_For the Table Book._
Died, on Tuesday afternoon, June 12th, 1827, David Love; of whom there
is a portrait, with a memoir, in the _Every-Day Book_, vol. ii. p. 225,
with a further notice at p. 1575. He had nearly attained his
seventy-seventh year; and, till within a few weeks of his death, pursued
his avocation of “walking stationer” in Nottingham. It was unnecessary
for him to take out an hawker’s license, as the commodities in which he
dealt were entirely of his own manufacture.
According to the memoirs of David Love’s life, (a curious specimen of
“autobiography,”) which he published in twenty-four penny numbers, in
1824, and which he sold very numerously, he was born near Edinburgh in
the year 1750; at three years of age he was abandoned by his father, and
his mother shortly afterwards became blind; he led her about, and was an
“unlucky urchin;” when older grown he worked in a coal-pit, but broke
his arm, and was discharged, and commenced hawking tracts and small
books. At twenty-five he was worth upwards of three pounds. Then,
thinking of settling in the world, he wooed, won, and married a young
woman: a small shop was established, which succeeded at first; but
finding his fortune wasting, he paid his first court to the Muses, by
composing two songs, of which the titles only are now extant:--“The
Pride and Vanity of Young Women, with Advice to Young Men, that they may
take care who they marry;” and “The Pride and Vanity of Young men, with
Advice to the Maids, to beware of being ensnared by their Flatteries and
enticing Words.” These versifyings he printed, and first started at a
distant fair. Their sale exceeded his expectations; he discontinued his
shop, paid his debts, and soon after (during the American war) enlisted
into the duke of Buccleugh’s regiment of South Fencibles. His wife
quickly presented him with a son, which being “the first man child born
in the regiment,” the duke accepted as his name-son. After experiencing
the vicissitudes of a soldier’s life, and getting out of the “black
hole” two or three times by his verses, he was discharged, in
consequence of a weakness in his arm. He then had his soldier’s poems
printed, resumed his old trade of walking stationer, turned his face to
the south, and was the more successful the farther he went from home.
After travelling for some years he settled at Gosport, commenced
bookseller with his old stock of old books, and printed a fourpenny
volume of original poems. He then lived for three years in London, and
composed many poems. Bristol was his next place of residence, and there
he performed several remarkable cures out of an old receipt-book, but
was too conscientious to turn quack doctor. Here, he saw his father, who
died shortly after, “a repenting sinner,” aged ninety-three. Still
travelling, he reached Newbury, in Berkshire, where he tells us he was
“converted,” and he dates his “new birth” on the 17th of April, 1796.
Many pages of his work are occupied by his religious experience, and
various texts of scripture, whence he derived consolation.
In 1804 David Love buried his wife, (aged fifty-one,) after a long
illness, at Rugby, in Warwickshire. He journeyed to Leicester, and
thence to Nottingham, where he from that time continued to reside,
except at intervals, and where he married again. In eighteen months his
second wife died suddenly, also at Rugby. The following is the
commencement of a long elegy on the subject:--
“In this vain world my troubles still abound,
My two wives lie in Rugby burial ground;
Both of one name, and both of them one age,
And in one house both were called off the stage.”
These lines refer to a singular coincidence respecting his wives; both
their maiden names were Mary Thompson, and both were aged fifty-one at
their death. In 1810, May 21, he married his third and surviving wife at
St. Mary’s church, Nottingham; and, excepting a journey to Edinburgh,
and another to London, they lived in various parts of the town till his
decease. David’s forte lay principally in religious acrostics and hymns,
for which he had a good demand among the pious inhabitants. The
following is inserted as being a _short_ one:--