seated on the Throne of these Realms."

In the month of March 1720 an unknown lady died at her lodgings in James-street, Covent-garden. She is represented to have been a middle-sized person, with dark-brown hair and very beautiful features, and mistress of every accomplishment peculiar to ladies of the first fashion and respectability. Her age appeared to be between thirty and forty. Her circumstances were affluent, and she possessed the richest trinkets of her sex generally set with diamonds. A John Ward, Esq. of Hackney, published many particulars relating to her in the papers; and, amongst others, that a servant had been directed by her to deliver him a letter after her death; but as no servant appeared, he felt himself required to notice those circumstances, in order to acquaint her relations of her decease, which occurred suddenly after a masquerade, where she declared she had conversed with the King, and it was remembered that she had been seen in the private apartments of Queen Anne; though after the Queen's demise she had lived in obscurity. This unknown arrived in London from Mansfield in 1714, drawn by six horses. She frequently said that her father was a nobleman, but that her elder brother dying unmarried the title was extinct; adding that she had an uncle then living, whose title was his least recommendation.

It was conjectured that she might be the daughter of a Roman Catholick who had consigned her to a Convent, whence a brother had released her, and supported her in privacy. She was buried at St. Paul's, Covent-garden.

When some decay in the draw-bridge on London-bridge had rendered it necessary to prevent the passage of persons and vehicles, in order to its repair in April 1722; the silence and desolate appearance of a place so much frequented at all other times attracted the attention of some wealthy tradesmen, who entered into the whimsical resolution to have a table set in the midst of the street, where they sat drinking for an afternoon, that they might be enabled to say at a future period, "however crowded the bridge is at present, I have drank punch on it for great part of a day."

An extraordinary method was adopted by a Brewer's servant in February 1723 to prevent his liability for the payment of the debts of a Mrs. Brittain whom he intended to marry. The lady made her appearance at the door of St. Clement Danes habited in her shift; hence her enamorato conveyed the modest fair to a neighbouring Apothecary's, where she was completely equipped with clothing purchased by him; and in these Mrs. Brittain changed her name at the church.

Eccentricity is generally a source of ridicule, but rarely one of profit. An instance of the latter is recorded in the London Journal: a Mr. Morrisco, an eminent Weaver, and a man of vast possessions, resident in Spital-fields, had a bill drawn on him from abroad of 80,000_l._ which was held by an Ambassador at our Court, and sent for acceptance. When the old gentleman made his appearance, the messenger was appalled at his figure, which exhibited penury personified; he therefore hurried back to the Ambassador, full of doubts and fears whether it could be possible such a man should be capable of raising even 800_l._ The representative of Sovereignty, terrified at the idea of his probable loss, resolved to satisfy himself by personal inspection; which he had no sooner done than Morrisco divined his thoughts, and to ease them, and turn his doubts to present profit, he offered to pay the bill immediately for a valuable consideration; the offer was gladly accepted, and Morrisco fairly pocketed 4000_l._ the _produce of his shabby habiliments_.

The name of Don Saltero, the odd collector and exhibitor of natural and artificial curiosities at Chelsea, made its first appearance in the newspapers June 22, 1723, whence the following whimsical account of himself and his rarities are extracted:

Sir, Fifty years since to Chelsea great From Rodnam on the Irish main I stroll'd, with maggots in my pate, Where much improv'd they still remain. Through various employs I've past: A scraper, vertuos', projector, Tooth-drawer, trimmer, and at last I'm now a gimcrack whim collector. Monsters of all sorts here are seen, Strange things in nature as they grew so; Some relicks of the Sheba Queen, And fragments of the fam'd Bob Cruso. Knick-knacks too dangle round the wall, Some in glass cases, some on shelf; But what's the rarest sight of all, Your humble servant shows himself. On this my chiefest hope depends. Now, if you will the cause espouse, In Journals pray direct your friends To my Museum Coffee-house; And in requital for the timely favour, I'll _gratis_ bleed, draw teeth, and be your shaver; Nay, that your pate may with my noddle tally, } And you shine bright as I do--marry, shall ye } Freely consult my revelation Molly; } Nor shall one jealous thought create a huff, For she has taught me manners long enough.

DON SALTERO.

_Chelsea Knackatory._

Several frolicsome gentlemen hired a hackney-coach in 1724, to which they affixed six horses; the coachman and postillion they habited as kennel-sweepers or scavengers; and they placed as many shoe-boys as could cling to the vehicle behind as footmen, with their stools on their heads and baskets of implements by their sides. Thus equipped they drove to the Ring in Hyde-park, and there entertained the company with this species of eccentricity.

There is a certain degree of whim in some of the wagers we find recorded in the newspapers, that, however absurd the bettors may appear, a smile is excited perforce.

In the above year two gentlemen, full of money and destitute of wit, had a dispute respecting the quantity that might be eaten at one meal. This ended in a bet of 5_l._ proposed by one of them, that himself and _another_ would eat a bushel of tripe, and drink four bottles of wine, within an hour. The parties met at Islington, where the tripe was produced and the wine displayed; nothing remained but the introduction of the _another_; that _another_, gentle reader, proved a sharp-set Bear, who fully justified his friend's prognostick with the tripe diluted by three bottles of wine poured into it.

Applebee's Original Weekly Journal for November 19, 1726, has the following curious article, which fills another niche in our Pantheon of Eccentrics: "For the entertainment of our brother _dumplineers_, we shall inform them of a curiosity contrived for their accommodation at the Sun Tavern in St. Paul's Church-yard; which is the invention of Mr. Johnston, the master of the house; being a larder erected in the middle of his yard, which stands upon four pedestals, in a perfect round twelve feet in circumference, in the lower part whereof is three round shelves with cylindrical doors to open and shut; the same is covered with a curious slab of black and white marble three feet in diameter, and a direct circular figure, from whence the four pedestals are carried up, between each of which are two sliding sashes with convex glasses: the four pillars are adorned with curious iron-work and other ornaments, as well for beauty as use, and a shelf runs round the inside for containing proper provent for the stomach. In the midst hangs a crown of iron painted and gilt, and the top rises into a dome twelve feet in height, in the same manner as that of St. Paul's, which is leaded over with four round or port holes covered with wire for the conveniency of admitting the air and keeping out the flies. On the top of the dome is a globe, upon which sits Bacchus astride upon a tun, to signify his Godship is willing to lay a good foundation, that he may be the better able to contain his liquor; on his head is the Sun dispersing his rays; from the four sides are four sliding shelves which draw out for the accommodation of such dumplineers as desire to drink their wine at the fountain-head, or next the cellar door. The whole is neatly painted and gilt."

There is sometimes a degree of eccentricity blended with revenge; an instance of which occurred in 1727. The pastor of the parish of St. Andrew Undershaft had differed with a female of his flock to a very violent degree; in consequence, the lady renounced his spiritual governance while living, and solemnly declared her corpse should not receive the rites of burial from his lips when dead. This resolution was communicated by the executors to the undertaker, who provided a Clergyman to officiate at the funeral. As the Priest of the parish had notice of this strange proceeding, he determined to prevent the intruded Priest from performing the ceremony; but the latter, equally tenacious, insisted on his right, in compliance with the lady's will. A violent dispute succeeded, which terminated by both parties reading the burial service.

After this shameful scene of impiety, the Parish Priest retired to the Vestry-room, and enquired of the Clerk whether he had provided him a ticket for hat-bands and gloves, as usual. The Clerk replying in a surly manner that he had not, the Priest wreaked dire vengeance on his body by a thorough beating[414:A]. In short the offending Clerk by his

Ecclesiastick Was beat with fist instead of a stick.

The St. James's Evening Post of January 1728 mentions a nameless oddity, who kept open house in his _own way_ during the holidays at a Tavern near St. James's-market: "He treats all the company that comes, provided they appear fit for a gentleman to keep company with; pays his reckoning twice a day, and thinks no expence too great that their eating and drinking can put him to. He never quits his room, or changes his linen. The house has already received some hundreds of pounds from him, and is likely to receive many more, if his constitution can but do its duty. He proposes to hold it for three months; and it is said, this is not the first time he has done so."

Abraham Simmonds, a tobacconist, who retired to enjoy a handsome independence at Lewisham, died in 1728. His widow and executrix found, to her utter dismay, upon opening his will, that he had directed his body to be buried in his own orchard, wrapped in a blanket, without any of the usual religious ceremonies; and that his favourite dog after his natural decease should be deposited in the same grave. The lady seems to have been a sagacious wife, and a good hand at a quibble. She strictly complied with the eccentric wishes of Mr. Simmonds; but, as that gentleman neglected to say his body must _remain_ in the Orchard, she had it conveyed into a handsome coffin, and thence to the church-yard, where the Parish Priest performed the burial rites.

Orator Henley, who is said to have restored the antient eloquence of the pulpit, was frequently mentioned in the Newspapers _circa_ 1724 as appointed to preach Charity Sermons. He appears however in 1726 to have entered into the true spirit of eccentricity, and frequently advertised in the following style:

"On Sunday July 31 the Theological Lectures of the Oratory begin in the French Chapel in Newport-market, on the most curious subjects in Divinity. They will be after the manner and of the extent of the Academical Lectures. The first will be on the Liturgy of the Oratory, without derogating from any other, at half an hour after three in the afternoon. Service and Sermon in the morning will be at half an hour after ten. The subjects will be always new, and treated in the most natural manner. On Wednesday next, at five in the evening, will be an Academical Lecture on Education antient and modern. The chairs that were forced back last Sunday by the crowd, if they would be pleased to come a very little sooner, would find the passage easy. As the town is pleased to approve of this undertaking, and the institutor neither does nor will act nor say any thing in it that is contrary to the laws of God and his country; he depends on the protection of both, and despises malice and calumny." One of the writers of the Weekly Journal says, the fame of Henley led him to visit the Oratory, and adds, "About the usual hour of the Orator's entering the public scene of action, a trap-door gave way behind the pulpit, as if forced open by some invisible hand; and at one large leap the Orator jumped to the desk, where he at once fell to work. I eyed the person of the Orator thoroughly, and could point out in every lineament of his face the features and muscles of a Jew, with a strong tincture of the Turk. But, to come to his oration, which turned on the important subject of Education antient and modern--I had entertained hopes of meeting with something curious at least, if not just, on the great theme he had made choice of; though, instead of it, I heard nothing but a few common sentiments, phrases, and notions, beat into the audience with hands, arms, legs, and head, as if people's understandings were to be courted and knocked down with blows, and gesture and grimace were to plead and atone for all other deficiencies." The price of admission was one shilling.

Mr. Henley issued his notice of intended lectures in November 1728 in the ensuing strange manner: "At the Oratory in Newport-market, to-morrow, at half an hour after ten, the Sermon will be on the Witch of Endor. At half an hour after five the Theological lecture will be on the Conversion and Original of the Scottish Nation, and of the Picts and Caledonians; St. Andrew's relicks and panegyrick, and the character and mission of the Apostles.

"On Wednesday at six, or near the matter, take your chance, will be a medley Oration on the History, Merits, and Praise of Confusion, and of Confounders in the road and out of the way.

"On Friday will be that on Dr. Faustus and Fortunatus and conjuration; after each the Chimes of the Times, No. 23 and 24. N. B. Whenever the prices of the seats are occasionally raised in the week-days, notice will be given of it in the prints. An account of the performances of the Oratory from the first to August last is published, with the discourse on Nonsense; and if any Bishop, Clergyman, or other subject of His Majesty, or the subject of any foreign Prince or state, can at my years, and in my circumstances and opportunities, without the least assistance or any patron in the world, parallel the study, choice, variety, and discharge, of the said performances of the Oratory by his own or any others, I will engage forthwith to quit the said Oratory.

J. HENLEY."

This eccentric gentleman, full of conceit and self-sufficiency, attracted the notice of the Grand Jury for the City and Liberty of Westminster January 9, 1725-9, who presented him thus:

"Whereas the Act, made in the first year of the reign of King William and Queen Mary, for exempting their Majesties' Protestant subjects dissenting from the Church of England from the penalties of certain laws, was wisely designed as an indulgence for the tender and scrupulous consciences of such Dissenters, and as a means to unite all the Protestant subjects in interest and affection: And whereas it is notorious, that John Henley, Clerk in Priest's orders according to the form of the Church of England, did about three years since hire a large room over the market-house in Newport-market within this City and Liberty of Westminster, and cause the said room to be registered in the court of the Archdeacon of Middlesex (pursuant to the said Act of Toleration) as a place for religious worship, to be performed therein by him the said John Henley, who pretended to dissent from the Church of England on account of Infant Baptism (although that has been the least of his exercises, nor are his audiences of that persuasion), and by his advertisements in the public newspapers invited all persons to come thither, and take seats for twelve-pence a-piece, promising them diversion under the titles of _Voluntaries_, _Chimes of the Times_, _Roundelays_, _College-bobs_, _Madrigals_, and _Operas_, &c.: And whereas it appears to us, by information upon oath, that the said John Henley, notwithstanding his professed dissention and separation from the Church of England, has usually appeared in the habit worn by Priests of the Church of England; and in that habit has for several months past upon one or more days in the week made use of the said room for purposes very different from those of religious worship; and that he has there discoursed on several subjects of burlesque and ridicule, and therein and in his comments upon the public newspapers, and in his weekly advertisements, has uttered several indecent, libertine, and obscene expressions, and made many base and malicious reflections upon the established Churches of England and Scotland, upon the Convocation, and almost all orders and degrees of men, and upon particular persons by name, and even those of the highest rank: And whereas it appears to us more particularly, by information upon oath, that he the said John Henley did, on the 12th day of December last, cause to be published in the Daily Post an advertisement, giving notice that on the evening of the next day he would pronounce King Lear's oration in an apology for madness, on which evening he did in the said room (called by him the Oratory) in the habit of a Clergyman of the Church of England repeat a speech out of the tragedy of King Lear, acting in such manner and with such gestures as are practised in the theatres; and that the said John Henley did, on the 17th day of the same month, cause to be published in the said Daily Post another advertisement, inviting such as went the following evening to the ball in the Haymarket to come first to his said room in their habits and masks for twelve-pence a-piece; and that according to such invitation several persons so dressed and masked did then and there appear, and were admitted upon paying the said moneys, for their seats:

"We the grand Jury for, &c. conceiving that this behaviour of the said John Henley is contrary to the intention of the said Act of Toleration, and tends to bring a disrepute upon the indulgence so charitably granted to truly scrupulous Dissenters, that it gives great offence to all serious Christians, is an outrage upon civil society, and of dangerous consequence to the State, and particularly that the said assemblies by him held as aforesaid are unlawful ones, his said room not being licensed for plays, interludes, or masquerades, do present the said John Henley, and his accomplices and assistants to us unknown, as guilty of unlawful assemblies, routs, and riots, &c. &c. &c."

Henley, actuated by the genuine spirit of perseverance and opposition, proceeded with his lectures. If _any effect_ was observable from the presentment, it was that of threefold eccentricity and impropriety of subjects for his Orations. The bill of fare issued for Sunday September 28, 1729, contains a list of the fashions in dress of the time, and is therefore curious:

"At the Oratory, the corner of Lincoln's-Inn-fields near Clare-market, to-morrow, at half an hour after ten: 1, The postil will be on the turning of Lot's wife into a pillar of salt; 2, The Sermon will be on the necessary power and attractive force which Religion gives the spirit of man with God and good Spirits.

"II. At five: 1, The postill will be on this point, _In what language our Saviour will speak the last sentence on mankind_; 2, The lecture will be on Jesus Christ's sitting at the right-hand of God, _where that is_; the honours and lustre of his inauguration; the learning, criticism, and piety of that glorious article.

"The Monday's orations will shortly be resumed. On Wednesday the oration will be on the Skits of the Fashions, or a _live_ gallery of family pictures in all ages; ruffs, muffs, puffs manifold; shoes, wedding-shoes, two-shoes, slip-shoes, peels, clocks, pantofles, buskins, pantaloons, garters, shoulder-knots, perriwigs, head-dresses, modesties, tuckers, farthingales, corkins, minikins, slammakins, ruffles, round-robbins, toilets, fans, patches; Dame, forsooth, Madam, My lady, the wit and beauty of my Grannum; Winifred, Joan, Bridget, compared with our Winny, Jenny, and Biddy; fine ladies and pretty gentlewomen; being a general view of the _beau monde_ from before Noah's flood to the year 29. On Friday will be something better than last Tuesday. After each a bob at the times."

I believe the following curious advertisement to have been the production of the Lady Hamilton, widow of the Duke killed by Lord Mohun: "I Elizabeth duchess dowager of Hamilton acknowledge I have for several months been ill in my health, but was never speechless, as certain penny authors have printed; and so, to confute these said authors and their intelligence, it is thought by my most intimate friends, _it is the very last thing that will happen to me_. I am so good an Englishwoman that I would not have my countrymen imposed on by purchasing false authors; therefore, have ordered this to be printed, that they may know what papers to buy and believe, that are not to be bribed by those who may have private ends for false reports. The copy of this is left in the hands of Mr. Berington, to be shewn to any body who has a curiosity to see it signed by my own hand.

E. HAMILTON[423:A]."

Another, published in September 1732, was inclosed by a deep border of black, and is strongly demonstrative of religious eccentricity, or, if you please, religious frenzy.

"Just published, Divine Inspiration; or a Collection of Manifestations to make known the Visitation of the Lord, and the Coming of his Kingdom in great power and glory, according to the Scripture promise, by the preaching of the everlasting Gospel, as Rev. xix. &c.

"Also, that the righteousness of God in his express sovereign power, wisdom, and love, may be known in the Divine word, the Sent of God to manifest and execute Divine will both in mercy and judgment, the two great witnesses, the messengers of God in this approaching day of the Lord upon us.

"Lastly, this is the earnest prayer of them that have known and tasted the power of the Divine word, and who, as a testimony of their knowing God, in his out-speaking word immediately revealing, and from universal love and charity wishing true knowledge may descend, and increase and multiply in and upon man of every order and every degree, and to be the voice and word of God, do here give and set their hands, believing he that now speaks will come, and that suddenly, according as hath been the voice of the Spirit of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter in the Anointed, saying, So come, O Lord."

This strange effusion is signed by twelve persons, four of whom were women.

"By the mouth of Hannah Wharton at Birmingham and Worcester."

Master Henley thus informed the publick in October 1732: "Before any person casts an imputation on me, in reference to the Oratory, wherein I know no fault but one, that it is a pattern of the truest principles of Religion, with the most various and assiduous endeavour to merit, in the capacity of a scholar and a clergyman, that is, or ever was in this island, or in the world; before I am reflected upon for this, I would desire every man who educates a son to orders, and him who is so educated, to consider this case, and to make it his own.

"I waited some years ago on a certain Prelate with a solicitation of a pulpit in town, signifying my resolution to cultivate and exert the talent of preaching which God had given me, in the most complete and public manner. His answer was, that I might be of use; but, before he could do for me, he must have a _pledge_ of my attachment to the government. I was an entire stranger to politicks; but gave him that _pledge_.

"A pledge demanded, given, and accepted for a consideration, is a contract for that consideration; the hinge of my interest and fortune very much turned upon it. It was the year 1721-2, a tender crisis; and, doubtless, he made a job of it to the Government. When I applied for the consideration, he shifted off. Had he any possible exception to my intellectual or moral qualifications (though nothing can be more immoral, or sooner make the world Atheists than a perfidious prelate), he should, before he drew me in, have told me, that if he met with any such exception, he would not do what I solicited; and that he would take time to examine. This would have been fair. He assigned no exception at all during a whole year, till I had sacrificed my interest to him on his own demand; and it is easy to frame exceptions, if a person be inclined to break his word. My judgment is, he and his clergy even envied me in the pulpit, and were jealous of my advancement, timorous that at Court there might be a patron, or a patroness of learning, and apprehensive that I might outstrip them there. Was I on my death-bed, I would take the Sacrament, that I know the former part, and believe the latter part (without the least vanity for so poor a triumph as excelling them would be) of this advertisement to be a matter of fact.

J. HENLEY."

A _Miss_ Jennings, or rather perhaps _Mrs._ Jennings, died in November 1736, who is said to have laid strong claims to eccentricity. This lady breathed her last at the _Oxford-arms Inn_, Warwick-lane; and was buried at Christ-church, Newgate-street; but the singularity of her conduct consisted in a predilection for _Inns_; she made them in short her constant residence, whether in the country or in London, where she had her steward, two female servants, a coachman and footman; and, though she sometimes remained several months stationary, her bills were regularly paid every night. At the same time her host was kept in utter ignorance of her name. Mrs. Jennings left a fortune of 80,000_l._ to five children, her first cousins; and appointed ---- Jennings, Esq. of Northaw, her executor.

A Chair-woman, named Frances White, was interred at St. Margaret's, Westminster, in 1736; but the _singularity_ of the circumstance is, that she should have been deposited before the Altar of the Church, which she thus accomplished: In the course of her pursuits she was observed to be remarkably assiduous and industrious, and often asked charitable assistance: this she frequently received, and so carefully preserved that her sister gained a bequest of 1150_l._ on the easy condition of procuring a grave for her body _within_ the church, and affording it a handsome funeral. The above sum had been concealed in various _hiding-places_ contrived in her chamber.

A writer in the Weekly Miscellany for August 7, 1736, pertinently observed, that "the attention of the good people of England is very frequently ingrossed by the bold pretensions of persons starting up from time to time in several sciences, but more particularly in those of Divinity and Physick; and with the more reason of hoping to succeed in their views, as the soul, in which the one is concerned, and the body, in which the other, are the two grand subjects which engage the human mind; and each of these pretenders respectively becomes in vogue for a certain period, and then generally dies away in a silence proportioned to the noise they once made. The Stroking Doctor in the reign of Charles II.; the French Prophets in the reign of Queen Anne; the Quicksilver lunacy lately; the itinerant preaching Quakeress since; and Mr. Ward's pill and drop, not yet quite gone off from its vogue--are signal instances of the truth of our observation. So it may be observed, that the Quicksilver fashion seems to have been beat out of doors by the pill and drop; and now the vogue of the pill and drop, which seem to owe their success to their violent operation in desperate cases, appears in a fair way of subsiding to a new object of the public attention, which really seems (beyond all that we have named) to deserve it, as it is attended with plain and unartificial fact, as it is neither violent or dangerous in the operation, and carries in every act the clearest demonstration along with it.--What we mean is the famous female Bone-setter of Epsom, who must be allowed as much to excel the others, as certainty does imagination, as simplicity does artifice, and as seeing and feeling do the other senses.

"This person, we are told, is daughter of one Wallin, a bone-setter of Hindon, Wilts, and sister of that Polly Peachem whom a gentleman of fortune married. Upon some family quarrel she left her father, and wandered up and down the country in a very miserable manner, calling herself _Crazy Sally_; and often, as it is presumed for grief, giving way to a practice that made her appear to have too good a title to the name. Arriving at last at Epsom, she has performed such wonderful cures, that we are told the people thereabout intend a subscription for 300_l._ a year to keep her among them."

Many of those cures are then described, which seem well attested, and are really surprising. "In fine, the concourse of people to Epsom on this occasion is incredible; and it is supposed she gets near 20 guineas a day, as she executes what she does in a very quick manner. She has strength enough to put in any mans shoulder without assistance; and this her strength makes the following story, which may be depended upon, the more credible.

"An impostor came to her, sent, as it is supposed, by some Surgeons, on purpose to try her skill, with his head bound up; and pretended that his wrist was put out; which, upon examination, she found to be false; but, to be even with him, she gave it a wrench, and really put it out, and bade him go to the fools who sent him, and get it _sett again_; or, if he would come to her that day month, she would do it herself."

This strange woman utterly ruined herself by giving way to that eccentricity, which too frequently in one way or other marks all our characters. The object of it was a Mr. Hill Mapp, on whom she fixed her affections, and to whom she was determined at all events to be married, though every effort was made by her friends to prevent the match. On the day appointed for the ceremony, Sir James Edwards, of Walton-upon-Thames, waited on her with the daughter of Mr. Glass, an Attorney, a poor afflicted child whose neck was dislocated and supported by steel instruments. Miss Wallin saw the girl, and said she could restore the parts, but would do nothing till she became Mrs. Mapp. A gentleman present, finding her resolute, lent her his chariot to convey her to Ewell, where she expected to obtain a conveyance to London with her intended husband, though in that expectation she was disappointed. "As she was going to Ewell, Mr. Walker, brazier, of Cheapside, met her, and returned with her to the Inn. He was carrying down his daughter to her, a girl about 12 years of age, whose case was as follows: the vertebræ, instead of descending regularly from the neck, deviated to the right scapula, whence it returned towards the left side, till it came within a little of the hip-bone, thence returning to the locus, it descended regularly upon the whole, forming a serpentine figure. Miss Wallin set her strait, made the back perfect, and raised the girl two inches. While this was doing, Sir James Edwards's chariot with two gentlemen in it, came to beg her to come back to Epsom, suspecting she might not return again; but all their persuasions availed nothing, and the best terms they could make with her were, that she should not go to London to be married, but have the chariot and go to Headley, about three miles from Epsom. As the coachman was driving her by Epsom, she was told that the Minister of Headley was suspended for marrying Mr. C. whereupon the coachman said he would carry her no further, unless it was to Epsom. She then alighted, and went into a cottage on the side of the town; presently after which, information being given that she was there, Mrs. Shaw and several other ladies of that place went to her on foot to importune her to return; but, to avoid any farther solicitation, she protested she would never come nigh the town, if they opposed her marriage any longer; and then walked on towards Banstead. Sir James Edwards, being informed how much she was affronted by his coachman, immediately ordered a pair of his horses to be put to a four-wheeled chaise, and sent them with another driver to offer their service to convey her where she pleased. Mr. Bridgwater in his chaise, and several other people on horseback, followed her also, and overtook her when she had walked about a mile over the Downs towards Banstead, where she had determined to be married. When she came there, the Minister having no licences, she returned to her first resolution of going to London; but, the horses having travelled that morning from Walton, and being harassed about without any refreshment, the coachman was afraid to venture so far as London with them, and desired to be excused; upon which Mr. Bridgwater, in regard to the child Sir James Edwards had brought, and other unhappy creatures who were in Epsom waiting for their cure, brought her in his chariot to London, saw her married, and conveyed her back again immediately after, being fully resolved to see her perform her promise." Mrs. Mapp was buried at the expence of the parish of St. Giles in 1737!!

The methods adopted by Lord and Lady Vane to render themselves conspicuous in the annals of their Country were so extremely eccentric, and are so well known, that their shades would feel indignant should I refuse the Viscount's advertisement a niche in this odd catalogue of worthies. His Lordship thus introduced himself to public notice January 24, 1737:

"Whereas Frances, wife of the right honourable the Lord Viscount Vane, has for some months past absented herself from her husband, and the rest of her friends, I do hereby promise to any person or persons who shall discover where the said lady Vane is concealed, to me or to Francis Hawes, Esq. her father, so that either of us may come to the speech of her, the sum of 100_l._ as a reward to be paid by me on demand at my lodgings in Piccadilly. I do also promise the name of the person, who shall make such discovery, shall be concealed, if desired. Any person concealing or lodging her after this advertisement, will be prosecuted with the utmost rigour. Or, if her Ladyship will return to me, she may depend upon being kindly received. She is about 22 years of age, tall, well-shaped, has light brown hair, is fair-complexioned, and has her upper teeth placed in an irregular manner. She had on when she absented a red damask French sacque, and was attended by a French woman, who speaks very bad English.

VANE."

The variety produced under this head is already so great that I shall desist, lest I tire my readers: besides, it will be difficult to select instances nearer our present time without offending individuals or their relatives.

FOOTNOTES:

[406:A] Original Weekly Journal, Dec. 6, 1718.

[414:A] This affair is mentioned in all the Newspapers of the day.

[423:A] Evening Post, May 23, 1730.

INDEX.

A.

Abel, Mr. concert by, ii. 123.

Accession of George III. celebrated, i. 339.

Accident, dreadful, at Covent Garden Theatre, ii. 190.

---- fatal, in Westminster, i. 253.

Actors, scale of merit of various, ii. 254.

Advertisement by Lord Vane, i. 431.

Ætna, mount, eruption of, represented, ii. 275.

Allen, W. jun. shot, ii. 74.

---- description of his tomb, ii. 81.

---- W. sen. his petition to the King, ii. 82.

Almanac John, and his sigils, i. 97.

Ambassador, riot at the house of the Morocco, ii. 66.

Anne, Queen, communication of, to the Lord Mayor, ii. 13.

Apollo Gardens, account of, i. 332.

Apprentices, turbulence of, ii. 88.

Archers, entertainment for, i. 302.

Architecture, domestic, notices of, ii. 358.

Ass race, account of one, ii. 194.

Asylum, the, account of, i. 48.

Atalanta, acted on the marriage of the Prince of Wales, ii. 191.

Attalo, opera of, account of, ii. 220.

Austin, J. account of his enormous pudding, i. 404.

B.

Bancroft's Hospital, i. 47.

Barker, gladiator, fights Stokes, ii. 170.

Barley-corn, Sir John, burnt, i. 314.

Battles at Covent garden Theatre, ii. 202.

Beadles, number and salaries of, i. 165.

Beard, Mr. his address to the public, ii 238.

Bear-garden, amusements of the, described, ii. 109, 134, 137, 147, 155, 164, 170.

---- attempt to suppress, ii. 111, 163.

Beau of 1734, described, i. 301.

---- 1727, ii. 324.

---- portrait of, in verse, i. 319.

Bed, one described, ii. 320.

Beer given to the mob by the Prince of Wales, i. 314.

Beggars, trick of R. Alegil, i. 98.

---- tricks of, i. 99, 287.

Benefit, Farinelli's, ii. 188.

Benefits, theatrical, confusion at, ii. 226.

Betting, specimens of, i. 373.

Billiard tables, burnt, i. 173.

Bills, seditious, explosion of, ii. 51.

Boxing, patronised by the rich, i. 335.

Bread, adulteration of, bad effects of, i. 174.

Bricks, first used, ii. 362.

---- badly made, ii. 390.

Bristol, Bishop of, letter to his parishioners, i. 362.

Buck, gladiator, fights Miller, ii. 135.

Buckingham, Duchess of, adopts an infant, i. 43.

Bucks, bold, account of a club so named, i. 264.

Burges, Dr. burnt in effigy, i. 242.

---- ---- meeting burnt, ii. 12.

Butchers, battles between, ii. 28.

Butterfield, Lady, advertisement by, ii. 144.

C.

Cæsar in Egypt, epigram on the tragedy of, ii. 164.

Cards, i. 325.

Centinel, anecdote of one, ii. 246.

Chairmen, Irish, fight with sailors, ii. 56.

---- scheme of one, to obtain a debt, ii. 66.

Charitable acts of George I. i. 20, 23.

---- ---- of C. Weedon, Esq. i. 17.

---- ---- of Mr. Feast, brewer, i. 20.

---- ---- of the Prince Regent, i. 22.

---- ---- of unknown persons, i. 23.

---- ---- of the Earl of Thanet, i. 24.

---- ---- of Mrs. Turner, i. 24.

---- ---- of Roman Catholics, i. 24.

---- ---- of Lady Holford, i. 24.

---- ---- of Thomas Guy, i. 25.

---- ---- of the Citizens, to the haymakers, i. 27, 53.

---- ---- of Mahomet, a Turk, i. 27.

---- ---- of Mrs. Palmer, i. 27.

---- ---- of a committee of the Commons, i. 28.

---- ---- of the Duke of Bedford, i. 28.

---- ---- of the public to the inhabitants of Saltzburg, i. 29.

---- ---- of the managers of Drury-lane and Covent-garden Theatres, i. 52.

---- ---- of the Dutchess of Buckingham, i. 43.

---- ---- of Eliz. Pattent, i. 60.

---- ---- of the public to C. Shaw, i. 64.

---- ---- of the Marine Society, i. 64.

---- ---- of an unknown baker to starving German emigrants, i. 65.

---- ---- of Mr. Wachsel, the public, and government, to the same, i. 70, &c.

---- ---- of the public to Spital-fields weavers, i. 72.

---- ---- to the poor, i. 74.

China jars, fashionable articles, i. 242.

Christmas, customs at, described, i. 288.

---- boxes noticed, i. 289.

Cities, models of exhibited, ii. 115.

Clergy, sons of the, i. 267.

Clinch, exhibition by, ii. 136.

Clive, Mrs. Actress, letter from, ii. 228.

Club, Calves-head, riot occasioned by, ii. 47.

Clubs, spouting, account of, poetic and prosaic, ii. 202.

Coaches, hackney, i. 277.

---- ---- useless, by street robberies, i. 145.

---- ---- job, &c. ill conduct of their drivers, i. 153.

Coal-heavers, riots by, ii. 70.

---- trial of seven for shooting at J. Green, ii. 91.

Cobler of Cripplegate, hints by, i. 336.

Cock-fighting, i. 335. ii. 114, 127.

Coffee-houses, particulars of, i. 277, 282.

Colman, Mr. his retort on Mr. Harris, ii. 266.

Comedians, French, discouraged, ii. 151.

---- ---- riot concerning, ii. 200.

Concerts, illegal, i. 331.

Conduit-house, White, described in blank verse, ii. 224.

Convents, French, female youth sent to, i. 359.

Cornely, Mrs. account of, ii. 255.

Cups and balls, cheats with, i. 100.

Curiosity, prevalence of, i. 318, 372.

Cuthbeartson, hair-dresser, challenge from, i. 97.

Cuzzoni, singer, particulars of, ii. 156.

D.

Dancing, by footmen, &c. i. 291.

---- on the rope, ii. 113.

Davenant, Sir W. picture of London by, ii. 366.

Defence, science of, ii. 108.

Denmark, King of, incommoded by the public, i. 372.

Dent, John, constable, murdered, i. 234.

Depredators, an antient fraternity, i. 87.

Dice, formerly used by barrow women, i. 255.

Dissenters, vindicated, ii. 48.

Dodd, Dr. on his unhappy fate, i. 84.

Dog, speaking, ii. 150.

Doggett's coat and badge first rowed for, i. 256.

Doggrel lines on the South Sea scheme, i. 125.

Drams, drank in high life, i. 170, 234.

Dress, anecdotes of, ii. 312.

---- of a youth described, ii. 316.

---- of ladies described, ii. 317, 319, 325, 333.

---- of the Queen described, ii. 333, 337.

---- strange, of gentlemen, ii. 322.

---- in antient times, ii. 337.

Drumming a new married pair, i. 241.

Duelling, prevalence of, i. 261.

Dutch prophet, extract from the, i. 229.

---- Stiptick, i. 222.

E.

Eccentricity of an old gentleman, i. 396.

---- of Joseph Jacobs, i. 397.

---- of Dr. Sacheverell, i. 398.

---- of Gustavus Parker, i. 400.

---- of T. Smith, operator, i. 400.

---- of four men, i. 401.

---- of men of rank and fashion, i. 403.

---- of James Austin, i. 404.

---- of Mr. Elderton, i. 406.

---- of Mr. Dyche, i. 407.

---- of an unknown lady, i. 407.

---- of certain tiplers, i. 408.

---- of a brewer's servant, i. 408.

---- of Mr. Morrisco, i. 409.

---- of Don Saltero, i. 410.

---- of several gentlemen, i. 411.

---- of Mr. Johnston, i. 412.

---- of a Priest of St. Andrew Undershaft, i. 413.

---- of A. Simmonds, i. 414.

---- of orator Henley, i. 415.

---- of the Duchess of Hamilton, i. 422.

---- of Mrs. Jennings, i. 425.

---- of a chare-woman, i. 426.

---- of Mrs. Mapp, the bone-setter, i. 427.

---- of Viscount Vane, i. 431.

Eclogue, Covent-garden, i. 302.

Education, particulars of, i. 326.

Effingham, Countess of, robes of, described, ii. 347.

Erasmus, letter of, on the state of London, ii. 376.

Exchange-alley, account of, i. 279.

Expences at Guildhall 1761, i. 347.

Explosion, popular, ii. 51.

F.

Fair, at Mile-end, presented, i. 303.

---- Horn, noticed, i. 360.

---- Edmonton, censured, i. 361.

---- May, ii. 108.

---- ---- constable killed at, ii. 118.

---- ---- presented, ii. 125.

---- Bartholomew, ii. 110, 113.

---- ---- interlude at, described, ii. 119.

---- ---- further noticed, ii. 139, 182.

---- ---- described in verse, ii. 234.

---- ---- presented by the grand jury, ii. 113.

Families, antient, customs, &c. of, ii. 419.

Fare, bill of, at Guildhall, i. 344.

Farinelli, benefit of, ii. 188.

Fashion, verses on, i. 316.

Fashions, general review of female, ii. 326.

---- history of, ii. 338.

---- ---- of male, ii. 340.

---- gradual changes in, ii. 354.

Faustus, Dr. story of a pantomime so called, ii. 159.

Felons, number tried in Beckford's mayoralty, &c. i. 186.

Fête champêtre at Mary-bon Gardens, ii. 289.

Fielding, Sir John, address from, to the public, for establishing a dispensary for infants, i. 74.

---- address of, to the public concerning a coalheaver's funeral, i. 177.

---- address to the grand jury, 1773, i. 210.

---- ---- to a similar body, i. 352.

Figg, gladiator, fights Holmes, ii. 173.

---- ---- lines on, ii. 174.

---- battle at his room, ii. 175.

---- fights before the Duke of Lorrain, ii. 176.

Fire, false alarm at Drury-lane Theatre, ii. 171.

Fire-eater, extraordinary, ii. 149.

Fitzgerald, Capt. murder of a watchman by, i. 266.

Fleet Marriages, i. 272.

Florists' feast, i. 258.

Foote, letter to Lord Chamberlain, ii. 300.

Fund, Mr. Patterson's account of a charitable, i. 50.

---- Theatrical, ii. 256.

G.

Gaming, extent of, i. 105, 217, 263, 295.

Garret, Mayor of, election of, i. 394.

Garrick, Mr. his dispute with the public, ii. 236.

---- retires from the stage, ii. 303.

Garth, Dr. extract from a prologue by him, ii. 125.

George I. honours paid him on his arrival, i. 243.

---- ---- aquatic excursion by, i. 257. ii. 139.

---- II. account of his dining at Guildhall, i. 283.

---- III. benevolence of, i. 57.

---- ---- celebration of his accession, marriage, &c. i. 339.

---- ---- entertained at Guildhall, i. 340.

Ghost, the Cock-lane, narrative of, i. 179.

Gibson, a Quaker, turbulence of, ii. 45.

Gifts, by the society for the relief of widows and children of clergymen, i. 24.

---- of the trustees for the sons of, i. 25.

---- to British seamen who had been in slavery, i. 26, 42.

Gin, destructive effects of, i. 133, 168, 316.

---- riots occasioned by, ii. 49.

---- ludicrous description of its virtues, ii. 50.

Gladiators, female, notices of, ii. 165.

Glasses, musical, account of, ii. 226.

Goodman, a highwayman, escape of, &c. i. 103.

Gordon, Lord George, riots occasioned by, ii. 102.

Goulding, Mrs. story of supernatural acts in her house, i. 376.

Green, J. house of, besieged, ii. 91.

Grosley, M. extract from his tour to London, i. 382.

Guinea dropping, i. 91.

H.

Halls, public, how used formerly, i. 230.

Handel, anecdotes of, ii. 213.

Harlequinades introduced, ii. 158.

Harley, Lord Mayor, notice from respecting wheat, ii. 89.

Harper, comedian, hard case of, ii. 186.

Harris, Mr. account of his dispute with Mr. Colman, ii. 257.

---- Mr. his dispute decided in Chancery, ii. 257.

Hartley, Mr. death of, ii. 54.

Hawes, Mr. meeting-house of, stormed, ii. 29.

Hell-fire club, account of the, i. 264, 268.

Hearses, stormed, ii. 45.

Highgate, cave at, suppressed, i. 100.

Hill, Ludgate, brutal acts on, ii. 55.

Hoaxing, specimens of, i. 316, 375.

Hockley-in-the-hole, account of, ii. 109.

---- presented, ii. 111.

Hospitals, observations on, i. 45, 54.

---- Foundling, i. 14.

---- Small-pox, i. 76.

---- at Hyde-park corner, instituted, i. 44.

---- Lying-in, i. 77.

Houses, dreadful state of empty, i. 58.

---- disorderly, suppressed, i. 147.

---- Gaming, particulars of, i. 295.

---- Mug, riots at, ii. 26.

---- necessary for man, ii. 358.

---- antient, in London, ii. 366.

---- fall of old, ii. 389.

---- public, too numerous, ii. 412.

Howard, John, Esq. letters from, i. 79.

Humane Society, origin of, i. 83.

Hyp Doctor, extract from, ii. 48.

I.

Incendiaries, letters of, i. 145. ii. 195.

Infant actors censured, ii. 203.

Infirmary, established 1719, i. 25.

Impostors, singular, i. 99, 100, 132, 146, 170.

Insurance upon lives, i. 109.

---- policies of, risked on all subjects, i. 109.

---- abuse of, i. 111.

---- of lottery tickets, ii. 9.

Islington Spa, amusements at, ii. 108.

J.

Jacobites, proceedings of, ii. 25.

Jewish marriage, splendid one, ii. 152.

Joke, practical, instance of a, i. 316.

Jones, footman, escape from justice, i. 102.

Journeymen, general manners of, ii. 409.

Justice, courts of, turbulence in, i. 330.

K.

Kemble, Mr. first appearance of, ii. 304.

Kenrick, Dr. his school of Shakspeare, ii. 289.

Knocking at doors illustrated, i. 238.

L.

Lambeth Wells, ii. 115, 129.

Lamps, coloured, first used, i. 255.

---- globular, patent for, ii. 380.

---- particulars concerning, ii. 381.

Law, the projector, i. 105.

---- anecdotes of, i. 106.

Lepines, de, pantomimic opera, ii. 151.

Letter from A, B, &c. to the Bishop of Bristol, i. 368.

---- incendiary, to Mr. Fleetwood, ii. 194.

Liquors, spirituous, convictions for selling of, ii. 53.

London, city of, Lying-in hospital, i. 57.

Lord Mayor, soliciting charity in the markets, i. 26.

Lotteries, tricks of proprietors of, i. 89. ii. 2.

---- State, account of, ii. 4.

---- of Deer, i. 254.

Ludgate, illumination of described, i. 297.

M.

Macky, his summary of the customs of London, i. 272.

Maclane, Donald, trial of, for the murder of W. Allen, jun. ii. 74.

Macklin, account of his conduct in his dispute with Reddish, ii. 278.

---- his letter to Dr. Kenrick, ii. 287.

---- his attempt to perform at the age of 90, ii. 305.

Mad-houses, private, abuses in, i. 186.

Magdalen hospital, i. 56.

Managers, theatrical, parsimony of, ii. 156.

Manners, society for reformation of; effects of their labours, i. 105, 140, 152, 329.

---- anecdotes of, from M. Grosley's tour, i. 382.

Mapp, Mrs. bone-setter, account of, i. 427.

Mary, Lady, catastrophe of, ii. 122.

Mary-le-bon garden, ii. 198, 276, 289.

Masks, instance of their abuse, i. 280.

Masquerade, room used for, ii. 128.

---- given to the King of Denmark, ii. 272.

---- Mrs. Cornely's, ii. 255.

Masters of defence, presented, ii. 112.

Mead, Dr. a cheat performed on, i. 104.

Mercers, folly of, i. 235.

Milliners, Men, supersede Women, i. 359.

Milton's daughter, &c. i. 281.

Mist, his advice to the public, i. 259.

Mob, brutality of, i. 271, 385.

---- infatuation of, i. 315. ii. 55.

---- fashionable, exertions of, ii. 246.

Mohawks, account of the, ii. 20.

Money-lenders, schemes of, exposed, i. 91.

Montague, Duke of, and the bottle conjuror, ii. 201.

Moorfields, resort of Merry Andrews, ii. 146.

Mourning, court order concerning, ii. 353.

Mug-houses, ii. 27.

Music-room, Soho, opened, ii. 224.

N.

Narrative of distress and death by famine in Stonecutter's street, i. 60.

Necromancy, by John Bonnor, i. 99.

Nectar and Ambrosia, i. 234.

Nicolini, the singer, good fortune of, ii. 138.

O.

Oades, dreadful riot between persons of that name, i. 100.

Opera, tradesmen of the, unpaid, ii. 131.

---- notice concerning, by Mr. Clayton, &c. ii. 132.

---- house, presented by a grand jury, ii. 157.

---- ---- disputes at, ii. 170.

---- merits of the Italians, in the, ii. 173.

---- The Beggars, performed by infants, ii. 172.

---- ---- ---- condemned by Sir J. Fielding, ii. 278.

---- that of Attalo described, ii. 220.

Orange, Prince of, married, i. 297.

Oratorios, Handel's, ii. 218.

Organ, curious, ii. 199.

Owl, singular exhibition of one, ii. 194.

P.

Palmer, Mr. comedian, considered a _Rogue_, &c. ii. 304.

Pantheon, described, and opened, ii. 276.

Parish poor, facts relative to, i. 4-9.

Patents, theatrical, particulars of, ii. 131, 148, 169, 178, 187, 188, 306.

Parties, family, customs of, i. 324.

Paul's, St. how used formerly, i. 281.

Paving, notices relating to, ii. 395.

_Peace_ pudding, account of one, i. 242.

Penkethman, account of his Pantheon, ii. 128.

---- booth of, suppressed, ii. 148.

Perfuming the person, illustrated, i. 240.

Peruke-makers, petition of, ii. 349.

Petticoat, the hooped, troublesome, ii. 321.

---- ---- ---- fair game for wits, ii. 323.

Philips, Mr. invocation by, i. 130.

Picture, moving, exhibited, ii. 126.

Pipes of the new river, tapped, i. 89.

Plate, stole at a coronation dinner, i. 92.

Plays performed at the Temple, ii. 143, 187.

Police, report of a committee on, i. 189.

Poor laws, defective, i. 45.

---- wretched lodgings of, i. 271.

Pope, burning of, in effigy, prevented, ii. 14.

---- burnt in effigy, ii. 15.

Posture master, extraordinary, ii. 129.

Press, degraded state of, i. 262.

Preston, C. killed by a bear, ii. 126.

Proclamation for suppressing vice, seconded by the public, i. 93.

---- against riots, ii. 87.

---- against improprieties on the stage, ii. 130.

---- by the Lord Mayor, ii. 87.

Prologue, spoken at Drury-lane Theatre, i. 52.

Promenade, Sunday, in Hyde-park, i. 239.

Prostitutes, whipped, i. 350.

Punch, liquid, epitaph on, ii. 50.

---- opera, by Powell, ii. 127.

Q.

Quacks, specimens of their advertisements, i. 218, 228.

Quakers, perverseness of, i. 318.

---- grand wedding of one, i. 255.

---- instance of humility in one, i. 254.

Queen Charlotte, splendid surprize of his Majesty, ii. 244.

Queensberry, Duchess of, epigram on, ii. 173.

R.

Ranelagh, fight of _peace_ officers at, ii. 69.

---- house sold, ii. 188.

---- benefit given by proprietors of, ii. 233.

---- defects in the rotunda at, ii. 245.

Regatta, on the Thames, described, ii. 293.

Register offices, tricks at, i. 171.

Review of various charities, i. 85.

Rice, David, strange notice by, i. 338.

Rich, C. Esq. death of, ii. 137.

Riots, public, i. 266. ii. 24, 46, 54.

---- dreadful, in the Haymarket, i. 265.

---- amongst footmen, ii. 22.

---- in Craven-street, ii. 53.

---- at an undertaker's funeral, ii. 55.

---- concerning Wilkes and liberty, ii. 74.

---- of 1780, ii. 102.

Robberies, letter from Lord Townshend concerning, i. 142.

Robinson, Mrs. cheated by a pretended quack, i. 102.

Roebuck Tavern, proceedings at, ii. 23, 28.

Rogues and vagabonds, theatrically defined, ii. 183.

Royal aquatic excursion, i. 257.

Ruptured poor, hospital for, i. 49.

S.

Sabbath, breach of, condemned, i. 353.

Sacheverell, Dr. riots during his trial, ii. 11.

Sailors, battle of, with Irish chairmen, ii. 56.

---- further violence of, ii. 70.

Schools, charity, particulars of, i. 16, 19, 29.

---- boarding, pernicious, i. 328.

Sermon Tasters, i. 235.

Sheppard, the robber, anecdotes of, ii. 31, 32.

Shopmen described, i. 235.

Signs, dangerous, ii. 392.

Sion chapel, Hampstead, weddings advertised at, i. 256.

Smock races, ii. 124, 183.

Society for relief of debtors, origin of, i. 77.

---- Loyal, proceedings of, ii. 24.

---- Benefit, origin of, ii. 5.

---- sketches of the present state of, ii. 406.

Steele, Sir R. his patent invaded, ii. 151.

Stepney feast, account of, i. 43.

Stock, South Sea, distress occasioned by the fall of, i. 118, 131.

Stone, exclusively used for palaces, ii. 361.

Streets, various obstructions in, noticed, ii. 395.

---- improved, ii. 384.

---- cleanliness of, ii. 400.

---- St. James's, humorous description of, ii. 398.

Subscription for clothing soldiers, i. 52.

Suicide, horrid narrative of, i. 149.

Sutton, poetical description of his battle with Stokes, ii. 165.

Swearing, attempt to suppress, i. 352.

Swindlers, counsellor _Tom_ and _Sir John_, i. 164.

Swords, footmen forbid to wear them, ii. 314.

T.

Tailors, journeymen, turbulence of, ii. 90.

Term-time described in verse, i. 321.

Thames, diversions on the ice of the, ii. 140.

Theatres, particulars relating to the, i. 274. ii. 110, 186, 254.

---- presented, ii. 110.

---- impiety of, suppressed, ii. 116.

---- ragged regiments of, ii. 157.

---- Lincoln's-inn opened, ii. 138.

---- Haymarket opened, ii. 125.

---- ---- re-erected, ii. 153.

---- ---- opened, ii. 162, 172.

---- Goodman's-fields, ii. 124, 177, 179.

---- Covent-garden built, ii. 177.

---- ---- decorations of, ii. 179.

---- ---- lines to the proprietors of, ii. 180.

---- ---- riots at, ii. 196, 202, 243, 285.

---- ---- dispute concerning, ii. 257.

---- ---- improved, ii. 304.

---- Drury-lane improved, ii. 235, 292.

---- ---- alarm of fire at, ii. 171.

---- ---- admission raised, ii. 235, 306.

---- ---- riot at, ii. 236.

---- ---- rebuilt, ii. 305.

---- ---- described, ii. 309.

---- dissertation on the, ii. 247.

Theatrical trial, ii. 186.

---- consequences, ii. 189.

Tottenham-court-road, interlude there, ii. 179.

Tradesmen, fancied improvements of, i. 356.

---- manner of living in 1700, i. 230. ii. 418.

Trumpet, the use of, licensed, ii. 109.

Trunk-maker, account of the, ii. 130.

Twelfth-day, how celebrated, i. 292.

V.

Vacation, the Lawyers, described in verse, i. 321.

Vales, custom of giving, opposed, i. 334.

Vauxhall, first notice of, ii. 178.

---- statement of the proprietors, ii. 191.

---- proposal of the proprietors, ii. 198.

---- improper conduct at, ii. 213, 246.

Vice, Society for suppression of, i. 93, 214.

Vigo, trick relating to the treasure taken there, i. 99.

Vintners, hardships of, i. 161.

W.

Wachsel, Mr. letters of, relating to German emigrants, i. 65.

Wager, pedestrian, i. 235, 287. ii. 133.

Wales, Prince of, marriage described, i. 303.

---- ---- ---- attempt to assassinate, ii. 144.

---- Frederick, Prince of, a corporal, ii. 178.

Walpole, Sir R. beats a comedian, ii. 180.

Watchmen. See Beadle.

Watermen, vulgar jests and abuse by, i. 158, 258, 384.

Water Theatre, ii. 127.

Weavers, Spitalfields, violence of, ii. 30, 51, 59, 69, 101.

Welsh charity school, i. 15.

Wells, of the Bear-garden, epitaph on, ii. 154.

---- New Tunbridge, ii. 181.

---- Sadler's, ii. 150.

---- ---- dreadful accident at, ii. 227.

Welton, Dr. his religious assembly dispersed, ii. 29.

West, Matthew, first who divided lottery tickets, ii. 3.

Whale, skeleton of one exhibited, ii. 117.

Wife, advertising for, i. 239.

Wigs, strange method of stealing them, i. 104.

---- high price and importance of, ii. 313, 315, 318.

Wild, Jonathan, account of his villanies, ii. 41.

Wilkes, John, Esq. burning of North Briton, ii. 65.

---- ---- address of, to the freeholders of Middlesex, ii. 72.

Williams, Renwick, the _Monster_, i. 217.

Wool-combers, procession of, i. 288.

Work-house, London, statement concerning, i. 25.

---- Quaker, an example for others, i. 286.

Wren, Sir C. author of the present style of building, ii. 365.

Y.

Youth, manner of educating, i. 326.

Z.

Zeal, religious, instances of, i. 402, 423.

INDEX OF NAMES.

A.

Abel, ii. 123.

Abington, ii. 254.

Ackman, ii. 238.

Addison, i. 243.

Albemarle, i. 310.

Aldrich, i. 183.

Alegil, i. 99.

Allen, ii. 74, 82.

Amiconi, ii. 179.

Anderson, ii. 364.

Armstrong, i. 75.

Arne, ii. 199.

Attilia, ii. 169.

Aumont, i. 19.

Austin, i. 404.

B.

Bancroft, i. 47.

Barclay, i. 341.

Barker, ii. 170.

Barnes, ii. 122.

Barry, ii. 202.

Bartlett, i. 221.

Bartoldi, ii. 173.

Beard, ii. 238.

Becher, i. 283.

Beckford, i. 186. ii. 91.

Bedford, i. 28, 44.

Bellpine, i. 328.

Bennet, ii. 176.

Bernachi, ii. 173.

Betterton, ii. 247.

Bonnor, i. 99.

Bononcini, ii. 169.

Bononi, ii. 222.

Booth, ii. 151, 163.

Bowler, ii. 109.

Bray, i. 234.

Brittain, i. 408.

Buck, ii. 134.

Buckingham, i. 43.

Bull, i. 83.

Burges, i. 242. ii. 12.

Burlington, ii. 215.

Burton, i. 254.

Butterfield, ii. 144.

C.

Carey, i. 27.

Carlini, ii. 223.

Carlisle, ii. 314.

Carlton, i. 217.

Case, i. 220.

Chamberlain, i. 256.

Chandos, i. 27. ii. 215.

Child, i. 89.

Chetwynd, ii. 198.

Cholmondeley, ii. 133.

Cibber, ii. 151, 186.

Clarges, ii. 184.

Clark, i. 281.

Clayton, ii. 127, 132.

Clive, ii. 228.

Cogan, i. 83.

Cole, ii. 21.

Collingwood, i. 13.

Colman, ii. 257.

Condamine, i. 385.

Coram, i. 10, 11, 12.

Cornele, ii. 152.

Cornely, ii. 255.

Cotesworth, i. 140.

Cowper, i. 130. ii. 118.

Crackenthorp, i. 235.

Cunningham, i. 263.

Cuthbeartson, i. 97.

Cuzzoni, ii. 156, 170.

D.

Davenant, ii. 366.

Dent, i. 234.

Dimsdale, i. 395.

Dingley, i. 84. ii. 71.

Dodd, i. 84.

Doggett, i. 256. ii. 151.

Dormer, i. 102.

Dyche, i. 406.

E.

Eddowes, i. 164.

Effingham, ii. 347.

Elderton, i. 406.

Ellis, i. 140. ii. 185.

Erasmus, ii. 375.

Esch, i. 297.

Everard, ii. 70.

F.

Fabri, ii. 173.

Farinelli, ii. 188, 189.

Farquhar, ii. 251.

Faustina, ii. 170.

Feast, i. 20.

Fielding, i. 74, 173, 177, 189, 209, 352.

Figg, ii. 164.

Fitzgerald, i. 266.

Fleetwood, ii. 187.

Foote, ii. 300.

Fothergill, i. 82.

Francis, ii. 375.

Freeman, ii. 144.

Fuller, ii. 146.

G.

Gage, i. 404.

Gallini, ii. 222.

Garrick, ii. 236.

Garth, ii. 125.

Gibson, ii. 45.

Giffard, ii. 177.

Giles, i. 74.

Godfrey, ii. 17.

Godolphin, i. 257.

Goodman, i. 103.

Gordon, ii. 103.

Gough, ii. 198.

Goulding, i. 376.

Grafton, i. 310. ii. 133.

Grainger, ii. 91.

Green, i. 44. ii. 91.

Grosley, i. 382.

Guy, i. 25.

H.

Haddock, i. 44.

Hamilton, i. 423.

Handel, i. 13. ii. 151, 169, 188, 213.

Harley, ii. 88.

Harper, ii. 179, 187.

Harris, ii. 257, 306.

Harvey, ii. 179.

Hawes, i. 83, 432. ii. 29.

Hawley, i. 186.

Heath, i. 207.

Heidegger, ii. 217.

Henley, i. 415-25.

Hertford, ii. 353.

Herwig, i. 221.

Hewit, ii. 200.

Higginson, i. 335.

Hightrehight, ii. 149.

Hill, i. 74. ii. 101, 154.

Holford, i. 24.

Holland, ii. 308.

Holmes, ii. 173.

Howard, i. 79, 82.

Hyfield, ii. 155.

I.

Inchinbroke, ii. 21.

J.

Jackson, ii. 54.

Jacobs, i. 397.

Jacobson, i. 12.

Jennings, i. 426.

Johnston, i. 412.

Jones, i. 102, 257. ii. 108.

K.

Kemble, ii. 304.

Kenrick, ii. 287.

Kilmanseck, i. 257. ii. 215.

King, i. 187. ii. 236.

Kingston, ii. 301.

L.

Lambert, ii. 179.

Law, i. 105, 106.

Lee, i. 49. ii. 179.

Lewis, i. 16.

Lillie, i. 240.

Litchfield, i. 44, 404.

M.

Macdonald, i. 188.

Macklin, ii. 254, 278, 305.

Macky, i. 272.

Maclane, ii. 74.

Mahomet, i. 26.

Mapp, i. 431.

Marlborough, i. 310.

Martin, i. 223.

Masterson, ii. 175.

Mead, i. 104, 261.

Meadows, ii. 59.

Mercer, i. 140.

Merighi, ii. 173.

Miller, ii. 134.

Mills, ii. 184.

Milner, i. 11, 140.

Milton, i. 281.

Mist, i. 259.

Montague, ii. 201.

Moody, ii. 238.

Morrisco, i. 409.

Mossop, ii. 254.

N.

Neale, i. 36.

Neild, i. 77.

Nelson, i. 74.

Newall, i. 406.

Newcastle, i. 257, 310. ii. 24.

Nicolini, ii. 138.

O.

Oades, i. 100.

Odell, ii. 177, 198.

Orkney, i. 257.

P.

Palmer, i. 27. ii. 304.

Park, ii. 359.

Parker, i. 400.

Parsons, i. 179.

Paterson, i. 50.

Pattent, i. 60.

Pechy, i. 218.

Pelham, i. 310.

Penkethman, ii. 128, 148.

Percy, i. 74.

Pigeon, i. 97.

Philips, i. 130.

Pinder, i. 140.

Pingo, i. 83.

Porter, i. 218.

Potter, ii. 153.

Powel, ii. 127, 261.

Preston, ii. 126.

Puckeridge, ii. 226.

Q.

Quare, i. 255.

Queensberry, ii. 173.

R.

Railton, i. 147.

Rainsforth, i. 195.

Reddish, ii. 278.

Rice, i. 339.

Rich, ii. 131, 137, 177, 185.

Riddle, i. 186.

Robinson, i. 102.

Rutherford, ii. 257, 268.

S.

Sacheverell, i. 398. ii. 11, 23.

Saltero, i. 410.

Salvandoni, ii. 223.

Sayer, i. 192.

Saxe, i. 384.

Selby, ii. 321.

Senesino, ii. 183.

Sheppard, ii. 32, 177.

Sheridan, ii. 306.

Shower, ii. 26.

Simmonds, i. 414.

Smith, i. 149, 152, 401.

Southwell, i. 269.

Sparks, ii. 281.

Spencer, i. 271.

Stanton, i. 59.

Steele, i. 119. ii. 138, 151.

Stephens, i. 59. ii. 233.

Stokes, ii. 164, 170.

Strada, ii. 173.

Stringer, i. 219.

Surman, i. 61.

Sutton, i. 76. ii. 164.

Switterda, i. 327.

Sydenham, i. 90.

T.

Talbot, ii. 323.

Taylor, i. 254.

Thanet, i. 24.

Thomas, ii. 21, 108.

Thornhill, i. 140, 225.

Thurmond, ii. 159.

Tillard, i. 140.

Townshend, i. 145.

Tutchin, ii. 124.

Turlington, i. 186.

Turner, i. 24.

V.

Vane, i. 432.

Vaneschi, ii. 220.

Veil, de, i. 164. ii. 196.

W.

Wachsel, i. 65, 68, 70.

Wale, ii. 245.

Wallin, i. 428.

Walpole, ii. 180.

War, de la, i. 142.

Ward, i. 407, 427.

Watkinson, i. 83.

Waugh, i. 21.

Weedon, i. 17.

Welch, i. 6. ii. 170.

Wells, ii. 154.

Welton, ii. 29.

West, ii. 3.

Wharton, i. 424.

White, i. 426.

Whitrow, ii. 59.

Whitworth, i. 4.

Wild, ii. 41.

Wilkes, i. 374. ii. 65, 71.

Wilkinson, ii. 155, 228.

Wilks, ii. 151, 185.

Williams, i. 217. ii. 107.

Wilson, ii. 55.

Winstanley, i. 242. ii. 127.

Wolsey, ii. 377.

Woodward, i. 261.

Wren, ii. 365.

Y.

Young, ii. 163.

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

John Nichols and Son, Printers, Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street, London.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

The Index was originally printed at the end of Volume II. It has been included in this volume for completeness.

Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the original.

The use of apostrophes to indicate possessive case is not consistent in the original. The placement of quotation marks is not consistent in the original. Apostrophes and quotation marks have been left as in the original except where noted below.

The following corrections have been made to the original text:

Page xiii: vary with the internal feelings,'[quotation mark missing in original]

Page xv: exhibiting any proofs on this occasion[original has "ocasion"]

Page xx: requires notice as much as their peculiarities[original has "pecularities"]

Page 12: collection for the Chapel amounted to 596_l._[period missing in original]

Page 37: and advantageous to the publick[original has "pub" and "lick" on separate lines without a hyphen]

Page 39: as to their improvements of[original has "of of"] every sort

Page 60: at the same time[original has "time time"] crying out

Page 77: [quotation mark missing in original]"535 persons discharged, together with 245 wives

Page 164: disgraced the annals of turpitude.[original has ".."]

Page 189: [original has extraneous quotation mark]Sir John Fielding, being asked what number

Page 199: rather by sufferance than[original has "that"] by right

Page 246: Lord Steward of the King's Household[original has "Houshold"]

Page 252: acknowledged to have been a superb spectacle[original has "spectable"]

Page 260: advice to parents and masters previous[original has "previ" and "ous" on separate lines without a hyphen] to the holidays

Page 274: we sit till six, then[original has "that"] we go to the play

Page 332: women with inflaming liquids:[original has a period]

Page 344: _John Paterson_."[quotation mark missing in original]

Page 346: 10 Ditto[original has heading "Dishes" carried over from previous page] fine green peas

Page 358: our drinking-houses are refined:[original has a period] they no longer

Page 358: 'This is not the Punch-bowl Inn.'"[double quote missing in original]

Page 364: neglect of other duties,[original has a period] and it behoves

Page 379: eight feet, but[original has "hut"] did not break

Page 385: crowd having soon surrounded[original has "surrouded"] him

Page 397: Eccentricity may[original has "my"] exist in the brain

On page 368, the original has "with _paternal candour_ every plea [large white space] we have to offer". The transcriber has been unable to locate a copy of the book that has a word or words in the space.