_CONCLUSION OF SEVENTEENTH CENTURY._
Let us commence here with the year 1674, a period when the rages and
fashions, the plague and fire, and the many things treated of by means
of advertisements in the preceding chapter, had plunged England into a
most unhappy condition. The reaction from Puritanism was great, but the
reaction from royalty and extravagance threatened to be still greater.
Speaking of the state of affairs about this time, a famous historian,
who has paid particular attention to the latter part of the seventeenth
century, says: “A few months after the termination of hostilities on the
Continent, came a great crisis in English politics. Towards such a
crisis things had been tending during eighteen years. The whole stock of
popularity, great as it was, with which the King had commenced his
administration, had long been expended. To loyal enthusiasm had
succeeded profound disaffection. The public mind had now measured back
again the space over which it had passed between 1640 and 1660, and was
once more in the state in which it had been when the Long Parliament
met. The prevailing discontent was compounded of many feelings. One of
these was wounded national pride. That generation had seen England,
during a few years, allied on equal terms with France, victorious over
Holland and Spain, the mistress of the sea, the terror of Rome, the head
of the Protestant interest. Her resources had not diminished; and it
might have been expected that she would have been, at least, as highly
considered in Europe under a legitimate king, strong in the affection
and willing obedience of his subjects, as she had been under an usurper
whose utmost vigilance and energy were required to keep down a mutinous
people. Yet she had, in consequence of the imbecility and meanness of
her rulers, sunk so low, that any German or Italian principality which
brought five thousand men into the field, was a more important member of
the commonwealth of nations. With the sense of national humiliation was
mingled anxiety for civil liberty. Rumours, indistinct indeed, but
perhaps the more alarming by reason of their indistinctness, imputed to
the Court a deliberate design against all the constitutional rights of
Englishmen. It had even been whispered that this design was to be
carried into effect by the intervention of foreign arms. The thought of
such intervention made the blood, even of the Cavaliers, boil in their
veins. Some who had always professed the doctrine of non-resistance in
its full extent, were now heard to mutter that there was one limitation
to that doctrine. If a foreign force were brought over to coerce the
nation, they would not answer for their own patience. But neither
national pride nor anxiety for public liberty had so great an influence
on the popular mind as hatred of the Roman Catholic religion. That
hatred had become one of the ruling passions of the community, and was
as strong in the ignorant and profane as in those who were Protestants
from conviction. The cruelties of Mary’s reign--cruelties which even in
the most accurate and sober narrative excite just detestation, and which
were neither accurately nor soberly related in the popular
martyrologies--the conspiracies against Elizabeth, and above all, the
Gunpowder Plot, had left in the minds of the vulgar a deep and bitter
feeling, which was kept up by annual commemorations, prayers, bonfires,
and processions. It should be added that those classes which were
peculiarly distinguished by attachment to the throne, the clergy and the
landed gentry, had peculiar reasons for regarding the Church of Rome
with aversion. The clergy trembled for their benefices, the landed
gentry for their abbeys and great tithes. While the memory of the reign
of the Saints was still recent, hatred of Popery had in some degree
given place to hatred of Puritanism; but during the eighteen years which
had elapsed since the Restoration, the hatred of Puritanism had abated,
and the hatred of Popery had increased.... The King was suspected by
many of a leaning towards Rome. His brother and heir-presumptive was
known to be a bigoted Roman Catholic. The first Duchess of York had died
a Roman Catholic. James had then, in defiance of the remonstrances of
the House of Commons, taken to wife the Princess Mary of Modena, another
Roman Catholic. If there should be sons by this marriage, there was
reason to fear that they might be bred Roman Catholics, and that a long
succession of princes hostile to the established faith might sit on the
English throne. The constitution had recently been violated for the
purpose of protecting the Roman Catholics from the penal laws. The ally
by whom the policy of England had during many years been chiefly
governed, was not only a Roman Catholic, but a persecutor of the
Reformed Churches. Under such circumstances, it is not strange that the
common people should have been inclined to apprehend a return of the
times of her whom they called Bloody Mary.” Such was the unhappy state
of affairs at this period, and though its effect is soon shown in the
advertisement columns of the papers, one would think times were piping
and peaceful indeed to read the following, extracted from the _London
Gazette_ of October 15-19, 1674:--
_WHITEHALL, October 17._--A square Diamond with his Majesty’s Arms
upon it having been this day lost out of a seal in or about Whitehall,
or St James’s Park or House; Any person that shall have found the same
is required to bring it to _William Chiffinch_, Esq., Keeper of his
Majesty’s Closet, and he shall have ten pounds for a Reward.
Doubtless this Chiffinch, the degraded being who lived but to pander to
the debauched tastes of his royal and profligate employer, thought
nothing of politics or of the signs of the times, and contented himself
with the affairs of the Backstairs, caring little for Titus Oates, and
less for his victims. Some short time after the foregoing was published
(March 20-23, 1675), Chiffinch published another loss in the _Gazette_.
This is it:--
FLOWN out of St James’s Park, on Thursday night last, a Goose and a
Gander, brought from the river Gambo in the East Indies, on the Head,
Back and Wings they are of a shining black, under the Throat about the
Eyes and the Belly white. They have Spurs on the pinions of the Wings,
about an inch in length, the Beaks and Legs of a muddy red; they are
shaped like a Muscovy Mallard, but larger and longer legg’d. Whoever
gives notice to Mr Chiffinch at Whitehall, shall be well rewarded.
Whether the prince of pimps ever had to give the reward, we are not in a
position to state; we should, however, think that his advertisement
attracted little attention, for we are now in the midst of the
excitement which led to the pretended plots and troubles that made every
man suspect his neighbour, and when the cry of Recusant or Papist was
almost fatal to him against whom it was directed. That this feeling once
roused was not to be subdued even in death, is shown by a notice in the
_Domestick Intelligence_ of July 22, 1679:--
WHEREAS it was mentioned in the last “Intelligence” that Mr Langhorn
was buried in the Temple Church, there was a mistake in it, for it was
a Loyal Gentleman, one Colonel Acton, who was at that time buried by
his near relations there: And Mr Langhorn was buried that day in the
Churchyard of St Giles-in-the-Fields, very near the five Jesuits who
were executed last.
John Playford, Clerke to the Temple Church.
Here is intolerance with a vengeance, but in the year 1679 reverence for
persons or things was conspicuously absent, and this is best shown by
the advertisement which was issued for the purpose of discovering the
ruffians, or their patron, who committed the brutal assault upon John
Dryden. It appears in the _London Gazette_ of December 22, 1679:--
WHEREAS _John Dryden_, Esq., was on Monday, the 18th instant, at
night, barbarously assaulted and wounded, in Rose Street in Covent
Garden, by divers men unknown; if any person shall make discovery of
the said offenders to the said Mr Dryden, or to any Justice of the
Peace, he shall not only receive Fifty Pounds, which is deposited in
the hands of Mr Blanchard, Goldsmith, next door to Temple Bar, for the
said purpose, but if he be a principal or an accessory in the said
fact, his Majesty is graciously pleased to promise him his pardon for
the same.
Notwithstanding the offer of this money, it was never discovered who
were the perpetrators, or who was the instigator of this cudgelling.
Some fancy its promoter was Rochester, who was offended at some
allusions to him in an “Essay on Satire,” written jointly by Dryden and
Lord Mulgrove; while others declare that the vanity of the Duchess of
Portsmouth, one of the King’s many mistresses, having been offended by a
_jeu d’esprit_ of the poet’s, she procured him a rough specimen of her
favours. Others, again, have suspected Buckingham, who was never on the
best of terms with Dryden, and who sat for the portrait drawn in Zimri
(“Absalom and Achitophel”); but profligate and heartless libertine as
Villiers was, he was above such a ruffianly reprisal. In the _Domestick
Intelligence_ of December 23, 1679, the assault is thus described: “Upon
the 17th instant in the evening Mr Dryden the great poet, was set upon
in Rose Street in Covent Garden, by three persons, who, calling him
rogue, and son of a whore, knockt him down and dangerously wounded him,
but upon his crying out murther, they made their escape; it is conceived
that they had their pay beforehand, and designed not to rob him but to
execute on him some _Feminine_, if not _Popish_, vengeance.” In a
subsequent number of the same paper there is the following
advertisement:--
_WHEREAS there has been printed of late an Advertisement about the
Discovery of those who assaulted_ Mr Dryden, _with a promise of pardon
and reward to the Discoverer; For his further encouragement, this is
to give notice, that if the said Discoverer shall make known the
Person who incited them to that unlawful action, not only the
Discoverer himself but any of those who committed the fact, shall be
freed from all manner of prosecution_.
As a seasonable illustration we present an exact facsimile of a
newspaper containing reference to the attack. It is complete as it
appears, being simply a single leaf printed back and front, and so the
stories of men repeating a whole newspaper from memory are not so
wonderful after all. This year (1679) is memorable among journalists as
being the first which saw a rising press emancipated, a fact which is
sufficiently interesting to be chronicled here, although our subject is
not newspapers, but only the advertisements contained in them.[27]
During all this time it must not be supposed that the vendors of quack
medicines were at all idle. No political or religious disturbance was
ever allowed to interfere with them, and their notices appeared as
regularly as, or if possible more regularly than, ever. In a paper we
have not before met, the _Mercurius Anglicus_, date March 6-10, 1679-80,
we are introduced for the first time to the cordial which was destined
to become so popular among nurses with whom neither the natural milk nor
that of human kindness was plentiful, viz., Daffy’s Elixir:--
WHEREAS divers Persons have lately exposed to sale a counterfeit drink
called ELIXIR SALUTIS, the true drink so called being first published
by Mr Anthony Daffy, who is the only person that rightly and truly
prepares it, he having experienced its virtues for above 20 years
past, by God’s blessing curing multitudes of people afflicted with
various distempers therewith, the receit whereof he never communicated
to any person living; and that these persons the better to colour
their deceit, have reported Mr Anthony Daffy to be dead, these are to
certify That the said Mr Anthony Daffy is still living and in good
health, at his house in Prujean court in the old Bailey, and that only
there and at such places as he has appointed in his printed sheets of
his Elixir’s virtues (which printed sheets are sealed with his seal)
the true ELIXIR SALUTIS or choice CORDIAL DRINK OF HEALTH is to be
sold.
It is noticeable that about this time people were never sure what year
they were in until March, and often during that month; and this is not
only so in the dates on newspapers, but is found in Pepys and other
writers of the period. Some journals do not give the double date as
above, for we have before us as we write two copies of the _Domestick
Intelligence; or, News both from City and Country_, “Published to
prevent false Reports,” No. 49 being dated “Tuesday, Decemb. 23, 1679;”
and No. 52, “Friday, January 2, 1679.” This has not, as many people have
imagined, anything to do with the difference between the New Calendar
and the Old, as our alteration of style did not take place till the
middle of the next century. It must have been a relic of the old
Ecclesiastical year which still affects the financial budget.
That the “agony column” of the present day is the result of slow and
laborious growth is shown by an advertisement, cut from a _Domestick
Intelligence_ of March 1681, which contains an urgent appeal to one who
has in umbrage departed from home:--
☞ WHEREAS a Person in London on some discontent did early on Monday
morning last retire from his dwelling-house and not yet return’d, it
is the earnest request of several of his particular friends, that the
said person would speedily repair to some or one of them, that he
thinks most fit; it being of absolute necessity, for reasons he does
not yet know off.
An advertisement of this kind, without name or initials, might now, like
the celebrated appeal to John Smith, apply itself to the minds of so
many who had left their families “on some discontent,” that there would
be quite a stampede for home among the married men making a temporary
sojourn away from the domestic hearth and its attendant difficulties.
Many of them would perhaps find themselves as unwelcome as unexpected.
Our next selection will be interesting to those who are curious on the
subject of insurance, which must have been decidedly in its infancy on
July 6, 1685, the day on which the following appeared in the _London
Gazette_:--
THERE having happened a Fire on the 24th of the last month by which
several houses of the friendly society were burned to the value of 965
pounds, these are to give notice to all persons of the said society
that they are desired to pay at the office Faulcon Court in Fleet
Street their several proportions of their said loss, which comes to
five shillings and one penny for every hundred pounds insured, before
the 12th of August next.
Advertisements are so far anything but plentiful, there being rarely
more than two or three at most beyond the booksellers’ and quack
notices; and although nowadays the columns of a newspaper are supposed
to be unequalled for affording opportunities for letting houses and
apartments, the hereunder notice was, at the time of its publication in
the _London Gazette_, August 17, 1685, perfectly unique:--
THE EARL of BERKELEY’S HOUSE, with Garden and Stables, in St John’s
Lane, not far from Smith Field, is to be Let or Sold for Building.
Enquire of Mr Prestworth, a corn chandler, near the said house, and
you may know farther.
Any one who passes through St John’s Lane now, with its squalid
tenements, dirty shops, and half-starved population, will have to be
possessed of a powerful imagination indeed to picture an earl’s
residence as ever standing in the dingy thoroughfare, notwithstanding
the neighbourhood has the advantage of a beautiful brand-new
meat-market, in place of the old cattle-pens which formerly stood on the
open space in front of Bartholomew’s Hospital. Yet as proof of the
aristocratic meetings which used to be held in St John’s Lane, the
Hospitallers’ Gate still crosses it--the gate which even after the days
of chivalry had departed had still a history to make, not of bloodshed
and warfare certainly, but of a connection with the highest and finest
description of literature.
We now come to the year 1688, when advertising was more common than
before, and when Charles having passed away, James held temporary
possession of the throne. One, published in the _Gazette_ of March 8, is
suggestive of the religious tumult which would shortly end in his
downfall:--
CATHOLIC LOYALTY, ☞ upon the Subject of Government and Obedience,
delivered in a SERMON before the King and Queen, in His Majesties
Chapel at Whitehall, on the 13 of June 1687, by the Revnd. Father
Edward Scaraisbroke, priest of the Society of Jesus. Published by His
Majesty’s Command. Sold by Raydal Taylor near Stationers Hall, London.
Just about this period dreadful outrages were of common occurrence; men
were knocked down in the street in open daylight, robbed, and murdered,
and not a few deaths were the outcome of private and party hatred.
Municipal law was set at defiance, and any small body of desperadoes
could do as they liked unchecked, unless they happened to be
providentially opposed by equal or superior force, when they generally
turned tail, for their practice was not to fight so much as to beat and
plunder the defenceless. Here is a notice which speaks volumes for the
state of affairs. It is published in the _London Gazette_, and bears
date March 29, 1688:--
WHEREAS a Gentleman was, on the eighteenth at night, mortally wounded
near Lincoln’s Inn, in Chancery Lane, in view as is supposed of the
coachman that set him down: these are to give notice that the said
coachman shall come in and declare his knowledge of the matter; if any
other person shall discover the said coachman to John Hawles, at his
chamber in Lincoln’s Inn, he shall have 5 guineas reward.
About this time some show is made on behalf of those credulous folk who
believe that all highwaymen in the good old times were brave, dashing,
highly educated, and extremely handsome; for we find several inquiries
after robbers who, before troubles came upon them, held superior
positions in society. Here is one of the year 1688:--
_WHEREAS Mr Herbert Jones_, Attorney-at-Law in the Town of Monmouth,
well known by being several years together Under-Sheriff of the same
County, hath of late divers times robbed the Mail coming from that
town to London, and taken out divers letters and writs, and is now
fled from justice, and supposed to have sheltered himself in some of
the new-raised troops. These are to give notice that whosoever shall
secure the said Herbert Jones, so as to be committed in order to
answer these said crimes, may give notice thereof to Sir Thomas
Fowles, goldsmith, Temple-bar, London, or to Mr Michael Bohune,
mercer, in Monmouth, and shall have a guinea’s reward.
Mr Jones, culpable as he undoubtedly was, seems to have possessed a
sense of honour, and probably he served his friends as well as himself
by taking the writs from the mail. The reward offered for his
apprehension is so paltry in proportion to the outcry raised, that a
disinterested reader, _i.e._, one who has never felt the smart of
highway robbery, cannot help hoping that he got clear off, or that at
all events he cheated the gallows by earning a soldier’s death “in some
of the new-raised troops.” Although Mr Jones was a gentleman thief, and
had gentlemanly associates, he and his friends are the exceptions to the
rule; for robbers generally are described as a very sad as well as a
very ugly lot of reprobates. Also in the same eventful year of delivery
we find the following, which appears in the _London Gazette_, the
subject of it having evidently thought to avail himself of the
disturbances of the time, but whether successfully or the reverse, does
not appear:--
RUN away from his master, Captain St Lo, the 21st instant, Obdelah
Ealias Abraham, a Moor, swarthy complexion, short frizzled hair, a
gold ring in his ear, in a black coat and blew breeches. He took with
him a blew Turkish watch-gown, a Turkish suit of clothing that he used
to wear about town, and several other things. Whoever brings him to Mr
Lozel’s house in Green Street shall have one guinea for his charges.
This advertisement is suggestive of the taste in blackamoors, which
began to manifest itself about this time, and which had a long run--the
coloured creature who was in later times a negro, but in these a Moor,
being often regarded as a mere soulless toy, a companion of the pug-dog,
or an ornament to be classified with the vases and other china
monstrosities which were just then the vogue. The next advertisement we
have is of a very different character, and has a distinct bearing upon
the political question of the times; it also seems to show that the
value of advertising was beginning to be still more understood, and that
with the advent of a new sovereign the attention of the commercial
classes was once more directed so much to business that even party
feeling was to be made a source of profit. The extract is from the _New
Observator_ of July 17, 1689:--
ORANGE CARDS, representing the late King’s reign and expedition of the
Prince of Orange; viz. The Earl of Essex Murther, Dr Otes Whipping,
Defacing the Monument, My Lord Jeferies in the West hanging of
Protestants, Magdalen College, Trial of the Bishops, Castle Maine at
Rome, The Popish Midwife, A Jesuit Preaching against our Bible,
Consecrated Smock, My Lord Chancellor at the Bed’s feet, Birth of the
Prince of Wales, The Ordinare Mass-house pulling down and burning by
Captain Tom and his Mobile, Mortar pieces in the Tower, The Prince of
Orange Landing, The Jesuits Scampering, Father Peter’s Transactions,
The fight at Reading, The Army going over to the Prince of Orange,
Tyrconnel in Ireland, My Lord Chancellor in the Tower. With many other
remarkable passages of the Times. To which is added the efigies of our
Gracious K. William & Q. Mary, curiously illustrated and engraven in
lively figures, done by the performers of the first Popish Plot Cards.
Sold by Donnan Newman, the publisher and printer of the New
Observator.
This was a popular and rather practical method of celebrating the
triumph of the Whigs, and as Bishop Burnet was the editor of the _New
Observator_, and these cards were sold by his publisher, he is very
likely to have had a hand in their promotion. About now the traffic in
African slaves commenced, and these full-blooded blacks gradually
displaced the Moors and Arabs, who had formerly been the prevalent
coloured “fancy.” It is supposed that the taste for these dark-skinned
servants was derived from the Venetians, whose intercourse with the
traders of India and Africa naturally led to their introduction. Moors
are constantly being associated with the sea-girt Republic, both in
literature and art, Shakespeare’s “Moor of Venice” being somewhat of an
instance in point; while Titian and other painters of his school were
extremely fond of portraying coloured men of all descriptions. By 1693,
however, the negro had not altogether pushed out the Moor, if we may
judge by an advertisement dated January 9-12, 1692-93, and appearing in
the _London Gazette_:--
THOMAS GOOSEBERRY, a blackamoor, aged about 24 years, a thin slender
man, middle stature, wears a periwig: Whoever brings him to Mr John
Martin at Guildhall Coffeehouse, shall have two guineas Reward.
Another advertisement, which appears in the same paper a couple of years
later, shows that the owners of these chattels considered their rights
of property complete, as they put collars round their necks with names
and addresses, just the same as they would have placed on a dog, or
similar to that worn by “Gurth the thrall of Cedric.” This individual
seems to have been different from any of the others we have met, as he
is evidently a dusky Asiatic who has been purchased from his parents by
some adventurous trader, and whose thraldom sits heavily upon him. This
is his description:--
A BLACK boy, an Indian, about thirteen years old, run away the 8th
instant from Putney, with a collar about his neck with this
inscription: ‘The Lady Bromfield’s black in Lincoln’s Inn Fields.’
Whoever brings him to Sir Edward Bromfield’s at Putney shall have a
guinea reward.
It seems hardly possible that a poor little wretch like this would have
run away--for whither could he run with any hope of securing his
freedom?--unless he had been unkindly treated. There is little
doubt--though we are, through the medium of the pictures of this and a
later time, in the habit of regarding the dark-faced, white-turbaned,
and white-toothed slaves as personifications of that happiness which is
denied to higher intellects and fairer fortunes--that often they were
the victims of intense cruelty, and now and then of that worst of all
despotisms, the tyranny of an ill-natured and peevish woman.
We now come upon an advertisement, which shows something of the desire
that was always felt by residents in the country for the least
scintillations of news; and the concoctor of the notice seems fully
aware of this desire, as well as possessed of a plan by means of which
he may make it a source of profit to himself. It occurs in a copy of the
_Flying Post_ of the year 1694:--
IF any Gentleman has a mind to oblige his country friend or
correspondent, with an account of Public affairs he may have it for
twopence of J. Salusbury at the Rising Sun in Cornhill, on a sheet of
fine paper, half of which being blank, he may thereon write his own
private business or the material news of the day.
By this means the newspaper and the private letter were combined, and it
is easy to understand the delight with which a gossiping and
scandalising effusion, possessed of the additional advantage of being
written on this kind of paper, was received at a lonely country house,
by people pining after the gaieties of metropolitan life. The newsletter
proper was a very ancient article of intercommunication, and it seems
strange that it should have flourished long after the introduction of
newspapers, which it certainly did. This may be accounted for by the
fact, that during the time of the Rebellion it was much safer to write
than to print any news which was intended to be read at a distance, or
which had any political significance. It has been remarked that many of
these newsletters “were written by strong partisans, and contained
information which it was neither desirable nor safe that their opponents
should see. They were passed on from hand to hand in secret, and often
indorsed by each successive reader. We are told that the Cavaliers, when
taken prisoners, have been known to eat their newsletters; and some of
Prince Rupert’s, which had been intercepted, are still in existence, and
bear dark red stains which testify to the desperate manner in which they
were defended. It is pretty certain, however, that as a profession
newsletter writing began to decline after the Revolution, though we find
the editor of the _Evening Post_, as late as the year 1709, reminding
its readers that ‘there must be three or four pounds a year paid for
written news.’ At the same time, the public journals, it is clear, had
not performed that part of their office which was really more acceptable
to the country reader than any other--the retailing the political and
social chit-chat of the day. We have only to look into the public papers
to convince ourselves how woefully they fell short in a department which
must have been the staple of the newswriter.” It would seem, therefore,
that this effort of Mr Salusbury was to combine the old letter with the
modern paper, and thus at once oblige his customers and save a
time-honoured institution from passing away. It would seem as if he
succeeded, for there are in the British Museum many specimens of papers,
half print half manuscript; and as most of the written portions are of
an extremely treasonable nature, possibly the opportunity to send the
kind of news which suited them best, and thus combine friendship and
duty, was eagerly seized by the Jacobites. But how singular after all it
seems for an editor to invite his subscribers to write their own news
upon their own newspapers!
We are now getting very near the end of the seventeenth century, and
among the curious and quaint advertisements which attract attention, as
we pore over the old chronicles which mark the close of the eventful
cycle which has seen so much of revolution and disaster, and of the
worst forms of religious and political fanaticisms carried to their most
dreadful extremes, is the following. It appears in Salusbury’s _Flying
Post_ of October 27, 1696, and gives a good idea of manners and customs,
which do not so far appear to have altered for the better:--
WHEREAS six gentlemen (all of the same honourable profession), having
been more than ordinary put to it for a little pocket-money, did, on
the 14th instant, in the evening near Kentish town, borrow of two
persons (in a coach) a certain sum of money, without staying to give
bond for the repayment: And whereas fancy was taken to the hat,
peruke, cravate, sword and cane, of one of the creditors, which were
all lent as freely as the money: these are, therefore, to desire the
said six worthies, how fond soever they may be of the other loans, to
unfancy the cane again, and send it to Will’s Coffee-house, in
Scotland yard; it being too short for any such proper gentlemen as
they are, to walk with, and too small for any of their important uses
and withal, only valuable as having been the gift of a friend.
And just about this time we come upon some more applications from our
old friend Houghton, who seems to be doing a thriving business, and is
as full of wants as even he could almost desire. In a number of his
_Collection for the Improvement of Husbandry and Trade_ he expresses a
wish as follows:--
----I want an Englishman that can tolerably well speak French (if
Dutch too so much the better), and that will be content to sit at home
keeping accounts almost his whole time, and give good security for his
fidelity, and he shall have a pretty good salary.
And again, his wishes being evidently for the perfection of servants,
even to--which is rather an anomaly in domestic servitude--getting
security. Many servants must in those days have wished to get security
for the honesty of their masters:--
----I want to wait on a gentleman in the City a young man that writes
a pretty good hand, and knows how to go to market, must wait on
company that comes to the house and wear a livery, has had the
small-pox, and can give some small security for his honesty.
Houghton was noticeable for expressing a decided opinion with regard to
the quality of whatever he recommends, and, as we have shown, was not at
all modest in his own desires. Even he, however, could rarely have
designed such a bargain as this:--
----One that is fit to keep a warehouse, be a steward or do anything
that can be supposed an intelligent man that has been a shopkeeper is
fit for, and can give any security that can be desired as far as ten
thousand pounds goes, and has some estate of his own, desires an
employment of one hundred pounds a year or upwards. I can give an
account of him.
This is the last we shall see of old Houghton, who did much good in his
time, not only for other people but for himself as well, and who may be
fairly regarded as, if not the father, certainly one of the chief
promoters of early advertising.
The next public notice we find upon our list is one which directs itself
to all who may wish to be cured of madness, though why people who are
really and comfortably mad should wish to have the trouble of being
sane, we do not profess to understand. However, it is not likely that
this gentleman helped them, for he overdoes it, and offers rather too
much. The notice appears in the _Post Boy_ of January 6-9, 1699:--
IN Clerkenwell Close, where the figure of Mad People are over the
gate, Liveth one who by the Blessing of God, cureth all Lunitck
distracted or Mad People, he seldom exceeds 3 months in the cure of
the maddest Person that comes in his house, several have been cured in
a fortnight and some in less time; he has cured several from Bedlam
and other mad-houses in and about this City and has conveniency for
people of what quality soever. No cure no money. He likewise cureth
the dropsy infallibly and has taken away from 10, 12, 15, 20 gallons
of water with a gentle preparation. He cureth them that are 100 miles
off as well as them that are in town, and if any are desirous they may
have a note at his house of several that he hath cured.
Notwithstanding the writer’s proficiency in the cure of lunatics, he
seems to have been sorely exercised with regard to the spelling of the
word, and he is ingenious enough in other respects. The remark about no
cure no pay, it is noticeable, refers only to the cases of lunacy, and
not to those of dropsy, for the evident reason that it is quite possible
to make a madman believe he is sane, while it would be rather hard to
lead a dropsical person into the impression that he is healthy. Quacks
swarm about this period, but as we shall devote special attention to
them anon, we will now step into the year 1700, beginning with the
_Flying Post_ for January 6-9, which contains this, a notice of a
regular physician of the time:--
AT the Angel and Crown in Basing-lane near Bow-lane liveth J. Pechey,
a Graduate in the University of Oxford, and of many years standing in
the College of Physicians in London: where all sick people that come
to him, may have for Six pence a faithful account of their diseases,
and plain directions for diet and other things they can prepare
themselves. And such as have occasion for Medicines may have them of
him at any reasonable rates, without paying anything for advice. And
he will visit any sick person in London or the Liberties thereof in
the day time for two shillings and Six pence, and anywhere else within
the Bills of Mortality for Five shillings. And if he be called in by
any person as he passes by in any of these places, he will require but
one shilling for his advice.
This is cheap enough, in all conscience, and yet there is little doubt
that the afflicted infinitely preferred the nostrums so speciously
advertised by empirics to treatment according to the pharmacopœia. We
have good authority for the statement that faith will move mountains,
and it seems, if we are to judge by the testimonials published from
time immemorial by vendors of ointment and pills, to have moved
mountainous tumours, wens, and carbuncles, for without it soft soap,
bread, and bacon fat would be of little use indeed. Glorious John Dryden
died early in this year, and a hoaxing advertisement appeared in the
_Post Boy_ of May 4-7, which called for elegies, &c.:--
THE Death of the famous John Dryden Esq. Poet Laureat to their two
late Majesties, King Charles and King James the Second; being a
Subject capable of employing the best pens, and several persons of
quality and others, having put a stop to his interment, which is to be
in Chaucer’s grave, in Westminster Abbey: This is to desire the
gentlemen of the two famous universities, and others who have a
respect for the memory of the deceas’d, and are inclinable to such
performances, to send what copies they please as Epigrams, etc. to
Henry Playford at his shop at the Temple-Change in Fleet street, and
they shall be inserted in a Collection which is design’d after the
same nature and in the same method (in what language they shall
please) as is usual in the composures which are printed on solemn
occasions at the two Universities aforesaid.
Other advertisements followed this, and from them it appears that the
shop of Henry Playford was inundated with manuscripts of all lengths and
kinds, and in many languages. What became of them does not make itself
known, which is a pity, as many must have been equal to any specimen
which occurs in the “Rejected Addresses,” with the advantage and
recommendation of being genuine.
It is strange that so far we have met with no theatrical or musical
advertisement or public notice of any forthcoming amusement, for it
appeared most probable that as soon as ever advertising became at all
popular it would have been devoted to the interest of all pursuits of
pleasure. In 1700, however, we come upon what must be considered the
really first advertisement issued from a playhouse, and, as a curiosity,
reproduce it from the columns of the _Flying Post_ of July 4:--
☞ AT the request and for the Entertainment of several persons of
quality at the _New Theatre in Lincolns-Inn-Fields_, to morrow, being
Friday the 5th of this instant, _July_, will be acted “The Comical
History of _Don Quixote_,” both parts made into one by the author.
With a new entry by the little boy, being his last time of dancing
before he goes to _France_: Also Mrs. _Elford’s_ new entry, never
performed but once and Miss _Evans’s_ jigg and _Irish_ dance: with
several new comical dances, composed and performed by Monsier _L’Sac_
and others. Together with a new Pastoral Dialogue, by Mr _Gorge_ and
Mrs _Haynes_, and variety of other singing. It being for the benefit
of a gentleman in great distress, and for the relief of his wife and 3
children.
This lead was soon followed by more important houses, and in a very few
years we have lists regularly published of the amusements at all
theatres. Theatrical managers have in all times been blessed with a
strong faculty of imitation, and though it seems immensely developed
just now, the lessees of a hundred and seventy years ago were just as
keen to follow the scent of anything which had proved fortunate on the
venture of any one possessed of pluck or originality.
We have reserved for the end of this chapter two advertisements of an
individual who, according to his own showing, would have been invaluable
to some of the members of the various school boards of the present, and
have enabled them to keep pace with the pupils under their supervision,
a consummation devoutly to be wished. However, if we cannot have Mr
Switterda, some other _deus ex machinâ_ may yet arise. The first is from
the _Postman_ of July 6-9, and runs thus:--
ALL Gentlemen and Ladies who are desirous in a very short time to
learn to speak _Latin_, _French_ or _High Dutch_ fluently, and that
truly and properly without pedantry, according to Grammar rules, and
can but spare two hours a week, may faithfully be taught by Mr.
_Switterda_ or his assistant at his lodgings in _Panton Street_, at
the Bunch of Grapes, near _Leicester Fields_, where you may have Latin
and French historical cards. Children may come every day, or as often
as parents please at his house in _Arundel Street_, next to the
_Temple Passage_, chiefly those of discretion, who may be his or her
assistant, entring at the same time. And if any Gent. will take two
children or half a dozen of equal age, whose capacity are not
disproportionable, and let any Gent. take his choice, and leave to the
abovenamed S. the other, and he is content to lose his reward, if he
or his assistant makes not a greater and more visible improvement of
the Latin tongue in the first three months time, than any Gent.
whatsoever. Et quamquam nobili Germano est dedecori linguas profiteri,
tamen non abscondi talenta mea quæ Deus mihi largitus est, sed ea per
multos annos publicavi, et omnes tam divites quam paupores ad domum
meam invitavi, sed surdas semper aures pulsavi, multos mihi invidos
conciliavi, quos confidentia et sedulitate jam superavi. Omnes artes
mechanicæ quotidie excoluntur, artes vero liberales sunt veluti statua
idolatrica quæ addorantur non promoventur. He intends to dispose of
two copper plates containing the ground of the Latin tongue, and the
highest bidder shall have them. Every one is to pay according to his
quality from one guinea to 4 guineas _per_ month, but he will readier
agree by the great.
It is evident that Mr Switterda was of an accommodating disposition, and
doubtless did well not only out of those who agreed by the great--a
species of scholastic slang we are unable to understand positively,
however much we may surmise--but out of those who were content, or were
perforce compelled to put up, with the small. Here is another
“high-falutin’” notice which appears in the same paper about a month
later, and which shows that the advertiser is also possessed of a power
of puffing his own goods which must have aroused the envy and admiration
of other quacks, in an age when they were not only numerous but
singularly fertile in expedient:--
WHEREAS in this degenerate age, Youth are kept so many years in
following only the _Latin_ tongue and many of them are quite
discouraged Mr. _Switterda_ offers a very easy, short, and delightful
method, which is full, plain, most expeditious and effectual, without
pedantry, resolving all into a laudable and most beneficial practice
by which Gent. and Ladies, who can but spare to be but twice in a week
with him, may in two years time learn _Latin_, _French_ and _High
Dutch_, not only to speak them truly and properly, but also to
understand a classical author. Antisthenes, an eminent Teacher being
ask’d why he had so few scholars? answer’d _Quoniam non compello, sed
depello illos virga argentea_. Mr. Switterda who loves _qualitatem non
quantitatem_ may say the same of a great many, except those who are
scholars themselves, and love to give their children extraordinary
learning, who have paid not only what he desired, but one, two, or
three guineas above their quarteridge, and some more than he asked. He
is not willing to be troubled with stubborn boys, or those of 8 or 9
years of age, unless they come along with one of more maturity, that
shall be able to instruct them at home, and such as may be serviceable
to the public in Divinity, Law and Physick, or teaching school. There
is £20 offered for the two copper plates, and he that bids most shall
have them. He teacheth Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at his house
in Arundel Street, next door above the Temple Passage, and the other
three days in Panton Street, at the Bunch of Grapes near Leicester
Fields, where you may have Latin and French Historical Cards, and a
pack to learn _Copia Verborum_, which is a great want in many
gentlemen. Every one is to pay according to his quality, from one
Guinea to 4 Guineas _per_ month. But poor Gent. and Ladies he will
consider, chiefly when they agree by the great, or come to board with
him.
How different from the puffing and pretentious announcements just given
is the one of the same time which follows, as we read which we can hear
the hum of the little country schoolroom, and see the master with his
wig all awry, deep in snuff and study, the mistress keenly alive to the
disposition of her girls, and the pupils of both sexes, as pupils are
often even nowadays, intent upon anything but their lessons or work.
London is forty miles away, and the coach is an object of wonder and
admiration to the villagers, who look upon the pupils who have come from
the great city with awe and reverence, while the master is supposed to
diffuse learning from every pore in his body, and to scatter knowledge
with every wave of his hand. The mistress is also an object of
veneration, but her accomplishments are more within the ken of rustic
folk, and she, good simple dame, who imagines her husband to be the most
learned man in all the King, God bless him’s, dominions, delights to
talk about the clergymen they have educated, and has been the principal
cause of his inditing and publishing this notice:--
ABOUT forty miles from London is a schoolmaster has had such success
with boys as there are almost forty ministers and schoolmasters that
were his scholars. His wife also teaches girls lacemaking, plain work,
raising paste, sauces, and cookery to a degree of exactness. His price
is £10 or £11 the year, with a pair of sheets and one spoon, to be
returned if desired; coaches and other conveniencies pass every day
within half a mile of the house, and ’tis but an easy journey to or
from London.
And with these proofs that the schoolmaster was very much abroad at the
time, we will take leave of the seventeenth century.
[27] A nominal censorship was continued till 1695, but the freedom of
the press is considered by many to date from the year named above, and
an inspection of the papers themselves would seem to justify the
opinion.