all his countrymen; but General Sir John Clavering, who was then
Commander-in-Chief in India, and who was, accordingly, second on the
council at Calcutta, having promised to provide for him, Mordaunt went
on to Bengal, where he was appointed an honorary aide-de-camp to that
officer, still retaining his rank on the Madras establishment. In
consequence of this he was afterwards subjected to much ill-will.
The young soldier unfortunately was quite uneducated, not being able
even to write an ordinary letter without making many mistakes. Study
was little to his taste, and he made scarcely any effort to remedy
this disadvantage or improve himself. Nevertheless, he excelled in
most things which he undertook entirely by natural intuition. His
ignorance of writing was the more remarkable as he spoke English with
an excellent diction and even refinement of phrase, though he could not
write two lines of it correctly. He spoke the Hindoo language fluently,
and was a tolerable Persian scholar. Mordaunt's weakness as a writer
was once strikingly demonstrated on an occasion where a friend, having
borrowed a horse from him for a day or two, wrote to ask if he might
keep it a little longer. The Colonel's reply was, "You may kip the hos
as long as you lick."
Subjected to a good deal of chaff on account of this failing, which he
himself realised, Mordaunt was generally very good-tempered, though
quick with an answer when any one he did not care for attempted to
make him a butt. On one occasion a very worthy young gentleman of the
name of James P----, who was rather of the more silly order of beings,
thinking he could take the liberty of playing with, or rather upon him,
called out to Mordaunt, before a large party, desiring him to say what
was the Latin for a goose. The answer was brief. "I don't know the
_Latin_ for it, but the _English_ is _James P----_."
It should be mentioned that the above question was put to Mordaunt in
consequence of his having, in a note sent to a person who had offended
him, required "an immediate _anser_ by the bearer." The gentleman
addressed, wishing to terminate the matter amicably, construed the word
literally, and sent a _goose_ by the bearer; stating also that he would
partake of it the next day. This, to a man of Mordaunt's disposition,
was the high road to reconciliation; though to nine persons in ten,
and especially to those labouring under such a desperate deficiency in
point of orthography, it would have appeared highly insulting!
In addition to his almost complete ignorance of calligraphy, Colonel
Mordaunt knew absolutely nothing of the ordinary rules of arithmetic.
He kept no books, but all his accounts were done on scraps of paper in
such an eccentric manner that the figures were only intelligible to
himself. It was necessary for him at times to register large financial
transactions, and he had immense losses and gains to register in the
I.O.U. way. Yet even the most intricate cases never puzzled him; and,
at settling times, he was rarely, if ever, found to be in error. This
was one of the points in which he was apt to be peremptory; for no
sooner did he hear a claim stated, which did not tally with his own
peculiar mode of calculation, than he condemned it, in round terms,
and would scarcely hear the attempt to substantiate that which he so
decidedly denied.
He was a man of most masterful disposition, very impatient of
contradiction, especially from his brother Harry, who was in India at
the same time. The latter possessed little social charm or originality,
but John always treated him with particular consideration. When,
however, Harry tried to oppose or argue with him, the Colonel would
soon check him with, "Hold your tongue, Harry, you are a puny little
fool, and fit for nothing but to be a lord."
Excelling at most things which he attempted, Mordaunt was so much
master of his racket, and was so vigorous, that he would always wager
on hitting the line from the over-all, a distance of thirty yards, once
in three times. As a matter of fact he could beat most people with a
common round ruler.
Card-playing, however, was the Colonel's particular passion. He was an
expert at most games, being besides acquainted with all the ordinary
tricks in the shuffling, cutting, and dealing way. The following is an
instance of his skill. On a certain occasion Mordaunt observed that one
of his adversaries at whist was remarkably fortunate in his own deals;
and, as he was rather a doubtful character, thought it needful to watch
him. When Mordaunt came to deal, he gave himself thirteen trumps! This
excited the curiosity of all, but particularly of the gentleman in
question, who was very pointed in his observations on the singularity
of the case. Mordaunt briefly said, "Sir, this was to show you that you
should not have all the fun to yourself," and rising from his seat,
left the blackleg to ruminate on the obvious necessity of quitting
India! Here, however, Mordaunt's goodness of heart showed itself, for
he obtained a promise from the whole party to keep the secret, provided
the offender instantly left the country; which he did by the first
conveyance.
It was well known that the Colonel could arrange the cards according to
his pleasure, yet such was the universal opinion of his honour, that
no one hesitated to play with him, sober or otherwise, for their usual
stakes. His decision, in cases of differences, was generally accepted
as final, and many references were made to him, by letter, from very
distant places, regarding doubtful points connected with gaming.
It may readily be supposed that Mordaunt was more ornamental than
useful in General Clavering's office; however, the latter could not
help esteeming him, and had he lived, would probably have effected
Mordaunt's removal from the Madras to the Bengal army. The Madras
officers never failed to comment, sometimes, indeed, in rather harsh
terms, upon the injustice of having on their rolls an officer who never
joined his regiment for nearly twenty years, and whose whole time was
passed in the lap of dissipation.
Being on a party of pleasure to the northward, and near to Lucknow,
the capital of Oude, and the residence of the Nawab of Oude, Asoph ud
Doulah, the young soldier was naturally curious to see this potentate
and his Court. The free, open temper of Asoph pleased Mordaunt, whose
figure and manner made a great impression on his illustrious host, who
was devoted to most forms of gambling and sport.
The Nawab in question was an original character. Being desirous of
becoming a highly efficient swordsman, he determined to get the best
practice possible and exercise his arm to some purpose. For some time
he used daily to order from his stables five horses and a couple of
bullocks, which he would cut down; the same fate befell five tigers,
the same number of bears, and two or three nylgaus.
In a short time Mordaunt became such a favourite, that he was retained
by the Nawab at his Court, in the capacity of aide-de-camp, though he
never attended at the Palace except when in the mood to do so, or for
the purpose of shooting or gambling with its ruler. During this period
the various sarcastic attacks directed against Mordaunt, as an absentee
from his corps for so many years--amusing himself a good two thousand
miles away--were disregarded both by himself and by the supreme
Government, of which all the members were personally attached to the
Colonel.
Mordaunt was now in the receipt of a handsome salary, and possessed
many distinguished privileges under the patronage of the Nawab, who
often used to refer Europeans to him on occasions requiring his advice;
this he not infrequently did when he needed an excuse for not complying
with some demand.
Mordaunt's influence, it should be added, was generally used in a very
kindly manner. Old Zoffany, who had come out to India and resided at
Lucknow as Court Painter to the Nawab, once, in a humorous moment,
painted a full-length picture of that potentate in high caricature.
Zoffany lived at Colonel Martine's, whose house was frequented by
immense numbers of natives, a number of whom, when the Nawab wanted
money, took his jewels to the Colonel's to be pledged. The picture,
of course, was seen by some of these men, and it was not long before
the Nawab was informed of the joke. The latter, in the first moments
of irritation, was disposed to shorten the painter by a head, and to
dismiss the Colonel, who was his chief engineer, and had the charge
of his arsenal. He was, however, unwilling to do anything without his
"dear friend Mordaunt" to whom a message was despatched, requiring
his immediate attendance, on "matters of the utmost importance."
This being a very usual mode of summoning his favourite, who would
attend, or rather visit, only when it pleased himself. As a matter of
fact the message would probably have been disregarded, had not the
bearer stated that the Nawab was incensed against Martine and Zoffany.
Accordingly the Colonel betook himself to the Palace, where he found
the Nawab foaming with rage, and about to proceed with a host of
rabble attendants to the Colonel's. Mordaunt, however, having got the
story out of the Nawab as well as he could, argued him into a state of
calmness, sufficient to let his sinister purpose be suspended until the
next day, and retired as soon as he could prudently do so; he then,
as privately as possible, sent a note to Zoffany warning him of the
intended visit.
The bold painter lost no time, and the laughable caricature was in a
few hours changed by his gifted hand into a superb portrait of a most
decorative kind, bearing far more resemblance to the Nawab than any
hitherto painted at regular sittings. Next day the potentate arrived,
his mind full of anxiety for the honour of his dignified person. He
was attended by Mordaunt, whose feelings for his friend's fate were
speedily dissipated, when, on entering the portrait-chamber, the
picture in question shone forth so superbly as to astonish and delight
the Nawab, who, beaming with pleasure, hurried the picture home, gave
Zoffany ten thousand rupees for it, and ordered the person who had
informed him of the supposed caricature to have his nose and ears cut
off. Mordaunt, however, again interposed, and was equally successful in
obtaining the poor fellow's pardon; and as the Nawab declined to keep
him as a servant, very generously made him one of his own pensioners.
At another time, the barber who cut the Nawab's hair happened by a slip
to draw blood. This was considered an offence of the highest atrocity,
because at that time crowned heads throughout India became degraded
if one drop of their blood were spilt by a barber. A drawn sword was
always held above a barber performing his duty, to remind him of his
fate in case of the slightest incision.
In consequence of this prejudice the barber had been condemned to be
baked to death in an oven, when Mordaunt applied for his pardon. He
could only obtain it conditionally, and certainly the condition was
both ludicrous and whimsical. Balloons were just invented when this
happened, and Colonel Martine being very ingenious, had made one which
had taken up a considerable weight for short distances.
The Nawab changed suddenly from great wrath to a wild hilarity, which
continued so long as to alarm Mordaunt; who at last was relieved to
hear that instead of being baked, the barber was to mount in the
balloon, and to brush through the air according as chance might direct
him.
In due course the balloon was sent up in front of the palace, and the
barber carried through the air more dead than alive at a prodigious
rate. The poor man, however, sustained no injury, the balloon finally
descending to earth some five miles from the city of Lucknow.
Mordaunt never allowed the Nawab to treat him with the least disrespect
or with hauteur; indeed, such was the estimation in which he was held
by that prince, that, in all probability, the latter never showed any
sign of wishing to exert his authority. Mordaunt's independence is
shown by the following anecdote. The Nawab wanted some alterations
to be made in the howdah of his state elephant, and asked Mordaunt's
opinion as to the best mode of securing it; the latter very laconically
told the Nawab he understood nothing of the matter, he having been born
and bred a gentleman, but that probably his blacksmith (pointing to
Colonel Martine) could inform him how the howdah ought to be fastened.
This sneer, no doubt, gratified Mordaunt, who, though extremely
intimate with Martine, and in the habit of addressing him by various
ludicrous but sarcastic nicknames, seemed not to relish that fondness
for money, and other doubtful practices, of which he was said to be
guilty.
Lord Cornwallis was either unwilling to compel Mordaunt to return to
the Madras establishment, or was prevailed on by the Nawab to let him
remain on his staff. The Marquis, one day, seeing Mordaunt at his
levee, asked him if he did not long to join his regiment. "No, my
Lord," answered Mordaunt, "not in the least." "But," continued he,
"your services may perhaps be wanted." "Indeed, my Lord," rejoined
Mordaunt, "I cannot do you half the service there, that I can in
keeping the Nawab amused, while you ease him of his money."
As a bon-vivant, as a master of the revels, or at the head of his own
table, few could give greater variety or more complete satisfaction
than Mordaunt. He had the best of wines, and spared no expense, though
he would take very little personal trouble in providing whatever was
choice or rare. He stood on little ceremony, especially at his own
house, and, at his friends', never allowed anything to incommode him
from a bashful reserve. Whatever was in his opinion wrong, he did not
hesitate to condemn.
These observations were very quick, and generally not devoid of humour.
His old friend, Captain Waugh, dining with him one day, made such a
hole in a fine goose as to excite the attention of Mordaunt, who,
turning to his head servant, ordered aloud that whenever Captain Waugh
dined at his house, there should always be two geese on the table, one
for the Captain, the other for the company.
Colonel Mordaunt was an excellent pistol shot, who could hit the
head of a small nail at fifteen yards. Nevertheless when he and a
friend engaged in a quarrel of a very serious nature with a third,
whom they had accused of some improper conduct at cards, he missed
his adversary, who, on the other hand, wounded both Mordaunt and his
friend desperately. This was not owing to agitation, but, as Mordaunt
expressed in very curious terms at the moment of missing, to the pistol
being too highly charged.
The Colonel never entirely recovered from the effects of the pistol
shot which he had received in his breast, and though possessed of a
vigorous constitution, seemed to descend, as it were, down a precipice
into his grave. A very Rochester of his day, inordinately fond of
women, he seemed, when at length stricken down, to regret his condition
chiefly as depriving him of their society. For some time before this,
actuated by that mistaken pride which so often urges men who have
done wonders not to allow their decrease of vigour to be noticed or
suspected, he had attempted to continue his usual mode of life, and
neglecting the warnings given him by one or two serious attacks on his
liver, had thus hastened his approach to a most untimely end.
He died in the fortieth year of his age, beloved and regretted by a
number of friends to whom his many genuine qualities were known.
An especial reason for the influence enjoyed by Mordaunt over the Nawab
was the latter's intimate knowledge of everything connected with the
branch of barbarity known as cock-fighting. So devoted was the Prince
in question to this form of sport that he often neglected to attend to
important business with the residents at his Court in order to indulge
in a "main" with him whom he called his "dear friend Mordaunt."
The well-known print representing Colonel Mordaunt's cock-fight depicts
a famous battle fought at Lucknow in 1786. Amongst the figures are
the Nawab, Colonel Mordaunt, and Colonel Martine, who founded the
Martine colleges at Lucknow, Calcutta, and Lyons, and Zoffany himself.
The picture, which was painted for Warren Hastings, was carefully
preserved in the Palace at Lucknow, but most unfortunately met with a
disastrous fate during the Mutiny, when with others of great value it
was destroyed.
A water-colour drawing of "The Cock-fight" was, however, made
under the last King of Oude in 1853, by "Masawar Khan," a Court
miniature-painter, and other copies also exist. The mezzotint of this
picture, together with the scarce engraved key published in May 1794,
are here reproduced.
Zoffany was a great favourite of Royalty. After the establishment of
his reputation in England, he passed many years of his life in India,
though in spite of the favour of the Nawab he does not seem to have
returned from Lucknow in very opulent circumstances, his industry not
having equalled either his reputation or his ability. An excessive
devotion to women, and to the Asiatic customs and luxuries, totally
precluded the execution of many works which would have brought this
painter prosperity. Many of his pictures, however, achieved great
popularity. This was especially the case with the "Water Cress Girl,"
which is engraved. The model, it may not be generally known, was a girl
of about sixteen who had achieved a certain notoriety by having been
one of a group of nymphs, who ran from the fields of Paddington, to
their lodgings in the vicinity of St. Giles's, at noonday, unencumbered
with one single habiliment or rag, from head to foot. It was in the
summer season, and they had been bathing in a pond, when some wicked
wag bundled up and made off with the whole of their clothes.
"The Cock-fight" was certainly one of the most successful works ever
executed by Zoffany; the portrait of Mordaunt in particular, according
to those who knew him, giving an excellent idea of his manly and
elegant appearance.
[Illustration: THE COCK-FIGHT AT LUCKNOW.
Engraved by R. Earlom, after Zoffany.
From a Print in the possession of Messrs. Robson & Co., 23 Coventry
Street, W.]
[Illustration: KEY TO THE COCK-FIGHT.]
The Colonel is represented as in the act of handing a cock, which he
has backed heavily, in opposition to a bird belonging to the Nawab, who
is portrayed in a loose undress on the opposite side of the pit.
Colonel Mordaunt's taste for cock-fighting had, of course, originally
been acquired in England, where this somewhat brutal sport would appear
to have been most popular towards the middle of the eighteenth century.
At that time it was no unusual circumstance to insert clauses in the
leases of farms and cottages, which ensured the right of walking a
certain number of game-cocks. As the century waned the cockpit began
rather to fall into disrepute, but about the years 1793-1794 a revival
occurred. Great patrons of cock-fighting were Lord Lonsdale (when
Sir James Lowther); the Duke of Northumberland, who fought regular
annual mains against Mr. Fenwick at Alnwick and Hexham, as did Lord
Mexborough with Sir P. Warburton and Mr. Halton at Manchester; the Duke
of Hamilton with Sir H.G. Liddell at Newcastle, and Lord Derby with Mr.
Wharton at Preston.
Amongst other lovers of cock-fighting were Colonel Lowther, Mr.
Holford, Mr. Bullock, Captain Dennisthorpe, and Mr. George Onslow,
out-ranger[9] of Windsor Forest, who was known as "Cocking George."
In 1793 the Cock Pit Royal, St. James's Park, was the scene of more
subscription matches than had occurred for some years before, an extra
battle, fought on the 13th of December between two red cocks belonging
to Colonel Lowther and Vauxhall Clarke for forty guineas, causing
particular excitement. Throughout this combat the odds were constantly
varying, till Colonel Lowther's cock was suddenly struck down dead at
a moment when odds of four and five to one were being laid upon his
opponent.
One of the most horrible anecdotes connected with cock-fighting was
that of a certain Mr. Ardesoif, the son of a rich cheesemonger, who was
at one time well-known in the streets of London, it having been his
peculiar hobby to drive his phaeton through those thoroughfares which
were the most crowded with traffic. Mr. Ardesoif lived at Tottenham,
where he kept a number of game-cocks. One of these birds having refused
to fight, the cruel owner savagely had him roasted to death, whilst
entertaining his friends. The company, alarmed by the dreadful shrieks
of the poor victim, interfered, but were resisted by Ardesoif, who
threatened death to any who should oppose him; and in a storm of raging
and vindictive delirium, and uttering the most horrid imprecations, he
dropped down dead.
A cockpit was a scene not easily matched. On a race or a prize-fight,
the betting is nearly finished when the sport begins; but the same
state of affairs did not prevail at a cock-fight, where no one backed
a cock till he had had a good look at him. In consequence of this all
the betting had to be done in a short time, and the noise and apparent
confusion of layers and backers were quite bewildering. The betting
changed with considerable rapidity--in many a battle the odds would
veer round from 100 to 1 on one cock, to 40 to 1 against the same.
The issue of a cock-fight is never quite certain till a cock is
actually killed, an apparently moribund bird sometimes proving the
unexpected winner.
A very striking instance of this once occurred at Mr. Loftus's cockpit
at Newcastle, where a gentleman, on a cock being pounded, betted ten
guineas to a crown, which he lost in nearly the space of a minute, as
the pounded cock, while his antagonist was pecking in triumph, rose,
and after a stroke or two, laid him dead. As luck would have it, while
the same gentleman was going from the cockpit to the race-course in his
carriage, accompanied by some other gentlemen, one of them observed
the absurdity of buying money so dear, to which the other replied, he
would bet the same on anything, if he thought he could win; the former
gentleman said he would take it. "Done," says the gentleman, "I will
bet £10 to a crown that my carriage does not break down on 'going or
returning from the race-course.'" The bet was accepted; and after
going about 100 yards farther, down came the carriage. And thus, in
the course of the same day, he lost his two bets of £10 to 5s. In the
course of this week's fighting, there were several guineas betted to
shillings, and lost, on the various battles.
Cock-fights as a rule took place in the evening, seven having been the
usual hour appointed for the sport to commence.
In the palmy days of cock-fighting there were several celebrated pits
in London, the chief of which, of course, was the Cock Pit Royal, which
had been much frequented by Charles II. and his courtiers. Another
well-known cockpit existed at Moss Alley, Bankside, Southwark, where
great battles were contested. At the New Pit, Hoxton, in January, 1794,
a number of spirited mains were fought, the gentlemen of Islington
having challenged the gentlemen of Hackney for five guineas a battle
and fifty guineas the odd battle. Hackney easily proved victorious.
The Royal Cockpit in St. James's Park was taken down in 1810, never
again to be rebuilt. The Governors and Trustees of Christ's Hospital,
to whom the ground belonged, met on the spot, the very day the lease
expired; and, as might naturally be expected from the patrons of such
an institution, gave directions for the immediate demolition of the
building.