|And hail to the living,” exclaimed Lieutenant O'Larry, the Trim of the
Cloth Quarter,--“To them give we a trophy, time enough for a tomb!” And
having knocked out the ashes of his pipe, he tuned it, and (beating time
with his wooden leg) woke our enthusiasm with
WATERLOO.
And was it not the proudest day in Britain's annals
bright?
And was he not a gallant chief who fought the gallant
fight?
Who broke the neck of tyranny, and left no more to do?--
That chief was Arthur Wellington! that fight was
Waterloo!
O, when on bleak Corunna s heights he rear'd his ban
ner high,
Britannia wept her gallant Moore; her scatter'd armies
fly--
To raise her glory to the stars, and kindle hearts of
flame,
The mighty victor gave the word, the master-spirit
came.
Poor Soult, like Pistol with his leek! he soon compell'd
to yield;
And then a glorious wreath he gain'd on Talaveras field.
See! quick as lightning, flash by flash! another deed
is done--
And Marmont has a battle lost, and Salamanca's won.
The shout was next “Vittoria!”--all Europe join'd the
strain.
Ne'er such a fight was fought before, and ne'er will be
again!
Quoth Arthur, “With 'th' Invincibles' another bout
I'll try;
And show you when f the Captain * comes a better by
and by!”
But lest his sword should rusty grow for want of daily
use,
He gave the twice-drubb'd Soult again a settler at
Toulouse.
His Marshals having beaten all, and laid upon the shelf,
He waits to see the Captain” come, and take a turn
himself.
Now Arthur is a gentleman, and always keeps his word;
And on the eighteenth day of June the cannons loud
were heard;
The flow'r of England's chivalry their conquror rallied
round;
A sturdy staff to cudgel well “the Captain” off the
ground!
“Come on, ye fighting vagabonds!” amidst a show'r
of balls,
A shout is heard; the voice obey'd--the noble Picton
falls!
On valour's crimson bed behold the bleeding Howard
lies--
Oh! the heart beats the muffled drum when such a
hero dies!
The cuirassiers they gallop forth in polish'd coats of
mail:
“Up, Guards, and at'em!” and the shot comes rattling
on like hail!
A furious charge both man and horse soon prostrates and
repels,
And all the cuirassiers are cracked like lobsters in their
shells!
Where hottest is the fearful fight, and fire and flame
illume
The darkest cloud, the dunnest smoke, there dances
Arthur s plume!
That living wall of British hearts, that hollow square,
in vain
You mow it down--see! Frenchmen, see! the phalanx
forms again.
The meteor-plume in majesty still floats along the
plain--
Brave, bonny Scots! ye fight the field of Bannockburn
again!
The Gallic lines send forth a cheer; its feeble echoes
die--
The British squadrons rend the air--and “Victory!”
is their cry.
'T was helter-skelter, devil take the hindmost, sauve
qui peut,
With “Captain” and “ Invincibles” that day at Wa
terloo!
O how the Beiges show'd their backs! but not a Briton
stirr'd--
His warriors kept the battle-field, and Arthur kept his
word.
“Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!”
When the cheering had subsided,
“Good morning (bowed Mr. Bosky) to your conjuring cap, Wizard of St.
Bartlemy! Namesake of Guido, in tatterdemalion dialect, 'Old Guy!' who,
had he possessed your necromantic art, would have transformed his dark
lantern into a magic one, and ignited his powder without lucifer or
match; yourself and art being a match for Lucifer! What says that
mysterious scroll adorned with 'lively sculptures' of Mr. Punch's
scaramouches, (formerly Mrs. Charke's * ) and illuminated with your
picture in a preternatural (pretty natural?) wig, every curl of which
was woven by the fairy fingers of Queen Mab!”
[Illustration:0159]
“Mr. _Fawkes_, at his booth over-against the King's Head, exhibits his
incomparable dexterity of hand, and Pinchbeck's musical clock, that
plays several fine tunes, imitates the notes of different birds, and
shews ships sailing in the river. You will also be entertained with
a surprising tumbler just arrived from Holland, and a Lilliputian
posture-master, only five years old, who performs such wonderful turns
of body, the like of which was never clone by a child of his age and
bigness before.”--1730.
* The deserted daughter of Colley Cibber, of whose erratic
life some passages are recorded in her autobiography. 1750.
At the Hospital Gate, (“all the scenes and decorations entirely new,”)
Joe Miller, * “honest Billy Mills” and Oates, invite us to see a new
opera, called The Banished General, or the Distressed Lovers; the
English Maggot, a comic dance; two harlequins; a trumpet and kettledrum
concert and chorus; and the comical humours of Nicodemus Hobble-Wollop,
Esq. and his Man Gudgeon! Squire Nicodemus by the facetious Joe. And at
the booth of Fawkes, Pinchbeck and Terwin, “distinguished from the rest
by bearing English colours,” will be performed Britons Strike Home;. **
As if to redeem the habitual dulness of Joe Miller, one solitary joke of
his stands on respectable authority. Joe, sitting at the window of the
Sun Tavern in Clare Street, while a fish-woman was crying, “Buy my
soles! Buy my maids!” exclaimed, “Ah! you wicked old creature; you are
not content to sell your own soul, but you must sell your maid's too!”
** The commander of the General Ernouf (French sloop of war)
hailed the Reynard sloop, Captain Coglilan, in English, to
strike. “Strike!” replied the Briton, “that I will, and very
hard!” He struck so very hard, that in thirty-five minutes
his shot set the enemy on fire, and in ten minutes more she
blew up! Captain Coghlan now displayed equal energy in
endeavouring to rescue his vanquished foe; and, by great
exertions, fifty-five out of a crew of one hundred were
saved.
“Don Superbo Hispaniola Pistole by Mr. C--b--r, and Donna Americana by
Mrs. Cl--ve, the favourite of the town!” Dare Conjuror Fawkes insinuate
that Cibber, if he did not actually “wag a serpent-tail in Smithfield
fair,” still put on the livery of St. Bartholomew, in the Brummagem Don
Pistole? That _Kitty Clive_, the termagant of Twickenham! with whom
the fastidious and finical Horace Walpole was happy “to touch a card,”
bedizened in horrible old frippery, rioted it in the “Rounds?” If
true, what a standing joke for David Garrick, in their “combats of the
tongue!” If false, “surprising and incomparable” must have been thy
“dexterity of hand,” base wizard! which shielded that bold front of
thine from the cabalistic retribution of her nails!
_Leverigo_ the Quack, and his Jack Pudding Pinkanello, have mounted
their stage; and, hark! the Doctor (Leveridge, famous for his “O the
Roast Beef of Old England!”) tunes his manly pipes, accompanied by that
squeaking Vice! for the _Mountebank's song_. *
[Illustration: 0162]
* “Here are people and sports of all sizes and sorts,
Cook-maid and squire, and mob in the mire;
Tarpaulins, Frugmalions, Lords, Ladies, Sows, Babies,
And Loobies in scores:
Some howling, some bawling, some leering, some fleering;
While Punch kicks his wife out of doors!
To a tavern some go, and some to a show,
See poppets, for moppets; Jack-Puddings for Cuddens; Rope-
dancing, mares prancing; boats flying, quacks lying; Pick-
pockets, Pick-plackets, Beasts, Butchers, and Beaux; Fops
prattling, Dice rattling, Punks painted, Masks fainted, In
Tally-man's furbelow'd cloaths!”
[Illustration: 0163]
In another quarter, Jemmy Laroch * warbles his raree-show ditty; while
Old Harry persuades the gaping juveniles--
* Here's de English and French to each other most civil,
Shake hands and be friends, and hug like de devil!
O Raree-show, &c.
Here be de Great Turk, and the great King of no land,
A galloping bravely for Hungary and Poland.
O Raree-show, &c.
Here's de brave English Beau for the Packet Boat tarries,
To go his campaign vid his tailor to Paris.
O Raree-shoiv, &c.
Here be de English ships bringing plenty and riches,
And dere de French caper a-mending his breeches!
O Raree-show, &c.
--to take a peep at his gallant show. * Duncan Macdonald ** “of
the Shire of Caithness, Gent.,” tells, how having taken part in the
Rebellion of 1745, he fled to France, where, being a good dancer, he
hoped to get a living by his heels.
* “Old Harry with his Raree-show.” A print by Sutton
Nicholls, with the following lines.
“Reader, behold the Efigie of one
Wrinkled by age, decrepit and forlorne,
His tinkling bell doth you together call
To see his Raree-show, spectators all,
That will be pleas'd before you by him pass,
To put a farthing, and look through his glass.
'Tis so long since he did himself betake
To show the louse, the flea, and spangled snake.
His Nippotate, which on raw flesh fed,
He living shew'd, and does the same now's dead.
The bells that he when living always wore,
He wears about his neck as heretofore.
Then buy Old Harry, stick him up, that he
May be remember'd to posterity.”
** “With a pair of French post boots, under the soles of
which are fastened quart-bottles, with their necks
downwards, Mr. Macdonald exhibits several feats of activity
on the slack wire; after this he poises a wheel on his right
toe, on the top of which is placed a spike, whereon is
balanced by the edge a pewter-plate; on that a board with
sixteen wine-glasses; and on the summit a glass globe, with
a wheaten straw erect on the same. He then fixes a sharp-
pointed sword on the tip of his nose, on the pommel of which
he balances a tobacco-pipe, and on its bowl two eggs erect!
With his left forefinger he sustains a chair with a dog
sitting in it, and two feathers standing erect on the nobs;
and to shew the strength of his wrist, there are two weights
of l00 lbs. each fastened to the legs of the chair!” &c. &c.
[Illustration: 0165]
But his empty quart bottles, with “their necks downwards,” produced him
not the price of a full one; his glass globe Louis Ragout valued not the
straw that stood erect upon it; and his nose, sustaining on its tip a
sharp-pointed sword, put not a morsel into his mouth; so that, finding
his wire and trade equally slack, and that he could balance everything
but his accounts, he took his French boots and French leave; left his
board for his lodging, and his chair for his cheer, hoping to experience
better luck at Bartholomew Fair! Posture-master Phillips, * pupil
of Joseph Clarke, ** exercises his crooked calling, and becomes
hunch-backed, pot-bellied, sharpbreasted, and crippled disjointing arms,
shoulders, and legs, and twisting his supple limbs into bows and double
knots!
* “August 23, 1749, a gallery in Phillips's booth broke
down. F our persons were killed and several wounded.”
** Clarke, who lived in the reigns of King James II. and
King William, was a terrible torment to his tailors; for
when one came to measure him, he contrived to have an
enormous hump on his left shoulder, and when the coat was
tried on, it had shifted to his right I The tailor
apologized for his blunder, took home the garment, altered
it, returned, and again attempted to make it fit, when, to
his astonishment and dismay, he found his queer customer as
straight as an arrow! A legion of tailors came to Adonize
him, but he puzzled them all.
Hans Buling * displays his monkey's humours, and his own. The Auctioneer
of Moorfields ** transfers his book-stall to the cloisters. “Poor Will
Ellis” offers for sale his simple “effigie.” ***
* A well-known charlatan, who advertised his nostrums,
attended by a monkey.
** This grave-looking, spectacled personage, in a rare print
by Sutton Nieholls, stands at his book-stall in Moorfields,
puffing the contents of his sale catalogue, among which are
“The History of Theves;” “English Rogue;” “Aristotle's
Masterpiece and “Poems by Rochester
“Come, sirs, and view this famous library,
'Tis pity learning shou'd discouraged be.
Here's bookes (that is, if they were but well sold)
I will maintain't are worth their weight in gold.
Then bid apace, and break me out of hand;
Ne'er cry you don't the subject understand:
For this, I'll say, howe'er the case may hit,
Whoever buys of me,--I teach'em wit.”
*** Sitting on the railings in Moorfields. Beneath are some
lines, giving an account how “Bedlam became his sad portion
and lot for the love of Dear Betty.” Coming to his senses,
he turned poet:--
“Now innocent poetry 's all my delight;
And I hope that you'll all be so kind as to buy't:
That poor Will Ellis, when laid in his tomb,
May be stuck in your closet, or hung in your room.”
[Illustration: 0168]
The “Dwarf Man and the Black” give us a chance of meeting our love
at----first sight. *
* “Sept. 8, 1757. Daily Advertiser. If the lady who stood
near a young gentleman to see the Dwarf Man and the Black in
Bartholomew Fair, on Wednesday evening, is single and will
inform the gentleman (who means the strictest honour) where
he may once more have the happiness of meeting her, she will
be waited on by a person of fortune. The lady wore a black
satin hat, puffed inside and out, a black cardinal, and a
genteel sprigged gown.”
The Midas-eared Musician scrapes on his violincello a
teeth-setting-an-edge voluntary. John Coan, * the Norfolk Pigmy, motions
us to his booth; and Hale the Piper ** dancing his “hornpipe,” bagpipes
us a welcome to the fair!
“What,” exclaimed the Lauréat, “has become of this century of
mountebanks? Ha! not one moving--still as the grave!”
Mr. Bosky was not often pathetic; but, being suddenly surprised into
sentimentality, it is impossible to say what melancholy reflections
might have resulted from the Merrie Mysteries, had not the landlord
interrupted him by ushering into the room Uncle Timothy.
* This celebrated dwarf exhibited at Bartholomew Fair, Aug.
17, 1752.
** Under an engraving of Hale the Piper, by Sutton Nieholls,
are the music to his hornpipe, and the following lines.
“Before three monarchs I my skill did prove,
Of many lords and knights I had the love;
There's no musician e'er did know the peer
Of Hale the Piper in fair Darby Shire.
The consequence in part you here may know,
Pray look upon his hornpipe here below.”
Hail! modest piper, and farewell!
“Welcome, illustrious brother!” shouted Deputy Doublechin. “Better late
than never!”
Uncle Timothy greeted the President, nodded to all around, and shook
hands with some old stagers nearest the chair.
“Gentlemen,” continued the enthusiastic deputy, brimming Uncle Tim's
glass, “our noble Vice drinks to all your good healths. Bravo! this
looks like the merry old times! We have not a moment to lose. To-morrow
prostrates this ancient roof-tree! Shall it be sawed asunder unsung? No,
Uncle Timothy,--no! rather let it tumble to a dying fall!”
The satirical-nosed gentleman would as soon have been suspected of
picking a pocket as eschewing a pun.
“Your eloquence, Mr. Deputy, is irresistible,--“Man anticipates Time
in the busy march of destruction. His own mortal frame, broken by
intemperance, becomes a premature ruin; he fells the stately oak in the
towering majesty of its verdure and beauty; he razes the glorious temple
hallowed by Time! and the ploughshare passes over the sacred spot it
once dignified and adorned!
Man is ever quarrelling with Time. Time flies too swiftly; or creeps
too slowly. His distempered vision conjures up a dwarf or a giant; hence
Time is too short, or Time is too long! Now Time hangs heavy on his
hands; yet for most things he cannot find Time! Though fame-serving, he
makes a lackey of Time; asking Time to pay his debts; Time to eat his
dinner; Time for all things! He abuses those, that never gave him a hard
word; and, in a fit of ennui, to get rid of himself he kills Time; which
is never recovered, but lost in Eternity!” And Uncle Timothy, keeping
time and the tune, sang his retrospective song of
OLD TIME.
From boyhood to manhood, in fair and rough weather.
Old Time! you and I we have jogg'd on together;
Your touch has been gentle, endearing, and bland;
A fond father leading his son by the hand!
In the morning of life, ah! how tottering my tread--
(True symbol of age ere its journey is sped!)
But Time gave me courage, and fearless I ran--
I held up my head, and I march'd like a man!
Old Time brought me friendship, and swift flew the
hours;
Life seem'd an Elysium of sunshine and flowers!
The flowers, but in memory, bear odour and bloom;
And the sun set on friendship, laid low in the tomb!
Yet, Time, shall I blame thee, tho' youth's happy glow
Is fled from my cheeks, that my locks are grey?--No!
What more can I wish (not abusing my prime)
To pilot me home, than a friend like Old Time?