Transcriber's Notes: Words in italics in the original are surrounded by
_underscores_. A row of asterisks represents a thought break. A complete
list of corrections as well as other notes follows the text.
ANECDOTES
OF THE
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS
OF
LONDON
DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY;
INCLUDING
THE CHARITIES, DEPRAVITIES, DRESSES, AND AMUSEMENTS,
OF THE CITIZENS OF LONDON,
DURING THAT PERIOD;
WITH A REVIEW
OF THE
STATE OF SOCIETY IN 1807.
TO WHICH IS ADDED,
A SKETCH OF THE DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE, AND OF
THE VARIOUS IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METROPOLIS.
ILLUSTRATED BY FORTY-FIVE ENGRAVINGS.
BY JAMES PELLER MALCOLM, F. S. A.
AUTHOR OF "LONDINIUM REDIVIVUM," &c. &c.
THE SECOND EDITION.
VOLUME II.
_LONDON_:
PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND ORME,
PATERNOSTER ROW.
1810.
John Nichols and Son, Printers,
Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street, London.
_CONTENTS_
OF
THE SECOND VOLUME.
CHAP. V. Page.
Public Methods of raising Money exemplified in
Notices relating to Lotteries, Benefit Societies, &c. 1
CHAP. VI.
The Religious and Political Passions of the Community
illustrated by Anecdotes of popular Tumults 11
CHAP. VII.
Amusement--Detail of its principal Varieties since
1700 107
CHAP. VIII.
Anecdotes of Dress, and of the Caprices of Fashion 312
CHAP. IX.
Domestic Architecture traced from its origin to its
present improved state in London--Lighting and
improving of Streets--Obstructions in them--Ornaments,
&c. 358
CHAP. X.
Sketch of the present State of Society in London 406
_PLATES_
TO
THE SECOND VOLUME.
The Plates of Dress (chronologically) 312
Croydon Palace }
Brick Gateway near Bromley } 364
The Views of Antient and Modern Houses 366
The general Views 404
CHAP. V.
PUBLIC METHODS OF RAISING MONEY EXEMPLIFIED, IN NOTICES
RELATING TO LOTTERIES, BENEFIT SOCIETIES, &C.
The community of London had superior advantages an hundred years past
in the State Lotteries, though, if interested Office-keepers could be
credited, the Londoners of the present Century enjoy greater gaming
privileges than the world ever yet produced. The reader shall judge
between the schemes of 1709 and 1807. The Post Boy of December 27 says,
"We are informed that the Parliamentary Lottery will be fixed in this
manner:--150,000 tickets will be delivered out at 10_l._ each ticket,
making in all the sum of 1,500,000_l._ sterling; the principal whereof
is to be sunk, the Parliament allowing nine _per cent._ interest for
the whole during the term of 32 years, which interest is to be divided
as follows: 3750 tickets will be prizes from 1000_l._ to 5_l. per
annum_ during the said 32 years; all the other tickets will be blanks,
so that there will be 39 of these to one prize, but then each blank
ticket will be entitled to fourteen shillings a year for the term
of 32 years, which is better than an annuity for life at ten _per
cent._ over and above the chance of getting a prize." Such was the
eagerness of the publick in subscribing to the above profitable scheme,
that Mercers-hall was literally crowded, and the Clerks were found
incompetent to receive the influx of names. 600,000_l._ was subscribed
January 21; and on the 28th of February the sum of 1,500,000_l._ was
completed.
The rage for Lotteries reigned uncontrouled; and the newspapers of the
day teemed with proposals issued by every ravenous adventurer who could
collect a few valuable articles; and from those shopkeepers took the
hint, and goods of every description were converted into prizes, even
neckcloths, snuff-boxes, toothpick-cases, linen, muslin, and plate. The
prices of tickets were generally sixpence, a shilling, half a crown,
&c. At the latter end of the year just mentioned, the Magistrates,
being alarmed, declared their intention of putting the Act of William
and Mary in force, which levied a penalty of 500_l._ on the proprietor,
and 20_l._ on each purchaser. In the tenth of Queen Anne another Act
was passed for suppressing private Lotteries, which was followed by a
second to prevent excessive and deceitful gaming.
Matthew West, a Goldsmith, of Clare-street, Clare-market, appears to
have been the man who first divided Lottery-tickets into shares. He
advertised in 1712, that he had sold 100 tickets in the million and an
half Lottery in twentieths, and purposed pursuing his plan, which was
well received.
The Lottery for 1714 contained 50,000 tickets at 10_l._ each, with 6982
prizes and 43,018 blanks; two of the former were 10,000_l._ with one
of 5, another of 4000_l._ a third of 3000_l._ and a fourth of 2000_l._
five of 1000_l._ ten of 500_l._ twenty of 200_l._ fifty of 100_l._ four
hundred of 50_l._ and six thousand four hundred and ninety-one of 20_l._
Besides the drawing for prizes and blanks, there was another for the
course of payment, and each 1000 tickets was called a course. The
payments to the receivers were on the 10th of November and 10th of
December 1713. When the Tickets were drawn, they were exchanged for
standing orders, and thus rendered assignable by endorsement; all the
blanks were repaid the 10_l. per_ ticket at one payment, in the order
their course of payment happened to fall, and they bore an interest
of four _per cent._ from Michaelmas 1713. The prizes were payable in
the same manner: the first drawn ticket had 500_l._; the last 1000_l._
besides the general chance; 35,000_l. per annum_ was payable weekly
from the Exchequer to the Paymaster for the discharge of the principal
and interest, and the whole funds of the Civil List were chargeable for
thirty-two years for 35,000_l. per annum_.
To shew the difference between past and present methods, it may be
worth while to insert a modern scheme.
"State Lottery begins drawing October 13, 1806, containing more Capital
Prizes, and 5000 less Tickets, than last Lottery. The first drawn
Ticket entitled to 10,000_l._; all other Capital Prizes are afloat.
Purchasers of Tickets and Shares will have the opportunity of obtaining
all the Capital Prizes, provided they purchase before the drawing
commences. The Scheme has equal advantages of 20,000_l._ Prizes,
10,000_l._ Prizes, 5,000_l._ Prizes, &c. &c. to former Lotteries of
double the number of Tickets.
No. of Prizes. Value of each: Total Value.
3 of £.20,000 are £.60,000
3 10,000 30,000
3 5,000 15,000
5 1,000 5,000
8 500 4,000
20 100 2,000
40 50 2,000
4,100 20 82,000
------ ---------
20,000 Tickets. £.200,000
20,000 Tickets only, and no other State Lottery to be drawn this year."
BENEFIT SOCIETIES, &C.
The first mention of any thing of this kind I have met with is in
the year 1708, under the name of the "Taylors' Friendly Society" for
insuring the lives of Adults and Children male and female; which was
held at the Cross Keys, Wych-street; and the Trustees met twice in
each month, when 1500 persons had subscribed 5_s._ each, including
policies, stamps, entrance, and first claim; and continued their
payments three years. They became entitled to relief in case of illness
or poverty, and their Executors after death to 200_l._ Another Society
was connected with it, and termed the "Amicable Society," the terms
5_s._ 6_d._ and 2_s. per_ quarter; for which relief was afforded, and
120_l._ paid at the decease of the Subscriber.
Another, called "The Fortunate Office," was intended to provide
marriage-portions for the Subscribers, who paid 2_s. per_ quarter for
their tickets.
A sort of Tontine had its origin in 1709 under the name of "The Lucky
Seventy, or the longest livers take all." It was declared to issue out
of the Annuities granted or to be granted by Parliament for the term of
99 years; the sum subscribed 10_l._ or as many tens as the Subscriber
chose. The income was immediate, tax free, and payable half-yearly
during the lives of their respective nominees. The office was held at
Haberdashers Hall.
An office was opened in Theobald-road, 1710, which, if really
answerable to the statement announcing it, promised great benefit to
the lower classes of the community; and was highly honourable to the
dignified Clergy, eminent Physicians, Surgeons, and Counsellors at Law,
who founded and supported it. Those persons, taking into consideration
the difficulty the poor laboured under of procuring medical and
surgical assistance and legal advice, offered to afford prescriptions
and opinions for one shilling on delivering a case, and one other
shilling at receiving the answer, which payments they declared would be
applied only to the actual expences of the office.
The success of these schemes sharpened the invention of the thrifty;
and immediately almost every street in London abounded with Insurance
offices, where policies for infants three months old might be obtained
for short periods. From those they diverged into other ages and various
descriptions of persons. Their reign, however, appears to have been
but short; as I meet with very few advertisements of the kind in 1712.
One specimen may be worth preserving: "By the United Friendly and
Perpetual Society, at the Naked Boy, the corner of Battle-bridge, in
Tooley-street, Southwark, on Thursday the 25th instant, will be opened
two offices on Marriages for three months, on Claims two, upon Births
for two months, and two on Servants for three months on dividends."
Another will verify the "Wisdom of Nations" in the adage of "Set a
Thief, &c.:" indeed, the Gentleman writer lets us into the whole secret
at once.
"From the _antient_ and _most reputable_ sale of Alphabetical Letters
at the Golden Ball in Whalebone-court, Lothbury, fronting the end
of Bartholomew-lane: Whereas several as well _impudent_ as ignorant
pretenders have of late erected offices of various methods, and under
several denominations, proposing such prodigious profits, in making
so many several returns of _cent. per cent._ for each principal sum
paid into them, that it is even _miraculous_ to those of the greatest
capacities in these undertakings how or with what _assurance_ they
could ever pretend to publish the same; but now it is presumed every
one who has any _concerns_ in matters of this kind are thoroughly
sensible of the difference between _honest_ and well-regulated schemes
(_as this is_) and those _chimerical_ ones which are only set up on
purpose to be a glittering show of profit, where the end fails of the
expectation. The failures of some of this kind, and the probability
of _all_ such methods taking the same course, _has been the only
motive_ of publishing this; the proposer hereof not having advertised
in print these eight months, though his sale has been of nine months
standing, and has paid for re-bought letters to his subscribers out
of the same upwards of 29,600_l._ never paying less than double for
_all_ money paid in, and that in a very short time. Proposals may be
had _gratis_ at the _Sale_ aforesaid, _all_ the books being now open
for subscriptions. And on Thursday the 22d instant will be opened a
subscription-book, where any person may subscribe _what sum he or they
please_, and receive the _principal and profit_ entire in three months,
proposals of which will be delivered out the same day. This book is
of the same nature with our other books; only in this, whatever sum
is subscribed must be paid down with 12_d._ for each pound entrance,
whereas in the other the money is paid weekly, which is a great trouble
to those who cannot spare so much time."
I think I may congratulate my fellow-citizens on the improvement in our
morals after their perusal of the following modest production:
"Observe well this Advertisement,
Which comes from the old and original Sale of the Queen's picture
(_Qu._ the Guinea), the very next house to the George Inn,
Coleman-street, London. There having been of late great discourse about
offices, _and I cannot but say great reason to suspect their honesty_
(_some not designing any_), and others who knew not how to be honest,
_being they wanted experience_, which business requires a regular
method to be observed, occasions me to satisfy the world that the
sale of the Queen's picture has been maintained this three quarters
of a year, the payment every Saturday paid honourably and justly,
which thousands can testify, and which is a plain demonstration of its
continuance; _good payments being the only security_ in these cases.
I have all along acquainted every single person concerned that I will
maintain it as long _as it is possible_ to be preserved; _whenever it
decays_, I have promised them all from the very beginning to summon all
my purchasers together, and _to distribute what is left_ among them.
This method I have taken; and I defy _any one to say it is unjust_, and
I will surely perform it. Pray take good notice we begin this present
Thursday to enter again, and shall continue until Saturday the 7th of
June. On that day we shall also pay above 500_l._"
One of the schemes which preceded the Bubbles of 1720 was an
Insurance-office for Lottery-tickets, opened at Mercers'-hall; and
120,000_l._ was actually subscribed on the following terms: for every
ninety-six tickets insured the proprietors agreed to allow to the
Company (after the tickets were drawn) 16_s. per_ ticket, and 5
_per cent._ on such prizes as occurred to the ninety-six tickets, the
Company returning the tickets, and in case the prizes did not amount to
288_l._ valuing the prizes at _par_; the Company to make up the money
3_l._ for every ticket. For every forty-eight tickets the proprietors
agreed to allow 19_s. per_ ticket, and 5 _per cent._ on the prizes as
above; the Company making up the tickets 144_l._ or 3_l. per_ ticket,
and so on down to twelve tickets. The proprietors of the tickets to
advance no money for this security; but, when drawn, to allow as above;
the tickets to be deposited with the Company, and placed by them under
seal in the Bank of England; if not called for in ninety days after the
drawing, to be forfeited.
We have at length reduced these schemes to a few honourable
Insurance-offices for Lives and Property; and Benefit Societies have
been sanctioned by the Legislature.
CHAP. VI.
THE RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL PASSIONS OF THE COMMUNITY
ILLUSTRATED BY ANECDOTES OF POPULAR TUMULTS.
The first violent effervescence of party after the year 1700 originated
from the intemperance of certain Sectaries, who omitted no opportunity
of attacking the Established Church; one of the members of which,
Sacheverell, equally intemperate, contrived to raise the Demon of
Discord throughout the Nation by Sermons calculated to make all good
Churchmen detest him. In these half religious, half political contests,
the populace uniformly arrange themselves on the side of Liberty--that
Liberty which prompts them to assume the reins of Justice, and to
dispense it according to the best of their shallow judgments; but their
whips are firebrands, and indiscriminate destruction is substituted for
the terrors of the Law; _their_ Culprits are seized at the instigation
of some infamous leader, and punishment is inflicted before passion
subsides. While Sacheverell's trial was depending in 1709-10, the
many-headed monster of this monstrous Metropolis thought proper to
pronounce sentence on the harmless wainscot, pews, and other woodwork
of Mr. Burgess's Meeting, near Lincoln's-inn-fields, whither they
were conveyed and burnt. When this wicked exploit was accomplished,
and they had contrived to kill a young man in their undistinguishing
fury, they proceeded to Fetter and Leather lanes, and several other
places in which Meetings were situated; and would probably have
committed incredible mischief, had not the Queen's guards dispersed
them, and seized several of the ringleaders; one of whom was tried
and condemned, but afterwards reprieved. Some of those infatuated men
stopped coaches in the streets, to demand money of the passengers, to
drink Sacheverell's health; which occasioned an official communication
from the Queen to the Lord Mayor. Her Majesty declared her knowledge
of the riots, bonfires, illuminations, the assaults and stoppage of
coaches to demand money, in opposition to her Proclamation, and in
contempt of the proceedings of the High Court of Parliament; and that
she was credibly informed that great part of those lawless proceedings
were committed through the culpable inactivity of the Magistracy;
at which she expressed great displeasure; and concluded by charging
the Mayor and City Officers, at their peril, to apprehend all persons
exciting tumults and hawking seditious papers through the streets
for sale. To the above letter the Corporation addressed an humble
answer, observing that the insolent attacks on the Constitution and
Her Majesty's Prerogative, by the publication of books and pamphlets
intended to infuse Republican tenets in the minds of her subjects, had
roused them to a consideration of their fatal tendency; they therefore
declared their detestation of such doctrines, their determination to
support the Protestant succession, and, in obedience to her commands,
to suppress all riotous assemblies, and to oppose with undaunted vigour
all attempts to disturb the peace of her reign, or the serenity of her
Royal mind, at home and abroad.
The Queen addressed a similar complaint to the Magistrates of
Middlesex; and received assurances of support from them, those of
Westminster, and the Lieutenancy of London.
_After these professions_ of prevention, riots occurred on the 14th of
October, 1710, with the watch-word of "Sacheverell and High Church;"
and the mob beat off the Constables with brands from the numerous
bonfires they had lighted.
The month of November teemed with the seeds of riot; but the vigilance
of Government was then excited, and secret means employed to discover
those preparatives by which the mob were to be set in motion. Some of
the emissaries employed on this occasion gave information that a house
near Drury-lane contained certain effigies, intended to represent the
Pope, the Pretender, and the Devil; this trio were accompanied by
four Cardinals, four Jesuits, and four Monks, who were to have been
exhibited in due state on the evening of November 17, the anniversary
of Queen Elizabeth's accession, and then burnt, in testimony of the
abhorrence entertained against the Head of the Roman Catholic faith,
his engine for establishing it again in England, and his Majesty of
the Infernal regions, together with the inferior instruments of the
dissemination of his doctrines. Thus informed, Government preferred
opposing _such_ public support of _their_ cause, and wisely intimated
by their conduct that they were willing to rest it on the conscience
of each individual of the community, rather than terrify _wavering_
Protestants into their measures: in consequence, they issued orders
to seize the figures; which being promptly obeyed, the Messengers and
guards conveyed them in safety to the Earl of Dartmouth's office, by
whose means the sentence of the mob was probably more _privately_
performed, and the evening passed away without any particular
occurrence. This event was eagerly seized upon by the partizans of
the day; those of Government discovering in it the _stamina_ of a
thousand horrors intended to involve the Roman Catholicks and the
Established Church in one grand ruin; those of the Antimonarchical side
deeming the intended procession a mere common occurrence, occasionally
resorted to by the populace with the best motives. By _us_, who have
known the infernal proceedings accompanying the cry of "No Popery,"
riots of any kind must be dreaded; and we cannot but approve the
vigilance of the then Government in terminating the existence of an
expiring habit, whose vigorous movements were marked in the following
disgusting "Account of the burning the Pope at Temple-bar in London,
the 17th of November 1679;" an account that compels us to hail with
ten-fold reverence the auspicious Revolution of 1688, that defined
the boundaries of the Sovereign's and the People's right. At the
present period, praised be Heaven! a _Jury_ of twelve men would make
the instigators of such a procession tremble: and every Protestant
in the City would fly from it with indignation; and yet with all our
modern mildness the faith in question gains no proselytes:--a memorable
_memento_ of the liberality of the age[15:A]!
"Upon the 17th of November the bells began to ring about
three o'clock in the morning in the City of London; and
several _honourable_ and _worthy_ gentlemen belonging to the
Temple as well as the City, (remembering the burning both
of London and the Temple, which was apparently executed by
Popish villainy[16:A]) were pleased to be at the charge of
an extraordinary triumph, in commemoration of that blessed
Protestant Queen, which was as follows: In the evening of the
said day, all things being prepared, the _solemn_ procession
began from Moorgate, and so to Bishopsgate-street, and down
Hounsditch to Aldgate, through Leadenhall-street, Cornhill,
by the Royal Exchange, through Cheapside, to Temple-bar, in
order following.
1st. Marched six whifflers, in pioneers' caps and
red waistcoats.
2. A bellman, ringing his bell, and with a
_dolesome_ voice crying all the way "Remember
Justice Godfrey."
3. A _dead body_, representing Justice Godfrey in
the habit he usually wore, and the cravat wherewith
he was murdered about his neck, _with spots of
blood_ on his wrists, breast, and shirt, and white
gloves on his hands, his face pale and wan, riding
upon a white horse, and one of his murderers behind
him to keep him from falling, in the same manner as
he was carried to Primrose-hill.
4. A Priest came next, in a surplice and a cope
embroidered _with dead men's sculls_ and bones and
_skeletons_, who gave out pardons very plentifully
to all that would murder Protestants, and
proclaiming it meritorious.
5. A Priest alone, with a large silver cross.
6. Four Carmelite Friars, in white and black habits.
7. Four Grey Friars, in their proper habits.
8. Six Jesuits, carrying _bloody daggers_.
9. Four wind-musick, called the waits, playing all
the way.
10. Four Bishops, in purple, with _lawn_ sleeves,
and golden crosses on their breasts, and crosiers
in their hands.
11. Four other Bishops, in their _pontificalibus_,
with _surplices_ and rich-embroidered copes, and
golden mitres on their heads.
12. Six Cardinals, in scarlet robes and caps.
13. Then followed the Pope's chief Physician, with
Jesuits powder in one hand and an _urinal_ in the
other.
14. Two Priests in surplices, with two golden
crosses.
"Lastly, the Pope, in a glorious pageant or chair of state,
covered with scarlet; the chair being richly embroidered and
bedecked with golden balls and crosses. At his feet was a
cushion of state; and two boys sat on each side the Pope in
surplices, with white silk banners painted with red crosses
and _bloody consecrated daggers_ for murdering Protestant
kings and princes, with an incense-pot before them censing
his Holiness. The Pope was arrayed in a rich scarlet gown
lined through with ermines and adorned with gold and silver
lace, with a triple-crown on his head, and a glorious collar
of gold and precious stones about his neck, and St. Peter's
keys, a great quantity of beads, _Agnus Dei's_, and other
Catholic trumpery about him. At his back stood the _Devil_,
his Holiness's privy-counsel, hugging and whispering him
all the way, and often instructing him aloud to destroy his
Majesty, to contrive a pretended Presbyterian plot, and to
fire the City again; to which purpose he held an infernal
torch in his hand. The whole procession was attended with
150 torches and flambeaus by order; but there were so
many came in volunteers as made the number to be several
thousands. Never were the balconies, windows, and houses
more filled, nor the streets more thronged, with multitudes
of people, all expressing their abhorrence of Popery with
_continual shouts and acclamations_; so that in the whole
progress of their procession by a modest computation it is
judged there could be no less than 200,000 spectators.
"Thus with a slow and solemn state in some hours they arrived
at Temple-bar, where all the houses seemed to be converted
into heaps of men, women, and children, who were diverted
with variety of excellent fire-works. It is known that
Temple-bar since its rebuilding is adorned with four stately
statues of Stone, two on each side the Gate; those towards
the City representing Queen Elizabeth and King James, and the
other two towards the Strand King Charles I. and King Charles
II.: now, in regard of the day, the statue of Queen Elizabeth
was adorned with a crown of gilded laurel on her head, and in
her hand, a golden shield with this motto inscribed thereon,
"The Protestant Religion, Magna Charta." Several lighted
torches were placed before her, and the Pope brought up near
the gate.
"Having entertained the thronging spectators for some time
with ingenious fire-works, a very great bonfire was prepared
at the Inner Temple-gate; and his Holiness, after some
compliments and reluctances, was decently tumbled into the
flames; the _Devil_ who till then accompanied him left him in
the lurch, and, laughing, gave him up to his deserved fate.
This last act of his Holiness's tragedy was attended with a
prodigious shout of the joyful spectators. The same evening
there were bonfires in most streets of London, and universal
acclamations, crying, "Let Popery perish, and Papists with
their plots and counter-plots be for ever confounded. _Amen._"
_Protestant Postboy, Nov. 20, 1711._
The brutal ferocity of the scenes just described appeared in a more
matured state in the acts of an inconsiderable part of the populace
in 1712: indeed, had their numbers or their courage equalled the
fiend-like qualities of their souls, the consequences must have been
dreadful to the publick. Fortunately, however, there were but fifty
_Mohawks_, and their cowardice made them an easy prey to justice;
but not before they had committed the most unheard-of excesses, of
which the wounds they inflicted with their swords on the peaceable
passenger of the streets at night were the least. They treated women
in a manner too brutal for a man of the least spirit to repeat, and
their exploits were marked in every other respect with the violation
of decency: Modesty and Innocence became their victims, Impudence and
Lasciviousness they patronized and protected. The Queen issued a
Proclamation on this hateful occasion pregnant with just resentment,
and offered a reward of 100_l._ for the apprehension of any of the
offenders. The Gazette of March 18, 1711, mentions that Sir William
Thomas, Bart. had been apprehended (who was accompanied by two men then
unknown) for assaulting a gentleman in St. James's Park between nine
and ten at night on the 15th, and calls on the injured person to appear
in evidence before the Secretary of State: but whether the charge
applies to the above outrages is not discoverable from the notice.
April 19 following the Gazette mentions seven men and seven women who
had been assaulted.
At the Quarterly Sessions of that period the Justices had received
orders to put the law in force against Vice and Immorality; and in
consequence of a petition from the inhabitants of Covent-garden,
complaining of the indecency and riots of the loose women and their
male followers in the vicinity of the Theatre, they issued warrants for
their apprehension. The execution of those were violently opposed; and
the Justices were compelled to state to the Privy Council and the Lord
Lieutenant of Middlesex, that the Constables were dreadfully maimed,
and one mortally wounded by Ruffians aided by 40 Soldiers of the
guards, who entered into a combination to protect the women.
In May, Lord Inchinbroke, Sir Mark Cole, and some others, were found
guilty on the charge of being principals in some or other of the above
vile proceedings. After having complimented Government on the propriety
of preventing the populace from publicly burning effigies, it would be
injustice to the latter not to acknowledge they might have pleaded high
authority for doing it. On the 5th of November 1712, the Queen's guards
made a bonfire before the gates of St. James's Palace; into which the
Pretender's effigy was thrown and shot at. Such is Human Nature! The
Lord Mayor appears, however, to have done his duty, by requesting his
fellow citizens to keep at home on the night of the anniversary of
Elizabeth's accession.
One of the oddest occurrences I have yet met with under this head was
a political contest between the Whig and Tory Footmen, who served the
Members of the House of Commons. These worthy patriots had inviolably
observed a custom, for many years previous to 1715, of imitating their
masters in the choice of a Speaker, modestly conceiving themselves a
deliberative body. Now, as the parties happened at this period to be
nearly balanced, much animosity naturally ensued; and, not possessing
the forbearance of their superiors, they had recourse to active
hostilities, and severely beat each other, till the rising of the House
compelled them to desist; but, on the following Monday, the battle was
renewed, and the Tories having gained the day by dint of blows, they
carried their Speaker three times round Westminster-hall, and then,
in pursuance of antient usage, they adjourned to a good dinner at an
adjacent alehouse, and to expend their crown each in toasting their
success.
The accession of George I. was celebrated, in the month of July of
the same year, in the customary manner by the peaceable part of the
community; but the more violent assembled, to the amount of several
hundreds, at the Roebuck Tavern, Cheapside, where they burnt the
effigies of the Pretender habited in mourning before the door,
accompanied by a peal from Bow bells; and the populace were plentifully
supplied with liquor. The same persons, joined by many young men and
apprentices, busily employed themselves between the above date and
October 22, the anniversary of the King's coronation, in preparing the
effigies of the old Triumvirate for the same fate; but the Jacobin
interest, then in full effervescence, contrived to drop printed bills,
and to insinuate that those loyal persons meant to burn the effigies
of the late Queen and Dr. Sacheverell. To repel such ideas, the Loyal
Society deputed their Stewards to the Lord Mayor with a relation of
their real intention, who forbid a procession, but permitted them
to consume the effigies where they pleased. Thus privileged, they
adorned their hats with cockades of white and orange, and sallied
forth with effigies of the Pope, the Pretender, the Earl of Man, the
Duke of Ormond, and Lord Bolingbroke, accompanied by link-bearers,
and precipitated them into a fire near Bow-church. Hence they went to
Lincoln's-Inn-fields, and assisted at the hateful orgies of the same
description ordered by the foolish Duke of Newcastle, whose power
ought to have been exerted in a far different way, as the sequel will
shew. The Jacobites, full of rage and disappointment, trod on their
kibes, but were afraid to commit open violence. These processions
and burnings were repeated again on King William's anniversary, and
on the 5th of November; and, had the subject been less serious, the
exhibition of the _warming-pan_ and sucking bottle might have excited
a smile. Some slight opposition occurred on these evenings; but the
Loyal Society of the Roebuck routed the Jacobites on all sides. The
day of the inauguration of Queen Elizabeth, November 17, shews the
folly and wickedness of suffering the populace to exercise their
brutal celebrations uncontrouled. The Loyal Society met at their usual
rendezvous in Cheapside, whence they sent a deputation to examine a
house near Aldersgate, where certain effigies were placed under the
guard of a man with a hanger, said to be those of Cromwell, Ireton,
Bradshaw, and Dr. Burnet, which the Jacobites intended to burn that
evening. However, upon viewing the harmless figures, they were found
to be the representatives of George I. King William, Marlborough,
Newcastle, and Dr. Burnet. The Deputies immediately seized them, and
proceeded without opposition and no little triumph to the Roebuck. At
8 o'clock in the evening shouts of High Church and Ormond, &c. &c.
announced the approach of the Pretender's friends, who poured into
Cheapside from the neighbouring streets, proclaiming their intention
of tearing the house to pieces. The attack commenced with stones and
bricks, which soon demolished the windows; they then prepared for the
assault; but the Loyal Society, thinking to terrify them, fired with
powder only. The Jacobites, perceiving they had sustained no injury,
renewed the attack, when a second volley, accompanied by ball, laid two
of them dead on the pavement, and wounded several others. _Then_ the
Mayor made his appearance with the _posse comitatus_, and the Jacobites
fled. Thus the Tragedy proceeded scene after scene; and in which way
were either party benefited by the catastrophe? Rioters acting with a
majority are like the officious bear who flattened his friend's nose in
order to kill a fly that teased him; those on the side of a minority
can expect nothing but disgrace and hanging: a well-ordered government
should therefore suppress the turbulence of both. Another attempt was
subsequently made upon the Roebuck, but the Trained Bands prevented
the accomplishment of its demolition. The Coroner's Jury returned a
verdict of justifiable homicide on the two bodies.
During the rebellious year 1716 there were many violations of public
decorum, which, if not really dangerous to lives and property, were
alarming and extremely offensive to the quiet Citizens. One of those
was the exploding a train of powder and nauseous combustibles within
Shower's Dissenting Meeting in the Old Jewry in the midst of an
evening service. The sudden flash, the smoke, and suffocation, put the
audience into a most violent ferment; and the attempts on all sides to
escape occasioned the only injury done by this stupid contrivance of a
mischievous partisan, who probably congratulated himself on observing
broken pews, bruised bodies, scattered shoes, wigs, scarves, and
watches; a chaos begun and ended in smoke.
The anniversary celebrations which were usually accompanied by
conviviality and pleasure seem in this turbulent year to have been
authorised days for riot, fighting, and disorder, or stated times for
the display of brutal courage. Were the circumstances more congenial
to humanity, many instances might be given. The very focus of those
mischiefs were the various _mug_-houses, as they were politely termed,
or in other words Club-taverns. That of Salisbury-court was regularly
assaulted in July, and the leader, a Bridewell apprentice, was shot
by the Master of the House, for which he was tried and acquitted;
but five of the rioters were executed. The members of the Roebuck
mug-house carried their loyalty into the street on the first of August,
where they had an enormous bonfire, and a table near it, when they
drank their glasses of wine, and pronounced healths, accompanied by
the brazen lungs of the trumpet. Several of those gentlemen having
heard that the Jacobites held religious meetings in various parts
of the town, where they prayed for their lawful King without naming
him, determined to distribute some of their numbers in each, and when
the proper time arrived they exclaimed King George and their Royal
Highnesses, &c.: to which others added Amen. This expedient served
to confound if not to convince; but neither lenity nor punishment
operated with the fiery Jacobites, who dared to bury two of the above
rioters with grand funeral honours in September, and would have made a
procession of young persons in pairs habited as mourners to pass every
mug-house in the City, had not the officers of the Police interfered
and apprehended several.
The gentry of the Roebuck attracted public notice on the King's return
from one of his excursions to Hanover, by a fresh exhibition of
obnoxious effigies, which they had prepared some time before, and shown
for two-pence each person. Those were dragged about till the thousand
links that attended them were almost consumed, the persons who rode as
Highland prisoners jaded, and the Man in armour who represented the
King's champion sufficiently cooled (for it was January, good reader),
when they halted at Charing-cross, and committed the inanimate part
of the procession to the flames. As this folly was protected by three
files of soldiers, the Jacobites remained _perdu_.
The months of May and June 1717 were war-like periods in Westminster,
and marked by furious battles between the butchers of St. James's
market and the footmen and valets of the same courtly City. After
several actions the footmen solicited and obtained the assistance
of the Bridewell-boys; to balance this accession of strength, the
fraternities of Westminster, Clare, and Bloomsbury-markets were
summoned, and joined the St. James's.
The Roebuck Society seem to have been exhausted by their exertions in
the latter end of 1717, and determined to decline active hostility
against the Jacobites; but I find them subsequently roused, and the
assailants in a pitched battle and siege of Newgate-market. One of
them describes the Society in the following lines--a paraphrase from
Martial, lib. xiii. Ep. c.
"As Deer upon the rocks where Dogs can't go
Look down, and vex the noisy pack below,
So stands our Roebuck far above the spite
Of ill-look'd curs that growl but cannot bite;
And if they yelp against our Sun at noon,
'Tis but like puppies barking at the Moon."
The Nonjurors, unwilling to resign their pretensions and the Pretender,
continued their secret meetings. Government, however, appears to have
used summary measures with them. Mr. Hawes's meeting opposite St.
James's was stormed in October 1717 by two Justices, two of the King's
messengers, and a guard of soldiers, when an hundred persons were found
within, to whom the Justices tendered the oaths; five accepted them,
but the rest refused, and were dismissed after being compelled to
declare their names and residences: the preacher escaped. Dr. Welton,
the ejected or Nonjuring rector of St. Mary's Whitechapel, held the
same kind of assemblies at his house in Goodman's-fields, which was
visited in the same manner; but the Doctor thinking proper to resist,
the door was broken open, and about 200 persons were discovered, all
of whom except 40 refused the oaths. The Doctor not only rejected
the oath, but acknowledged he did not pray for the Royal family. His
escapes for a long time after furnished matter for paragraphs in the
newspapers.
The year 1718 closed with a faint revival of the turbulence of party.
In this instance the Bridewell-boys acted with hardened effrontery and
violence against the Loyalists. This period produced the long-required
interference of the Civil Power to prevent the Roebuck processions;
but this happy event was succeeded by the unjustifiable conduct of
the Spital-fields weavers, who were injured by the too common use of
foreign calicoes. These indiscreet persons, instead of applying for
redress to the Legislature, proceeded to terrify the wearers into a
compliance with their wishes, by throwing pernicious liquids on the
gowns of females, and tearing them from their backs in the most brutal
manner. The Police were compelled to interfere; but to little purpose,
till they were fired upon, and several killed and wounded, and others
committed to prison, whence some were conveyed corpses through the
raging of a Gaol fever, and others to the Pillory; but it was a long
time before the effervescence was allayed, and a paper war exhausted.
London was remarkably quiet from the above period till November 1724;
but that year produced a thief that seemed calculated to perform
successfully every scheme of desperation. He enjoyed a limited sway,
and during the time he was at large the publick were in constant
apprehension. Sheppard finished his career at Tyburn in the midst of
an incredible number of spectators; and their conduct occasions this
notice of him. The Sheriff's-officers, aware of the person they had to
contend with, thought it prudent to secure his hands on the morning
of execution. This innovation produced the most violent resistance on
Sheppard's part; and the operation was performed by force. They then
proceeded to search him, and had reason to applaud their vigilance,
for he had contrived to conceal a penknife in some part of his dress.
The ceremony of his departure from our world passed without disorder;
but, the instant the time expired for the suspension of the body, an
undertaker, who had followed by his friends' desire with a hearse and
attendants, would have conveyed it to St. Sepulchre's church-yard for
interment; but the mob, conceiving that Surgeons had employed this
unfortunate man, proceeded to demolish the vehicle, and attack the
sable dependants, who escaped with difficulty. They then seized the
body, and in the brutal manner common to those wretches beat it from
each to the other till it was covered with bruises and dirt, and till
they reached Long-acre, where they deposited the miserable remains at
a public-house called the Barley-mow. After it had rested there a few
hours the populace entered into an enquiry why they had contributed
their assistance in bringing Sheppard to Long-acre; when they
discovered they were duped by a bailiff, who was actually employed by
the Surgeons; and that they had taken the corpse from a person really
intending to bury it. The elucidation of their error exasperated them
almost to phrensy, and a riot immediately commenced, which threatened
the most serious consequences. The inhabitants applied to the Police,
and several Magistrates attending, they were immediately convinced the
civil power was insufficient to resist the torrent of malice ready to
burst forth in acts of violence. They therefore sent to the Prince
of Wales and the Savoy, requesting detachments of the guards; who
arriving, the ringleaders were secured, the body was given to a person,
a friend of Sheppard, and the mob dispersed to attend it to the grave
at St. Martin's in the Fields, where it was deposited in an elm coffin,
at ten o'clock the same night, under a guard of Soldiers, and with the
ceremonies of the church.
The Weekly Journal of November 21, 1724, gives a brief abstract of
Sheppard's life, published at the time, which may amuse the reader.
"An Abridgement of the Life, Robberies, Escapes, and Death,
of John Sheppard, who was executed at Tyburn on Monday the
16th instant, 1724.
"The celebrated Jack Sheppard, whose eminence in his
profession rendered him the object of every body's curiosity,
having made his exit on Monday last at Tyburn, in a manner
suitable to his extraordinary merits, we hope a short summary
of his most remarkable performances, before and since his
repeated escapes out of Newgate, together with his behaviour
at the place of execution, will not be a disagreeable
entertainment to our readers.
"He was born in 1701, and put apprentice by the charitable
interposition of Mr. Kneebone, whom he afterwards robbed, to
one Mr. Owen Wood, a Carpenter, in Drury-lane. Before his
time was out he took to keep company with one Elizabeth Lyon,
who proved his ruin: of her he gave this character. That
'there is not a more wicked, deceitful, lascivious wretch
living in England.' The first robbery he ever committed was
of two silver spoons at the Rummer-tavern, Charing-cross.
He owned several other robberies, particularly that of Mr.
Pargiter in Hampstead, for which the two Brightwells were
tried and acquitted; in relation to which he often said
jocosely, 'Little I was that large lusty man that plucked
him from the ditch,' as Pargiter had deposed at Brightwell's
trial. He was long comrade with Blueskin, lately executed,
who, according to the account Sheppard gave of him, was 'a
worthless companion, a sorry thief, and that nothing but his
attempt on Jonathan Wild could have made him taken notice
of:' afterwards he broke out of St. Giles's round-house,
throwing a whole load of bricks, &c. on the people in the
street who stood looking at him, and made his escape. After
this he broke out of New Prison; then out of the condemned
hold in Newgate; but his last escape from Newgate having made
the greatest noise, we shall insert the following particulars.