"Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches
and honour."--PROVERBS III. 16.
[Illustration: INDUSTRY AND IDLENESS, PLATE XII.]
In the last print we saw a crowd witnessing the ignominious
death of a murderer; in this are a cheerful assembly joining the
procession of a chief magistrate; some reeling, some roaring, and all
rejoicing.[172]
The scene is laid at the east side of St. Paul's Church, just
turning into Cheapside; and in particular honour of this day, the
artist has introduced the late Prince and Princess of Wales at a
balcony, in view of the pageant. A group on the scaffolding beneath
is formed of the most comic characters. Who can abstain from laughter
at the city militia, which are below? They were at that time composed
of undisciplined men, of all ages and descriptions; young, old, tall,
short, crooked, straight, fat, and lean, made up the motley band.
The man in a grenadier's cap, with a pot of porter in his left hand,
might perform the part of Sir Tunbelly Clumsy.[173] A neighbouring
gentleman, in a cut wig, is scarcely able to support his firelock.
The fellow firing off his musket exclaims, "Who's afraid?" The next
may be a very great man, though nature has treated his exterior, as
she did that of our third Richard, rather unkindly, by placing an
envious mountain on his back. The hero in a bag-wig, resting upon his
arms, is made from a splinter of the monument; "his dimensions to
any thick sight are invisible." Far different is the strong-built man
of war at his left hand: by his _back front_ he seems to have grown
out at the sides; what nature denied in height, she has abundantly
made up in breadth. His long sword is so placed as to give the idea
of a bluebottle impaled on a pin. A plank, supported by a tub and
stool, having given way, two of the fair sex fall to the ground. The
most obtrusive figure in his lordship's coach is Mr. Swordbearer, in
a cap like a reversed saucepan, which this great officer wears on
these grand occasions. The company of journeymen butchers, with their
marrow-bones and cleavers, appear to be the most active, and are
infinitely the most noisy of any who grace this solemnity.
Near the left corner, a blind man, conscious that he has but a poor
chance in a crowd, endeavours to preserve his hat and wig from the
depredating multitude. The Bunhill Fields trooper, who leans against
a post, with one of his bandeliers in his left hand, has made a
little mistake. A young man in the booth above, not having the fear
of dignity before his eyes, is eagerly kissing a girl: the lady,
irritated at this indecorum, seems likely to leave marks of her
talons upon his forehead. At the opposite corner, a vendor of the
Grub Street classics proclaims "a full, true, and particular account
of the ghost of Thomas Idle, which appeared to the Lord Mayor."
Numberless spectators, upon every house, and at every window, dart
their desiring eyes on the procession. Of the figures on a tapestry,
hanging from a balcony[174] at the King's Head, I cannot discover
the meaning. Two flags beneath are blazoned with the arms of the
Stationers' Company; and that in a stand which exhibits the ardent
salutation before mentioned, belongs to the pinners and needlers.
The _cornucopiæ_ on the outside of the frame are symbolical of that
abundance which fills the hands of the diligent.
Many of the characters in this and the foregoing print bear a strong
resemblance to some which Mr. Hogarth etched about twenty years
before for Butler's _Hudibras_.
The following year was published a pamphlet, entitled, "_The Effects
of Industry and Idleness_, illustrated in the life, adventures, and
various fortunes of two fellow-'prentices of the city of London:
showing the different paths, as well as rewards, of virtue and vice,"
etc. Printed for C. Corbet, at Addison's Head, Fleet Street.
In the chamber of London where the apprentices are bound, these
twelve prints very properly ornament the room.
The late Mr. James Love, comedian (otherwise Dance), dramatized this
eventful history, and Mr. King performed the good apprentice.
[Illustration: (end of chapter floral icon)]