Percy Hamilton: or, The Adventures of a Westminster Boy

Front matter

PERCY HAMILTON; OR, THE ADVENTURES OF A WESTMINSTER BOY BY LORD WILLIAM LENNOX. ldfiev yj/ev&ea iroXka Xeyeiu irv^ioio-iv ctfioia lBfj.€v $' €vt iBeXofxev dXrjflea. fiv6r](Taadai. Hesiod. 11 Sometimes, fair truth in fiction we disguise ; Sometimes, present her naked to men's eyes." Spectator. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: W. SHOBERL, PUBLISHER, 20, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 1851. LONDON : PRINTED ET MYERS AND CO., 22, TAVISTOCK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. TO THE READER. Some of the "Sayings and Doings" recorded in the following pages, (Avhich have already appeared in a sporting period ical), have been derived from the daily journals kept by a muchvalued friend and school-felloAV at Westminster, Avho placed them in my hands Avith a vieAV to publi cation : and, as I participated in many of the earlier " freaks and follies," as well as in A'arious of the latter adventures, I feel not a little pleasure in laying before the public the results of my friend's and my own experi ence, doubting not that the fidelity of the ■2 TO THE READER. sketches introduced of life at the far-famed school in Dean's Yard, as well as of subse quent events, Avill be recognised by many a person who took part in them, and Avho may still feel an interest in looking back to the " days of his youth," and to the scenes in which he figured when " A Westminster Boy." William Pitt Lennox. London, June 1st, 1851. OR, THE ADVENTURES OF A WESTMINSTER BOY.

Chapter I

" At first, the infant, Muling and puking in the nurse's arms ; And then, the whining schoolboy, with his satchel, And shining morning face, creeping hke snail Unwillingly to school." Shakspeare. Birth, Parentage, and Education — Christmas at a Country-house — Journey to London — A six inside Stage Coach of the Olden Time — The Lawyers' Clerk's Story of the Two Friends and the Highwaymen — Arrival in the Metropolis. — The M.D.'s of Forty Years ago — Introduction to " Mother Pack," Dean's Yard, Westminster. As I have assumed a nom de guerre, it Avould be perfectly needless to inflict upon my readers a full, true, and particular account of the birth and parentage of the humble individual Avho now makes his first vol. i. B appearance before them. Adopting, then, the phraseology of the apology-makers of the London Theatres, I throw myself upon the indulgence of the public, and, following out the system as regards melo-dramas, request my readers will suppose some few years have elapsed from the day of my birth until that upon which I am about to introduce myself upon the stage in the great drama of life.

During that eventful period of pap, long clothes, mewling, caps, rosettes, teething, crying, and sprawling, I was an average sample of juvenile humanity. As a matter of course, my nurse pronounced me to be " the SAveetest, and prettiest dear, she had ever clapped eyes upon." My mother Avould not, for worlds, as Gay quaintly remarks — " Have changed her booby for another." My father hailed me as the most promising " young-'un" he had ever seen ; and, before I completed my sixth year, offered to back me against, any one of my age and size, either across the country or in the pugilistic ring ; for in the days of Avhich I Avrite the knife had not been substituted for the fist. The hunts man looked upon me as a most owdacious young varies ; the grooms called me an out and-out trump ; while the game-keeper de clared in the whole course of his life, he had never seen such a hand at a sparrow, and that, if I Avent on as I had begun, I should some day rival Colonel Hawker, the then crack shot of the day.

At my christening an event occurred of rather the sporting order, and which may, for aught I know to the contrary, have given me a taste for dogs ever since. In the private chapel attached to the house, baptisms Avere of rare occurrence; but a heavy fall of snow having blocked up the neighbouring roads, it was decided that the ceremony should take place at home. Be fore, however, it had proceeded very far, it was discovered that there was no font in the building. The huntsman, old Tom Prior, soon detected this, and, rushing into the b2 stable-yard, quickly returned with a small stone basin that had been placed there for the use of a favourite retriever, — Tip. In this was the ceremony concluded ; and from that day I received a sobriquet which will be attached to me to my last hour, — that of Tip.

The nurses called me Master Tip, while my relatives and friends dropped the former title of courtesy. In after life, it has often puzzled my companions to discover the origin of this appellation, and which, until explained, sounded as mysterious as those of Kangaroo, Punch, Bacchus, Teapot, Cupid, Pogey, Skirmish, Poodle, Ginger, Dodo, and others Avhich have been attached to by-gone and present men about town. My earliest recollections refer to the period when I was some five or six years old, and to a sweet spot in the west of Sussex. The farm-house in which I dwelt had belonged for ages, to my ancestors, and was tenanted by a worthy couple. There, under the care of a kind-hearted French emigre, was I placed. The room assigned to me looked towards the sea, over manifold beautiful green slopes, and wooded banks.

Pic-nic parties, and many a carriage from the neighbouring toAvn of Chichester, diversified the scenery during the bright part of the year, and, in winter, shooting and hunting parties enlivened the vicinity. One of the first events Avhich I distinctly remember, was the news of my great uncle's death, by which my father inherited a title and large property. After the funeral, my father and his family took possession of the patrimonial estate, and I joined the circle, having, from the small ness of their former residence, been an out boarder for some tAvo years. Surrounded by brothers and sisters, with scarcely a Avish ungratified, A\dth youth's buoyant and happy spirits diffused in every limb; all Avithout and within Avas like light and sunshine. Of my parents, I shall merely say that I was the fourth son of a family, that, according to Burke, the compiler of the human stud-book, had done the state some service.

The family mansion was, as I have said, situated in the county of Sussex; and there, upon the eighth anniversary of my natal day, I must introduce my readers. A large party had assembled for the Christmas holidays. Hunt ing and shooting had been the order of the day, Avhile dancing, music, round games, and snap-dragon, had beguiled the long Avinter evenings ; for at that period the dinner hour was six, instead of four hours before mid night, as it is at present in the fashionable country-houses. All Avas gaiety and joy, and, but for one dark thought, the Avriter of these pages Avould have been the happiest of the Avhole party. The gloom that occasionally would obtrude itself upon my then buoyant spirit, Avas caused by the remembrance that in three weeks I was to leave home for the first time to go to Westminster.

In vain did my youth ful companions (some of Avhom from that celebrated school were passing their holidays) attempt to convince me of the delights of Dean's Yard, the football in the cloisters, the cricket at Tothill Fields, the roAving and sailing on the river, the skating on the duck pond, the shooting near the Willow-walk, the fights with the skies, i.e. blackguards, and, above all, the jolly "tucks-in" at the establishments of the purveyors of edibles and buvables to the college, from Mouger the Jew, with his basket of sour oranges, flavourless grapes, acrid plums, and saccha rine lollypops, to the tavern then patronized by the Westminster boys, in Bridge-street, near Palace Yard. None of these anticipated pleasures could reconcile me to the thoughts of quitting home, of taking leave of my parents, of being separated from my brothers and sisters, the sharers of my early joys, for what I then thought an age — to leave my pony Aladdin for two months to the mercy of the groom, to part with young Tip, the son of the canine friend of my childhood, and to bid good-bye to a troop of friends, the housekeeper, old Mother Bur ridge, as we then called a buxom widow of six or seven-and-thirty, Tom Prior, the huntsman, Jem Curtis and Will Lathom, the whippers-in, John Farndale the game keeper, and last not least, Farmer Harris, a sportsman of the old school, who had taught me the first rudiments of shooting, had " entered " me Avith the foxhounds, and showed me the way across the country, he being himself one of the fastest men in that part of England.

But time circled on ; and the day previously to my departure for Westminster arrived. It was a glorious morning, and there was a laAvn meeting of the foxhounds. Although sadly dispirited at the thought of where I should be " that time to-morroAv," I mounted my pony, and, with a merry-hearted party, trotted off to a small wood Avithin a mile of the house. There we immediately found, and in the ardour of the chase I had no time left me for reflection. After a brilliant run of five-and-thirty minutes, we killed in the open — a rare occurrence in the wooded and hilly county of Sussex; and I Avas fortunate enough to get the brush — more a mark of kindness than desert, for, although I rode forward, I was not up to my usual form. Upon our return home, a proposition was made that Ave should Avind up the shooting season iu the home preserves; and, as the hour of the hounds meeting in those days was ten o'clock punctually, we Avere equipped for the field by one o'clock.

Our sport was excellent, and I could not help contrasting this day with those of the next two months. Before dinner, I gave strict injunctions to the groom to look Avell after Aladdin, and gave young Tip over to the care of the gamekeeper. I then proceeded to my room, to superintend the aAvful task of packing ; and what chaotic confusion here presented itself to me ! Upon one chair lay my hunting whip and spurs; my shooting apparatus on a sofa; Avhile the floor Avas literally filled with articles of dress scattered about in every direction. My fishing-tackle was stowed away in the wardrobe ; my mantel-piece Avas stocked Avith shot-cartridges, flints, skates, foxes' brushes, wires which I had taken in b3 the woods, fives'-balls and rackets, feathers for artificial flies, balls of twine for landing nets, bonces and marbles.

In one corner of the room was a selection of ash plants, for whips and walking-sticks; in another, cricket bats and stumps; and a huge glass-case fitted with stuffed birds and animals, Avhich had fallen by my gun, or been ferreted by me, showed what my prowess had been in the field. How all my "necessaries," as they call them in the army, Avere to be put within the wooden walls of a schoolboy's deal box, was a problem I did not venture to attempt to solve ; and I left the elucidation of it to that most useful of all useful " helps" — the stewards'-room boy, Avho valeted me. Making a most elaborate toilet — for I was a juvenile Brummel in those days — I descended to the drawing-room, where a large party of country neighbours Avere assembled. The dinner went off Avith great spirit; the Nirarods and ramrodswere equally delighted with their day's sport ; bumper toasts Avere given when the ladies had left the room, for at that period the continental fashion of retiring almost immediately after the fair sex had not been introduced.

Unlike the present fashion, it was a very late hour before (to adopt a line of one of Planche's clever paro dies) " John informed the gentlemen he'd taken up the tea." No sooner did we enter the drawing-room, than a carpet-dance was proposed; and, as waltzes and quadrilles were not even in perspective existence, we were compelled to be satisfied Avith what is now deemed a sad vulgarity — the English country dance. This led to a cotillon, and it was nearly one o'clock before Sir Roger de Coverley wound up the amusements of the night. As I said " good night" to relatives and friends, I remembered that in five hours the carriage was to be at the door, to convey me to the coach, which passed within tAvo miles of the house. I shall not attempt to describe my feelings as I entered my o.vn room : a cheerful wood fire blazed on the hearth ; it was a bright moonlight night ; I looked out of my window upon the ancestral trees, and in the language of the novelist, " thre.v myself upon my couch, and gave way to a flood of tears."

Nature came to my relief; and, after a few hours' repose, in which the scenes of the day flitted before me, I was awakened by the entrance of the housemaid, to light my fire. The window-curtains Avere thrown open, the candles lighted, and, to my dismay, I saw that the ground was partially covered with snow ; shivering and shaking before a Avood fire, that filled the room with smoke, I made my toilet, and descended into the library, where a footman, in rather slovenly attire, who was suffering from the effects of late and early hours, and no small quan tity of negus and punch which he had appropriated to himself between the drawing and steward's room, was now laying the cloth. My meal was prepared, but I turned from it with disgust ; and rushing into my parents' room, took an affectionate farewell of them and my brothers and sisters.

The carriage was at the door, my box placed Avithin it, Avith a huge hamper containing school-boys' luxuries, the gift of the housekeeper, by its side, and a small paper gave me the list of the condiments Mrs. Burridge's kindness had prepared for me : — plum-cake, oranges, apples, almonds, raisins, currant jelly, biscuits and strawberry jam. A brace of pheasants and a hare for my new tutor, my father's old schoolfellow, were hung on the lamps, while a basket of provisions for the road, enough to satisfy the appetites of the six inside pas sengers — should the coach be full — were handed to me as I took my seat by the side of the under butler, who was to escort me to Dean's Yard. After a dull and miserable drive through fields and plantations, that were most fami liar to me — scenes of youthful joy — we reached the " Bat and Ball," a small wayside inn ; and, at the door of it, to my great de fio-ht I saw my friends Tom Prior and the gamekeeper Avaiting to receive me.

They had bestirred the whole house, and I found a cheerful fire blazing in the kitchen. But I was not allowed to enjoy the comfort of it for many minutes, for the ostler, who had been on the look-out, speedily entered, and told us the coach was in sight. The hunts man pressed both my hands, and Avished me health and happiness, at the same time presenting me with a most beautiful hunting whip, as a remembrance of his regard ; while honest John Farndale, the gamekeeper, merely said — "Take care of yourself, Master Percy ; I'll look after Young Tip, and per haps you'll allow me to put this collar round his neck," displaying at the same time one of chain steel, Avith my names engraved at full length upon the plate. I tried to thank my two old sporting companions, but had scarcely uttered a Avord, Avhen the landlord informed me that my luggage was packed, and that Jem — so the coachman was called — was ready.

" No hurry, young gentleman ; " said the above-mentioned knight of the ribands, " I've a few minutes to spare." This was a delicate hint to me, as I was told by the huntsman to " stand a drop of purl," which I accordingly did; and, after Avarming himself thoroughly both Avithout and within, the coachman — a specimen of that class in those days, fat, burley, and bloated — handed me in, then mounted the box, and after " hying," " ya-hipping," and " gy-alonging," succeeded in getting the heavy vehicle, a six-inside coach, and its lumbering cattle into a trot. I then turned round to look at my companions, but although no great studier of Lavater, their physiognomies did not please me. There was an over-fed London grazier, rude both in health and manners; an antiquated spinster, redolent of musk and Macassar; a fat nurse and a squalling child, Avhose ap petite could not be satisfied with ginger bread nuts and oranges, and whose temper could not be controlled by certain shakings and scoldings ; a pert bread-and-butter miss (niece to the venerable specimen of virginity),-- who was returning to a finishing establishment at Clapham, and who divided her time between reading a dog's-eared book of sonnets, and ogling the only other pas senger left me to describe.

He, as I after wards discovered, Avas a laAvyer's clerk in a celebrated firm in Lincoln's Inn, and was as complete a buffoon and practical jester as it ever was my misfortune to encounter. Billy Sanders — so he was called — had at tempted to be the Theodore Hook of a small coterie of limbs of the law. He had got up a stupid second-hand hoax, which flashed in the pan ; and, haring failed in this, he was content to show his humour by breaking lamps, flooring " Charleys," wrenching off knockers, and sending barrels and hampers of stones, dead rats, and oyster-shells, as Christ mas presents to his friends in the country, who, seeing them marked game, with occasion ally a pheasant's feather or hare's foot pro truding, never discovered the joke until the carriage was duly paid, and the handsome cadeau opened amidst the smiles and jeers of the servants.

Sanders was a buck of the first Avater; for in those days the terms "dandy" and "exquisite" were scarcely known. His costume was a caricature of the dress of the time, which, being the period of the peninsular campaign, had given rise to a military style ; and the Bond-street lounger appeared, as did young Latitat upon this occasion, in a lightish grey great coat and cape, imitation military buttons, trousers, or rather over-alls of a darker colour, strapped with white leather, Avith an open ing on the sides, near the boots, fastened together Avith loops, or buttons. A steel curb chain from the top loop going under the boot, Avhich added to the noise of the fixed military spur, made a prodigious rat tling over the stone pavement. Mr. Sanders had always an eye to busi ness; and, hearing that I was well-con nected, he paid me every attention during the journey; but finding that the old maid Avas aAvfully afraid of robbers, he indulged us nearly the Avhole way up with stories of the highwaymen of the day.

One anecdote he told us, which I have never yet forgotten, and, although nearly forty years have elapsed since that period, I can even hoav " in my mind's eye" see the startling effect his dramatic powers produced upon the inside passengers, as he recounted the story. The grazier dropped his chin, and looked what the world call "flabbergasted." The fat nurse ejaculated "Oh, my!" "Oh dear!" and "Bless me!" The prim old lady shook like an aspen leaf; and the young Miss Avas all attention, intending to embody the incident in a story for the " Polite Museum of Literature." " Two travellers were journeying together over a dreary common," began the lawyer, " when one remarked to the other that he trusted they should not fall in with any high.vayman, as he had one hundred pounds secreted in his boot."

" Oh! " said the grazier Avith a start, feeling his breast pocket, where evidently his treasure was. Sanders proceeded : — " They had not gone many miles before they came to a most secluded spot, Avhere four cross roads met." " Bless me ! " cries the nurse, " I hope this wasn't the place." "The new-made earth round the finger post," continued the clerk, " and a gibbet at some little distance, with a body suspended in chains to it, shoAved that two victims had lately suffered the extreme penalty of the law ; they had been companions in crime, and having robbed the mail, had killed the guard. An offer of a free pardon, and two hundred pounds reAvard, had been pro claimed, when one of the wretches, actuated by vile lucre, turned king's evidence, and split upon his friend. Although he had taken part in the robbery, as he did not fire the fatal ball, his pardon was granted ; but, on the morning of the execution of his partner in guilt, remorse seized hold of him, and by his own hand he rid the country of a villain."

Here one of the horses gibbed at a hill, and the tremulous virgin was nearly thrown into an hysterical fit. " But to my story. The two travellers reached the spot I have described ; the Avind whistled across the heath, the chain of the gibbet clanked." Here the coach stopped suddenly, and the pole-chain made a noise very akin to that which Sanders was describing. " The birds of carrion hovered OA'er the new-made grave; the body of the murderer dangled in the air." At this moment, the strap of the tarpaulin on the roof broke from a sudden jerk, and swinging against the Avindow, broke it into atoms. " Oh ! oh ! oh ! " ejaculated my com panions. "Well, as they passed the gibbet, three men suddenly rushed forward, determined, as they swore with a dreadful imprecation, to have the money or the lives of the tra vellers.

"'Spare our lives ! Take all I have," said one, ' here it is ! ' offering a handful of silver ; ' but my companion has a larger sum hid aAvay in his left boot.' "'Traitor!' exclaimed the other; wdiile the highAvaymen, Avith blackened faces and cocked pistols, proceeded to take off his boots. " ' If you've spoken false,' shouted one of the marauders, ' I'll give you an ounce of lead for your pains.' " ' He's spoken truth ! ' responded the searcher. 'Here's a prize ! — a hundred pound in Bank of England notes ! ' " Securing the prize, the two travellers Avere blindfolded, and bound to the finger post, while the horse was taken out of their gig and turned loose on the common. It was an hour before they were released from their position, during which period the ill used victim vented his imprecations pretty loudly.

Upon reaching the next town, Avhere a deposition was made before the magistrate, the worthy justice commented in rather a severe strain upon the base conduct of the wretch who could act so treacherous a part. " ' Hear my palliation ! ' meekly said the accused. " ' Oh, stand doAvn ! ' responded the man in authority. " ' One word ! ' continued the other. ' My object in the declaration I made was not to screen myself at another's expense. I knew that my companion had a hundred pounds hid in his boot. I had twelve hundred pounds in my A\raistband. Had I been searched, that sum must have been disco vered. I thought it better to sacrifice the smaller to the larger sum. 1 now return the money I Avas the means of his being de prived of, and in suture recommend him to be more prudent in keeping his own counsel.'" Here the coach drove up to the door of that excellent hostellerie, the King's Arms, at Godalming, where the father of the late popular host, Mr. Moon, was ready to receive us.

Our dinner Avent off dully. I was too dispirited to eat. Despite of a few practical jokes, such as throwing marbles in the fire, to crack all over the room, emptying the cayenne bottle into the porter, placing detonating balls upon the chairs of the company, filling the salt-cellars with white pounded sugar, all of which feats were performed by Mr. Sanders, Avhile we Avere warming our selves in the kitchen. But I must get on Avith my journey. After a drive of nearly tAvelve hours, we approached the metropolis, then badly and most dimly lighted; and it Avas not until near seven o'clock that the " Highflyer" coach pulled up at the Golden Cross, Charing Cross, having been thirteen hours in accomplishing a journey of sixty three miles, and which, in our days, Avould take a man from London to Liverpool and back, or to Exeter three times in the same number of hours.

After paying our fares, taking leave of Mr. Sanders, who promised to call some day in Dean's Yard, our luggage was deposited in a hackney-coach, and we were driven to the toAvn family-mansion. My uncle was tempo rarily residing there, but, unfortunately for me, was from home for a day or two, so that instead of finding a welcome from this kindhearted relative, I was shown into a huge cold drawing-room, with a neAvly lighted fire, where the furniture had on its Avinter gear, and all looked dull and disconsolate. The housekeeper soon made her appearance — a prim and portly woman ; and, instead of allowing me to run into her snuggery, warm myself by the crackling fire, and make my way to the sweet stores, she formally told me that tea would shortly be served, and that at eight o'clock Sir Gregory Bates, the physician to the family, would call in his carriage to take me to Dean's Yard.

The tea, Avith bread and butter cut in fashionable slices, about enough for a sparrow's breakfast, shortly made its appearance ; and then remembering my basket of prori sions, I selected some of the most tempting, and sat down with an empty stomach and half broken heart to my solitary meal. There is an old French saying that " Vappetit vient en mangeant" and the truth of it was exemplified upon this occasion, for no sooner had I got fairly into a cold snipe-pie, than I felt as hungry as a half-starved Esquimaux, and Avas devouring the contents very much after the fashion of a cannibal, when the door opened, and the worthy disciple of Galen made his appearance. Sir Gregory's costume was very unlike the dress of the me dical men of our day ; for, instead of the Taglioni Avrapper, the loose trousers, the Wellington boot, the black handkerchief, and the unpoAvdered caput, he appeared in a suit of sables, coat, waistcoat, and " continua tions " of black cloth, jet knee and shoe buckles, silk stockings, Avhite neckcloth, and shirt frill, poAvdered head, and a pigtail.

With an erect carriage, a dignified look, and a smile upon a somewhat stern-looking coun tenance, the Avorthy Æsculapius approached rae ; and, after a kind greeting, proceeded to inquire after my health : — " A little heated after the journey, I presume? " said he. " Heated ! " responded I, thinking the question applied ex and not internally, " not the least, sir ! " VOL. I. C He then proceeded to put a variety of questions, as to my usual state of health, and seemed not a little surprised when I replied that I had never had a day's illness, with the exception of an occasional cold, which Tom Prior had always cured by giving me " a walk," after the Newmarket fashion, and a teaspoonful of SAveet spirits of nitre in what that respected huntsman called a night-cap — a glass of Avhite wine whey.

" Rather flushed ! " continued the M.D. ; but fearing a breakfast might be prescribed for me of rather a darker hue than that Avhich I generally took, I quickly replied that I had been sitting over the fire, and had eaten rather fast. " Perhaps, then, you are as well without anything," said the baronet. " We will now proceed to Dean's Yard." So, ringing the bell, the carriage was ordered, and in a few minutes I was seated by the side of this most kind-hearted man, who was reading me a lecture on chills, draughts of air — not medi cine, checked perspirations, sudden transitions of heat and cold, Avet feet, and umvhole some food. It was a raAV miserable night, a cold thaw ; the streets Avere full of melted snow and slush : and, as we drove up in all the pomp and pride of my uncle's town cha riot, under the melancholy-looking archway that leads to the spot where I Avas to take up my new abode, my heart died within me.

I had but little time for melancholy reflections, for the carriage shortly pulled up at a large house in Great Dean's Yard ; and no sooner had the thundering rap of a fashionable London footman announced us, than I heard the unfastening of a chain ; and, upon the door being partially opened, I observed by the dim light of a talloAv candle the figures of a dozen or two of boys who had gathered round the Cerberus that guarded it. Upon our names being announced, the urchins whose curiosity had attracted them to the spot, were driven back, and we de scended from the carriage. As Ave crossed the entrance-hall to a room on its right, the murmur of "A new fellow ! " " What a little c2 one ! " and the "Guy of a governor ! " " Did you twig his tail ? " " What a buck ! " Avas buzzed about, and reached my ears as I passed a phalanx of urchins.