English Eccentrics and Eccentricities
Part 1
ENGLISH ECCENTRICS.
PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE LONDON
ENGLISH ECCENTRICS AND ECCENTRICITIES
BY JOHN TIMBS
AUTHOR OF 'CLUBS AND CLUB LIFE IN LONDON' ETC.
A NEW EDITION WITH 48 ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON CHATTO & WINDUS 1898
_PREFACE._
Gentle Reader, a few words before we introduce you to our ECCENTRICS. They may be odd company: yet how often do we find eccentricity in the minds of persons of good understanding. Their sayings and doings, it is true, may not rank as high among the delicacies of intellectual epicures as the Strasburg pies among the dishes described in the _Almanach des Gourmands_; but they possess attractions in proportion to the degree in which "man favours wonders." Swift has remarked, that "a little grain of the romance is no ill ingredient to preserve and exalt the dignity of human nature, without which it is apt to degenerate into everything that is sordid, vicious, and low." Into the latter extremes Eccentricity is occasionally apt to run, somewhat like certain fermenting liquors which cannot be checked in their acidifying courses.
Into such headlong excesses our Eccentrics rarely stray; and one of our objects in sketching their ways, is to show that with oddity of character may co-exist much goodness of heart; and your strange fellow, though, according to the lexicographer, he be outlandish, odd, queer, and eccentric, may possess claims to our notice which the man who is ever studying the fitness of things would not so readily present.
Many books of character have been published which have recorded the acts, sayings, and fortunes of Eccentrics. The instances in the present Work are, for the most part, drawn _from our own time_, so as to present points of novelty which could not so reasonably be expected in portraits of older date. They are motley-minded and grotesque in many instances; and from their rare accidents may be gathered many a lesson of thrift, as well as many a scene of humour to laugh at; while some realize the well-remembered couplet or the near alliance of wits to madness.
A glance at the Table of Contents and the Index to this volume will, it is hoped, convey a fair idea of the number and variety of characters and incidents to be found in this gallery of ENGLISH ECCENTRICS.
It should be added, that in the preparation of this Work, the Author has availed himself of the most trustworthy materials for the staple of his narratives, which, in certain cases, he has preferred giving _ipsissimis verbis_ of his authorities to "re-writing" them, as it is termed; a process which rarely adds to the veracity of story-telling, but, on the other hand, often gives a colour to the incidents which the original narrator never intended to convey. The object has been to render the book truthful as well as entertaining.
JOHN TIMBS.
_CONTENTS._
WEALTH AND FASHION.
PAGE
_The Beckfords and Fonthill_ 1
_Alderman Beckford's Monument Speech in Guildhall_ 19
_Beau Brummel_ 22
_Sir Lumley Skeffington, Bart_ 36
_"Romeo" Coates_ 41
_Abraham Newland_ 44
_The Spendthrift Squire of Halston, John Mytton_ 48
_Lord Petersham_ 55
_The King and Queen of the Sandwich Islands_ 57
_Sir Edward Dering's Luckless Courtship_ 59
_Gretna-Green Marriages_ 63
_The Agapemone, or Abode of Love_ 68
_Singular Scotch Ladies_ 70
_Mrs. Bond, of Hackney_ 72
_John Ward, the Hackney Miser_ 74
"_Poor Man of Mutton_" 76
_Lord Kenyon's Parsimony_ 77
_Mary Moser, the Flower-Painter_ 78
_The Eccentric Miss Banks_ 80
_Thomas Cooke, the Miser of Pentonville_ 82
_Thomas Cooke, the Turkey Merchant_ 87
_"Lady Lewson," of Clerkenwell_ 89
_Profits of Dust-sifting and Dust-heaps_ 92
_Sir John Dinely, Bart._ 95
_The Rothschilds_ 96
_A Legacy of Half-a-Million of Money_ 99
_Eccentricities of the Earl of Bridgewater_ 103
_The Denisons, and the Conyngham Family_ 105
"_Dog Jennings_" 107
_Baron Ward's Remarkable Career_ 109
_A Costly House-Warming_ 112
_Devonshire Eccentrics_ 113
_Hannah Snell, the Female Soldier_ 116
_Lady Archer_ 122
DELUSIONS, IMPOSTURES, AND FANATIC MISSIONS.
_Modern Alchemists_ 124
_Jack Adams, the Astrologer_ 130
_The Woman-hating Cavendish_ 132
_Modern Astrology.--"Witch Pickles"_ 136
_Hannah Green; or, "Ling Bob"_ 139
_Oddities of Lady Hester Stanhope_ 141
_Hermits and Eremitical Life_ 145
_The Recluses of Llangollen_ 155
_Snuff-taking Legacies_ 158
_Burial Bequests_ 159
_Burials on Box Hill and Leith Hill_ 163
_Jeremy Bentham's Bequest of his Remains_ 166
_The Marquis of Anglesey's Leg_ 169
_The Cottle Church_ 171
_Horace Walpole's Chattels saved by a Talisman_ 174
_Norwood Gipsies_ 177
"_Cunning Mary," of Clerkenwell_ 179
"_Jerusalem Whalley_" 181
_Father Mathew and the Temperance Movement_ 182
_Eccentric Preachers_ 184
_Irving a Millenarian_ 187
_A Trio of Fanatics_ 189
_The Spenceans_ 197
_Joanna Southcote, and the Coming of Shiloh_ 198
_The Founder of Mormonism_ 210
_Huntington, the Preacher_ 219
_Amen--Peter Isnell_ 231
_Strangely Eccentric, yet Sane_ 232
_Strange Hallucination_ 236
"_Corner Memory Thompson_" 238
_Mummy of a Manchester Lady_ 239
_Hypochondriasis_ 240
STRANGE SIGHTS AND SPORTING SCENES.
"_The Wonder of all the Wonders that the World ever Wondered at_" 243
"_The Princess Caraboo_" 246
_Fat Folks.--Lambert and Bright_ 249
_A Cure for Corpulence_ 256
_Epitaphs on Fat Folks_ 257
_Count Boruwlaski, the Polish Dwarf_ 258
_The Irish Giant_ 270
_Birth Extraordinary_ 271
_William Hutton's "Strong Woman_" 274
_Wildman and his Bees_ 276
_Lord Stowell's Love of Sight-seeing_ 277
_John Day and Fairlop Fair_ 280
_A Princely Hoax_ 283
_Sir John Waters's Escape_ 285
_Colonel Mackinnon's Practical Joking_ 287
_A Gourmand Physician_ 288
_Dick England, the Gambler_ 290
_Brighton Races, Thirty Years since_ 292
_Colonel Mellish_ 294
_Doncaster Eccentrics_ 296
"_Walking Stewart_" 300
_Youthful Days of the Hon. Grantley Berkeley_ 304
_What became of the Seven Dials_ 310
_An Old Bailey Character_ 312
_Bone and Shell Exhibition_ 317
"_Quid Rides?_" 318
"_Bolton Trotters_" 319
_Eccentric Lord Coleraine_ 321
_Eccentric Travellers_ 323
_Elegy on a Geologist_ 328
ECCENTRIC ARTISTS.
_Gilray and his Caricatures_ 330
_William Blake, Painter and Poet_ 339
_Nollekens, the Sculptor_ 350
THEATRICAL FOLKS.
_The Young Roscius_ 363
_Hardham's "No. 37_" 368
_Rare Criticism_ 370
_The O. P. Riot_ 371
_Origin of "Paul Pry_" 372
_Mrs. Garrick_ 374
_Mathews, a Spanish Ambassador_ 378
_Grimaldi, the Clown_ 382
_Munden's Last Performance_ 387
_Oddities of Dowton_ 389
_Liston in Tragedy_ 391
_Boyhood of Edmund Kean_ 398
_A Mysterious Parcel_ 400
_Masquerade Incident_ 402
_Mr. T. P. Cooke in Melodrama and Pantomime_ 404
"_Romeo and Juliet" in America_ 407
_The Mulberries, a Shakspearian Club_ 408
_Colley Cibber's Daughter_ 410
_An Eccentric Love-Passage_ 413
_True to the Text_ 415
MEN OF LETTERS.
_Monk Lewis_ 417
_Porson's Eccentricities_ 425
_Parriana: Oddities of Dr. Parr_ 435
_Oddities of John Horne Tooke_ 444
_Mr. Canning's Humour_ 451
_Peter Pindar.--Dr. Wolcot_ 460
_The Author of "Dr. Syntax"_ 472
_Mrs. Radcliffe and the Critics_ 475
_Cool Sir James Mackintosh_ 478
_Eccentricities of Cobbett_ 481
_Heber, the Book-Collector_ 485
_Sir John Soane Lampooned_ 488
_Extraordinary Calculators_ 490
_Charles Lamb's Cottage at Islington_ 494
_Thomas Hood_ 497
_A Witty Archbishop_ 504
_Literary Madmen_ 508
_A Perpetual-Motion Seeker_ 513
_The Romantic Duchess of Newcastle_ 516
_Sources of Laughter_ 520
CONVIVIAL ECCENTRICITIES.
_Busby's Folly and Bull Feather Hall_ 525
_Old Islington Taverns_ 526
_The Oyster and Parched-Pea Club_ 529
_A Manchester Punch-House_ 530
"_The Blue Key_" 533
_Brandy in Tea_ 534
"_The Wooden Spoon_" 535
_A Tipsy Village_ 535
_What an Epicure Eats in his Life-Time_ 536
_Epitaph on Dr. William Maginn_ 538
_Greenwich Dinners_ 539
_Lord Pembroke's Port Wine_ 540
_A Tremendous Bowl of Punch_ 541
MISCELLANEA.
_Long Sir Thomas Robinson_ 542
_Lord Chesterfield's Will_ 542
_An Odd Family_ 543
_An Eccentric Host_ 544
_Quackery Successful_ 545
_The Grateful Footpad_ 546
_A Notoriety of the Temple_ 546
_A Ride in a Sedan_ 548
_Mr. John Scott (Lord Eldon) in Parliament_ 549
_A Chancery Jeu-d'Esprit_ 551
_Hanging by Compact_ 553
_The Ambassador Floored_ 553
"_The Dutch Mail_" 554
_Bad Spelling_ 556
_A "Single Conspirator_" 559
_A Miscalculation_ 560
_An Indiscriminate Collector_ 561
_The Bishops' Saturday Night_ 563
"_Rather than Otherwise_" 564
_Classic Soup Distribution_ 565
_Alphabet Single Rhymed_ 565
_Non Sequitur and Therefore_ 566
_LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS._
PAGE
"Vathek" _Beckford. From a Medallion_ 1
_John Farquhar surveying the Ruins of Fonthill_ 21
_Beau Brummel. From a Miniature_ 22
_Lord Alvanley. A Pillar of White's_ 27
_Beau Brummel in Retirement at Calais_ 35
_Sir Lumley Skeffington in a_ "Jean de Brie" 36
_Sir Lumley Skeffington, as dressed for the "Birthday Ball_" 40
_Robert Coates, the Amateur of Fashion, as "Romeo_" 41
_Squire Mytton of Halston on his Bear_ 48
_Lord Petersham; a noble Aide-de-Camp_ 55
_The Eccentric Miss Banks, an Old Maid on a Journey_ 80
_The First Rothschild--a well-known Character on 'Change_ 96
_Hannah Snell, the Female Soldier_ 116
_Lady Archer, Enamelling at her Toilet_ 122
_The Alchemist_ 124
_Jack Adams, the Astrologer_ 130
_A Hermit of the Sixteenth Century_ 145
_Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Mary Ponsonby, the Recluses of Llangollen_ 156
_Major Peter Labelliere, a Christian Patriot_ 163
_Margaret Finch, the Norwood Gipsy_ 177
_Edward Irving, the Millenarian_ 184
_Joanna Southcote_ 198
_Facsimile of Autograph with Seal of the Elect_ 209
_William Huntington, the Converted Coalheaver_ 219
_The pretended Princess Caraboo_ 246
_Count Boruwlaski, the Polish Dwarf, in Disgrace with his Wife_ 259
_The Prince Regent, a Back View_ 284
_Colonel Mellish and Buckle his Agent_ 294
_Curtis, an Old-Bailey Character_ 312
_Corder, the Murderer of Maria Martin_ 316
_Lord Coleraine, keeping an Apple Stall_ 321
_Nollekens, the Sculptor. From J. T. Smith's Life_ 350
_Master Betty, the "Young Roscius", as "Norval_" 363
_Mrs. Garrick in her Youth_ 374
_Charles Mathews the Elder_ 378
_Joe Grimaldi as Clown_ 382
_Liston as "Paul Pry"_ 391
_Edmund Kean as "Richard III._" 398
_T. P. Cooke in "Black Eyed Susan"_ 404
_Charlotte Charke, Colley Cibber's Daughter_ 411
_M. G. Lewis, Author of "the Monk_" 417
_Professor Porson_ 425
_Dr. Parr_ 435
_William Cobbett, Peter Porcupine and the_ "Political Register" 481
_Jedediah Buxton, the Calculator_ 490
_Lamb's Cottage, Colebrook Row_ 495
_Margaret Lucas, Duchess of Newcastle_ 516
_Lord Eldon (John Scott)_ 549
ENGLISH ECCENTRICS.
_WEALTH and FASHION._
The Beckfords and Fonthill.
The histories of the Beckfords, father and son, present several points of eccentricity, although in very different spheres. William Beckford, the father, was famed for his great wealth, which chiefly consisted of large estates in Jamaica; and the estate of Fonthill, near Hindon, Wilts. He was Alderman of Billingsgate Ward, London, and a violent political partisan with whom the great Lord Chatham maintained a correspondence to keep alive his influence in the City. When Beckford opposed Sir Francis Delaval to contest the borough of Shaftesbury, the latter said--
Art thou the man whom men famed Beckford call?
To which Beckford replied--
Art thou the much more famous Delaval?=
Alderman Beckford died on the 21st of June, 1770, in his second mayoralty, within a month after his famous exhibition at Court, when, after presenting a City Address to George III., and having received his Majesty's answer, he was said to have made the reply which may be read on his monument in Guildhall, but which he never uttered. The day before Beckford died, Chatham forced himself into the house in Soho Square (now the House of Charity), and got away all the letters he had written to the demagogue Alderman. His house at Fonthill, with pictures and furniture to a great value, was burnt down in 1755. The Alderman was then in London, and on being informed of the catastrophe, he took out his pocket-book and began to write, and on being asked what he was doing, he coolly replied, 'Only calculating the expense of rebuilding it. Oh! I have an odd fifty thousand pounds in a drawer, I will build it up again; it won't be above a thousand pounds each to my different children.' The house was rebuilt.
The Alderman had several natural sons, to each of whom he left a legacy of 5,000_l._; but the bulk of his property went to his son by his wife, who was then a boy ten years old, and is said to have thus come into a million of ready money, and a revenue exceeding 100,000_l._ Three years later, Lord Chatham, who was his godfather, thus describes him to his own son William Pitt--"Little Beckford is just as much compounded of the elements of air and fire as he was. A due proportion of terrestrial solidity will I trust come and make him perfect." The promise which his liveliness and precocity had given, was fulfilled by a _jeu-d'esprit_, written by him in his seventeenth year. This was a small work published in 1780, entitled _Biographical Memoirs of Extraordinary Painters_, and originated as follows. The old mansion at Fonthill contained a fine collection of paintings, which the housekeeper was directed to show to applicants; but she often told descriptions of the painters and the pictures, which were very ludicrous. Young Beckford, therefore, to methodize and assist the housekeeper's memory, wrote their lives, which she received from her youthful master as matters-of-fact. Thus, after descanting on Gerard Douw, she would add the particulars of that artist's patience and industry in expending four or five hours in painting a broomstick. There were other extravagancies which she believed; a few copies of the book were printed to confirm her belief; hence the book is very rare. Beckford, in after-life, spoke of it as his _Blunderbussiana_. It was, in fact, a satire upon certain living artists, and the common slang of connoisseurship.
Young Mr. Beckford had been educated at home: he was quick and lively, and had literary tastes; he had a great passion for genealogy and heraldry, and studied Oriental literature. He had visited Paris, and mixed in the society of that capital, in 1778, when he met Voltaire, who gave him his blessing. He had fine taste for music, and had been taught to play the pianoforte by Mozart.
Mr. Beckford travelled and resided abroad until his twenty-second year, when he wrote in French _Vathek_,[1] a work of startling beauty. More than fifty years afterwards he told Mr. Cyrus Redding that he wrote _Vathek_ at one sitting. "It took me," he said, "three days and two nights of hard labour. I never took off my clothes the whole time. This severe application made me very ill.... Old Fonthill had a very ample loud echoing hall--one of the largest in the kingdom. Numerous doors led from it into different parts of the house through dim, winding passages. It was from that I introduced the Hall--the idea of the Hall of Eblis being generated by my own. My imagination magnified and coloured it with the Eastern character. All the females in _Vathek_ were portraits of those in the domestic establishment of old Fonthill, their fancied good or ill qualities being exaggerated to suit my purpose." An English translation of the work afterwards appeared, the author of which Beckford said he never knew; he thought it tolerably well done.
[1] _Vathek_ was dramatised by the Hon. Mrs. Norton some thirty years since, and was offered to Mr. Bunn for Drury Lane Theatre, but declined; the "exquisite beauties of Mrs. Norton's metrical compositions being overloaded by a pressure of dialogue and a redundancy of scenic effects, the fidelity and rapid succession of which it would have puzzled any scene painter or mechanist to follow."--_Bunn's Stage_, vol ii., p. 139.
At twenty-four, Mr. Beckford married the Lady Margaret Gordon, daughter of Charles, fourth Earl of Aboyne, but the lady died in three years. In 1784 he was returned to Parliament for Wells; in 1790 he sat for Hindon; but in 1794 he accepted the Chiltern Hundreds, and again went abroad. He now fixed himself in Portugal, where he purchased an estate near Cintra, and built the sumptuous mansion, the decoration and desolation of which some years afterwards Lord Byron described in the first canto of his _Childe Harold_, in the stanza beginning--
There thou too, Vathek! England's wealthiest son, Once form'd thy Paradise, as not aware When wanton Wealth her mightiest deeds hath done, Meek Peace voluptuous lures was ever wont to shun. Here didst thou dwell, here schemes of pleasure plan, Beneath yon mountain's ever beauteous brow: But now, as if a thing unblest by man, Thy fairy dwelling is as lone as thou! Here giant woods a passage scarce allow To halls deserted, portals gaping wide: Fresh lessons to the thinking bosom, how Vain are pleasaunces on earth supplied; Swept into wrecks anon by Time's ungentle tide!