XXIX. LITERATURE, THE PRESS, ETC…

XXIX. LITERATURE, THE PRESS, ETC

Authors -- Public libraries -- Their condition -- George Psalmanazar -- Hack writers -- Poverty of authors -- Their punishment -- The press -- Daily Courant -- List of newspapers -- London Gazette -- Postboy -- Postman -- Dawk's News Letter -- Dyer's -- Evening papers -- Dearth of domestic news -- Amenities of the press -- Roper and Redpath -- Tutchin -- His trial -- Press remuneration -- Mrs. Manley -- The Essay papers -- The halfpenny stamp -- Its effect -- Advertising -- Almanacs -- List of them -- Moore's -- The Ladies' Diary -- Poor Robin's Almanack -- Merlinus Liberatus -- The Essayists and Partridge -- His false death -- His elegy and epitaph -- An amateur magazine.

Well might the time of Anne be called the Augustan age of literature. The writers of that day have lived till ours, and will live and be quoted as models of purity of style, as long as, and wherever, the English language is spoken. In what other age can such a wealth of literary names be found as Addison, Steele, Swift, Pope, Warburton, Gay, Prior, Parnell, Defoe, Vanbrugh, Congreve, Rowe! It was the grand awakening of letters; and, having good food provided for them, the people appreciated it, and it undoubtedly laid the foundation of the present reading age. Before this time there had been no books, i.e. adapted to the general public, to read. Truly, there were scholars here and there, and the Universities were ever fountains of learning; but literature had not entered into every-day life, and we have to thank Steele and Addison, who charmed the public taste by their social and moral essays, into becoming first a reading, and then a thinking people.

There were men who loved their books--veritable bibliophiles--and what choice editions they must have possessed! Look at the huge volumes of title-pages which Bagford collected as materials for his history of printing--which never was written--look at the treasures that have come down to us in the Cotton, Harleian Royal, and Lambeth libraries! A sale like that of the Sunderland library[504] convulses the literary world, and buyers come from all parts of the globe. Then, however, an advertisement like this was not uncommon: 'A curious Collection of Books, which was Collected by a great Antiquarian, in Greek, Latin, Spanish, French, Italian, and English, in all Faculties and Sciences, many of them very scarce, of the best Authors and Editions, as Aldus, Stevens, Elzevir and others,' etc.

[Footnote 504: The Duke of Marlborough's collection, sold 1882.]

We learn from Misson the state of our public libraries. He says: 'At present I know but three publick ones in this City; those of the Chapter at Westminster, and Sion College (which are very much neglected, and in a sorry Condition in all Respects) and that which Dr. Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury, has lately founded. The two former are going to Decay, and the latter is not yet quite form'd. Neither the one nor the other are much frequented. The King's Library at St. James's is also in a miserable state; I am told that Dr. Bentley, who has the keeping of it, in the room of Mr. Instel, does all he can to restore it; but his Endeavours will be to no purpose, unless the Master of it has Leisure and Will to have an Eye to it himself. There have been Books in Pawn in the Hands of the Binders, I know not how many Years. King Charles II. did but laugh at it. It is, nevertheless, a Pity that so many good Books, and so well bound, should be given up to the Mould and Moisture of the Air, to Moths and to Dust. The Library of Sir Robert Cotton is particularly famous for Manuscripts. The Royal Society have begun to Collect a pretty good one: the late Duke of Norfolk, who was of it, left them his. There are a great many Noble men in England that love Books, and have good Collections of them.'

A literary curiosity of this reign deserves to be, and must be, noticed. It is George Psalmanazar, the impostor who, for a while, deceived the majority of the English literati. He seems to have been born in France in 1679, and to have received a good education. He wandered about as a pilgrim, and that either not paying, or else being dissatisfied with the life, he hit upon the extraordinary idea of passing himself off as a Formosan, and to do this he actually had to invent a new language and grammar. Accompanied by a clergyman named Innes, he came over to England, where he translated the Church Catechism into pretended Formosan, and he published a History of Formosa, and of his own adventures; but the suspicions of the learned were aroused, and he was unmasked. He tried to fight against it for some time, and issued advertisements in the papers, that he could be seen, spoken with, and catechised, but to no purpose. He afterwards lived by doing hack work for the booksellers, and at his death he thoroughly confessed his imposture.

The hack writers of the time are thus humorously described in the Guardian (No. 58): 'According as my necessities suggest it to me, I hereby provide for my being. The last summer I paid a large debt for brandy and tobacco, by a wonderful description of a fiery dragon, and lived for ten days together upon a whale and a mermaid. When winter draws near, I generally conjure up my spirits, and have my apparition ready against long dark evenings. From November last to January I lived solely upon murders; and have since that time, had a comfortable subsistence from a plague and a famine. I made the Pope pay for my Beef and Mutton last Lent, out of pure spite to the Romish Religion; and at present my good friend the King of Sweden finds me in clean linen, and the Mufti gets me credit at the Tavern.'

Literary men had their money troubles then as now--probably not more so--as many a melancholy tale of modern Grub Street could tell. Swift's society did some good. Take his Journal to Stella, Feb. 12 and 13, 1713, as an example: 'I gave an account of Sixty guineas I had collected, and am to give them away to two Authors to-morrow, and lord Treasurer has promised me a hundred pounds to reward some others.... I found a letter on my table last night to tell me that poor little Harrison ... was ill, and desired to see me at night.... I went in the morning, and found him mighty ill, and got thirty guineas for him from Lord Bolinbroke, and an order for a hundred pounds from the treasury to be paid him to-morrow.... I was to see a poor poet, one Mr. Diaper, in a nasty garret, very sick. I gave him twenty guineas from Lord Bolinbroke, and disposed the other sixty to two other authors.' This was practical benevolence, but its record only shows the sad necessity there was for its exercise.

Other troubles they had, and perhaps not the least of them was the fear of personal violence. They hit hard in those days, and people did not always take their castigation meekly. Sometimes they took the law into their own hands, and then woe be to the unfortunate author. Samuel Johnson (author of Julian) in Charles the Second's reign was not only publicly whipped, but was nearly murdered in his own house. Tutchin, too, who wrote a poem on the death of James II., was waylaid, and so frightfully beaten that he died from its effects. Defoe also frequently mentions attempts to injure him. So Swift wrote to Stella,[505] 'No, no, I'll walk late no more; I ought to venture it less than other people, and so I was told.'

[Footnote 505: Journal, June 30, 1711.]

In what condition was the press of that day? Let Pope's bitter pen answer--

Next plunged a feeble, but a desperate, pack, With each a sickly brother at his back; Sons of a day; just buoyant on the flood, Then numbered with the puppies in the mud. Ask ye their names? I could as soon disclose The names of these blind puppies as of those. And monumental brass this record bears, These are--ah--no--these were--the gazetteers.[506]

[Footnote 506: Dunciad.]

When Anne succeeded to the throne on March 8, 1702, the following newspapers were in existence: The London Post, English Post, Postman, Postboy, Flying Post, London Gazette, Post Angel, New State of Europe, and Dawks's and Dyer's News Letter (the former of which was printed in script letters, to look as much as possible like writing). The whole of these were issued three times a week; but three days after Anne's accession came out the first daily paper in England. The Daily Courant was born March 11, 1702, and this little fledgling, the precursor of the mighty daily press, measures but 14 in. by 8 in. It is printed only on one side of the sheet: the reason given for which is, to say the least, peculiar, reminding one of the lines:--

My wound is great, because it is so small, Then were it greater, were it none at all.

'This Courant (as the Title shews) will be Publish'd Daily; being design'd to give all the Material News as soon as every Post arrives; and is confin'd to half the Compass, to save the Publick at least half the Impertinences of Ordinary News Papers.' Probably the correct reason was that, being a new venture, it could not obtain advertisements. These, however, speedily came when it passed into the hands of Samuel Buckley (printer of the Spectator), and, in May, it was in a most flourishing state, the other side being entirely taken up with them, and it continued to have its fair share during the whole of the reign. There is nothing very striking about its news, but, as it is such a wonderful infant, I have reproduced this first number in its entirety[507] here--it will serve as a model to show the kind of news contained in these newspapers. There now exist but two newspapers which were in being in Queen Anne's reign, namely, the London Gazette (but that has been kept alive through its official nursing), and--but one due to private enterprise--Berrow's Worcester Journal, which was established in 1700.

[Footnote 507: See Frontispiece.]

The other papers born in this reign, including the Satirical and Essay papers, are The Observator, Gazette de Londres, Monthly Register, Letter Writer, Whitehall, Rehearsal, Diverting Post, A Weekly Review of the Affairs of France, by Daniel De Foe, Whipping Post, News Letter, General Remarks on Trade, Mercurius Politicus, St. James's, Kensington, Evening Post, A Review of the State of the British Nation, The Weekly Comedy, Generous Advertiser, Humours of a Coffee House, The British Apollo, Tatler, Athenian News, Examiner, Medley, Moderator, Evening Courant, British Mercury, Protestant Postboy, Hermit, Useful Intelligencer, Night Post, Spectator, Plain Dealer, Guardian, The Reconciler, The Mercator, Englishman, Britain, The Lover, The Patriot, Controller, Weekly Packet, Monitor.

It would be a waste of time to follow the fortunes of all these papers; suffice it to say, that the majority of them had but a brief existence, and let us note only a few of the prominent ones. First of all the London Gazette, of which Misson says 'it is the truest and most Cautious of all the Gazettes that I know. It inserts no news but what is Certain, and often waits for the Confirmation of it, before it publishes it.' It was first published on Feb. 1, 1666, and still continues to this day as the official newspaper. It was first printed by Thomas Newcomb, of the Savoy, then by Edward Jones, who died in 1705. From Feb. 18 of that year to Feb. 26, 1708, it was printed by his widow, M. Jones. At the latter date, it appears as printed by J. Tonson, at Gray's Inn Gate, who, although he moved into the Strand, continued to print it during the remainder of the reign. It was somewhat smaller than the other papers, and its normal price was 1_d._, but, if of extra size, owing to addresses to the Queen, etc., it was 2_d._ It was published twice weekly, and was the only one of the newspapers that kept up the old style of reckoning time. It did not begin the new year till after March 25; thus, for the year 1702, all the Gazettes would be 1701 till March 25, after which they would be 1702 till that same date in 1703.

When Samuel Buckley took the Daily Courant in hand, he at once filled it with advertisements. He then lived at the Dolphin, in Little Britain; afterwards at Amen Corner. Either he sold the Courant, or gave up printing it, for on Sept. 25, 1714, it was 'Printed by S. Gray, sold by Ferd. Burleigh in Amen Corner.' Perhaps he could not attend to two papers at once, for, on the copy of the London Gazette for Sept. 25/28, 1714, in the British Museum, is written 'first Gazette by Mr. Buckley.' Dunton[508] says of him: 'He was Originally a Bookseller, but follows Printing. He is an excellent Linguist, understands the Latin, French, Dutch and Italian Tongues; and is Master of a great Deal of Wit. He prints the Daily Courant and Monthly Register (which, I hear, he Translates out of the Foreign Papers himself).' Its usual price was 1_d._, but there was a special edition published. The news of every Post Day's Courant, is Constantly Printed with the News of the Day before, on a Sheet of Writing Paper, a Blank being left for the Conveniency of sending it by the Post. And may be had for 2_d._'[509]

[Footnote 508: The Life and Errors of John Dunton, Lond. 1705.]

[Footnote 509: Daily Courant, Sept. 21, 1705.]

Dunton thought the Postboy was the best for English and Spanish news, but the Postman was the best for everything. A French Protestant, named Fonvive, wrote the latter, and in the early part of Anne's reign the Postboy was written by Thomas, afterwards by Boyer, also a foreigner, who had been tutor to the young Duke of Gloucester. Swift writes of him: 'One Boyer, a French dog, has abused me in a pamphlet, and I have got him up in a Messenger's hands. The secretary promised me to swinge him. I must make that rogue an example to others.'

In the early days of the reign both these papers had manuscript postscripts, or supplements, when any fresh news arrived that was not in their last edition, they being published thrice weekly. 'This is to give Notice, that the Post Boy, with a Written Postscript, containing all the Domestick Occurrences, with the Translations of the Foreign News that arrives after the Printing of the said Post Boy, is to be had only of Mr. John Shank, at Nandoe's Coffee house, between the two Temple Gates; and at Mr. Abel Roper's at the Black Boy, over against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet Street.' 'The Author of this Paper having several times declared in Print that he is no ways directly nor indirectly concerned in the Written Postscripts to the Post Man, nor any other News but what is printed therein; he thinks he has reason to complain of several People, who write to him from the Country about faults and mistakes contained in those Written Postscripts, putting him thereby to unnecessary Charges. He desires those Persons to forbear the same for the future, but if they are not satisfied with their written News (seeing they are not Contented with what is Printed), they may be furnished with written Postscripts at Tom's Coffee House in St. Martin's Lane, by a Person, who the Author hopes, will give them entire satisfaction.'

Later on in the century they printed these postscripts, but they were not safe even then. 'There being a Sham Postscript published last night, with an Advertisement, intending to impose the same upon people as a Postscript to the Postman, We think fit to desire again our readers to buy no Postscripts to the Postman, but from the Hawkers they know, as the only means to stop that Villanous practice; and when there is any material New, we shall take care to publish a Postscript, provided it be a Post Day, and not too Late.' The Post Boy had two rough woodcuts, one on each side of the title: one of a Post boy on horseback, blowing his horn; the other a Fame, blowing a trumpet, on the banner of which is inscribed Viresque acquirit eundo; whilst the Postman has two woodcuts occupying the same position: one of a ship in full sail; the other of a post boy on horseback, blowing his horn. They are the same size as the Daily Courant.

'Dawks's News Letter, For Thirty Shillings a Year, paying a Quarter before Hand to J. Dawks at the West End of Thames Street by Wardrobe Stairs, near Puddle Dock,' was, as before said, printed in imitation of writing. It generally contained a little more domestic news than the other papers, and may be said to be the first evening paper. 'This News Letter continues to be published every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, in the Evening, and contains what is most Remarkable, in any (or all) of the other News Papers; to which is added the Occurrences of the Day, and the Heads of the Foreign Mails, which come in many times after the publication of the Printed Papers; and is so contrived, that a Blank Space is left for any Gentleman, or others, to write their private Business to their Friends in the Country, so that they may have therewith the Chiefest News stirring.' Ichabod Dawks started his News Letter on Aug. 4, 1696. Steele mentions it more than once in the Tatler, notably No. 178, where he says: 'But Mr. Dawkes concluded his paper with a courteous sentence, which was very well taken, and applauded by the whole company. "We wish," says he, "all our Customers a merry Whitsuntide, and many of them." Honest Ichabod is as extraordinary a man as any of our fraternity, and as particular.'

The proprietor of the other news-letter, Dyer, got into trouble more than once. In 1694 he was summoned before the Parliament, and reprimanded by the Speaker 'for his great presumption' in printing the proceedings of the House. And once again, in 1702, he was ordered to attend the House to answer for his presuming to misrepresent the proceedings. He did not attend, and the attorney-general was instructed 'to find out and prosecute him.'

In No. 18 of the Tatler, the joint production of Steele and Addison, is an excellent résumé of the foregoing newspapers. 'There is another sort of gentlemen whom I am much more concerned for, and that is the ingenious fraternity of which I have the honour to be an unworthy member; I mean the News Writers of Great Britain, whether Post Men or Post Boys, or by what other name or title soever dignified, or distinguished. The case of these gentlemen is, I think more hard than that of the Soldiers, considering they have taken more towns, and fought more battles. They have been upon parties and skirmishes, when our armies have lain still; and given the general assault to many a place, when the besiegers were quiet in their trenches. They have made us masters of several strong towns many weeks before our generals could do it; and completed victories, when our greatest captains have been glad to come off with a drawn battle. Where Prince Eugene has slain his thousands, Boyer has slain his ten thousands. This gentleman can indeed be never enough commended for his courage and intrepidity during the whole war: he has laid about him with an inexpressible fury; and, like the offended Marius of ancient Rome, made such havoc among his countrymen, as must be the work of two or three ages to repair. It must be confessed, the redoubted Mr. Buckley has shed as much blood as the former; but I cannot forbear saying (and I hope it will not look like envy) that we regard our brother Buckley as a kind of Drawcansir,[510] who spares neither friend nor foe; but generally kills as many of his own side as the enemies. It is impossible for this ingenious sort of men to subsist after a peace; everyone remembers the shifts they were driven to in the reign of King Charles the Second, when they could not furnish out a single paper of News, without lighting up a comet in Germany, or a fire in Moscow. There scarce appeared a letter without a paragraph on an earthquake. Prodigies were grown so familiar, that they had lost their name, as a great Poet of that age has it. I remember Mr. Dyer, who is justly looked upon by all Fox hunters in the nation as the greatest statesman our country has produced, was particularly famous for dealing in whales; insomuch, that in five months' time (for I had the Curiosity to examine his letters on that occasion) he brought three into the mouth of the River Thames, besides two porpoises and a Sturgeon. The judicious and wary Mr. Ichabod Dawks hath all along been the rival of this great writer, and got himself a reputation from plagues and famines; by which, in those days, he destroyed as great multitudes, as he has lately done by the sword. In every dearth of news, Grand Cairo was sure to be unpeopled.'

[Footnote 510: The name of a principal character in the Duke of Buckingham's comedy of The Rehearsal.]

The Evening Post came out in Aug. 1706, and was 'Published by John Morphew near Stationers' Hall.' It seems to have been then a failure, but it was started again in 1709. The Evening Courant, which started July 1711, seems also to have had a very brief existence, as did also the Night Post, which was born the same year, but this latter seems to have had a longer life than its sister the Courant.

The domestic news in them was nearly nil--principally of the sailing of ships or bringing in of prizes. Foreign news was taken bodily from the foreign papers, as we see in the Daily Courant, in the Appendix; and the home news was left to take care of itself. The Gazette generally had the Queen's Speech to Parliament, and sometimes the other newspapers would also have it, if on very special occasions, say on June 6, 1712, when the Queen communicated to Parliament the terms on which a peace might be made; yet the only reference the Flying Post of June 5/7 has on the subject is, 'Yesterday Her Majesty went to the House of Peers, and made a long speech to both Houses.'

In fact, in all the twelve years of this reign, I only remember meeting with one long account of any piece of home news, and I cannot help thinking that was manufactured, as it is decidedly of the catchpenny and chapbook order. It was 'An Account of the Apprehending and taking of Thomas Wallis, alias Whipping Tom,' a wicked villain who got hold of unprotected females, when crossing the unfrequented fields near Hackney, and administered a fearful thrashing to them, 'with a great Rodd of Birch, that the Blood ran down their tender Bodies in a sad and dreadful manner.' His only excuse was his 'being resolved to be Revenged on all the Women he could come at after that manner, for the sake of one Perjur'd Female, who had been Barbarously False to him.' He 'believed that he had Whip'd from the 10th of October last to the 1st of December, about Three Score and Ten, including Widdows, Wives and Maids, and did intend, if he had not been taken, to have made them up to a Hundred betwixt this and Christmas, at which time he then intended to keep Hollyday till after Twelfday, and then began his Whipping Work.' And once, too, the Postboy (Jan. 27/29, 1713) broke out in a sarcastically humorous vein: 'On Monday last that Facetious and Merry Gentleman in the Pulpit, Mr. Daniel Burgess, departed this Life to the great Mortification of his Female Auditors.'

'Esq: Thomas Burnet (S-n of that vertuous, orthodox, pious, forgiving, impartial, sincere, never wav-ri-g (always standing to his T-x-t) modest, conscientious Di--ne, and by the Gr-- of G--d in the fere of the L--d) was on Saturday last taken up, and carried to the Lord Viscount Bolinbroke's Office, for being the Author of that seditious and scandalous Pamphlet, call'd A certain Information of a certain Discourse, &c. (of which Libel Mr. Baker the Publisher lately swore he was the Author) and gave sureties to appear the last Day of this Term; his Bail were Guy Neville and Geo Trenchard Esqs: What's bred in the B-ne will never be out of the Fl-sh.'

Talk about the amenities of the press! Here are one or two samples:--

Titus detected the Tory Popish Plot, and Abel's [511] inveterating a Whiggish One.

[Footnote 511: Abel Roper, who then conducted the Post Boy.]

Titus was a Foul Mouth Slanderer,--so is Abel.

Titus openly traduced the next Heir to this Crown--So has Abel.

Titus deserv'd to be Hang'd--So does Abel.

Titus was low in Stature, but of Outrageous Principles--So is Abel.

Titus was protected in his Impudence--So is Abel.

But the Time's coming to change, Titus was call'd to Account for it--so will Abel.

Titus was flogg'd and Pilloried--So will Abel.

Titus was despised by both Parties--So will Abel.

Titus died unpittied;--So will Abel.

In fine,--Titus was both Knave and Dunce;--So is Abel.[512]

[Footnote 512: Protestant Post Boy, Jan. 15/17, 1712.]

One would imagine that after this flagellation Roper would not be the first to assault a brother journalist, but he fell foul of Ridpath, who conducted the Flying Post, and this is how he did it: 'Yesterday, one George Ridpath, a Cameronian, who formerly (as it is credibly reported) was banished Scotland, for putting on Lawn Sleves, and administering ---- to a Dog, in derision of the Church and Bishops, was committed to Newgate for several scandalous Reflections writ by him in a Paper formerly publish'd call'd the Observator; and for being the Author of several notorious Falshoods and scandalous Reflections on the Queen and Government, in a paper call'd The Flying Post.'[513]

[Footnote 513: Post Boy, Sept. 6/9, 1712.]

Ridpath,[514] of whom Dunton says 'His Humility and His Honesty have establish'd his Reputation,' hit back by means of an anonymous correspondent in the Flying Post:--

[Footnote 514: Ridpath invented a manifold writer, which would take six or more copies at once.]

'Lynn Regis in Norfolk, Sept 22.

'Sir,

'Having observ'd the false Account which that Scandalous Wretch Abel Roper gave some time ago in his Post Boy, about the Reception of Mr. Walpole here; This is to inform you 'tis a notorious Lye; for that worthy Gentleman had a very honourable Reception, answerable to the just Esteem which this Corporation has for him.'

A notice of one more sparring match must close this subject--the same two papers. Says friend Abel[515]: 'In the Flying Post of last Tuesday, we have a very unusual Specimen of the Author's Modesty, in Owning and Recanting the Lye he had so impudently fix'd on Dr. S----l in his former Paper. But 'tis very remarkable, That by endeavouring to excuse this Lye, he unluckily falls into his Habitual Sin again, no less than three times in this single Paragraph.... So little Credit is to be given to this Infamous Weekly Libel, fill'd always with Lies of the Author's own Invention, or such as are taken up at second-hand, and vouch'd by him without the least Regard to Truth, Common Sense, or Common Honesty.'

[Footnote 515: Post Boy, Mar. 30/April 1, 1714.]

After this, who can wonder if some editors had rather a rough time of it, especially Roper. He gives us[516] one glimpse of his condition: 'Last night William Thompson Esq., came to the Proprietor of this Paper, and told him, That if he did not insert the following Paragraph in his Paper of this Day, God Damn him, he would cut his Throat, and he had a Penknife in his Pocket for that purpose; for which the Proprietor of this Paper designs to prosecute him according to Law, but thought fit to publish this, that the Nation may be Judges, whether a Person of such a Character is proper to be employ'd in his Station in the Law? or, Whether our Constitution ought to be entrusted in such Hands as will not scruple to commit Murder whenever it may serve their Purpose.'

[Footnote 516: Postboy, Sept. 12/15, 1713.]

In 1704 the House of Commons took umbrage at some remarks which John Tutchin, the conductor of the Observator, had made on some mismanagement of public affairs (and they were undoubted libels), and cited him, the printer, and publisher before their Bar, to be brought in custody of the Serjeant-at-Arms. Tutchin gave bail for his appearance: and his trial came on on Nov. 4, 1704.[517] He got off somehow, and was never tried again. Earlier in life he had been tried at the Bloody Assizes, where he had the brutal Jeffreys for his judge, and he was sentenced 'to be imprisoned for Seven Years; that once every year he should be whipt through all the Market Towns in Dorsetshire; that he should pay a fine of one hundred marks to the King, and find security for his good behaviour during life.... Upon passing the Sentence, the Clerk of the Arraigns stood up, and said, My lord, there are a great many market towns in this County; the sentence reaches to a whipping about once a fortnight, and he is a very young man. Aye, says Jeffreys, he is a young man but an old rougue; and all the interest in England shall not reverse the sentence I have past upon him.' So poor Tutchin's heart died within him, and he petitioned the King that he 'will be mercifully pleased to grant him the favour of being hanged with those of his fellow prisoners, that are condemned to die.' But to no avail.

[Footnote 517: Howell's State Trials, ed. 1812, v. 14.]

His friends tried to buy him a pardon, but Jeffreys frustrated all their efforts. At length Tutchin fell ill of the smallpox, and nearly died of it, being only tended by his fellow-prisoners. During his illness his mother bought his pardon of Jeffreys[518]; then she fell sick of the smallpox, and died.

[Footnote 518: A scandalous practice then in vogue. 'Mr. Tutchin hereupon endeavoured to get a pardon from the people who had grants of lives, many of them 500, some 1000, more or less as they had interest with the King.' Again: 'For it was usual at that time for one Courtier to get a pardon of the King for half a Score, and then by the assistance of Jeffreys to augment the sum to fourscore or a hundred.' In these 'Bloody Assizes' 300 persons were condemned to death, and nearly 1,000 sold as slaves to the West Indian plantations.]

Of Tutchin's trial in 1704 we have the following contemporary evidence from Luttrell: '18 May. Mr. Tutchin, author of the Observator, against whom a proclamation was out at the desire of the House of Commons, has given 1000_l._ bail to answer what shall be objected against him'; and on May 29 he gave fresh bail. His trial began, as we know, on Nov. 4, and he was found guilty, but sentence was deferred. On the 14th we hear 'Yesterday, Mr. Tutchin, found guilty of publishing the Observator, appeared at the Queen's bench Court, when his council inform'd the Court of an error in the information, and the Attorney General desiring time to consider of it, Tutchin is to attend again on Saturday.' The point was the false dating of the writ; and he attended on the 20th and 23rd, when it was argued; and on Nov. 28 judgment was given in Tutchin's favour, 'the Attorney General at liberty to try him again,' which he never did.

This trial is interesting, as it furnishes us with evidence as to the pay of an editor, or rather author (for Tutchin wrote the whole paper), of that time. John How was the proprietor of the paper, which appeared first on April 1, 1702. In his evidence is the following:--

How. About the latter end of March, 1702, I treated with Mr. Tutchin about writing an Observator, to be published weekly: the first of which was published in April 1702. And all that have been printed since, I had from him to this year.

Att. Gen. You looked on these papers here: were those printed by the direction of Mr. Tutchin?

How. To the best of my knowledge, they were. They were always brought from him to me.

Att. Gen. Was there any agreement made between you about the writing of it?

How. Yes, it was agreed at first to write once a week; and I was to give him half a guinea for it.[519] ...

[Footnote 519: Howell's State Papers, ed. 1812, pp. 1105-6.]

Sir T. Powis. Did you pay him for the Preface?

How. Yes, and for the Index.[520] ...

[Footnote 520: Ibid. p. 1108.]

L. C. Justice. What did you give him for that Preface and Index?

How. I think it was ten shillings.

At the same time there were other libels afloat. '30 May 1704. Yesterday came out a proclamation by her Majestie for discovering and apprehending the author, printer, and publisher of a scandalous libel, intituled, Legions Humble Addresse to the Lords; offering the reward of £100 for the author thereof, and fifty pounds for the printer thereof.'[521]

[Footnote 521: Luttrell.]

Was not Steele turned out of Parliament for libel? 'Resolved that Richard Steele, Esq{re}, for his offence in writing and publishing the said scandalous and seditious libels, be expelled the House;'[522] and the resolution was adopted by 245 votes against 152.

[Footnote 522: Journals of the House of Commons, vol. xvii. p. 514.]

In 1709 Luttrell tells us: '15 Oct. The Authors of the Review and Female Tatler were presented by the grand jury as scandalous and a publick nuisance, and were ordered to be prosecuted. 1 Nov. This day the printer and publisher of the New Atlantis were examined touching the author Mrs. Manley; they were discharged, but she remains in custody. 5 Nov. One Ball is taken up for writing scandalous papers on persons of quality; but Mrs. Manley, the author of the New Atlantis, is admitted to Bayl.'

Few would be inclined to pity the profligate Mrs. Manley for any punishment she might have received for her scandalous libels in both the Female Tatler and the New Atlantis; but she was not punished. On the contrary, the Ministry gave her employment for her pen.

The Tatler commenced the series of Essay papers. Steele is almost apologetic, in its first number, for having to make any charge. He elaborately calls attention to the expenses incurred in getting up such a paper, and adds 'these considerations will I hope make all persons willing to comply with my humble request (when my gratis stock is exhausted) of a penny a piece.' And an advertisement at the end of No. 4 says, 'Upon the humble petition of Running Stationers &c. this Paper may be had of them, for the future, at the price of one penny.' But there was a more expensive edition, whole-sheet Tatlers, having a double quantity of paper, with one half-sheet blank 'to write business on, and for the convenience of the post,' and they, of course, were more expensive. The Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian were all of Steele's creation; they were born, and died, at his discretion; and the Spectator, at least, was always laid on the Royal breakfast table. Their imitators were numerous, but short-lived; in fact, the imposition of a halfpenny stamp massacred the innocents of the press in a wholesale manner.

This tax was evidently in contemplation some time before it became law. Swift writes to Stella, Jan. 31, 1711: 'They are here intending to tax all little printed penny papers a halfpenny every half sheet, which will utterly ruin Grub Street, and I am endeavouring to prevent it.' It slept for a little, but it was smuggled at last into the 10th Anne,[523] cap. 19, and fairly hidden among duties on soap, paper, silk, linens, hackney chairs, cards, marriage licences, etc. It came into operation on Aug. 1, 1712, and Swift makes merry over the effect it will have on the struggling periodical literature. '19 July 1712. Grub Street has but ten days to live; then an act of parliament takes place that ruins it, by taxing every half sheet at a halfpenny.' '17 Aug. 1712. Do you know that Grub Street is dead and gone last week? No more ghosts or murders now for love or money. I plied it pretty close the last fortnight, and published at least seven penny papers of my own, besides some of other people's: but now every single half sheet pays a halfpenny to the Queen. The Observator is fallen; the Medleys are jumbled together with the Flying Post; the Examiner is deadly sick; the Spectator keeps up, and doubles its price; I know not how long it will hold. Have you seen the red stamp the papers are marked with? Methinks the stamping is worth a halfpenny.'

[Footnote 523: The part of this Act specially bearing upon newspapers was a stamp duty for thirty-two years from August 1, 1712: 'And be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, that there shall be Raised, Levied, Collected and Paid, to and for the Use of Her Majesty, her Heirs and Successors, for and upon all Books or Papers commonly called Pamphlets, and for and upon all News Papers, or Papers containing Publick News, Intelligence or Occurrences, which shall, at any time or times within or during the Term last mentioned, be printed in Great Britain to be Dispersed and made Publick, and for and upon such Advertisements as are herein after mentioned the respective Duties following; That is to say.

'For every such Pamphlet or Paper contained in Half a Sheet or any lesser Piece of Paper, so Printed, the sum of One half penny.

'For every such Pamphlet or Paper (being larger than Half a Sheet, not exceeding one Whole Sheet) so printed, a Duty after the Rate of One Penny Sterling for every Printed Copy thereof.

'And for every such Pamphlet or Paper, being larger than One Whole Sheet, and not exceeding Six Sheets in Octavo, or in a Lesser Page, or not exceeding Twelve Sheets in Quarto, or Twenty Sheets in Folio, so Printed, a Duty after the Rate of Two Shillings Sterling for every Sheet of any kind of Paper which shall be contained in One Printed Copy thereof.

'And for every Advertisement to be Contained in the London Gazette or any other printed Paper, such Paper being Dispersed or made publick Weekly, or oftner, the Sum of Twelve Pence Sterling.' Acts of Parliament were exempt.]

The Spectator does not chuckle over the fall of its humbler brethren. Addison says[524]: 'This is the Day on which many eminent Authors will probably Publish their Last Words. I am afraid that few of our Weekly Historians, who are Men that above others delight in War, will be able to subsist under the Weight of a Stamp, and an approaching Peace. A Sheet of Blank Paper that must have this new Imprimatur clapt upon it, before it is qualified to Communicate any thing to the Publick, will make its Way in the World but very heavily. In short, the Necessity of carrying a Stamp, and the Improbability of Notifying a Bloody Battel, will, I am afraid, both concur to the sinking of those thin Folios, which have every other Day retailed to us the History of Europe for several Years last past. A Facetious Friend of mine who loves a Punn, calls this present Mortality among Authors, The Fall of the Leaf.'

[Footnote 524: No. 445, July 31, 1712.]

All the papers, except the Spectator, rose their price just the value of the stamps; but that 'Society Journal' charged 1_d._ extra--a fact which caused no little grumbling--and which made Addison put forth all his powers of special pleading to vindicate (see No. 488).

The imposition of 1_s._ duty on advertisements had no deterrent effect upon them; this 'backbone of the paper' continued as before. There is nothing that I have found to guide us as to the prices of advertisements, except in one case--and I hardly think that can be called a representative one. It is that of a short-lived paper called 'THE GENEROUS ADVERTISER OR Weekly Information of TRADE and BUSINESS. To be published every Tuesday, and Friday, and 4000 of them always carefully Distributed and Given away Gratis each Day, in and about the City's of London and Westminster.' It enjoyed its brief existence in 1707. The terms were not excessive under the circumstances; 'Advertisements ... will be taken by the Men who carry this PAPER about; Who will take them in very Carefully and Cheap viz. after the Rate of 3_d._ for every Fifty letters.'

Advertisements, with the exception of those of quack doctors and their medicines, were very much as now. Booksellers, public amusements, things lost, things for sale, etc., give those old sheets a strange similarity to those we are so familiar with.

Even the poor almanacs were taxed. The Protestant Post Boy, Nov. 15/17, 1711, says, 'Whereas, by an Act made last Sessions of Parliament, a Duty was laid on all Almanacks, and a Penalty of Ten Pounds is for any one that shall Sell any Almanacks without being first Stampt as the Law directs; and whereas the said Tax &c. has made a great Attraction in the Price, this is to give Notice to all Retale Buyers, or others that the Prices are as follows.

'An Almanack Bound in Red Leather, with Paper to Write on of any Sort. Ninepence.

'An Almanack of any Sort Sticht. Six Pence.

'Any Sheet Almanack Four Pence.'

It is hardly worth while to give an exhaustive list of the almanacs then in vogue. One advertisement[525] will be ample for the purpose: 'On Thursday next (15 Nov.) will be published the following Almanacks for the year 1706. viz. Andrews, Chapman, Coley, Dove, Gadbury, Ladies Diary, Moor, Partridge, Pond, Poor Robin, Salmon, Saunders, Tanner, Wing, Colepepper, Dade, Fly, Fowl, Perkins, Rose, Swallow, Trigge, Turner, White, Wood-house.'

[Footnote 525: Daily Courant, Nov. 10, 1705.]

Out of which, that by Francis Moore, physician, the 'Vox Stellarum,' is still published. Doubts have been thrown on the reality of this gentleman, but it is certain that he did live, and Lysons speaks of him as having lived in Calcotts Alley, High Street (then called Back Lane), Lambeth, where he practised the combined professions of astrologer, physician, and schoolmaster. He also lived in Southwark and in Westminster. There is an engraving of him extant, evidently done in Queen Anne's reign, by Drapentier, who also engraved the portrait of Dr. Burgess. Moore is represented as a fat-faced man in a full-bottomed wig. The legend is 'Francis Moore, born in Bridgenorth, in the County of Salop, the 29th of January 1656/7.' His almanac was first published in 1698.

The Ladies' Diary, which commenced in 1704, was only suspended in 1841, when it was incorporated in the Gentleman's Diary.

'Poor Robin, an ALMANACK of the Old and New Fashion; or an EPHEMERIS of the best and newest Edition; wherein the Reader may find (that is to say if he reads over the Almanack) many most excellent remarkable things worthy his and others choicest Observation. Containing a Two-fold Calendar, viz., The Old, Honest, Julian, or English Account, and the Round head's, Whimzey heads, Maggot heads, Paper-scull'd, Slender-witted, Muggletonian, or Fanatick Account, with their several Saints Days, and Observations upon every Month. Being the BISSEXTILE or Leap Year. Written by POOR ROBIN Knight of the Burnt Island, a Well-wisher to the Mathematicks.'

THE TWO AND FORTIETH IMPRESSION.

Reader, this is the two and Fortieth Year, Since first our Book did to the World appear: And we do think 'tis stored with more knacks Than may be found in other Almanacks. Laugh if you will, but yet this always mind, If you your Eyes laugh out, you will be blind.

London: Printed by W. Bowyer for the Company of Stationers, 1704.

Such is a title-page of this almanac, which, when first started, is thought to have been written by Herrick. It only ceased its publication in 1828. As this was a genuinely humorous book, in a time when pure fun was hardly understood, a very brief description may be permitted. It had a comic chronology, such as:--

Years since Geese without or Hose or Shoes went bare. 5603 Maids did Plackets in their Coats first wear. 4805 Plumbs were first put into Christmas Pies. 1472 The Hangman did the riding Knot devise. 3999 Coffee came first to be us'd in London. 0049 By Rebellion many a Man was undone. 0050 Women did at Billingsgate first scold. 0973 Summer was hot Weather, Winter cold. 5782 &c. &c.

And every month had its appropriate poem, thus:--

This is the merry Month of May, When as the Fields are fresh and gay; And in each Place where 'ere you go Are people walking to and fro. On every Place you cast your Eye, Hundreds of people you may Spy, The Fields bestrewed all about, Some pacing home, some passing out; Some woo their Lovers in the Shadows, Some stragling to and fro the Meadows. Some of this Chat, some of that Talk, Some Coacht, some horst, some afoot Walk. Some by Thames Bank their Pleasure taking, Some Silabubs 'mong Milkmaids making; With Musick some on Waters rowing; Some to the adjoining Towns are going. To Hogsdon, Islington, Tottenham Court, For Cakes and Cream is great Resort, &c.

Also each month has its appropriate prose.

'Observations on January. Now a good Fire, and a Glass of brisk Canary is as Comfortable as the thing called Matrimony. Cold Weather makes hungry Stomachs, so that now a piece of powder'd Beef lin'd with Brews,[526] vociferating Veal, and a Neat's Tongue, that never told a Lye, is excellent good food; but to feed on hope, is but a poor Dish of Meat to dine and sup with after a two Days Fast. If thou art minded to go a Wooing this Cold Weather, do it with Discretion, for he that doth make a Goddess of a Puppet, merits no Recompense but mere Contempt.'

[Footnote 526: Broth.]

Besides these, there was plenty of proverbial philosophy, interspersed with divers merry tales, and eccentric receipts, the whole going to form a compilation perfectly unique for its time.

Perhaps the chief among the serious astrological, and predicting, almanacs was 'Merlinus Liberatus, by JOHN PARTRIDGE, Student in Physick and Astrology, at the Blue Ball in Salisbury Street, in the Strand, London.' Not, perhaps, that he would have lived in story, much more than his fellows, had it not been for the fun that Swift, Steele, and Addison made of him. Swift set the ball rolling, in his sham 'Predictions for the year 1708, by Isaac Bickerstaff' (his pseudonym), in which he says: 'My first prediction is but a trifle, and yet I will mention it to show how ignorant those sottish pretenders to astronomy are in their own concerns. It relates to Partridge the Almanack maker. I have consulted the star of his nativity by my own rules, and find he will infallibly die on the 29th of March next, about eleven at night, of a raging fever; therefore, I advise him to consider of it, and settle his affairs in time.' This was a happy thought, born of the fact that Partridge had prophesied the downfall and death of Louis XIV. Early in April 1708 Swift published 'The accomplishment of the first part of Mr. Bickerstaff's predictions, being an account of the death of Mr. Partridge, the Almanac maker, on the 29th of March, 1708, in a letter to a person of honour.'

From that moment Partridge was dead. It was no use his publicly stating that he was alive. The wits had decreed his fate, and dead he was. His elegy and epitaph were printed, in the grisly manner common to those productions. They are too long for reproduction, but are too good not to quote from.

WELL, 'tis as Bickerstaff has guest, Tho' we all took it for a Jest; Patrige is Dead, nay more, he dy'd E'er he could prove the good Squire ly'd. Strange, an Astrologer should Die, Without one Wonder in the Sky; Not one of all his Crony Stars, To pay their Duty at his Hearse! No Meteor, no Eclipse appear'd! No Comet with a flaming Beard! The Sun has rose, and gone to Bed, Just as if Patrige were not Dead; Not hid himself behind the Moon, To make a dreadful Night at Noon: He at fit Periods walks through Aries, Howe'er our Earthly Motion varies, And twice a Year he'll cut th' Æquator, As if there had been no such Matter. Some Wits have wondered what Analogy There is 'twixt Cobling and Astrology; How Patrige made his Opticks rise From a Shoe Sole to reach the Skies; ...................................... Besides, that slow pac'd Sign Bootes As 'tis miscall'd, we know not who 'tis; But Patrige ended all Disputes, He knew his Trade, and call'd it Boots. The Horned Moon which heretofore Upon their Shoes the Romans wore, Whose wideness kept their Toes from Corns And whence we claim our Shoeing Horns, Shews how the Art of Cobling bears A near Resemblance to the Spheres, &c.

THE EPITAPH.

HERE Five Foot deep lyes on his Back A Cobler, Starmonger, and Quack, Who to the Stars in pure Good will, Does to his best look upward still. Weep all you Customers that use His Pills, his Almanacks, or Shoes. And you that did your Fortunes seek, Step to this Grave but once a Week. This Earth which bears his Body's Print, You'll find has so much Virtue in't, That I durst Pawn my Ears, 'twill tell What 'eer concerns you full as well, In Physick, Stolen Goods, or Love, As he himself could, when above.[527]

[Footnote 527: Harl. MSS. 5931-85.]

Congreve, or Rowe, took up cudgels for the poor man, and wrote and published 'Squire Bickerstaff detected, or the astrological impostor convicted, by JOHN PARTRIDGE, student in Physick, and Astrology.' What was the use? Not only were the above squibs being sold about the streets for a halfpenny, but Swift had to annihilate his opponents by his 'Vindication of Isaac Bickerstaff Esq. against what is objected to him by Mr. Partridge, in his Almanack for the present year, 1709.'

Steele, even in the very first Tatler, could not forbear poking fun at Partridge. 'I have, in another place, and in a paper by itself, sufficiently convinced this man that he is dead, and, if he has any shame, I do not doubt but that by this time he owns it to all his acquaintance; for though the legs and arms and whole body of that man may still appear, and perform their animal functions; yet since, as I have elsewhere observed, his art is gone, the man is gone.' And so the banter was kept up, at intervals, all through the Tatler.

As an almanac writer he, in fact, did die in 1709, for that was the last he really published--although an almanac is still sold bearing the same title. He really, and corporeally, died in 1715, and was buried in Mortlake Churchyard, where, on a flat black marble stone, was the following inscription:--

'Johannes Partridge Astrologus, et Medicinæ Doctor. Natus est apud East Sheen, in Comitatu Surrey, 18 Januarii, 1641, et mortuus est Londini 24 Junii, 1715. Medicinam fecit duobus regibus, unæque Reginæ; Carolo scilicet secundo, Willielmo Tertio, Reginæque Mariæ. Creatus est Medicinæ Doctor Luguduni Batavorum.'

The almanac stamps seem to have prompted crime and forgery, owing to their price; for the London Gazette, Feb. 7/10, 1713 has, 'Whereas divers Almanacks, or Papers serving the purpose of an Almanack, with false Stamps, have been lately Printed and Sold in several Parts of England, contrary to a late Act of Parliament, and prejudicial to Her Majesty's Revenue; and others, tho' with the true Stamps, have been Printed and Sold Contrary to the Right of the Company of Stationers, for which Divers Persons are now under Prosecution, and all others will be Prosecuted when discover'd: This notice is given to prevent all Persons incurring the like Trouble and Penalties.'

It seems strange, and somewhat in advance of the time, to hear of an amateur magazine being started--but, at all events, such a thing was proposed. 'Any Gentleman or Lady that is desirous of having any short Poem, Epigram, Satyr &c. (published?) if they please to communicate the Subjects to the Authors of the Diverting Muse, or the Universal Medley, now in the Press and will be continued Monthly; or, if they have any Song or other Poem of their own that is New and Entertaining, if they please to direct them for Mr. George Daggastaff, to be left at Mr. Hogarth's Coffee House in St. John's Gateway near Clerkenwell, the former shall be done Gratis, and inserted in the Miscellany abovemention'd, as also the latter, both paying the Postage or Messenger.'[528] This liberal offer does not seem to have met with the anticipated response, for I have looked in vain, in the Catalogues of the British Museum and elsewhere, and can find no mention of the 'Diverting Muse.'

[Footnote 528: Daily Courant, June 23, 1707.]

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XXX. MEDICAL

List of diseases -- Quackery -- Bleeding, etc. -- Physicians -- Surgeons -- Apothecaries -- Dissension between the physicians and apothecaries -- The dispensary -- Pharmacopœias -- Some nostrums -- Prescriptions -- Cupping -- Treatment of lunatics -- Physicians' carriages -- Dr. Radcliffe -- Sir Samuel Garth -- Sir Hans Sloane -- Dr. Mead -- His duel with Woodward -- Study of Anatomy -- Surgical instruments -- Oculists -- Sir William Read -- Roger Grant -- The Queen touching for the evil -- Description of the ceremony -- Quacks' remedies -- Quack harangues.

People got ill then as now, and, judging by the following list, there were just about as many diseases, only scientific names had not taken the place of the old homely nomenclature. This is taken from a list of deaths from all causes: 'Age. Ague and Fever, Appoplex and Suddenly, Bleach, Blasted, Bloody Flux, Scouring and Flux. Burns and Scalds. Bleeding, Calenture, Cancer, Gangrene and Fistula, Wolf, Canker, Soremouth and Thrush, Colick and Wind, Cough and Cold, Consumption and Cough, Convulsion, Cramp, Dropsie and Tympany, Excessive drinking, Falling Sickness, Flox and Small Pox, French pox, Gout, Grief, Head Ach, Jaundice, Jaw-faln, Impostume, Itch, King's Evil, Lethargy, Leprosie, Liver-grown, Spleen and Rickets, Lunatick, Meagrom, Measles, Mother, Palsie, Plague, Plague in the Guts, Pleurisie, Purples and Spotted Fever, Quinsie and Sore Throat, Rising of the Lights, Rupture, Scal'd head, Scurvy, Sores and Ulcers, Spleen, Shingles, Stitch, Stone and Strangury, Sciatica, Stopping of the Stomach, Surfet. Swine Pox. Teeth and Worms, Tissick, Vomiting, Wen.'

Of these, the most deaths resulted from consumption and cough, next ague and fever, then flox and smallpox. The infant mortality was terrible--the great cause of death being put down as teeth and worms. Consumption even now baffles the skill of our physicians. Quinine was then used for ague and fever, not as the crystal alkaloid, but in the rough bark, which was sold as 'Jesuits Bark,' at prices ranging from 4_s._ to 10_s._ per lb. Smallpox, inoculation or vaccination being unknown, was a fearful scourge, and spared no one--helped, as it was, by the all but utter ignorance of sanitary science, to the value of which we, in this generation, are only awaking.

Quackery was rampant, probably because people did not have much belief in the healing powers of the regular practitioners. Herbs and simples were much in use; and not only were there fearful remedies concocted by fair hands in the still-room, but naturally every old woman had faith in the traditional medicaments handed down to her by her forefathers. Also the empiricism of the alchemists still lingered--see the following advertisement: 'Whereas the Viper hath been a Medicine approv'd by the Physicians of all Nations; there is now prepar'd the Volatile Spirit compound of it, a Preparation altogether new, not only exceeding all Volatiles and Cordials whatsoever, but all the Preparations of the Viper itself, being the Receipt of a late Eminent Physician, and prepar'd only by a Relation. It is the most Sovereign Remedy against all Faintings, Sweatings, Lowness of Spirits, Vapours &c.--As also in all Habits of Body or Disorders proceeding from Intemperance, eating of Fruit, drinking of bad Wine, or any other poysonous or crude Liquors, and is good to take off the ill Effects or Remains of the Bark or Jesuits Powder.'

Bleeding and purging--these were the main remedies relied on in those old days; something to make the patient remember his illness by, as he did his doctor's bill, by the quantity of medicine he had swallowed. Brown, satirist as he was, was truthful, even to coarseness, and neither he nor Ward told lies in order to round a sentence, or point an epigram. This is how Brown[529] makes a fashionable physician describe his practice: 'He pays well, and takes Physick freely; besides I particularly know his Constitution; after Bleeding, he must take a Purge or two, then some Cordial Powders, Dulcifiers of the Blood, and two or three odd things more.... I tell you 'tis an easie thing for a Man of Parts to be a Surgeon; do but buy a Lancet, Forceps, Saw; talk a little of Contusions, Fractures, Compress and Bandage; you'll presently, by most People, be thought an excellent Surgeon.... I myself have turn'd out several Doctors out of Families because they would not prescribe Physick plentifully, and in large Quantities. I have perswaded my Patients, that they did not well understand their Distemper; so have brought in another who has swingingly dos'd 'um. I could tell you of a Sir Harry that paid an £100 for Physick in six Weeks, and I accepted it, being a Friend, without requiring one Penny for my own Fees.'

[Footnote 529: The Dispensary, by Thos. Brown.]

The profession then, as now, was divided among Physicians, Surgeons, and Apothecaries; and the relative position of two of them is mentioned by Addison[530]: 'An Operator of this Nature might act under me with the same regard as a Surgeon to a Physician; the one might be employ'd in healing those Blotches and Tumours which break out in the Body, while the other is sweetening the Blood and rectifying the Constitution.' The Apothecaries, of course, kept shops for the supply of drugs.

[Footnote 530: Spectator, No. 16.]

In the great fire of 1666 the College of Physicians, which was at Amen Corner, was burnt down, and a new one built, which was used till 1825, in Warwick Lane:--

Not far from that most celebrated Place, Where angry Justice shews her awful Face; Where little Villains must submit to Fate, That great ones may enjoy the World in State; There stands a Dome, majestick to the sight, And sumptuous Arches bear its oval height; A golden Globe plac'd high with artful skill, Seems, to the distant sight, a gilded Pill. --The Dispensary, by Dr. Garth, Canto 1, ed. 1699.

This was the building that the profession thought was mainly built by the munificence of Sir John Cutler; but after his death his executors demanded 7,000_l._ for money lent, and were eventually repaid 2,000_l._ Pope wrote of Cutler:--

His Grace's fate sage Cutler could foresee And well (he thought,) advis'd him, 'Live like Me.' As well his Grace replied, 'Like you, Sir John? That I can do, when all I have is gone.'

Ward[531] sums up the physician's privileges: 'What Priviledges, said I, extraordinary are Granted to them in their Charter, above what are held by other Physicians who are not of their Society? Many, replied my friend, and these in particular, viz. No Person, tho' a Graduate in Physick of Oxford or Cambridge, and a Man of more Learning, Judgment and Experience than one half of their Members, shall have the liberty of practising in, or within Seven Miles of London, without License under the Colledge Seal; Or in any other part of England, if they have not taken some Degree at one of the Universities; They have also power to administer an Oath, which they know by Experience is as practicable to be broke the next Day, as 'tis to be taken; They can likewise Fine and Imprison Offenders, in the Science of Physick, and all such who presume to Cure a Patient, when they have given 'em over, by more excellent Measures than ever were known by their Ignorance; They have also the Priviledge of making By Laws, for the Interest of themselves, and Injury of the Publick, and can purchase Lands in Right of the Corporation, if they could but find Money to pay for 'em; they have authority to examine the Medicines in all Apothecaries Shops, to Judge of the wholesomeness and Goodness of many Drugs and Compositions they never yet understood; They are likewise exempt from troublesome Offices, as Jury men, Constables, &c.'

[Footnote 531: London Spy.]

A visiting physician's fee was a guinea, but a consulting one's less. 'The Worshipful Graduate in the noble Art of Man slaughter, receiv'd us with a Civility that was peculiar to him at the sight of four Half Crowns.' A suit of black (velvet if possible), a full-bottomed wig, a muff, and a gold- or silver-headed cane formed the outward adornment of the physician.

The surgeons, not being incorporated till 1800, had no special meeting-place; but the apothecaries had their Hall in Water Lane, Blackfriars, which had been built in 1670, and is thus described by Garth:--

Nigh where Fleet Ditch descends in sable Streams, To wash his sooty Naiads in the Thames; There stands a Structure on a Rising Hill, Where Tyro's take their Freedom out to kill. --The Dispensary, Canto 3, ed. 1699.

Professional etiquette was, as a rule, strictly adhered to, and these divisions did not interfere with each other, although Brown[532] intimates that it was done occasionally: 'Gallypot.... "For tho' I am an Old Apothecary, I am but a Young Doctor. For I visit in either Capacity, either as an Old Apothecary, which is as good as a Young Doctor, or as a Young Doctor, and that's as good as t'other again." Trueman. "But I thought you had left off Shop, and stuck only to your Doctorship?" Gallypot. "So I do openly, but privately I keep a Shop, and side in all things with the Apothecaries against the Doctors."'

[Footnote 532: The Dispensary.]

This allusion refers to a curious dissension which had arisen in the profession. The physicians at the latter end of the seventeenth century were undoubtedly an ignorant and unscientific race; and the apothecaries, finding that if they did not know as much, they could soon do so, began to prescribe on their own responsibility, as Pope[533] says:--

So modern 'pothecaries taught the art By Doctor's bills, to play the Doctor's part; Bold in the practice of mistaken rules, Prescribe, apply, and calls their Masters fools.

[Footnote 533: Essay on Criticism.]

The physicians naturally resented this, and making a pretext that the apothecary's charges were so enormous as to render their prescriptions useless to the poor, they eventually set up a Dispensary of their own at the College, where they sold medicines to the poor at cost price. And this accusation was warranted, if we can believe Brown. 'Pray how do ye at your end of the Town prize a Dose of common Purging Pills?' 'Why, Brother, about Eighteenpence, sometimes Two Shillings, with an Haustus after them of Three and Sixpence.' 'And can you live so? I believe all the things cost you at least a Shilling out of Pocket.' 'No, God forbid! How could I live then? Indeed they cost me about Sixpence, and I take but Five Shillings and Sixpence, sometimes less, and I think that's honest Gains.'

This Dispensary was the cause of great disturbance, and split the profession into Dispensarians and anti-Dispensarians, and a naturally acrimonious feeling sprang up, which was only allayed by the obnoxious Dispensary being given up, when things fell back into their old groove.

The Pharmacopœias then in use were 'Lasher's,' 'Bate's Dispensary,' 'Hartman's Family Physitian,' and 'Salmon's Collectanea Medica'[534]; and very curious indeed were some of the medicines prescribed, as 'Live Hog Lice,' 'Burnt Cork quenched in Aqua Vitæ,' 'Red Coral,' 'New Gathered Earth Worms,' 'Live Toads,' 'Black tips of Crabs Claws,' 'Man's Skull,' 'Elk's hoofs,' 'Leaves of Gold,' 'Man's bones calcined,' 'Inward skin of a Capon's Gizzard,' 'Goose dung, gather'd in the Spring time, dry'd in the Sun,' 'Stone of a Carp's head,' 'Unicorn's horn,' 'Boar's tooth,' 'Jaw of a Pike,' 'Wind pipes of Sheep cleansed and dryed in an Oven, Wind pipes of Capons in like manner prepared,' 'Sea Horse tooth rasped,' 'Frog's livers,' 'White dung of a Peacock dryed,' 'Toads and Vipers flesh,' 'Cuttle fish bone,' and many others even more repulsive than these.

[Footnote 534: A very long list of medical works of the time can be seen at the end of Dr. Garth's poem of The Dispensary, ed. 1699, B. M. 840 h. 6/2.]

How would one like to take this medicine for smallpox? 'Pulvis Æthiopicus, the Black Powder. ℞. Live Toads, No. 30 or 40, burn them in a new Pot, to black Cinders or Ashes, and make a fine pouder. Dose ʒss. or more in the Small Pox &c. and is a certain help for such as are ready to die: some also commend it as a wonderful thing for the cure of the Dropsie.'

'Pulvis Ictericus, A Pouder against the Yellow Jaundice. ℞. Goose dung gather'd in the Spring time, dry'd in the Sun, and finely pouder'd ℥ij., the best Saffron ʒi., white Sugar candy ℥ij., mix and make a pouder. Dose ʒij. twice a day in Rhenish wine, for six days together. Or thus--℞. Roots of Turmerick, white Tartar, Mars prepared. A ℥ss. Earthworms, Choice Rhubarb ʒij., mix and make a powder. Dose ʒj. in a little Glass of White Wine. An Acquaintance of mine, a Learned Physician, usually makes both the Compositions into One, and assures me that he never found it once to fail.'

'Ranarum Hepata, Livers of Frogs. ℞. They are prepared by drying them upon Colewort Leaves in a Closed Vessel, and then poudring them. S.A. Dose ʒss. against the Epilepsie, Quartan Ague &c. If they be dried and preserved with the galls adjoyning, the medicine will be stronger and better; and may then be given Morning and Evening à ℈j. ad ℈ij. in any fit Vehicle.'

'Corrus Epilepticus. The Antepileptic Crow or Raven. ℞. The greater Crow, deplumate, and eviscerate it, casting away its Feet and Bill; put into its Belly the Heart, Liver, Lungs, Bladder of the Gall, with Galangal and Aniseeds, A ℥iv. bake it in a new Earthen Vessel well shut or closed in an Oven with Household Bread; after it is cooled, separate the Flesh from the Sides or Bones, and repeat this Operation of baking the second or third time, but taking great care that it may not be burnt, then reduce it into a fine pouder. S.A. Dose ʒj. every day, to such as are afflicted with the Falling Sickness; it is a famous remedy. That there may be a more excellent Composition than this, we doubt not, and are confident it may be improv'd to a greater advantage; the Composition in our Seplasium. lib. 6. cap. 21. sect. 11. seems to excel it, which is this. ℞. Of Ravens Flesh in pouder (as the former Prescript advises) ʒiij. Viper pouder, ʒj. native Cinnamon ʒj. (ad ʒss.) mix and make a subtile Pouder for two Doses, to be given at Night going to Bed.'

The above are all from one book, published 1706, and could be multiplied to almost any extent, from this and the other Pharmacopœias, were it necessary; but enough has been quoted to show the ignorance and empiricism of the medical practitioners of that day.

All remedies, however, were not of the foregoing description, and many receipts seem admirably fitted to effect their desired purpose, the great fault with them being that they were overloaded with extraneous compounds, which could not possibly do the patient any good, and must necessarily add greatly to the cost, if only the extra time taken in their preparation be counted. Bleeding and purging, as before said, were the remedies really relied on, and bleeding took place on the slightest occasion. Not only the lancet, but cupping, was employed; indeed, cuppers attended nearly every Bagnio or bath, as Ward says: 'I'll carry you to see the Hummuns, where I have an honest old Acquaintance that is a Cupper.' He describes the operation thus: 'By the Perswasions of my Friend, and my Friend's Friend, I at last consented; upon which the Operator fetch'd in his Instruments, and fixes three Glasses at my Back, which by drawing out the Air, stuck to me as close as a Cantharides Plaister to the Head of a Lunatick, and Sucked as hard as so many Leeches, till I thought they would have crept into me, and have come out on t'other side. When by Virtue of this Hocus Pocus Stratagem, he had conjur'd all the ill blood out of my Body, under his glass Juggling Cups, he plucks out an ill favour'd Instrument, at which I was as much frighted, as an absconding Debtor is at the sight of a Bill of Middlesex, takes off his Glasses, which had made my Shoulders as weary as a Porter's Back under a heavy Burthen, and begins to Scarifie my Skin, as a Cook does a Loin of Pork to be Roasted; but with such Ease and Dexterity, that I could have suffer'd him to have Pink'd me all over as full of Eyelet holes, as the Taylor did the Shoemakers Cloak, had any Malady requir'd it, without Flinching; when he had drawn away as much Blood as he thought Necessary, for the removal of my pain, he cover'd the Places he had Carbonaded, with a new Skin, provided for that purpose, and healed the Scarifications he had made, in an Instant.'

'A Cantharides Plaister to the Head of a Lunatick' shows us somewhat how those poor unfortunates who were bereft of their senses were treated. Of Bethlehem Hospital I will speak in another place, regarding it more as a prison for the safe keeping of mad people than as an hospital, where, by any means, those cloudy intellects could be brightened up and cleared.

If the relatives or friends could afford it, they were put under the charge of some one, as now, who would pretend to try and cure them; but then, unlike the present time, there was not even the form of a visitation to hear complaints, or to report on ill-treatment. 'At the Pestle and Mortar on Snow Hill, is a Person who has had great Experience and success in curing Lunaticks, he has also conveniences for Persons of both Sexes, good and diligent Attendance for the best ranks of People, and having for several years past, perform'd it to the satisfaction of many Families: He therefore makes this Publick, to inform, where on very reasonable rates the same Cure shall be industriously endeavour'd, and (with God's Blessing) effected.' Does it not look like a model for a modern advertisement? How Dr. So and So, assisted by a large staff of well-trained domestics, etc.

Here is an advertisement of a private Mad House. 'It being industriously given out by some malicious Persons, That the House of the Late Claudius Gillat at Hoxton, for the Accommodation of Lunaticks, is shut up; These are to Certify, that the said House is still kept by William Prowting, Apothecary, who has all Conveniences fitting for such persons; as a large House, pleasant Gardens, &c., and gives Liberty to any Physician, Surgeon or Apothecary, of administering Physick to those that are recommended by them.'

Another Advertisement, however, lets a little light into the treatment of the mentally afflicted: 'A Dumb young Man broke his Chain last Wednesday Night, and left his Friends from their House in Compton Street, next door to the Golden Ball Alehouse, Soho, and those that will take Care to bring him Home, shall be Rewarded. He has been Mad these 23 Years.'

Garth thus describes a prosperous physician:--

Triumphant Plenty, with a chearful grace Basks in their Eyes, and sparkles in their Face. How sleik their looks, how goodly is their Mien, When big they strut behind a double Chin. Each Faculty in blandishments they lull, Aspiring to be venerably dull.

Like his descendant of modern times, who cannot possibly be clever in his profession unless he drives two horses to his brougham, the physician of Queen Anne's reign had to have his coach; but then it must have at least four horses--of course he must be vastly cleverer if he could drive six--but still, his equipage must be well appointed, and in the fashion. Of course he need not go to the extent Radcliffe did; but Radcliffe made himself the laughing-stock of the town, both by the gaiety of his turn-out and by a rumour getting abroad that he had started it with the idea of favourably impressing a young and wealthy lady, to whom this old Adonis of sixty would needs pay his addresses--in which scheme, alas for the doctor! he was not successful. Steele could not resist having a bit of fun over it. 'This day, passing through Covent garden, I was stopped in the piazza by PACOLET, to observe what he called the Triumph of LOVE and YOUTH. I turned to the object he pointed at, and there I saw a gay gilt Chariot, drawn by fresh prancing horses; the Coachman with a new Cockade, and the lacqueys with insolence and plenty in their countenances. I asked immediately, "What young heir or lover owned that glittering equipage?" But my companion interrupted: "Do you not see there the mourning Æsculapius?" "The mourning?" said I. "Yes, Isaac," said Pacolet, "he's in deep mourning, and is the languishing, hopeless lover of the divine HEBE,[535] the emblem of youth and beauty."'[536]

[Footnote 535: Miss Tempest, one of Queen Anne's Maids of Honour.]

[Footnote 536: The Tatler, No. 44.]

His rival Hannes set up a beautiful carriage, etc., and it excited universal attention. Some friend told him that Hannes' horses were the finest he had seen. 'Ah,' snarled old Radcliffe, 'then he'll he able to sell 'em for all the more.'

The principal physicians of Anne's reign were Dr. Radcliffe, Sir Samuel Garth, Sir Hans Sloane, and Dr. Mead.

The first was born in 1650, took his M.D. degree in 1682, came to London in 1684, and, somehow, at once got into good practice. He was called in to the poor little Duke of Gloucester, when too late to be of any service, and consoled himself by soundly rating the two physicians, Sir E. Hannes and Sir Rd. Blackmore, for their previous conduct of the case. But he was not the court physician, for which he had himself to thank. The Queen, when the Princess Anne, got somewhat hypochondriac, after the death of her sister Queen Mary, and sent for Radcliffe to come at once to see her. He was at a tavern in St. James's, enjoying his bottle. He knew there was nothing the matter, and physicians were not so smooth-tongued as they are now: so he very rudely refused to go, and sent back a message that it was all fancy, and that her Royal Highness was as well as anyone else. Next morning he presented himself at the palace, only to be informed that he had been dismissed, and that Dr. Gibbons had already received his appointment. The Queen would never forgive him; but, on her death-bed, he was sent for to attend her, when he returned as answer that 'he had taken physic and could not come.' The Queen died, and great was the popular wrath against the doctor for his refusal. He might have saved her life, said the people; and after the manner of their kind, they sent him threatening letters; nay, a friend of his moved that he might be summoned to attend in his place in Parliament (he was member for the town of Buckingham) in order to be censured for not attending her Majesty. He did not long survive her, dying on Nov. 1, 1714.

One anecdote told of him is too good not to be repeated. He would never even pay a tradesman without squabbling over the account. A paviour had been repairing the pavement in front of his house, and when he applied for his money was told he had spoiled it, and then covered it with earth to hide his bad work. 'Doctor,' replied the man, 'mine is not the only bad work the earth hides.'

Sir Samuel Garth took his degree of M.D. in 1691, was elected a Fellow of the College in 1692, and took a prominent part in the famous dispute as to the Dispensary--writing in 1699 his poem of that name, which had at once a large sale. Garth wrote many poems, translated Ovid, and it was to him that Dryden owed his public funeral, for, as Ward says, 'they had like to let him pass in private to his Grave, without those Funeral Obsequies suitable to his Greatness, had it not been for that true British Worthy, who, Meeting with the Venerable Remains of the neglected Bard passing silently in a Coach, unregarded, to his last Home, ordered the Corps, by the consent of his few Friends that Attended him to be Respited from so obscure an Interment; and most Generously undertook at his own Expence, to revive his Worth in the Minds of a forgetful People, by bestowing on his peaceful Dust a Solemn Funeral Answerable to his Merit.' He had the body removed to the College of Physicians, where it lay in state previous to its removal, with great pomp, to Westminster Abbey.

He was a member of the Kit Cat Club, and the story is told of him that one day at a meeting of that club he sat so long over his wine that Steele reminded him of his duty to his patients. Garth replied that 'it was no matter whether he saw them that night or next morning, for nine had such bad constitutions that no physician could save them, and the other six had such good ones that all the physicians in the world could not kill them.' He died Jan. 18, 1719.

The name of Sir Hans Sloane is undoubtedly the most familiar to the ears of this generation of all the doctors of that time; especially to Londoners, Sloane Street and Square, and Hans Place, being all reminiscences of him, through the marriage of his daughter Elizabeth with the second Baron Cadogan.

He was of Scotch extraction, but born in Ireland, in 1660. Already a Fellow of the College of Physicians and Royal Society, he accompanied as physician the Duke of Albemarle (who had been appointed Governor of the West Indies) to Jamaica. The Duke soon died out there, and Sloane returned to England with a large collection of the flora and fauna of the countries he had visited. To this voyage may be attributed the foundation of the British Museum, for it gave him the taste for collecting rarities of every description, and, to prevent his museum from being dispersed after his death, he bequeathed it to the nation, on condition of the payment of 20,000_l._ to his family. Montague House was purchased to contain the curiosities; and from this small beginning has arisen that marvellous national collection, the finest in the world. Honours flowed in upon him, and after a very busy life, he died at a good old age in 1752.

Dr. Rd. Mead was born in 1673. Clever in his profession, and the author of many medical treatises, undoubtedly he owed much of his position to Radcliffe, whose patronage he secured by the most unblushing adulation. He took advantage of every opportunity, such as moving into the larger house of a physician recently dead; and should have amassed a large fortune, as for many years he was earning between 5,000_l._ and 6,000_l._ per annum. Although his consulting fee was one guinea and his visiting fee two, he would attend either Batson's, or Tom's, Coffee Houses (the former being a noted place of resort for medical men), and thither would come the apothecaries, for whom he would write prescriptions, without seeing the patient, at half a guinea each. He is remarkable as the doctor who fought a duel. It was with Woodward, who had not only attacked him in his 'State of Physick and Diseases,' but insulted him in public. Matters came to a climax one day when they were leaving Gresham College, and, under the arch leading from the outer to the Green Court, Mead's patience gave way. He drew, and called upon Woodward to defend himself or beg his pardon. Whether they ever actually fought or not is not known, although there is a bon-mot about Mead disarming Woodward and telling him to beg for his life. 'Never till I am your patient,' was his reply. Certain it is that Woodward gave in, and Mead lived in peace.

Mead was called in consultation when the Queen was in her last illness, and he plainly gave his opinion that she would not survive, but he did not attend her. He died Feb. 16, 1754, and was buried in the Temple Church.

There must have been some hot blood in the profession in those days, for Luttrell says: '6 July, 1704. Mr. Coatsworth, an apothecary in St. Martin's Lane, convicted in Easter term, upon an information in the Queen's bench, for assaulting Dr. Ratcliffe, at Tom's Coffee House, by spitting in his face, upon some words that arose between them, was upon Monday fined 100 marks, which he paid into Court.'

The practice of surgery was attended with some difficulties, for there were no public schools of anatomy as now: nay, it was as late as 1667 that Evelyn presented to the Royal Society, as a wonderful curiosity, the Table of Veins, Arteries, and Nerves which he had caused to be made in Italy.

We see that anatomy had to be taught privately, but still that there were professors who were capable of teaching. 'On Monday the 13th Instant, Mr. Rolfe Surgeon in Chancery Lane intends to begin at his House a compleat Course of Anatomy on Human Bodies, viz. Osteology, Myology, and Enterology, to be continued Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.' The knife was freely used, and the instruments were far from clumsy; but conservative surgery was also practised, and many orthopædic mechanical appliances were in use. 'Charles Roberts, who makes Steel Stays, Strait Stockings, Steel Boots, Collars, Cheiques and Swings, and by many years practice, having brought the same to great perfection, is perswaded to give this publick notice for the benefit of such who suffer by Deformity.'

The barbers also bled and drew teeth, as many now do.

The oculists of that day were particularly pushing, and puffed and lied themselves into notoriety with vigour. Chief of them was Sir William Read, oculist to her most gracious majesty; and if anybody wishes to see how much that tender organ the eye can be abused by an oculist, let him read his 'Short but Exact Account of all the Diseases Incident to the Eyes.' Originally a tailor in a small way of business, he managed, somehow, to rise so as to become the Queen's sworn oculist, and to be knighted; nor only so, but was able to keep up a good establishment and a magnificent equipage. One thing is certain--he thoroughly knew the value of advertising; and the accompanying illustration is taken from one of his handbills, probably about 1696. In it he gives a list of wonderful cures he has wrought, how he has cured wry necks, harelips, cut out cancers, trepanned skulls, operated on wens and polypuses, cured dropsy, cut off a man's leg, and given sight to numerous people who were born blind.

His knighthood is thus recorded in the Gazette of July 30/Aug. 1, 1705: 'Windsor 27 July. Her Majesty was this day Graciously pleased to confer the Honour of Knighthood upon William Read Esq. Her Majesty's Oculist in Ordinary, as a Mark of her Royal Favour for his great Services done in Curing great Numbers of Seamen and Soldiers of Blindness gratis.' This he advertised to do all through the war; and when the Palatines came over here he publicly offered to attend any of them for diseases of the eye gratis. And now, forsooth, he advertised that 'Lady Read' would attend to patients as well; and some Grub Street poet wrote a poem, called 'The Oculist,' 'Address'd to Sir William Read, Knt.,' with a long and fulsome dedication. One part of the poem runs:--

Whilst Britain's Sovereign Scales such WORTH has weigh'd, And ANNE her self her smiling Favours paid: That Sacred Hand does Your fair Chaplet twist, Great READ her own Entitled OCULIST. .............................................. When the Great ANNE'S warm Smiles this Favourite raise, 'Tis not a Royal Grace she gives, but pays.

Swift[537] writes to Stella of Read's sumptuous way of living: 'Henley would fain engage me to go with Steele and Rowe &c. to an invitation at Sir William Read's. Surely you have heard of him. He has been a Mountebank, and is the Queen's Oculist; he makes admirable punch, and treats you in gold vessels. But I am engaged, and won't go.'

[Footnote 537: Journal, April 11, 1711.]

His rival, who was also the Queen's sworn oculist, was Roger Grant, who, report said, was originally a tinker, and afterwards an anabaptist preacher in Southwark.

Her Majesty sure was in a Surprise, Or else was very short sighted; When a Tinker was sworn to look after Eyes, And the Mountebank Read was Knighted.

He also advertised largely, and published lists of his cures, with certificates from the mayor and aldermen of Durham, Northampton, Coventry, Hull, etc., touching the authenticity of his cures. How these were procured is fully explained in a little tract called 'A Full and True ACCOUNT of a Miraculous CURE of a Young MAN in Newington, That was Born BLIND, and was in Five Minutes brought to Perfect Sight, by Mr. ROGER GRANT, Oculist,' 1709. The case in question was advertised by Grant in the Daily Courant of July 30, 1709, and the little book ruthlessly exposes the fraudulent manner in which the certificate was obtained.

As has been said before, quackery was universal; nay, it had the sanction of being practised by royalty, for was not the Queen an arch quack when she touched for the 'evil'? She was the last of a long line of sovereigns, from Edward the Confessor, who exercised the supposed royal gift of healing; but this salutary efficacy was not confined to the royal touch alone, if we can believe a little story of Thoresby's[538]: 'Her Mother Mary Bailey of Deptford, after she had been twelve years blind by the Kings evil was miraculously cured by a handkerchief dipped in the blood of King Charles the First.'

[Footnote 538: Diary, July 14, 1714.]

Misson was present the last time James the Second touched, and has left us a graphic account of the ceremony: 'The King was seated in a Chair of State,[539] rais'd two or three Steps. The Reverend Father Peter, with his little Band and his sweeping Cloak, was standing at the King's Right Hand. After some Prayers, the diseased Person, or those that pretended to be so,[540] were made to pass between a narrow double Rail, which fac'd the King. Each Patient, Rich and Poor, Male and Female, fell upon their knees, one after another, at the King's Feet. The King putting forth his two Hands, touch'd their two Cheeks; the Jesuit, who held a Number of Gold Medals, each fasten'd to a narrow white Ribband, put the Ribband round the Patient's Neck at the same Time that the King touch'd him, and said something tantamount to what they say in France, The King touches thee; God cure thee. This was done in a Trice; and for fear the same Patient should crowd into the File again, to get another Medal,[541] he was taken by the Arm, and carry'd into a safe place. When the King was weary of repeating the same action, and touching the Cheek or Chin, Father Peter the Almoner, presented him with the End of the String which was round the Patient's Neck. The Virtue pass'd from the Hand to the String, from the String to the Cloaths, from the Cloaths to the Skin, and from the Skin to the Root of the Evil: After this Royal Touch, those that were really ill were put into the Hands of Physicians; and those that came only for the Medal, had no need of other Remedies.' This last sentence explains a great deal.

[Footnote 539: In the Banqueting Hall, Whitehall.]

[Footnote 540: On this occasion there were 300.]

[Footnote 541: These 'touch pieces' had on one side St. George overcoming the dragon, and were called 'angels.']

William III. did not touch, but gave away the money hitherto spent on the touch pieces, etc., in charity. But Anne, as a thoroughly legitimate English monarch, and a Stuart to boot, kept up the fiction of her curative powers. She tried it on Dr. Johnson, but it had no effect; and his recollections of the ceremony were very vague. 'He had,' he said, 'a confused but somehow a sort of solemn recollection of a lady in diamonds, and a long black hood.' But then the staunch old Jacobite used to declare that 'his mother had not carried him far enough; she should have taken him to ROME' (to the Pretender).

Anne touched the very first year of her reign, for Luttrell[542] says, 'The Service and Attendance belonging to the Ceremony of touching for the King's Evil went for Bath last Week, her Majesty desiring to touch there.' Illness sometimes prevented her: 'Her Majesty did not touch yesterday for the evil as design'd, having the gout in her hands.'[543]

[Footnote 542: Oct 8, 1702.]

[Footnote 543: Luttrell, March 20, 1703.]

It evidently required some little interest to get touched, for Swift writes[544] to Stella: 'I visited the Duchess of Ormond this morning.... I spoke to her to get a lad touched for the Evil.... But the Queen has not been able to touch, and it now grows so warm, I fear she will not at all.'

[Footnote 544: Journal, May 8, 1711.]

Notices were duly posted in the Gazette as to when she touched or not, and in that of May 24/28, 1705, we find one which would lead us to imagine that some unfair practice had arisen: 'It is also Her Majesty's Command, That all Persons who shall then apply to be touched, shall bring a Certificate to Her Majesty's Serjeant Surgeon, signed by the Minister and Churchwardens of the Parish where such Person shall then reside, that they never had before received the Royal Touch, as been heretofore accustomed.'

It is impossible to take up a newspaper of that time without encountering some quack advertisements, and the quantity of handbills[545] still preserved, show how they must have flooded the place. There was the 'Volatile Spirit of BOHEA TEA,' 'Pilula Salutiferens,' 'Spirit of Scurvy Grass,' 'Balsamick Pills,' 'Elixir Minerale,' 'Green Cathartick Elixir,' 'The Hysterick Tincture,' 'The White Cardialgic Powder,' 'The Volatile Cordial Pill,' 'Tinctura Benedicta,' 'Electuarium Mirabile,' 'Electuary of the Balm of Gilead.' What a list might be made of them! See what Addison says of them in the Tatler (224). The heading to one is given as a sample of the style of art in the handbill.

[Footnote 545:

'If the pale Walker pants with weak'ning Ills, His sickly Hand is stor'd with Friendly Bills: From hence he learns the seventh born Doctor's Fame, From hence he learns the cheapest Tailor's name.' --Trivia, book 2.]

This 'Paris Pill and Electuary' is described as follows: 'The Price of a Box of the Pills is 2_s._ 6_d._ and a Pot of the Electuary 1_s._ 6_d._ of w{ch} Pills and Electuary two Boxes & one Pot will be sufficient for any one not very far gone in the Distemper, and Double the Number will heal the Patient if in great Extremity. Sold by J. Sherwood Book Seller at Popings aley Gate fleet street, With a paper of Directions.'

In another advertisement of 'Dr. Anderson's, or the Famous Scots Pills,' you are requested to 'Beware of Counterfeits, especially an Ignorant pretender, one Muffen, who keeps a China Shop, and is so unneighbourly as to pretend to sell the same Pills within 3 Doors of me.'

But the quacks were not all stationary; as at present, some were peripatetic, who, after the fashion of these wanderers, had an eloquence of their own, which only Ward can do justice to. Here is a short extract[546] of the 'patter' of those days. 'Gentlemen, you that have a Mind to be Mindful of preserving a Sound Mind in a Sound Body, that is, as the Learned Physician Doctor Honorificicabilitudinitatibusque has it, Manus Sanaque in Cobile Sanaquorum, may here, at the expense of twopence, furnish himself with a parcel, which tho' it is but small, yet containeth mighty things of great Use and Wonderful Operation in the Bodies of Mankind, against all Distempers, whether Homogeneal or Complicated; whether deriv'd from your Parents, got by Infection, or proceeding from an ill Habit of your own Body.

[Footnote 546: London Spy.]

'In the first place, Gentlemen, I here present you with a little inconsiderable Pill to look at, you see not much bigger than a Corn of Pepper, yet in this Diminutive Pampharmica, so powerful in effect, and of such excellent Vertues, that if you have Twenty Distempers lurking in the Mass of Blood, it shall give you just Twenty Stools, and every time it operates, it carries off a Distemper; but if your Blood's Wholesome, and your Body Sound, it will work you no more than the same quantity of Ginger bread. I therefore call it, from its admirable Qualities, Pilula Ton dobula, which signifies in the Greek, The Touch Stone of Nature; For by taking of this Pill you will truly discover what state of Health or Infirmity your Constitution is then under.

'In the next place, Gentlemen, I present you with an excellent outward application, call'd a Plaister; good against Green Wounds, old Fistulas and Ulcers, Pains and Aches, Contusions, Tumours or King's Evil, Spasms, Fractures, or Dislocations, or any Hurts whatsoever, received either by Sword, Cane, or Gun Shot, Knife, Saw, or Hatchet, Hammer, Nail or Tenter hook, Fire, Blast or Gunpowder, &c. And will continue its Vertue beyond Credit; and as useful seven years hence as at this present Moment, that you may lend it to your Neighbours in the time of Distress and Affliction; and, when it has perform'd Forty Cures 'twill be ne'er the Worse, but still retain its Integrity. Probatum Est,' etc.

Dr. Zachary Pearce, Bishop of Rochester, who wrote No. 572 of the Spectator (altered by Addison), gives an amusing account of one of these quacks. 'I remember one of those Public-spirited Artists at Hammersmith, who told his Audience "that he had been born and bred there, and that, having a special Regard for the place of his Nativity, he was determined to make a Present of five Shillings to as many as would accept of it." The whole Crowd stood agape, and ready to take the Doctor at his Word; when putting his Hand into a long Bag, as every one was expecting his Crown Piece, he drew out a handful of little Packets, each of which he informed the Spectators was constantly sold at five Shillings and six pence, but that he would bate the odd five Shillings to every Inhabitant of that Place; the whole Assembly immediately closed with this generous Offer, and took off all his Physick, after the Doctor had made them vouch for one another, that there were no Foreigners among them, but that they were all Hammersmith Men.' The whole article is an amusing exposé of the quackery then at its height. 'I unluckily called to mind a Story of an Ingenious Gentleman of the last Age, who, lying violently afflicted with the Gout, a Person came and offered his Service to Cure him by a Method, which he assured him was Infallible; the Servant who received the Message, carried it up to his Master, who, enquiring whether the Person came on Foot, or in a Chariot; and being informed he was on Foot: Go, says he, send the Knave about his Business: Was his Method as infallible as he pretends, he would long before now have been in his Coach and Six.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XXXI. SPAS AND BATHING

Bath -- Manners of the company there -- Description of Bath -- Its gaieties -- Sale of the water -- Tunbridge -- Epsom -- Hampstead -- Other spas -- Turkish baths -- Controversy on hot and cold bathing -- The Hummums -- Description of a Turkish bath -- Other bagnios -- Cold bathing and baths.

It was a great time for our English spas, and 'Spaw Water' was a favourite drink with the temperate. Chief of all, for its curative qualities, and for its society, was Bath, or 'The Bath,' as it was called; and, as it occupies such a prominent position in the social life of this time, more than a passing notice of it is required. Misson's description of it is short but businesslike. 'This Town takes its name from the Baths for which it is famous. Several in Switzerland and Germany are called Baden for the same reason. In Winter Bath makes a very melancholy Appearance; but during the Months of May, June, July, and August, there is a concourse of genteel Company, that peoples, enriches, and adorns it; at that Time, Provisions and Lodgings grow dear. Thousands go thither to pass away a few Weeks, without heeding either the Baths or the Waters, but only to divert themselves with good Company. They have Musick, Gaming, Public Walks, Balls, and a little Fair every Day.'

The manners of this 'concourse of genteel company' are thus described by Steele.[547] 'In the Autumn of the same Year I made my Appearance at Bath. I was now got into the Way of Talk proper for Ladies, and was run into a vast Acquaintance among them, which I always improved to the best advantage. In all this Course of Time, and some Years following, I found a Sober, Modest Man was always looked upon by both Sexes as a precise unfashioned Fellow of no Life or Spirit. It was ordinary for a Man who had been drunk in good Company, or passed a Night with a Wench, to speak of it next Day before Women for whom he had the greatest Respect. He was reproved, perhaps, with a Blow of the Fan, or an Oh Fie, but the angry Lady still preserved an apparent Approbation in her Countenance: He was called a strange wicked Fellow, a sad Wretch; he shrugs his shoulders, swears, receives another Blow, swears again he did not know he swore, and all was well. You might often see Men game in the Presence of Women, and throw at once for more than they were worth, to recommend themselves as Men of Spirit.'

[Footnote 547: Spectator, No. 154.]

Perhaps the most graphic description of daily life at Bath is given in a sixpenny pamphlet entitled 'A Step to the Bath with a Character of the place' (London 1700). It is published anonymously, but I have no doubt in my own mind that it was written by Ward, as it is exactly his style, and is published by his publisher. Of course, in his writings, we must not look for polished language; but his descriptions are accurate, and as such well worth having. He thus describes the place:--

'The first we went to, is call'd the King's; and to it joyns the Queen's, both running in one; and the most famous for Cures. In this Bath was at least fifty of both Sexes, with a Score or two of Guides, who by their Scorbutic Carcasses, and Lackered Hides, you would think they had lain Pickling a Century of Years in the Stygian Lake; Some had those Infernal Emissaries to support their Impotent Limbs: Others to Scrub their Putrify'd Carcasses, like a Race Horse.... At the Pump was several a Drenching their Gullets, and Gormandizing the Reaking Liquor by wholesale.

'From thence we went to the Cross Bath, where most of the Quality resorts, more fam'd for Pleasure than Cures. Here is perform'd all the Wanton Dalliances imaginable; Celebrated Beauties, Panting Breasts, and Curious Shapes, almost Expos'd to Publick View: Languishing eyes, Darting Killing Glances, Tempting Amorous Postures, attended by soft Musick, enough to provoke a Vestal to forbidden Pleasure, Captivate a Saint, and charm a Jove: Here was also different Sexes, from Quality to the Honourable Knights, Country Put, and City Madam's.... The ladies with their floating Jappan Bowles, freighted with Confectionary, Kick-Knacks, Essences and Perfumes, Wade about, like Neptun's Courtiers, suppling their Industrious Joynts. The Vigorous Sparks, presenting them with several Antick Postures, as Sailing on their Backs, then Embracing the Element, sink in Rapture.... The usual time being come to forsake that fickle Element, Half Tub Chairs, Lin'd with Blankets, Ply'd as thick as Coaches at the Play House, or Carts at the Custom House.

'Bathing being over for that Day we went to walk in the Grove, a very pleasant place for Diversion; there is the Royal Oak and several Raffling Shops: In one of the Walks, is several Sets of Nine Pins and Attendants to wait on you: Tipping all Nine for a Guinea, is as common there, as two Farthings for a Porrenger of Barley Broth, at the Hospital Gate in Smithfield. On several of the Trees was hung a Lampoon on the Marriage of one Mr. S----a Drugmonger and the famous Madam S---- of London.

'Having almost tir'd ourselves with walking, we took a Bench to ease our weary Pedestals. Now, said my Friend, I'll give you an impartial Account of the Perfections, Qualities and Functions, of a few particular Persons that are among this Amphibious Crowd.... To give you a particular Description of each of 'em, will require a Week's time at least. Come, therefore, let's go to some Tipling Mansion, and Carrouse, till we have Exhilerated our Drouthy Souls: To which I readily agreed. About five in the Evening, we went to see a great Match at Bowling: There was Quality, and Reverend Doctors of both Professions, Topping Merchants, Broken Bankers, Noted Mercers, Inns of Court Rakes, City Beaus, Stray'd Prentices, and Dancing-Masters in abundance. Fly, fly, fly, fly, said one; Rub, Rub, rub, rub, cry'd another. Ten Guineas to five I Uncover the Jack, says a third. Damn these Nice Fingers of mine, cry'd my Lord, I Slipt my Bowl and mistook the Bias. Another Swearing he knew the Ground to an Inch, and would hold five Pound his Bowl came in.

'From hence we went to the Groom Porters, where they were a Labouring like so many Anchor Smiths, at the Oake, Back Gammon, Tick Tack, Irish, Basset, and throwing of Mains. There was Palming, Lodging, Loaded Dice, Levant, and Gammoning, with all the Speed imaginable; but the Cornish Rook was too hard for them all. The Bristol Fair Sparks had but a very bad bargain of it; and little occasion for Returns. Bank Bills and Exchequer Notes were as Plenty, as Pops at the Chocolate Houses or Patternoster Row. Having satisfied our Curiosity here; we left them as busie a shaking their Elbows, as the Apple Women in Stocks Market, Wallnuts in October.

'And meeting with three or four more Acquaintance, we stroul'd to a Bristol-Milk Dary-House, and Enjoy'd our selves like brave Bacchanalians.'

This, then, was how the day was spent at Bath, with the exception of when some person of quality gave an entertainment to a select number of visitors--and this they were expected to do. Our writer describes his experience of one: 'The Ball is always kept at the Town Hall, a very spacious Room, and fitted up for that Purpose. During which, the Door is kept by a Couple of Brawny Beadles, to keep out the Mobility, looking as fierce as the Uncouth Figures at Guild-Hall; there was Extraordinary Fine Dancing (and how could it otherwise chuse, for Spouse and I had a Hand in it). A Consort of Delicate Musick, Vocal and Instrumental, perform'd by good Masters; A Noble Collation of dry Sweet Meats, Rich Wine and large Attendance. The Lady who was the Donor, wore an Extraordinary Rich Favour, to distinguish her from the rest, which is always the Custom; and before they break up to chuse another for the next Day, which fell upon a Shentlewoman of Wales; but no ways Derogated from hur Honour, or Disparag'd her Country in the least, but hur was as Noble, and as Generous, as e'er an English Shentlewoman of them all: To hur Honour be it Spoke.'

And he winds up the pamphlet with 'A Character of the Bath.'

'Tis neither Town nor City, yet goes by the Name of both: five Months in the Year 'tis as Populous as London, the other seven as desolate as a Wilderness. Its chiefest Inhabitants are Turnspit-Dogs; and it looks like Lombard Street on a Saints day. During the Season, it hath as many Families in a House as Edenborough; and Bills are as thick for Lodgings to be Let, as there was for Houses in the Fryars on the Late Act of Parliament for the Dissolution of Priviledges; but when the Baths are useless, so are their Houses, and as empty as the new Buildings by St. Giles in the Fields; The Baths I can compare to nothing but the Boylers in Fleet Lane or Old Bedlam, for they have a reaking steem all the Year. In a Word, 'tis a Valley of Pleasure, yet a sink of Iniquity; Nor is there any Intrigues or Debauch Acted in London, but is Mimick'd here.'

The Water was bottled and sold, and in order to guarantee its purity an advertisement was issued in 1706: 'Notice is hereby given, that George Allen is now chosen Pumper of the King's Bath Waters in Bath, and that the true Waters are to be had of none but him who seals all Bottles and Vessels with a Seal, whereon is the City Arms, viz a Borough Wall and Sword, and round it these Words, The King's Bath Water, George Allen, Pumper.' It was supplied in London fresh three times a week, as we find by another advertisement of 1709.

Tunbridge ranked next to Bath as a fashionable resort, and it is thus described in a contemporary play ('Tunbridge Walks,' ed. 1703).

Loveworth. But Tunbridge I suppose is the Seat of Pleasure; Prithee, what Company does the Place afford?

Reynard. Like most publick Assemblies, a Medley of all Sorts, Fops, majestick and diminutive, from the long Flaxen Wig with a splendid Equipage, to the Merchants' Spruce Prentice, that's always mighty neat about the Legs; Squires come to Court some fine Town Lady, and Town Sparks to pick up a Russet Gown; for the Women here are Wild Country Ladies, with ruddy Cheeks like a Sevil Orange, that gape, stare, scamper, and are brought hither to be Disciplined; Fat City Ladies with tawdry Atlasses, in Defiance of the Act of Parliament; and slender Court Ladies with French Scarffs, French Aprons, French Night Cloaths and French Complexions.

Loveworth. But what are the Chief Diversions here?

Reynard. Each to his own Inclinations--Beaus Raffle and Dance--Citts play at Nine Pins, Bowls, and Backgammon--Rakes, scoure the Walks, Bully the Shop keepers, and beat the Fidlers--Men of Wit rally over Claret, and Fools get to the Royal Oak Lottery, where you may lose Fifty Guineas in a Moment, have a Crown returned to you for Coach Hire, a Glass of Wine, and a hearty wellcome. In short, 'tis a Place wholly dedicated to Freedom, no Distinction, either of Quality or Estate, but ev'ry Man that appears well Converses with the Best.

People, however went to Tunbridge to drink the waters, not to bathe in them. So was it with Epsom Wells, which was decidedly lower in tone. From its easy access to London, it was crowded with citizens--and some very questionable characters. If Bath allowed some licence to its frequenters, Epsom gave more. 'But if you were not so monstrous lewd, the freedom of Epsom allows almost nothing to be scandalous.'[548]

[Footnote 548: Epsom Wells, Shadwell.]

The Epsom season began on Easter Monday, and one advertisement will sufficiently indicate its character. 1707. 'The New Wells at Epsom, with variety of Raffling Shops, will be open'd on Easter Monday next. There are Shops now to be Let, at the said Wells for a Bookseller, Pictures, Haberdasher of Hats, Shoemaker, Fishmonger, and Butcher; with conveniences for several other Trades. ☞ It's design'd that a very good Consort of Musick shall attend and play there Morning and Evening during the Season; and nothing will be demanded for the Waters drunk there.' Pinkethman would take his performing dogs down there, and Mr. Clinch, with the wonderful voice, would spend the season there. Morris-dancing and other sports were got up, and at last they had races, which have since evolved that national saturnalia the Derby.

They had not yet analysed these purgative waters, and consequently 'Epsom salts' were unknown, so that people, did they wish for them, must either go to Epsom, or buy the water in London, where almost all the other 'Spaw' waters could be procured. It is astonishing how they could drink the quantity they are recorded to have done--i.e. if those accounts are trustworthy. Brown, in one of his 'Letters from the Dead to the Living,' talks of a lady 'that has drank two Quarts of Epsom Waters for her Mornings draught'; and Shadwell, in 'Epsom Wells,' says:--

Brisket. I vow it is a pleasurable Morning: the Waters taste so finely after being fudled last Night. Neighbour Fribbler, here's a Pint to you.

Fribbler. I'll pledge you, Mrs. Brisket; I have drunk eight already.

Mrs. Brisket. How do the Waters agree with your Ladyship?

Mrs. Woodly. Oh, Soveraignly: how many Cups have you arrived to?

Mrs. Brisket. Truly Six, and they pass so kindly.

There was, and even yet is, a mildly chalybeate spring at Hampstead, which made that beautiful northern suburb very fashionable. The well has been lately altered, and the old Assembly Rooms, which had lasted from Anne's time, were pulled down in the early part of 1882. Old gardens have been grubbed up, and fine new villas set a-top of them. It is only a question of time as to when the trees in Well Walk will die and be no more, and but a few houses will remain to attest the glory of Hampstead in Queen Anne's time, when the Kit Cats made it their summer meeting-place. Like all places of amusement then, the spirit of gambling had invaded it, and either Swift or Steele notices that: 'By letters from Hampstead which give me an account, there is a late institution there under the name of a RAFFLING SHOP; which is, it seems, secretly supported by a person who is a deep practitioner in the law, and out of tenderness of conscience, has, under the name of his maid Sisly, set up this easier way of conveyancing and alienating estates from one family to another.'[549] Concerts of music were frequent here in the season, as they were also at Richmond Wells, which opened in the middle of May.

[Footnote 549: The Tatler, No. 59.]

The medicinal powers of divers springs near London had been known for generations, and we find them duly advertised and puffed--Acton Waters, Dullidge and Northall Waters, Lambeth Wells, Sadler's New Tunbridge Wells near Islington, 'at the Musick House by the New River.' The London Spaw, 'at the sign of the Fountain in the parish of St. James's Clarken Well; in the way going up to Islington' ('the Poor may have it Gratis'); whilst in 1702 we find an advertisement: 'This is to give notice, That at the King's Arms Inn in Haughton Street in Clare Market, over against New Inn back Gate, is lately discovered a Spring of Purging Water, known by the name of Holy-well, or the London Water, exceeding for their Cathartic Excellency, all other Purging Waters; working in small quantities without neglect of Business. This Water has been tried and approved of by some of the best Physicians. To be had at the Pump, at the place aforesaid at 2_d._ the Quart, and to those that buy it to Retail it, at the Usual Rates.'

One of those in the country was Buxton, of which we get the following notice in 1705: 'Whereas the Bath House at Buxton, in Derbyshire, so famous in the North for divers Cures, hath of late Years been mismanaged, by disobliging Persons of Quality and others usually resorting to the said Bath; this is therefore to give Notice to all Persons of Quality and Gentry of Both Sexes, That Care has now been taken, by his Grace the Duke of Devonshire, to remedy the like Treatment, for the future, by sending down from London a fitting and obliging Person sufficiently qualified: So that now all Persons resorting to the said Bath will meet with Civil Usage, and have the best of every thing for Man and Beast at reasonable rates.' Then there were springs at Scarborough, Bury, Astrop, Croft, Holt, and Blurton Spaw Water, which was belauded by Floyer. Of course these are not a tithe of those which were locally famous, but were not pushed into public notoriety.

Foreign mineral waters were in use, but evidently only for medicinal purposes. 'Purging Spaw Waters newly brought over from Germany, to be sold at the Two Golden Images in King Street, near St. James's.' And they were sold at prices varying from 12_s._ per doz. or 1_s._ per flask, to 15_s._ per doz.

Not only were the hot springs of Bath frequented for the purposes of bathing, but the Turkish bath was peculiarly an institution of this reign, and the 'Hummums' or 'Bagnios' were well frequented, until the latter got an evil reputation, and the name of Bagnio came to be regarded as synonymous with a disorderly house. Some of the medical men of the time took up the subject of bathing with relation to health, and, as is generally the case, took opposite views; some advocating cold bathing, like Sir John Floyer and Dr. Ed. Baynard in 'ΨΥΧΡΟΛΟΨΣΙΑ: or, the HISTORY of COLD BATHING, Both Ancient and Modern,' 1706, or Dr. Browne, who wrote in 1707 'An Account of the Wonderful CURES perform'd by the COLD BATHS. With advice to the Water Drinkers at Tunbridge, Hampstead, Astrope, Nasborough, and all the other Chalibeate Spaws'; whilst others took up the cause of hot bathing, and decried the use of cold water, even in immersion in Baptism, like Guidot, who in 1705 published 'An Apology for the Bath,' having previously printed a Latin tract, 'De Thermis Britannicis.'

Ward describes a visit to the Hummums in Covent Garden with a friend, who suggested to him[550] 'if you will be your Club towards Eight Shillings, we'll go in and Sweat, and you shall feel the effects of this Notable Invention.' Let him tell his experiences in his own words. 'We now began to unstrip, and put ourselves in a Condition of enduring an Hour's Baking, and when we had reduc'd our selves into the Original state of Mankind, having nothing before us to cover our Nakedness, but a Clout no bigger than a Fig leaf, our Guide led us to the end of our Journey, the next Apartment, which I am sure, was as hot as a Pastry Cooks Oven to Bake a White Pot; that I began immediately to melt, like a Piece of Butter in a Basting Ladle, and was afraid I should have run all to Oyl by the time I had been in six Minutes; The bottom of the Room was Pav'd with Freestone; to defend our feet from the excessive heat of which, we had got on a pair of new-fashioned Brogues, with Wooden Soles after the French Mode, Cut out of an Inch Deal Board; or else like the Fellow in the Fair, we might as well have walk'd cross a hot Iron Bar, as ventur'd here to have Trod bare Foot. As soon as the Fire had tapt us all over, and we began to run like a Conduit Pipe, at every Pore, our Rubber arms his Right Hand with a Gauntlet of coarse hair Camlet, and began to curry us with as much Labour, as a Yorkshire Groom does his Master's best Stone Horse; till he made our Skins as Smooth as a Fair Ladies Cheeks, just wash'd with Lemon Posset, and greas'd over with Pomatum. At last I grew so very faint with the expence of much Spirits, that I begg'd as hard for a Mouthful of fresh Air, as Dives did for a drop of Water; which our attendance let in at a Sash-Window, no broader than a Deptford Cheese Cake; but, however, it let in a Comfortable Breeze that was very Reviving: when I had foul'd many Callico Napkins, our Rubber draws a Cistern full of Hot Water, that we might go in, and Boil out those gross Humours that could not be Emitted by Perspiration. Thus, almost Bak'd to a Crust, we went into the hot Bath to moisten our Clay, where we lay Soddening our selves like Deer's Humbles design'd for Minc'd Pies, till we were almost Parboiled ... then after he had wiped me o'er with a dry Clout, telling us we had Sweat enough, he reliev'd us out of Purgatory, and carried us into our Dressing Room; which gave us such Refreshment, after we had been stewing in our own Gravy, that we thought ourselves as happy as a Couple of English Travellers, Transported in an Instant, by a Miracle from the Torrid Zone into their own Country. Our expense of Spirits had weakened Nature and made us drowsie; where having the Conveniency of a Bed, we lay down and were rubb'd like a couple of Race Horses after a Course.'

[Footnote 550: The London Spy.]

An advertisement of these baths tells us fully of the extent of the accommodation they afforded. 'At the Hummum's in Covent Garden are the best accommodation for Persons of Quality to Sweat or Bath every day in the week, the Conveniences of all kinds far exceeding all other Bagnios or Sweating Houses both for Rich and Poor. Persons of good Reputation may be accommodated with handsom Lodgings to lye all Night. There is also a Man and Woman who Cups after the Newest and easiest method. In the Garden of the same House is also a large Cold Bath of Spring Water, which, for its Coldness and Delicacy, deserves an equal Reputation with any in use.'

There were also 'John Evans's Hummums in Brownlow Street near Drury Lane,' 'John Pindar's (the German Sweating House) in Westmoreland Court, in Bartholomew Close, near Aldersgate Street,' and 'The Queen's Bagnio in Long Acre,' kept by Henry Ayme, chirurgeon; where not only could you have a bath for 5_s._, or two or more 4_s._ each, but there was 'a lesser Bagnio, of a lower Rate, for the Diseased and Meaner Sort.' 'There is no Entertainment for Women after Twelve of the Clock at Night, but all Gentlemen that desire Beds, may have them for Two Shillings per Night, for one single Person, but if two lie together Three Shillings both; which Rooms and Beds are fit for the Entertainment of Persons of the highest Quality, and Gentlemen.'

Then there was the Royal Bagnio in Newgate Street, at the corner of what now is Bath (formerly Bagnio) Street. There was also Pierault's Bagnio, which was in St. James's Street, and was established about 1699. 'The charge of going in is 5_s._--if lie all Night 10_s._ each. Here also is a Cold Bath, for which they take 2_s._ 6_d._ each Person.'

The disciples of cold bathing might be suited at 'A Convenient large Cold Bath, that is Erected upon an Excellent Cold Spring, adjoyning to the Bowling Green in Queen Street in the Park, Southwark ... Prices 1_s._ and 6_d._--The Chair 2_s._'; and at No. 3 Endell Street was a bath which, tradition says, was used by Queen Anne. It was about twelve or fourteen feet square, and was originally lined with old blue and white Dutch tiles. I can find nothing confirming this tradition, which may or may not have a foundation in fact.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XXXII. RELIGIONS

Inactivity of the Church -- Dulness of Sunday -- Contempt of the clergy -- Low estimation of a chaplain -- Dress of the clergy -- Church furniture -- Traffic in benefices -- Forged orders -- Dr. Sacheverell -- 'The modern champions' -- Queen Anne's Bounty -- Its history -- Fifty new churches -- Protestant tone of Church feeling -- The effigies on Queen Elizabeth's birthday -- Oppression of Roman Catholics -- Religious sects -- Eminent Nonconformists -- Daniel Burgess -- Dislike to Quakers -- Examples -- William Penn.

Religious life in Anne's time was not active--at least in the Church of England. Even the dignitaries of the Church, with very few exceptions, were men of no mark, nor were there any among the inferior clergy who could be called to the higher estate, and so help to leaven and wake up the Episcopate. For the Church was asleep, and with the exception of the Sacheverell episode--when the name of the Church was dragged in to serve party purposes--nothing was heard of it. There were priests in the livings then as now, and they duly baptized, married, preached to, and buried their flock; but there was little vitality in their ministrations, little or no zeal or earnestness as to the spiritual state of those committed to their charge, and very little of practical teaching, in the way of setting before them a higher social standard for them to imitate. The Church services had no life in them; with the exception of the cathedrals the services were read, and the soul-depressing parson and clerk duet had its usual effect of deadening the religious sensibilities of the so-called worshippers. Why! Addison seems to think that dear old Sir Roger was acting in a most praiseworthy manner in dragooning all his tenants to Church, otherwise he confesses they would not have come; but what spiritual good this compulsory attendance did them he does not hint at--probably never thought of: 'My Friend Sir Roger being a good Churchman, has beautified the Inside of his Church with several texts of his own chusing; he has likewise given a handsome Pulpit Cloth, and railed in the Communion Table at his own expence. He has often told me, that at his coming to his Estate he found (his Parishioners) very irregular; and that in order to make them kneel and join in the Responses he gave every one of them a Hassock and a Common Prayer Book: and at the same time employed an itinerant Singing Master, who goes about the Country for that Purpose, to instruct them rightly in the Tunes of the Psalms; upon which they now very much value themselves, and indeed out-do most of the Country Churches that I have ever heard.

'As Sir Roger is Landlord to the whole Congregation, he keeps them in very good Order, and will suffer no Body to sleep in it besides himself; for if by chance he has been surprized into a short Nap at Sermon, upon recovering out of it he stands up and looks about him, and if he sees any Body else nodding, either wakes them himself, or sends his Servant to them.... As soon as the Sermon is finished, no Body presumes to stir till Sir Roger is gone out of the Church. The Knight walks down from his Seat in the Chancel between a Double Row of his Tenants, that stand bowing to him, on each Side; and every now and then enquires how such an one's Wife, or Mother, or Son, or Father do, whom he does not see at Church; which is understood as a secret reprimand to the Person that is absent.'[551]

[Footnote 551: Spectator, 112.]

He then contrasts this parish with a neighbouring one where the squire and parson are at variance--where all the tenants are Atheists and Tithe Stealers. Of course Addison's account is somewhat biassed by his own proclivities; but we may take the tone of Church feeling throughout the country to have been exemplified by the state of Sir Roger's parish before the rather fussy, and certainly eccentric, knight entered upon his high-handed course of compulsory attendance.

How Sunday was spent in London let Misson say: 'The English of all Sects, but particularly the Presbyterians, make profession of being very strict Observers of the Sabbath Day.

'I believe their Doctrine upon this Head does not differ from ours, but most assuredly our Scruples are much less great than theirs. This appears upon a hundred Occasions; but I have observ'd it particularly in the printed Confessions of Persons that are hang'd; Sabbath breaking is the Crime the poor Wretches always begin with. If they kill'd Father and Mother, they would not mention that Article, till after having profess'd how often they had broke the Sabbath. One of the good English Customs on the Sabbath Day, is to feast as nobly as possible, and especially not to forget the Pudding. It is a common Practice, even among People of good Substance, to have a huge piece of Roast Beef on Sundays, of which they stuff till they can swallow no more, and eat the rest cold, without any other Victuals, the other Six Days of the Week.'

Another quotation from Addison shows at all events his feeling as to the state of the Church at that time: 'After some short Pause, the old Knight turning about his Head twice or thrice, to take a Survey of this great Metropolis, bid me observe how thick the City was set with Churches, and that there was scarce a single Steeple on this side Temple Bar. A most Heathenish Sight! says Sir Roger: There is no Religion at this End of the Town. The Fifty new Churches will very much mend the Prospect; but Church-work is slow--Church-work is slow.'[552]

[Footnote 552: Spectator, 383.]

There is no doubt but that the Clergy as a body were but little thought of. Of course there were good and pious men then as now, but there is no disguising the fact that the majority showed an indifference to the spiritual well-being of the people, which could not fail to react upon themselves, and foster a feeling bordering upon contempt. Although those were not the days of deep thought, or scientific speculation, there was a great deal of freethought in existence: and although Atheists were professed to be looked upon, as they are now, as moral lepers, yet still there they were.

Perhaps one of the most curious symptoms of the times was the exceeding popularity of Dr. John Eachard's satire, 'The Grounds and Occasions of the Contempt of the Clergy and Religion enquired into,' which, in 1705, had reached its eleventh edition. But the butt of all the satirists was the domestic chaplain. He was a member of the household of every person of position, yet he had no social status. Here is a contemporary account,[553] meant as a considerate warning to a friend, putting before him a chaplain's social position:--

[Footnote 553: 'A SATYR Address'd to a Friend that is about to leave the University, and come abroad in the World,' by Mr. John Oldham, ed. 1703.]

Some think themselves exalted to the Sky, If they light in some Noble Family: Diet, an Horse, and thirty pounds a year, Besides th' advantage of his Lordship's ear, The Credit of the business and the State, Are things that in a Youngster's Sense sound great. Little the unexperienc'd Wretch does know, What slavery he oft must undergo: Who, though in Silken Scarf and Cassock drest, Wears but a gayer Livery at best. When Dinner calls, the Implement must wait With holy words to consecrate the Meat, But hold it for a Favour seldom known, If he be deigned the Honour to sit down. Soon as the Tarts appear; Sir Crape, withdraw, Those Dainties are not for a spiritual Maw. Observe your distance; and be sure to stand Hard by the Cistern with your Cap in hand: There for diversion you may pick your Teeth, Till the kind Voider comes for your Relief. For meer Board-wages such their Freedom sell, Slaves to an Hour, and Vassals to a Bell: And if th' enjoyment of one day be stole, They are but Pris'ners out upon Parole: Always the marks of Slavery remain, And they, tho loose, still drag about the Chain. And where's the mighty prospect after all, A Chaplainship serv'd up, and seven years Thrall? The menial thing perhaps for a Reward, Is to some slender Benefice preferr'd, With this Proviso bound, that he must wed } My Lady's antiquated Waiting Maid, } In Dressing only skill'd, and Marmalade. } Let others who such meannesses can brook, Strike Countenance to every Great Man's Look: Let those that have a mind, turn slaves to eat, And live contented by another's Plate: I rate my Freedom higher, nor will I For Food, and Raiment truck my Liberty.

And Gay, too, in his Trivia (book 2) says:--

Cheese, that the Table's closing Rites denies, And bids me with th' unwilling Chaplain rise.

Addison, commenting on this custom, and the chaplain's status generally, remarks,[554] 'In this case I know not which to censure, the Patron or the Chaplain, the insolence of power or the abjectness of dependence. For my own part, I have often blushed to see a gentleman, whom I know to have much more wit and learning than myself, and who was bred up with me at the University upon the same foot of a Liberal Education, treated in such an ignominious manner, and sunk beneath those of his own rank, by reason of that Character, which ought to bring him honour.'

[Footnote 554: Tatler, 255.]

Again, in the Guardian (No. 163) his position is described: 'I have, with much ado, maintained my post hitherto at the dessert, and every day eat tart in the face of my patron; but how long I shall be invested with this privilege, I do not know. For the servants, who do not see me supported as I was in my old lord's time, begin to brush very familiarly by me, and thrust aside my chair when they set the sweetmeats on the table.'

A curious confirmation of one of Oldham's statements is found in a little brochure of the early part of Anne's reign,[555] 'I turn away my Footman for aspiring to my Woman, her I marry to my Lord's high Chaplain, and give her six Changes of my old cast off Cloaths for her Dowry.'

[Footnote 555: The English Lady's Catechism.]

Royalty, even, was not exempt from this failing of snubbing the chaplains. Swift writes,[556] 'I never dined with the chaplains till to day; but my friend Gastrel and the Dean of Rochester had often invited me, and I happened to be disengaged; it is the worst provided table at Court. We ate on pewter.'

[Footnote 556: Journal to Stella, Oct. 6, 1711.]

The clergy, when they appeared in public, wore always both cassock and gown; with the wig, of course, which was sometimes carried to excess, when it brought down the ridicule of the satirist, as in the following[557] humble petition of Elizabeth Slender, Spinster, Sheweth.

[Footnote 557: Tatler, 370.]

'That on the twentieth of this instant December, her friend, Rebecca Hive, walking in the Strand, saw a gentleman before us in a gown, whose periwig was so long, and so much powdered, that your petitioner took notice of it, and said "she wondered that lawyer would so spoil a new gown with powder." To which it was answered, "that he was no lawyer, but a clergyman." Upon a wager of a pot of Coffee we over took him, and your petitioner was soon convinced she had lost.

'Your petitioner, therefore, desires your worship to cite the clergyman before you, and to settle and adjust the length of canonical Periwigs, and the quantity of powder to be made use of in them,' etc.

The vestments, when officiating, were simple, consisting of a cassock and full surplice--the black gown being used for preaching.

The accompanying illustrations of a bishop and a prebendary are taken from the prints of Queen Anne's coronation--the bishop wears chimere and rochet, whilst the prebendary has his hood, and, as it was a festival, he wears what seems to be meant for a cope.

The church furniture was not very extravagant, as is exemplified by the following advertisement: 'Lost the 20th of August at Night, out of St. Bennets Grace Church viz, a purple Velvet Cushion, with purple and gold Tassels; The Covering of 2 Cushions very old of the same. The Vallins for the Pulpit of purple Velvet with purple and gold Fringe; A Cover for the Communion Table of purple Velvet very old. S.B.G. 1641 Embroider'd on it; A large Damask Table Cloath, and 2 Damask Napkins mark'd S.B.G.L.E. 2 large pewter Plates, mark'd S.B.G. 2 Surplices, 1 old, the other New, mark'd S.B.G.L.E. A Clark's Gown of black Callimanca with Loops, and faced with black Velvet.' The reward offered for this lot was three guineas.

Benefices were then trafficked in. 'The next Advowson or Presentation to a Church of about 200_l._ per annum, four score and ten Miles from London, is to be dispos'd of, on very reasonable Terms, to any Clergy man of a good Character for Learning and Morals. The present Incumbent upwards of 60 Years of Age.' Simony was, however, punishable, for we read in Luttrell, July 4, 1702, 'The late bishop of St. Davids who some time since was deprived of that bishoprick on account of Simony, being arrested for £1,000 costs of suit, is removed from the bailiff's house to Newgate.'

There were a few black sheep among the clergy. The London Gazette for Nov. 3/6, 1707, has an advertisement commencing, 'Where as one William Sale was some Years since Convicted in the Ecclesiastical Court at Canterbury, of having forged Holy Orders for himself, and for his own Father,' etc., and it goes on to cite him to appear before the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Bishop of Rochester, and produce his true orders, if he had any--or, if not, he would be prosecuted.

And in the London Gazette for March 18/22, 1703, the clergy are warned against one 'Abraham Gill, aged upwards of 30 years, middle statur'd, some gray Hairs, wearing sometimes a light Wig, sometimes a darker, sanguine Complexion, bold and Confident in Conversation, strong Voice, a North Country Pronunciation, writing a Clerk like Hand, as having been some time employ'd under an Attorney. Travelling the Country with a Woman and 3 or 4 Children, sometime since forged Letters of Orders, under the Hand and Episcopal Seal of the Lord Bishop of Chester,' etc.

Swift, too, writes,[558] 'I walked here after nine, two miles, and I found a parson drunk, fighting with a seaman, and Patrick and I were so wise as to part them, but the seaman followed him to Chelsea, cursing at him, and the parson slipped into a house, and I know no more. It mortified me to see a man in my coat so overtaken.'

[Footnote 558: Journal to Stella, May 5, 1711.]

It would be impossible to write of the Church of England in Anne's reign without mentioning Dr. Sacheverell, whose two famous sermons brought about his impeachment and sentence of three years' suspension. In them he condemned Dissenters and those Churchmen who sympathised with them, lashing, with his oratory, the high ones of the land--and Godolphin especially, as was believed, under the name of 'Volpone.' Then rose the war-cry of 'High Church and Sacheverell!' which even the Queen could not avoid: 'God bless the Queen. We hope your Majesty is for High Church and Sacheverell;' and presumably she was, for the very month his suspension expired she presented him with the valuable living of St. Andrew's, Holborn. High Churchism then meant intolerance, and Sacheverell was the puppet pulled by wires held by others.

There is a curious contemporary skit which is worth reproducing, for two reasons--first, as showing the style of literature then used in party warfare; and second, because it gives an approximate illustration of the Hockley-in-the-Hole combatants mounted on the stage. In fact, the whole thing is a travesty on the bombastic challenges of those doughty heroes.

'THE MODERN CHAMPIONS[559]

or

A Tryal of Skill to be Fought at her Majesty's Bear Garden, on Monday next, between a Jeroboam Tory and a Jerusalem Whig, with their two Seconds.

[Footnote 559: Banks Coll., Brit. Mus., 1890, e. The Combatants are Bishop (then Dr.) Hoadly and Dr. Sacheverell--the Seconds, Drs. Burgess and Harris.]

When Gospel Trumpeter surrounded By long Ear'd Rout, to Battle Sounded And Pulpit, Drum Ecclesiastick Was beat with Fist instead of a Stick Then did Sir Knight---- Prophetically sung by the learned Hudibras.

'I, JEHU HOTSPUR, known by the name of the High Church Champion, Defender of the Cause, against all Schismatical and Rebellious Saints whatever; Do Invite you Balthasar Turncoat, (of the Race of the Seditious; Betrayers of their Country, and Rebels to their Lawful Sovereign; Prolocutor and Contester for the Shameful and detested Cause of Moderation; a Lukewarm Christian, and a False Brother of the Ch----h; Dissenting from, and Prevaricating with, the Original Ordinances thereof) to meet and Fight me at the seven several sorts of weapons following, viz.:

Sword & Cloak } Schism & Hypocrisy } Tolleration } Rebellion } JEHU HOTSPUR Moderation } Regicide and } Anarchy }

So putting Trust in the Justice of my Quarrel, expect to find you at the Time and Place appointed, as you will answer the Contrary at your Peril.

'I, BALTHASAR TURNCOAT, Chief Orator and Champion for the upright and blessed Principles of Moderation; a True Blue Church Man, and Jerusalem Whig; Receiving open Defiance from the said Jehu Hotspur avow'd Champion and Maintainer of the High Church Jacobite Cause (Sprung from the Loins of Jeroboam the Son of Nebat, who caused Israel to Sin; a Race so wickedly malicious that they would have us all cut off, Root and Branch; unless we fall down and worship the Calves of Dan and Bethel, whereby the Seed of Amalek may come to be restor'd) Will not fail, God Willing, to meet the Bold and Daring Inviter at the Time and Place appointed, and Oppose him at the several Weapons following, viz.:

Sword & Warming pan} Non Resistance } Passive Obedience } Superstition } BALTHASAR TURNCOAT Jacobitism } Tyranny and } Persecution }

Desiring a Clear Stage, and from him no Favour.

'N.B. Whoever brings this Ticket, will be admitted on the Day of Tryal.

'London. Printed in the Year 1710--price 1_d._'

Should anyone care to see to what depth the Church of England had sunk, as far as care of the fabric of the churches went, let him read 'Miscellany Accounts of the Diocese of Carlisle, &c., 1703-4,' by Wm. Nicholson, late Bishop of Carlisle: London, Geo. Bell & Sons, 1877.

The two most notable events in the reign, in connection with the Church, were the foundation of Queen Anne's Bounty, and the building of fifty new churches. In the times of the Crusades, a tax of firstfruits and tenths had been imposed for the purpose of prosecuting the Holy Wars, and it had never been taken off. Henry VIII., of course, seized upon it as his own royal perquisite, and so it continued. Charles II. found it handy to provide for his seraglio; and probably, had it not been for the very strenuous exertions of Bishop Burnet with both William and Mary, and afterwards with Anne, it might never have reverted to the Church.

As it was, Queen Anne surrendered it in a most graceful manner, making it her birthday present to the nation in 1704. Her birthday (Feb. 6) fell that year on a Sunday, but she kept it on the Monday, and on that day sent a message to her faithful Commons that it was her desire to make a grant of her whole revenue derived from the firstfruits, and tenths, for the benefit of the poorer clergy. The Commons lost no time in passing a Bill in acquiescence with the royal wish, even broadening its basis--enabling other persons to make grants for the same purpose. This latter addition encountered some opposition in the Lords, but eventually became law.

The clergy were naturally grateful, and on Feb. 15 the clergy of both Provinces waited on her Majesty, with addresses of thanks for her kindness; and the lower House of Convocation for the Province of Canterbury returned their thanks to the Commons for their readiness in complying with the Queen's desire. On April 3 of the same year the Queen gave her royal assent to the Act. That it was needed is evidenced by the fact that the Commissioners found there were 5,597 livings under 50_l._ per annum, which were capable of augmentation. The increase of the income of the poorer clergy was its first intention: now the scheme has widened, and grants towards building parsonage-houses, etc., are made. Still, Queen Anne's name remains attached to it in grateful remembrance.

It was estimated that it would bring in an income of 6,000_l._ per annum. How the fund is now administered may be learned from the following extract from the Globe of Feb. 15, 1882. 'In Convocation of York yesterday a Committee was appointed to report upon the constitution and management of Queen Anne's Bounty. It was stated that the income of the Bounty is 15,000_l._, and that the cost of management is between 7,000_l._ and 8,000_l._'[560] Comment on this is superfluous.

[Footnote 560: This statement was afterwards modified in the Globe of June 21, 1882. 'The Report of the auditor, Mr. Charles Garlant, states that the cost of administration of the bounty fund is approximately 17_s._ 6_d._ per cent. on the receipts and payments generally, and £2 10_s._ per cent. if items on capital account are altogether excluded.']

London was growing bigger, but with the extension of house-building there was no commensurate increase of church accommodation; so the Upper House of Convocation presented an address to the Queen upon the subject, and the Lower House petitioned the House of Commons. The outcome of this was, that the Queen sent a message to the latter, calling their attention to the state of spiritual destitution, and recommending them to further 'so good and pious a work.' The Commons dutifully replied that, although they had an expensive war on hand, and heavy burdens to bear besides, yet they would be happy to do their part, and consequently the session of 1711 saw the royal assent given to an act for building fifty new churches within the Bills of Mortality, to meet the expense of which was assigned the duty on coals, which had defrayed the expenses of building St. Paul's. Convocation returned thanks, and the fifty churches were eventually built.

The tone of the Church at that time was essentially Protestant. And no wonder. William the Deliverer was warm in men's memory; and men, fearing a repetition of Roman supremacy, as in the times of the second James, unreasoningly went in the opposite direction, probably without much absolutely religious feeling prompting them. More possibly it was

'The Church God Bless, The Queen no less, And all that do Profess The same religion with Queen Bess.

But I'll warrant now, if we had a Bonfire in the Street, and such a Whig as Tom Double shou'd pass by, he wou'd refuse this Health, and then I shou'd break his Head.'[561]

[Footnote 561: The Weekly Comedy, Jan. 2, 1708.]

Queen Bess was the Madonna of the Protestants, and 'her glorious Memory' was a watchword of the party. Nov. 17, the anniversary of her accession to the throne, was celebrated in the same manner as Nov. 5 used to be, until police control interfered with it. One Nov. 17 in Queen Anne's reign, that of 1711, was rendered historically famous by the steps the Government took in the suppression of this carnival. A contemporary account[562] is as follows: 'Nov. 20. Upon information, that the Effigies of the Devil, the Pope and his Attendants were to be carry'd in Procession, and, according to Custom, burnt on Saturday last, the 17th Inst. being the Anniversary of Queen ELIZABETH'S Accession to the Crown, of ever Pious and most Glorious Memory, the Government apprehending that the same might occasion Tumults in this Populous City, thought fit to prevent it. Accordingly, on Friday last, about Twelve a Clock at Night, some of Her Majesty's Messengers, sustain'd by a Detachment of Grenadiers of the Foot Guards, with their Officer, were order'd to go to an Empty House in Angel Court, Drury Lane, which being broke Open, they found in it the Effigies of the Devil, that of the POPE on his Right hand, and that of a Young Gentleman in a Blue Cloth Coat, with Tinsel Lace, and a Hat with a White Feather, made of Cut Paper, seated under a large Canopy; as also the Figures of Four Cardinals, Four Jesuits, and Four Franciscan Fryars, and a large Cross about Eighteen Foot High; all which, being put on several Carts were, about Two a Clock in the Morning, carry'd to the Cock Pit, and there lodg'd in a Room between the Council Chamber, and the Right Honourable the Earl of Dartmouth's Secretary's Office. Moreover, on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday the Trained Bands of London and Westminster were under Arms; so that there was no Pope Burnt, tho' we hear of one that was Drown'd. It may, perhaps, appear strange that a Popular Rejoycing so grateful to this PROTESTANT City, which was never attempted to be quash'd but in K. James the Second's Reign, should, at this Juncture, be interrupted: But, to be sure, those who did it had very good Reasons for their Management.'

[Footnote 562: The Protestant Post Boy, Nov 17/20, 1711.]

Swift, of course, gives Stella all the gossip about it, and says the Whigs laid out about a thousand pounds upon the proposed show. 'They did it by Contribution. Garth gave five guineas; Dr. Garth I mean, if ever you heard of him.' Swift afterwards went to see the effigies, and his report very much modifies his previous account: 'The fifteen images that I saw were not worth forty pounds, so I stretched a little when I said a thousand. The Devil is not like lord treasurer; they were all your odd antick masks, bought in Common Shops.'

The last of them is told in a paragraph of the Post Boy, July 1/3, 1712: 'Yesterday, were disrobed at the Cockpit the Effigies of the Devil, the Person who has pretended to disturb the Settlement of the Protestant Succession of the House of Hanover, the Pope, Cardinals &c. Our Enemies being now disarm'd, we will venture to say, that there will soon be a General Cessation of Arms.'

Protestant throats yelled out--

O! Queen Bess, Queen Bess, Queen Bess, Who sav'd us all from Popish Thrall? O! Queen Bess, Queen Bess, Queen Bess--

and bigoted, and intolerant Protestant legislators did their little utmost to oppress their Roman Catholic fellow-subjects, even in Ireland: 'Her Majestie, in council, has approved of several Irish acts sent over hither, which are to be return'd, to passe into laws; among them is that for preventing the further growth of popery in that Kingdom, by which all the estates of Roman catholicks there after their death, shall be equally divided among all their children, unless the eldest turns protestant within a year after the father's decease, and if so, to enjoy the whole; likewise by this bill all the Romish clergy, who are now tolerated there, are to be registered, and when they die, to be succeeded by protestants.'[563]

[Footnote 563: Luttrell, Jan. 25, 1705.]

'Edinburgh, 14 Mar. 1704. Sir James Stuart, Her Majesty's Advocate, having represented to the Council, that there were several Popish Vestments, Trinkets, and others seized; And that they were given to his Lordship, and in his Custody. The Lords of her Majesty's Privy-Council do hereby appoint and ordain the Vestments, Crucifixes and Trinkets, to be burnt at the Cross of Edinburgh to-morrow, being the 15th Instant, betwixt the hours of ten and twelve in the Fore noon. And appoints and ordains the Magistrates of Edinburgh to see the same effectually done: And appoints and ordains the Chalice, Patine, and such other of the said Trinkets, as are in Silver or Gold, to be melted down and delivered to the present Kirk Treasurer of Edinburgh, for the use of the poor thereof.'[564]

[Footnote 564: Flying Post., Feb. 17/20, 1705.]

This order was duly carried out; 'An Inventor whereof follows, Imprimis An Chalice and Patine for the Ilastic (?). Item Four Crucifixes. Item Two Surplices. Item Three Colliers. Item Four pairs of Beeds, or Chapelets, with some Relicks of Saints. Item, Several Pictures, with Indulgencies and Pardons; and particularly one with this Indulgence following: viz. the Archbishop of Mechline has granted Indulgence of forty days to those who shall bow their Knee before this image once a day, considering devoutly the infinite Charity of Jesus Christ, who has suffered for us the Bitter Death of the Cross: And if any will perform this Devotion oftner, he shall so oft have new Indulgence for five days more extracted.'

'Information being given of several priests lurking about this Citty, the messengers the close of last week seized near Red Lyon Square 3 of them, viz, Gifford, Martin, and Matthews, the last is committed to Newgate, but the others were admitted to bail, each in £1000, and 2 sureties in £500 apiece.'[565]

[Footnote 565: Luttrell, Sept. 26, 1704.]

On April 4, 1706, the Privy Council sent a circular to the Archbishop of Canterbury, which he in his turn sent round to the bishops, and they to their clergy, stating that her Majesty being acquainted 'with several Instances of the very great Boldness and Presumption of the Romish Priests and Papists in this Kingdom,' directed them 'to Require the Clergy in their several Dioceses to take an Exact and Particular Account of the Number of the Papists and Reputed Papists in every Parish with their Qualities, Estates and Places of Abode, and to return the same to their respective Diocesans, who are to return the same to your Grace, in Order to be laid before Her Majesty.'

This inquisitorial circular was followed on April 11, 1706, by 'A PROCLAMATION For the Putting in Execution the Laws in Force against such Persons as have or shall Endeavour to Pervert her Majesties Subjects to the Popish Religion,' and it recites that the Acts to be put in force were one of the 23 Eliz., 'An Act to Retain the Queen's Majesties Subjects in their due Obedience,' and one of the 3 Jas. I. 'An Act for the Discovering and Repressing of Popish Recusants.'

This seems to have been ineffectual, or the nation must have had another attack of Protestant fever, for on March 2, 1710, in a proclamation offering 100_l._ for the apprehension of some Sacheverell rioters, there are clauses, 'And we do strictly charge and command all Papists, who shall be above the Age of Sixteen Years, that they do, according to the Statutes in that behalf made, repair to their respective Places of Abode, and do not thence remove or pass above the Distance of five Miles--And that all such Papists and Persons reputed so to be (except Merchants, Traders, settled House holders, and other Persons excepted in the Statutes made in this behalf) do, on or before the eighth day of this Instant March, depart out of our said Cities and Suburbs of London and Westminster, and from all Places distant ten Miles from the Same.'

On March 15, 1711, another proclamation was issued for all Papists to remove from the cities of London and Westminster, and, even at the very close of Anne's reign, we read;[566] 'At the Assizes held at Chelmsford in the County of Essex, a bill of Indictment was found against Hanmer, formerly mention'd in this Paper, for that he, being a Popish Priest, did say Mass according to the Custom of the Romish Church in that Country; to which Indictment he pleaded not Guilty, and gave Suretys to try the same at the next Assizes.'

[Footnote 566: The Flying Post, July 17/20, 1714.]

Misson gives a formidable list of religious sects then in existence, to which, of course, owing to the vastly superior wisdom and knowledge of this nineteenth century, we have enormously added and improved upon. He says that there were, in his time, in England, 'Antinomians, Hederingtonians, Theaurian Joanites, Seekers, Waiters, Brownists, Reevists, Baronists, Wilkinsonians, Familists, Ranters, Muggletonians, &c., &c. All these, and nothing at all, are just one and the same thing: Christianity is overwhelm'd with Sects enough already, without our studying to multiply them chimerically.... Besides the Religion which serves God in the Church of England, and which is the reigning Religion in England, there are several Sorts of Sectaries; the Presbyterians are the Chief and most numerous.... The Independents were a Branch of Presbytery, but they are now united again. Arminianism (if the Propositions of Arminius ought to give the odious name of a Sect) is spread every where. Here and there also you meet with a Millennarian; but I know there is a particular Society, tho' it makes but little Noise, of People, who, tho' they go by the Name of Sabbatharians,[567] make Profession of expecting the Reign of a Thousand Years without participating in the other Opinions, which are ascrib'd to the ancient Millenarians. These Sabbatharians are so call'd, because they will not remove the Day of Rest from Saturday to Sunday. They leave off Work betimes on Friday Evening, and are very rigid Observers of their Sabbath.... England hath also Anabaptists of Several sorts.... Within these few Weeks there is sprung up a new Sect of People, that say they are Mystical Theologists, and that take the name of Philadelphians,' etc.

[Footnote 567: The Common people call them Seventh Day Men.]

This is very far from being an exhaustive list of the sects then in existence, and it is not worth while wasting time in hunting up the names and history of any more.

John Wesley was born in Anne's reign, and Matthew Henry died in it, whilst Calamy lived during the whole of it; but the most prominent nonconformist in London was Daniel Burgess, whose Theatre, or meeting-house, in Carey Street was gutted by the Sacheverell mob, and had to be repaired at the expense of Government. Of this meeting-house Brown says: 'For as it is not properly call'd the House of God, but Mr. Burgess's, so Mr. Burgess, not God, is there worshipped. Prayer and Praise is the proper Worship of God, but here they meet to hear Daniel lay about him, with his merry Stories and Theatrical Actions, which is at least an Amusement they think worth their while.'

And this is one of Daniel's 'merry Stories.' Preaching one day on 'the Robe of Righteousness,' he said: 'If any of you would have a good and cheap suit, you will go to Monmouth Street; if you want a suit for life, you will go to the Court of Chancery; but, if you wish for a suit that will last to eternity, you must go to the Lord Jesus Christ, and put on his Robe of Righteousness.'

Swift speaks of him in Tatler 66. 'There is my friend and merry Companion Daniel. He knows a great deal better than he speaks, and can form a proper discourse as well as any orthodox neighbour.' And this, probably, is a true estimate of his character. Anyhow, he drew, and his meeting-house was the most popular in London.

There was an insane dislike to Quakers in Queen Anne's reign, and I have not met with one kindly or sympathetic remark about them in all my varied reading of these times. On the contrary, they were represented as thoroughpaced hypocrites, cheats, liars, immoral livers. The generic term applied to a Quaker was Aminadab (why?), and Aminadab was everything that was sly and repulsive. We, who know the quiet, simple folk, whose sect is fast dying out, because they have obtained all the points they strove for, can never for an instant imagine that their forefathers were the sly hypocrites they were painted. Nor were they only lampooned verbally--a Quaker could not be drawn without being caricatured into an unctuous rogue; their very plainness of apparel, the men's plain hats and absence of wigs, and the women wearing the old country steeple-crowned hat and simply made gowns, were made the vehicles of sarcasm; the poverty of their meeting-houses was typified by their preaching and sitting on tubs.

Still, all writers have their dab of dirt to throw at them, and to show how universal it was, a few examples may be given. Swift:[568] 'My friend Penn came there, Will Penn the Quaker, at the head of his brethren, to thank the Duke for his kindness to their people in Ireland. To see a dozen scoundrels with their hats on, and the Duke complimenting with his off, was a good sight enough.' Misson: 'The Quakers are great Fanaticks; there seems to be something laudable in them; to outward Appearance they are mild, simple in all respects, sober, modest, peaceable, nay, and they have the Reputation of being honest; and they often are so. But you must have a Care of being Bit by this Appearance, which very often is only outward;' and afterwards, talking of females preaching, 'the Moment Mrs. Doctor spies a Ribbon, the Spirit moves her, and she falls into one of her Fits; up she gets on the Bottom of some Tub; with her pinch'd up Cap, and her screw'd up Countenance; she Sighs, she Groans, she Snorts through the Nose, and then out she bursts into such a Jargon as no mortal Man can make Head or Tale of.' Mrs. Centlivre, in the 'Beau's Duel': 'I carried her to wait on a Relation of ours that has a Parrot, and whilst I was discoursing about some private Business, she converted the Bird, and now it talks of nothing but the Light of the Spirit, and the Inward Man.' Brown: 'They would be thought the only People of God; tho' their Chief Motive to that impudent Ambition, is, that they may claim the Right of Pillaging and Cheating all the World besides, as Ægyptians. They won't swear, because they may chance to pay for that; but they will lie Confoundedly, because they may chance to get by that.' Ward gives an account of a visit to a Quaker's tavern, which was 'intended chiefly for Watering the Lambs of Grace, and not to succour the Evil offspring of a Reprobate Generation;' and he says that 'when they were desirous to Elevate their Lethargick Spirits with the circulation of a Bumper, one fills it, and offers the prevailing Temptation to his left Hand Companion, in these Words, saying, Friend, does the Spirit move thee to receive the good Creature thus plentifully? The other replies, Yea, Do thou take and enjoy the Fruits of thy own Labour, and by the help of Grace I will drink another as full. Thus did the liquorish Saints quaff it about merrily, after their precise Canting manner.' Even the Tatler (262) has an advertisement, 'Drop'd on Sunday last, a small Roll of Paper, in which was inclos'd the Draught of a Quaker holding forth in a Tub, &c.' These examples are quite sufficient to show the universal dislike of this harmless sect, which could only have been induced by the thorough contrast of their homely attire, and plain speech, with the ornate dress and exaggerated verbiage then in vogue.

[Footnote 568: Journal to Stella, Jan. 15, 1712.]

Penn, indeed, was welcome at Court, and lived at Kensington, and afterwards at Knightsbridge, till 1706. He lived all through Anne's reign, not dying till 1716.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XXXIII. LEGAL

The different branches of the law -- Briefless Barristers -- Green bags -- Forensic wigs -- Attorneys -- Knights of the Post -- Lord Somers -- Lord Cowper: his abolition of New Year's gifts.

Speaking of lawyers, Addison says:[569] 'The Body of the Law is no less encumbered with superfluous Members, that are like Virgil's Army which he tells us was so crouded, many of them had not Room to use their Weapons. This prodigious Society of Men may be divided into the Litigious and Peaceable. Under the first are comprehended all those who are carried down in Coach fulls to Westminster Hall every morning in Term time. Martial's description of this Species of Lawyers is full of Humour:

Iras et verba locant.

[Footnote 569: Spectator, 21.]

Men that hire out their Words and Anger; that are more or less passionate according as they are paid for it, and allow their Client a quantity of wrath proportionable to the Fee which they receive from him. I must, however, observe to the Reader, that above three Parts of those whom I reckon among the Litigious, are such as are only quarrelsome in their Hearts, and have no Opportunity of showing their Passion at the Bar. Nevertheless, as they do not know what Strifes may arise, they appear at the Hall every Day, that they may show themselves in Readiness to enter the Lists, whenever there shall be occasion for them.

'The Peaceable Lawyers are, in the first place, many of the Benchers of the several Inns of Court, who seem to be the Dignitaries of the Law, and are endowed with those Qualifications of Mind, that accomplish a Man rather for a Ruler, than a Pleader; These Men live Peaceably in their Habitations, Eating once a Day, and Dancing once a Year, for the Honour of their Respective Societies.

'Another numberless Branch of Peaceable Lawyers, are those young Men, who being placed at the Inns of Court in order to study the Laws of their Country, frequent the Play House more than Westminster Hall, and are seen in all publick Assemblies, except in a Court of Justice. I shall say nothing of those Silent and Busie Multitudes that are employed within Doors in the Drawing up of Writings and Conveyances; nor of those greater Numbers that palliate their want of Business, with a Pretence to such Chamber Practice.'

Thus we see that the legal world then very much resembled the same now. Briefless barristers were as numerous then, and this seems to have been their life: 'Young Barristers troop down to Westminster at Nine; Cheapen Cravats, and Handkerchiefs, Ogle the Semstresses, take a Whet at the Dog, or a Slice of Roast Beef at Heaven, fetch half a dozen turns in the Hall, peep in at the Common Pleas, talk over the News, and so with their Green Bags, that have as little in them as their Noddles, go home again. Summon'd by pensive Sound of Horn to rotten roasted Mutton at Twelve; Leave a Paper in their Doors to study Presidents and Cases for them all the Afternoon; may be heard of at the Devil, or some neighbouring Tavern till One in the Morning.'[570]

[Footnote 570: A Comical View of London and Westminster.]

We not only note, in this quotation, that the lawyers carried green bags, but we find, in contemporary literature, frequent allusion to these bags, which certainly had been of the same colour ever since Charles the Second's time, and so continued until the reign of George III. Bands were worn, but they were not the little things they are now, and there was no distinctive wig--nay, some men were bold enough to wear their own hair. Lady Sarah Cowper has left a memorandum[571] respecting her father, Lord Cowper, which throws light on this subject: 'The Queen after this was persuaded to trust a Whigg ministry; and in the year 1705, Ocb{r.} she made my father L{d} Keeper of the Great Seal in the 41{st} year of his age--'tis said the youngest Lord Keeper that had ever been. He looked very young, and wearing his own hair made him appear yet more so; which the Queen observing, obliged him to cut it off, telling him the world would say she had given the Seals to a Boy.' But it is said that when he appeared at court in his wig, the Queen had to look at him more than once before she recognised him.

[Footnote 571: Lives of the Lord Chancellors, etc., Lord Campbell.]

So much for the barrister. Of the other branch, the attorney, we hear very little. Ward certainly portrays him in no very bright colours. 'He's an Amphibious Monster, that partakes of two Natures, and those contrary; He's a great Lover both of Peace and Enmity; and has no sooner set People together by the Ears, but is Soliciting the Law to make an end of the Difference. His Learning is commonly as little as his Honesty; and his Conscience much larger than his Green Bag. Catch him in what Company soever, you will always hear him stating of Cases, or telling what notice my Lord Chancellor took of him, when he beg'd Leave to supply the deficiency of his Councel. He always talks with as great assurance as if he understood what he only pretends to know: And always wears a Band, and in that lies his Gravity and Wisdom. He concerns himself with no Justice but the Justice of a Cause: and for making an unconscionable Bill, he out does a Taylor.'

The courts of law were conducted with as much decorum and dignity as now; but there is no doubt that false witnesses could be hired--nay, they had a regular name--'Knights of the Post'; a name which certainly dates back as early as the time of Charles I., when 'a roaring gul and Knight o' th' post' were coupled together. In Anne's time 'Knights of the Post are to be had in the Temple Walks from Morning till Night, for two Pots of Belch, and a Sixpenny slice of Boil'd beef'; and Ward's friend, the attorney, 'is so well read in Physiognomy, that he knows a Knight of the Post by his Countenance; and if your Business requires such an Agent, he can pick you up one at a small Warning. He is very understanding in the Business of the Old Bailey and knows as well how to Fee a Jury Man as he does a Barrister. He has a rare knack at putting in Broomstick Bail; and knows a great many more ways to keep a Man out of his Money, than he does to get it him. Tricks and Quirks he calls the cunning part of the Law; and that Attorney that practises the most knavery, is the Man for his Money.'

Queen Anne's reign was not prolific of great lawyers, although Lords Somers, Cowper, and Harcourt were alive. The two former had the felicity of being scarified by Mrs. Manley in the 'New Atlantis.' The former, under the name of Cicero, is accused of seducing a friend's wife, and then imprisoning, and finally making away with, her husband; and the latter was charged with committing bigamy. His brother Spencer Cowper, too, was unhappy in his connection with the fair sex, he having been, with three others, arraigned for being concerned in the murder of one Sarah Stout. He was acquitted, and probably remembered the fact when afterwards he was a judge, in which capacity he was very merciful. Lord Cowper put an end to an old custom, by refusing to receive New Year's gifts from the officers of his court and the counsel of his Bar; by which his wife says he lost 3,000_l._ per annum; but even then, although his salary was nominally 4,000_l._, he managed, by fees to which he was entitled, to make it up to 8,000_l._ If Evelyn is to be believed, he knew how to take care of himself. 'Oct. 1705. Mr. Cowper made Lord Keeper. Observing how uncertain greate officers are of continuing long in their places, he would not accept it unless £2000 a yeare were given him in reversion when he was put out, in consideration of his loss of practice. His predecessors, how little time soever they had the seal, usually got £100,000, and made themselves barons.'

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XXXIV. THE RIVER

Use as a highway -- River slang -- Rates of watermen -- Description of wherries -- Pleasure parties and barges -- The Folly -- Its frequenters -- Gravesend tilt boat -- Fares at the Horse Ferry -- The Fleet Ditch.

The River Thames was then a veritable 'silent highway,' in the sense of affording transport for passengers for short distances. In fact, the wherries then took the places in a great measure of our present cabs; and a cry of 'Next Oars' or 'Sculls,' when anyone made his appearance at the top of 'the Stairs,' was synonymous with 'Hansom' or 'Four Wheeler.'

Poor Taylor, the Water Poet, had, more than half a century before, sung the decadence of this highway, but it still fairly held its own, and was in great request. When Sir Roger went with the Spectator to Spring Gardens, Foxhall (that naughty place where the 'wanton baggage' of a mask tapped the old knight on the shoulder, and asked him if he would drink a bottle of mead with her, and where Sir Roger told the mistress of the house 'He should be a better Customer to her Garden, if there were more Nightingales, and fewer Strumpets'), he never dreamed of going any other way than by boat. He chose out the boatman with the wooden leg, and afterwards regaled him with the remains of their luncheon, to the waiter's astonishment.

Addison was writing a superfine paper 'for gentlemen, by gentlemen,' so he softens down the language for which the river was noted, and ignores the torrent of licentious ribaldry with which every boat greeted each other, and which was known as 'River Wit.' He certainly hints at it, but simply touches it, and then changes the subject. When Sir Roger, in the kindliness of his heart and the forgetfulness of custom, bids the passing boats Good Night, he merely says, 'But to the Knight's great Surprize, as he gave the Good Night to two or three young Fellows a little before our Landing, one of them, instead of returning the Civility asked us what queer old Put we had in the Boat, and whether he was not ashamed to go a Wenching at his Years! with a great deal of the like Thames Ribaldry. Sir Roger seem'd a little shock'd at first, but at length assuming a Face of Magistracy, told us, That if he were a Middlesex Justice, he would make such Vagrants know that Her Majesty's Subjects were no more to be abused by Water than by Land.

But Brown gives us the unadulterated slang, which cannot possibly be reprinted for general perusal--indeed, his whole account of the river, although it is far too graphic to be omitted, and it gives us certainly the best contemporaneous description we have, must be somewhat expurgated to fit it for modern tastes. 'Finding my Companion thus agreeable to my Humour, I steer'd him down Blackfryars towards the Thames side, till coming near the Stairs, where from their Dirty Benches up started such a noisy multitude of old grizly Tritons, in sweaty Shirts, and short-skirted Doublets, hollowing and hooting out Next Oars and Skullers, shaking their Caps over their bald Noddles, seeming as overjoy'd to see us as if we had been Foreign Princes come out of stark Love and Kindness to redeem them and their Families from Cruel Popery and Slavery. I bawl'd out as loud as a Speaking Trumpet, Next Oars, and away run Captain Charon from the Front of his wrangling Fraternity, with a Badge upon his Arm that the World might behold whose Slave he was, and hollow'd to his Man Ben to bring the Boat near, whilst the rest withdrew to their Seats, calling one another Louzy Rogue and Sorry Rascal, giving us a clear passage without further Molestation.

'Upon my Word, says my friend, I am glad we are past them, for this is one of the most ill looking Rabble, and from whom I had more apprehensions of Danger, than from any I have yet met with. 'Tis all, said I, but an Amusement, step into the Boat, sit down Watermen, row us up to Chelsea: No sooner had we put off into the middle of the Stream, but our Charon and his Assistant (being jolly Fellows) began to scatter their verbal Wildfire on every side of them, their first Attack being on a Couple of fine Ladies with a Footman in the Stern, as follows.... One of the Ladies taking Courage, pluck'd up a Female Spirit of Revenge, and racing us with the Gallantry of an Amazon made the following return' ... Well! that awful piece of river chaff, which is still popularly supposed to arouse the ire of 'bargees.' 'Who eat puppy pie under Marlow Bridge?' was milk and water compared to the fearfully strong language this lady made use of, the mildest part of her speech being, 'talk not to a Woman, you surly Whelp, for you are fit for nothing, but like the Breed you come on, to crawl upon all four, and cry Bow wow at a Bear Garden.' And so on with every boat they met.

'After rowing for some time, we had arriv'd at that Port to which we had consign'd our selves, where we quitted our Boat, and offering old Charon Three Shillings, he swore he would have a Crown; but having the printed Rates in my Pocket, I was forc'd to lug out my Oracle before the Freshwater Looby would be convinc'd of his Error; and withal told him, Had it been in London, I would have carry'd him before my Lord Mayor, and have had him punish'd, for making, contrary to Law, so unreasonable a Demand. With that he takes the Money, and putting off his Boat, gave us a notable Farewel after the following manner--viz. You're a Couple of Niggardly Sons of ----; I care not a ---- for my Lord Mayor; ---- the Rogue that printed that Book; ----take you for a Book-learn'd Blockhead; and confound him that taught you to read; and so we parted.'

Misson says, 'The little Boats upon the Thames, which are only for carrying of Persons, are light and pretty; some are row'd but by one Man, others by two; the former are call'd Scullers, and the latter Oars. They are reckon'd at several Thousands; but tho' there are indeed a great many, I believe the Number is exaggerated. The City of London being very long, it is a great Conveniency to be able sometimes to make Use of this Way of Carriage. You sit at your Ease upon Cushions, and have a board to lean against; but generally they have no Covering unless a Cloth, which the Watermen set up immediately, in case of Need, over a few Hoops; and sometimes you are wet to the Skin for all this. It is easy to conceive that the Oars go faster than the Sculls, and accordingly their pay is doubled. You never have any Disputes with them; for you can go to no Part either of London, or the Country above or below it, but the Rate is fix'd by Authority; every Thing is regulated and printed.'

This, then, is a sample of the social amenities as then practised on the river, and the following are the

Rates of Watermen as they are set forth by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the City of London.[572]

[Footnote 572: 'An Useful COMPANION: or a Help at Hand. Being a Convenient POCKET BOOK.' Lond. 1709.]

| Oars.| Skull. From London Bridge to Lime House, New Crane, | s. d. | s. d. Shadwell Dock, Bell Wharf, Ratcliff Cross | 1 -- | 6 To Wapping Dock, Wapping new and old Stairs, the | | Hermitage, Rotherhith Church Stairs | 6 | 3 From St. Olave's to Rotherhith Church Stairs, and | | Rotherhith Stairs | 6 | 3 From Billingsgate and St. Olave's to St. Saviour's | | Mill | 6 | 3 All the Stairs between London Bridge and Westminster| 6 | 3 From either Side above London Bridge to Lambeth and | | Foxhall | 1 -- | 6 From Temple, Dorset, and Black-fryers Stairs or | | Pauls Wharf to Lambeth | 8 | 4 Over the Water directly between Foxhall and | | Limehouse | 4 | 1 | | The Rates of OARS down the River. | | | | | Wh. F | Com. From London to | s. d. | s. d. Gravesend | 4 6 | 9 Grays or Greenhith | 4 -- | 8 Purfleet or Erith | 3 -- | 6 Woolwich | 2 6 | 4 Blackwall | 2 -- | 4 Greenwich, or Deptford | 1 6 | 3 | | Up the RIVER. | | Chelsea, Battersey, Wandsworth | 1 6 | 3 Putney, Fulham, Barnelms | 2 -- | 4 Hammersmith, Chiswick, Mortlack | 2 6 | 6 Brentford, Isleworth, Richmond | 3 6 | 6 Twittenham | 4 -- | 6 Kingston | 5 -- | 9 Hampton Court | 6 -- | 1 -- Hampton Town, Sunbury, Walton | 7 -- | 1 -- Weybridge and Chertsey |10 -- | 1 -- Stanes |12 -- | 1 -- Windsor |14 -- | 2 --

The river, too, was naturally the place for picnics and pleasure parties--although they were by no means so magnificent as the following:[573] 'I took five Barges, and the fairest kept for my Company; the other four I fill'd with Musick of all sorts, and of all sorts the best; in the first were Fiddles, in the next Theorbo, Lutes, and Voices. Flutes and such Pastoral Instruments i' th' third. Loud Musick from the fourth did pierce the Air; Each Consort vy'd by turns, which with most Melody shou'd charm our Ears. The fifth and largest of 'em all was neatly hung, not with dull Tapistry, but with green Boughs, Curiously Interlac'd to let in Air, and every Branch with Jessemins, and Orange Poesies deckt. In this the Feast was kept.'

[Footnote 573: The Lying Lover, ed. 1704.]

These pleasure barges were more or less ornate, and varied from the ordinary boat, with a tilt of canvas or green boughs to very elaborately carved and gilded ones. The last remaining, in our time, were the State barges of Her Majesty, the Trinity Barge, and the Lord Mayor's and City Companies' State barges. The recollection of the water pageant, on a sunshiny Lord Mayor's day, will never be effaced from the memory of those among us who are old enough to have seen it. It was one of the prettiest sights I ever saw; and a few of these barges may still be seen, utilised at Oxford as College Club boats.

Misson says of barges, 'They give this name in England to a Sort of Pleasure Boat, at one End of which is a little Room, handsomely painted and Cover'd, with a Table in the Middle, and Benches round it; and at the other End, Seats for 8, 10, 12, 30 or 40 Rowers. There are very few Persons of Great Quality but what have their Barges, tho' they do not frequently make use of them. Their Watermen wear a Jacket of the same Colour they give for their Livery, with a pretty large Silver Badge upon their Arm, with the Nobleman's Coat of Arms emboss'd in it. These Watermen have some Privileges, as belonging to Peers; but they have no Wages, and are not domestick Servants: They live in their own Houses with their Families, and earn their Livelihood as they can. The Lord Mayor of London, and the several Companies have also their Barges, and are carry'd in them upon certain solemn occasions.'

Moored opposite Whitehall was a very large barge with a saloon, and promenade on the top, called the Folly, and this was a favourite place of entertainment. It was a fashionable resort in Pepys' time. He says, '13 Ap. 1668. Spent in the Folly 1_s._'; and Queen Mary and some of her attendants paid it a visit. In Anne's reign it was used as a coffee-house, but it no longer was extremely fashionable, as the company was very mixed. As D'Urfey sung:--

When Drapers' smugged apprentices, With Exchange girls most jolly, After shop was shut and all, Could sail up to the Folly.[574]

[Footnote 574: A Touch of the Times.]

'Pray, says my Companion (pointing to the Folly), what noble Structure is that floating upon the Water? I have often heard of Castles in the Air, and this seems to me to be a kind of an Essay towards such a windy Project. That Whimsical piece of Architect, said I, was design'd as a Musical Summer House for the entertainment of Quality, where they might meet.... But the Ladies of the Town, finding it as convenient a Rendezvous for their purpose ... drove away their private Enemies, and entirely possess'd themselves of this moveable Mansion, which they have occupied ever since, very much to their advantage.... We no sooner enter'd but we had as many Ladies staring us in our Faces, as if we had been either handsom to admiration, or ugly to a Miracle ... some dancing as they mov'd to show the Airyness of their Temper; some ogling the Gallants, and others crowded into Boxes like Passengers into a Western Wherry, sat smoaking their Noses, and drinking Burnt Brandy, to defend their Stomachs from the chill Air upon the Water.... In short, it was such a confused Scene of Folly, Madness, and Debauchery, that we step'd again into our Boat without Drinking to avoid the Inconveniences that attend mixing with such a Swarm of Caterpillars, who are always dangerous to the Unwary, and destructive to the Innocent.'[575]

[Footnote 575: A Walk Round London and Westminster.]

The ordinary freight barges were, both as to build and rig, extremely similar to those of the present day, and there was one passenger and freight sailing boat which went to the then Ultima Thule of a Londoner's experience--the Gravesend Tilt boat--of which we have an interesting reminiscence in the

'Rates for Carrying of Goods in the Tilt Boat between Gravesend and London[576]--

[Footnote 576: An Useful Companion.]

s. d. An Half Firkin -- 1 An Whole Firkin -- 2 An Hogshead 2 -- An Hundred Weight of Cheese, Iron, or any Heavy Goods -- 4 Sack of Salt, or Corn, Ordinary Chest, Trunck or Hamper -- 6 Every Single Person in the Ordinary Passage -- 6 The Hire of the Whole Tilt Boat 22 6

There was a horse ferry (from whence the name Horseferry Road) between Westminster and Lambeth for passengers, horses, coaches, etc. The rates were--

s. d. For a Man and Horse -- 2 " Horse and Chaze 1 -- " Coach and 2 Horses 1 6 " " " 4 " 2 -- " " " 6 " 2 6 " a Cart Loaden 2 6 " a Cart, or Waggon each 2 --

Whilst on the subject of the river Thames, mention of one of its tributaries, the Fleet Ditch, should not be omitted. Taking its rise in Hampstead it meandered along, until it fell into the river at Blackfriars, where it formed a wide and shallow mouth called a Fleet, which was once of such extent that ships of considerable burden could get up it some little distance. In Anne's time, however, it had become a black and fetid sewer. Nobody had a good word for it. Gay never mentions it without abuse.

Or who that rugged Street would traverse o'er, That stretches, O Fleet Ditch, from thy black Shore.[577]

and--

If where Fleet Ditch with Muddy Current flows.

[Footnote 577: Trivia.]

Ward says, 'from thence we took a turn down by the Ditch side, I desiring my friend to inform me what great advantages this Costly Brook contributed to the Town, to Countervail the Expence of Seventy four Thousand Pounds, which I read in a very Credible Author was the Charge of its making; He told me he was wholly unacquainted with any, unless it was now and then to bring up a few Chaldron of Coles to 2 or 3 pedling Fewel Merchants, who sell them never the cheaper to the poor for such Conveniency: And as for those Cellers you see on each side, design'd for Warehouses, they are rendered by their dampness so unfit for that purpose, that they are wholly useless, except for Lightermen to lay themselves in, or to harbour Frogs, Toads and other Vermin. The greatest good that ever I heard it did, was to the undertaker, who is bound to acknowledge he has found better Fishing in a muddy Stream, than ever he did in clear Water.'

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XXXV. THE STREETS

Size of London -- Pall Mall -- London in wet weather -- Early morning -- Street cries: a list of them -- Roguery in the streets -- Orderly regulations -- State of the roads -- Rule of the road -- Street signs -- Description of the streets -- Milkmaids on May Day -- Hyde Park; its regulations -- Lighting the streets -- The streets at night.

London, it is scarcely necessary to remark, was very circumscribed in its area compared to its overgrown present dimensions. The northern bank of the river was well occupied from Shadwell to Westminster, opposite Lambeth. On the west the houses went down the northern side of Piccadilly, as far as Apsley House; but Bond Street was only partially built, and there were no houses westward of it. The Edgware Road and Tottenham (or, as it was then called, Hampstead) Road were in existence, but few were the houses in either of them. At the Back of Montague and Southampton Houses, and generally north of Theobald's Road and Clerkenwell, there was nought but fields, dotted here and there with farmhouses--with the hills of Hampstead and Highgate for a background. Houses ceased, on the eastern side, after Shoreditch, and shortly after passing Whitechapel Church; so that a walk all round inhabited London--skirting the north bank of the river to begin with--might be done in about twelve miles.

Covent Garden was the centre of social life. Soho and Leicester Squares, and thence westward, comprised the limits of the court and fashionable society--that land of luxury for which Gay sighed, but which yet was not perfect.

O bear me to the Paths of fair Pell Mell, Safe are thy Pavements, grateful is thy Smell! At distance, rolls along the gilded Coach, Nor sturdy Carmen on thy Walks encroach; No Less would bar thy Ways, were Chairs deny'd, The soft Supports of Laziness and Pride; Shops breathe Perfumes, thro' Sashes Ribbons glow, The Mutual Arms of Ladies, and the Beau.-- Yet still ev'n Here, when Rains the Passage hide Oft' the loose Stone spirts up a Muddy Tide, Beneath thy careless Foot; and from on high, Where Masons mount the Ladder, Fragments fly; Mortar, and crumbled Lime in Show'rs descend, And o'er thy Head destructive Tiles impend.

If, when it was wet weather, the ground was so bad in 'fair Pell Mell,' what was it elsewhere? Here is a little scene out in the fields going to St. Pancras Church--a wedding party.[578] 'The morning being rainy, methought the march to this wedding was but too lively a picture of Wedlock itself. They seemed both to have a month's mind to make the best of their way single; yet both tugged arm in arm: and when they were in a dirty way, he was but deeper in the mire, by endeavouring to pull out his companion, and yet without helping her. The bridegroom's feathers in his hat all drooped; one of his shoes had lost an heel. In short, he was, in his whole person and dress so extremely soused, that there did not appear one inch or single thread about him unmarried.'[579]

[Footnote 578: Tatler, No. 7.]

[Footnote 579: A play upon the word unmarred (unspoilt).]

Swift[580] gives an excellent metrical description of a shower in those days.

[Footnote 580: Tatler, 238.]

Now in contiguous drops the flood comes down, Threatening with deluge this devoted town. To shops in crouds the draggled females fly, Pretend to cheapen goods, but nothing buy. The Templar spruce, while every spout's abroach, Stays till 'tis fair, yet seems to call a Coach. The tuck'd up sempstress walks with hasty Strides, While streams run down her oil'd umbrella's sides. Here various kinds, by various fortunes led, Commence acquaintance underneath a shed. Triumphant Tories and desponding Whigs Forget their feuds, and join to save their wigs. Box'd in a Chair the Beau impatient sits, While spouts run clattering o'er the roof by fits; And ever and anon with frightful din The leather sounds; he trembles from within.

Those gutter spouts, sending their streams not quite clear of the pavement, must have been a terrible nuisance to a generation of men innocent of umbrella or Mackintosh; and Gay advises anyone, in wet weather, to maintain his privilege of taking the wall, but not to quarrel for it.

When from high Spouts the dashing Torrents fall, Ever be watchful to maintain the Wall; For should'st thou quit thy Ground, the rushing Throng Will with impetuous Fury drive along; All press to gain those Honours thou hast lost, And rudely shove thee far without the Post. Then to retrieve the Shed you strive in vain, Draggled all o'er, and soak'd in Floods of Rain. Yet rather bear the Show'r, and Toils of Mud, Than in the doubtful Quarrel risque thy Blood.

Let us take the streets throughout the day; and let, as usual, contemporary writers give their own account of them in their own language. Steele[581] begins with a description of London in the morning.

[Footnote 581: Ibid., No. 9.]

Now hardly here and there an hackney Coach Appearing, show'd the ruddy morn's approach. The slipshod 'prentice, from his master's door, Had par'd the street, and sprinkled round the floor; Now Moll had whirl'd her mop with dextrous airs, Prepar'd to scrub the entry and the Stairs. The youth with broomy stumps began to trace The kennel edge, where wheels had worn the place. The small coal man was heard with cadence deep, Till drown'd in shriller notes of Chimney sweep. Duns at his Lordship's gates began to meet; And brick dust Moll had scream'd thro' half a street: The turnkey now his flock returning sees, Duly let out a' nights to steal for fees. The watchful bailiffs take their silent stands; And school boys lag with satchels in their hands.

It is only in the poorer neighbourhoods that street cries, nowadays, flourish, and it is only by a visit to them that we can at all realise the babel of sounds that the streets gave forth in the reign of Anne. Luckily, as they differ so much from anything we know of, and are so suggestive of the petty industries then practised, they have been preserved for us by Marcellus Lauron, in his somewhat scarce book,[582] from which many illustrations used in this book have been taken. Here is a list of them:--

[Footnote 582: Habits and Cryes of the City of London, 1709.]

Any Card Matches or Save Alls. Pretty Maids, Pretty Pins, Pretty Women. Ripe Strawberryes. A Bed Matt or a Door Matt. Buy a fine Table Basket. Old Shoes for some Broomes. Hot bak'd Wardens Hott.[583] Small Coale. Maids, any Cunny[584] Skins. Buy a Rabbet, a Rabbet. Buy a Fork or a Fire Shovel. Chimney Sweep. Crab, Crab, any Crab. Oh Rare Shoe.[585] Lilly White Vinegar 3 pence a quart. Buy my Dutch biskets. Ripe Speragas. Maids, buy a Mopp. Buy my fat Chickens. Buy my flounders. Old Cloaks Suits or Coats. Fair Lemons and Oranges. Old Chairs to mend. Twelve pence a peck Oysters. Troope, every One. Old Satten, Old Taffety or Velvet. Ha, Ha, Ha, Poor Jack. Buy my Dish of great Eeles. Buy a fine Singing bird. Buy any Wax or Wafers. Fine Writeing Inke. A Merry new Song. Buy a new Almanack. Buy my fine singing Glasses.[586] Any Kitchen Stuffe have you, Maids. Knives, Combs or Ink hornes. Four for six pence, Mackrell. Any Work for John Cooper. Four paire for a Shilling, Holland Socks. Colly Molly Puffe.[587] Six pence a pound fair Cherryes. Knives or Cissors to grinde. Long thread Laces, long and Strong. Remember the Poor prisoners. A Brass Pott, or an Iron Pott to mend. Buy my four Ropes of Hard Onyons. London Gazettes here. Buy a White line, a Jack line, or a Cloathe line. Any old Iron, take money for. Delicate Cowcumbers to pickle. Any Baking Pears. New River Water.

[Footnote 583: Pies.]

[Footnote 584: Rabbit.]

[Footnote 585: Raree Show.]

[Footnote 586: Glass Horns.]

[Footnote 587: An itinerant pastrycook, mentioned in Spectator, 362, &c.]

This does not pretend to be an exhaustive list; in fact, they were so numerous and varied that, as Addison says (Spectator, 251), 'There is nothing which more astonishes a Foreigner, and frights a Country Squire, than the Cries of London. My good friend Sir ROGER often declares, that he cannot get them out of his Head, or go to sleep for them, the first Week that he is in Town. On the contrary, WILL. HONEYCOMB calls them the Ramage de la Ville, and prefers them to the sounds of Larks and Nightingales, with all the Musick of the Fields and Woods.' The whole of this Spectator is on street cries, and is very interesting reading.

Trim, in Steele's comedy of 'The Funeral' tells a lot of ragged soldiers: 'There's a thousand things you might do to help out about this Town, as to cry--Puff--Puff Pyes. Have you any Knives or Scissors to grind--or, late in an Evening, whip from Grub Street strange and bloody News from Flanders--Votes from the House of Commons--Buns, rare Buns--Old Silver Lace, Cloaks, Sutes or Coats--Old Shoes, Boots or Hats.

Successive Crys the Season's Change declare, And mark the Monthly Progress of the Year.

There was yet another noise in the streets, that of the ballad-singer, or singers, for they generally went in couples. People were warned against them.

Let not the Ballad-Singer's shrilling Strain Amid the Swarm thy list'ning Ear detain: Guard well thy Pocket; for these Syrens stand, To aid the Labours of the diving hand; Confed'rate in the Cheat, they draw the Throng, And Cambrick Handkerchiefs reward the Song.

The streets ought to have been kept in fair order, if the inhabitants had complied with the law; but they evidently neglected it, and had to be reminded of their duties by a notice in the Gazette, April 12/14, 1711. According to 8 & 9 Will. III. cap. 37, everyone had, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, to sweep and cleanse the road in front of his house, building, or wall, and heap up the dirt for the scavenger to remove, under penalty of 10_s._

That no one should throw any ashes, dirt, etc., into the open street before his house, under penalty of 5_s._, or if it was thrown before any other building, 20_s._; but they must deliver the dust to the scavenger (2 Will. and Mary, cap. 8), who must come round daily to collect it, giving notice by ringing a bell or otherwise, or penalty 40_s._

All householders, or, if empty, the owners of house, to keep the pavement before said house in repair, or pay 20_s._ per rod, and 20_s._ per week, till the same be sufficiently repaired.

While it was being done, the self-same sign was hung out as now--

Does not each Walker know the Warning Sign, When Wisps of Straw depend upon the Twine 'Cross the Close Street; that then the Pavior's Art Renews the Ways, deny'd to Coach and Cart.

The dust carts were not unmixed blessings--

The Dustman's Cart offends thy Cloaths and Eyes When through the Street a Cloud of Ashes flies.

And there were other ways of 'offending Cloaths.'

When Drays bound high, they never cross behind, Where bubbling Yest is blown by Gusts of Wind: And when up Ludgate Hill huge Carts move slow, Far from the straining Steeds, securely go, Whose dashing Hoofs, behind them, fling the Mire, And mark, with muddy Blots, the gazing Squire.

In walking the rule was the same as now: everyone should take the right-hand side of the path; and the courtesies of giving way on special occasions are clearly pointed out in the following lines, showing there was a time to concede and a time to retain the right to the wall:--

Let due Civilities be strictly paid. The Wall surrender to the hooded Maid; Nor let thy sturdy Elbow's hasty Rage Jostle the feeble Steps of trembling Age: And when the Porter bends beneath his Load, And pants for Breath; clear thou the crouded Road. But above all, the groaping Blind direct, And from the pressing Throng the Lame protect. You'll sometimes meet a Fop, of Nicest Tread, Whose mantling Peruke veils his empty Head, At ev'ry Step he dreads the Wall to lose, And risques, to save a Coach, his red heel'd Shoes; Him like the Miller, pass with Caution by, Lest from his Shoulder Clouds of Powder fly. But when the Bully, with assuming Pace Cocks his Broad Hat, edg'd round with tarnished Lace, Yield not the Way; defie his strutting Pride, And thrust him to the Muddy Kennel's side; He never turns again, nor dares oppose, But mutters Coward Curses as he goes.

The shops were low, and mostly with overhanging pent-houses, which were inconvenient.

Where the low Penthouse bows the Walker's head, And the rough Pavement wounds the yielding Tread: Where not a Post protects the narrow Space, And strung in Twines, Combs dangle in thy Face.

The goods were very much exposed; in fact, such conduct now in a shopkeeper would rouse the virtuous indignation of any metropolitan magistrate; but there was generally an apprentice on the look-out. Our modern costermonger's barrows had a prototype. 'We mov'd on till we came to Fleet Bridge, where Nuts, Ginger bread, Oranges and Oysters, lay Pil'd up in Moveable Shops that run upon Wheeles, attended by Ill looking Fellows, some with but one Eye, and others without Noses.'[588]

[Footnote 588: The London Spy.]

The street signs, which were necessary, as houses were not numbered, were very numerous and large, and some were exceedingly costly. Misson was very much struck with them. 'At London they are commonly very large, and jutt out so far, that in some narrow Streets they touch one another; nay, and run across almost quite to the other Side. They are generally adorn'd with Carving and Gilding; and there are several that, with the Branches of Iron which support them, cost above a hundred Guineas. They seldom write upon the Sign the Name of the Thing represented in it; so that here is no need of Molière's Inspector. Out of London, and particularly in Villages, the Signs of Inns are suspended in the middle of a great Wooden Portal, which may be look'd upon as a Kind of triumphal Arch to the Honour of Bacchus.'

Brown draws a vivid if somewhat unpleasant picture of the streets.[589] 'Some Carry, others are Carried: Make way there, says a gouty leg'd Chairman, that is carrying a Punk of Quality to a Morning's Exercise; or a Bartholomew Baby Beau, newly launched out of a Chocolate House, with his Pockets as empty as his brains. Make room there, says another Fellow driving a Wheelbarrow of Nuts, that spoil the Lungs of the City Prentices. One draws, another drives. Stand up there you blind Dog, says a Carman, Will you have the Cart squeeze your Guts out? One Tinker knocks, another bawls, Have you a Brass Pot, Iron Pot, Kettle, Skillet, or a Frying Pan to mend? Whilst another yelps louder than Homer's Stentor, Two a groat, and four for Sixpence Mackerel. One draws his Mouth up to his Ears, and howls out, Buy my Flounders, and is followed by an old burly Drab, that screams out the sale of her Mades and her Souls at the same Instant.

[Footnote 589: Amusements Serious and Comical, calculated for the Meridian of London.]

'Here a sooty Chimney Sweeper takes the Wall of a grave Alderman, and a Broom man justles the Parson of the Parish. There a fat greasie Porter runs a Trunk full butt upon you, while another salutes you with a Flasket of Eggs and Butter. Turn out there you Country Putt, says a Bully with a Sword two yards long jarring at his heels, and throws him into the Kennel. By and by comes a Christning, with the Reader screwing up his Mouth to deliver the Service a la mode de Paris, and afterwards talk immoderately nice and dull with the Gossips, and the Midwife strutting in the front, and young Original Sin as fine as Fippence, follow'd with the Vocal Musick of Kitchen Stuff ha' you Maid, and a damn'd Trumpeter calling in the Rabble to see a Calf with Six Legs and a Top Knot. There goes a Funeral with the Men of Rosemary after it, licking their Lips after three hits of White, Sack and Claret at the House of Mourning, and the Sexton walking before, as big and bluff as a Beef Eater at a Coronation. A Poet Scampers for 't as fast as his Legs will carry him, and at his heels a brace of Bandog Bailiffs, with open Mouths ready to devour him and all the Nine Muses.'

Let us turn to a prettier street scene. It is May Day, and, although maypoles are banished to the country, where they still hold their own, London celebrates it in another fashion. The milkmaids hold their festival, and even Gay's 'Sallow Milkmaid's' cheeks must have brightened at the prospect of such a treat. Confiding customers lent them silver plate, and women's taste and a few ribbons make a gorgeous trophy. Misson could not help being struck with it: 'On the First of May, and the five or six Days following, all the pretty young Country girls that serve the Town with Milk, dress themselves up very neatly, and borrow abundance of Silver Plate, whereof they make a Pyramid, which they adorn with Ribbands and Flowers, and carry upon their Heads, instead of their common Milk Pails. In this Equipage, accompany'd by some of their fellow Milk Maids, and a Bag pipe or a Fiddle, they go from Door to Door, dancing before the Houses of their Customers, in the Midst of Boys and Girls that follow them in Troops, and every Body gives them something.'

And Steele notices:[590] 'I was looking out of my parlour window this morning, and receiving the honours which MARGERY, the milk maid to our lane, was doing me, by dancing before my door with the plate of her Customers on her head,' etc.

[Footnote 590: Tatler, 166.]

In the daytime, after dinner, Hyde Park was the fashionable resort either for promenading, riding, or driving. 'Here the people take the Diversion of the Ring: In a pretty high place which lies very open they have surrounded a Circumference of two or three hundred Paces Diameter with a sorry Kind of Ballustrade, or rather with Poles plac'd upon Stakes, but three Foot from the Ground; and the Coaches drive round and round this. When they have turn'd for some Time round one Way, they face about and turn t'other: So rowls the World.'[591]

[Footnote 591: Misson.]

But it evidently was falling into evil habits, for on July 1, 1712, the Queen found it necessary to issue some rules and directions 'for the better keeping Hyde Park in good Order.' The gate-keepers were to be always on duty, and not to sell ale, brandy, or other liquors. No one should leap over the ditches, or fences, or break the latter down. 'No Person to ride over the grass on the South side of the Gravelled Coach Road ... excepting Henry Wise, who is permitted to pass cross that Part of the Park leading from the Door in the Park Wall, next his Plantation.' No grooms or others were to ride over the banks, or slopes, of any pond. No stage coach, hackney coach, chaise with one horse, cart, waggon, or funeral should pass through the park; and no one should cut or lop any of the trees.

As evening drew on the lamps were lit, i.e. if there were not a full moon, or in the summer time; but should the pavement be up, or a sewer open, a lantern was specially provided.

Where a dim Gleam the paly Lanthorn throws O'er the mid' Pavement; heapy Rubbish grows, Or arched Vaults their gaping Jaws extend, Or the dark Caves to Common Shores descend. Oft' by the Winds, extinct the Signal lies. Or smother'd in the glimm'ring Socket dies, E'er Night has half roll'd round her Ebon Throne; In the wide Gulph the shatter'd Coach o'erthrown, Sinks with the Snorting Steeds; the Reins are broke, And from the cracking Axle flies the Spoke.

Lighting was so far from universal that Thoresby[592] 'could not but observe that all the way, quite through Hyde Park to the Queen's palace at Kensington, has lanterns for illuminating the road in the dark nights, for the Coaches.'

[Footnote 592: Diary, June 15, 1712.]

'Instead of Lanterns, they set up[593] in the Streets of London Lamps,[594] which by Means of a very thick Convex Glass, throw out great Rays of Light, which illuminate the Path for people that go on Foot tolerably well. They begin to light up these Lamps at Michaelmas, and continue them till Lady Day; they burn from Six in the Evening till Midnight, and from every third Day after the Full Moon to the sixth Day after the New Moon.'[595]

[Footnote 593: At every tenth house.]

[Footnote 594: The invention of Edmund Heming.]

[Footnote 595: Misson.]

There was an improvement on the convex lamp, a new one, called the conic lamp, being introduced, and apparently answering very well. In the Gazette, Dec. 30 to Jan. 2, 1706-7, is this advertisement: 'Whereas Her most Gracious Majesty Queen Anne has been pleased to grant her Letters Patent for enlightening the Suburbs of London and City of Westminster, and all other Cities and Places in England, by new Invented Lights or Lamps called Conic Lamps, for 14 years; and whereas the Letters Patent for the Convex Lamps are long since expired; These are to certify whom it may concern, That by an Act of Parliament made in the 2d Year of their late Majesties King William and Queen Mary of ever Glorious Memory, all persons paying to any Lamps, distanced by two of Her Majesty's Justices of the Peace, are exempted from hanging out a Lanthorn and Candle and indemnified from the Penalties contained in the said Act.'

In 1709, however, is an advertisement of yet another lamp. 'There is a new Sort of Light call'd a Globe Light, at St. James's Coffee House, near St. James's Palace, which is observ'd to enlighten the Street, and all Parts near it, with a true steady Light, and no way offensive to the Eye. The Person who contriv'd it and set it up, may be heard of there, having obtain'd Her Majesty's Letters Patent for the Same.'[596]

Ward draws a picture of the streets at night, too repulsive for reproduction--doubtless a true one--but one taken from the very lowest haunts. Gay's gentle verse, on the contrary, depicts more the inconveniences of the badly lit streets, and their results:--

That Walker, who regardless of his Pace, Turns oft' to pose upon the Damsel's Face From Side to Side by thrusting Elbows tost, Shall strike his aking Breast against the Post; Or Water, dash'd from fishy Stalls, shall stain His hapless Coat with Spirts of Scaly Rain. But if unwarily he chance to stray, Where twirling Turnstiles intercept the Way, The thwarting Passenger shall force them round, And beat the Wretch half breathless to the Ground. Let constant Vigilance thy Footsteps guide, And wary circumspection guard thy Side; Then shalt thou walk unharm'd the dang'rous Night, Nor need th' officious Link-Boy's smoaky Light. Thou never wilt attempt to cross the Road, Where Alehouse Benches rest the Porter's load, Grievous to heedless Shins; No Barrow's Wheel, That bruises oft the Truant School Boy's Heel, Behind thee rolling, with insidious Pace, Shall mark thy Stocking with a miry Trace. Let not thy vent'rous Steps approach too nigh, Where gaping wide, low steepy Cellars lie; Should thy Shoe wrench aside, down, down you fall And overturn the scolding Huckster's Stall. The scolding Huckster shall not o'er thee moan, But Pence exact for Nuts and Pears o'er thrown. ............................................... Where the nail'd Hoop defends the painted Stall Brush not thy sweeping Skirt too near the Wall; Thy heedless Sleeve will drink the colour'd Oil, And Spot indelible thy Pocket soil.

[Footnote 596: Tatler, Nov. 19/22.]

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us