"If it lies in your way, let that good-natured man Mr.
Duncome know that I remembered him with my latest breath."
* * * * *
"These actions, considered in all their circumstances, being
somewhat uncommon, it may not be improper to give some
account of the cause, and that it was an inveterate hatred
we conceived against poverty and rags; evils that, through
a train of unlucky accidents, were become inevitable; for
we appeal to all that ever knew us, whether we were either
idle or extravagant, whether or no we have not taken as
much pains to our living as our neighbours, although not
attended with the same success. We apprehend that the taking
our child's life away, to be a circumstance for which we
shall be generally condemned; but for our own parts, we are
perfectly easy upon that head. We are satisfied it is less
cruel to take the child with us, even supposing a state of
annihilation (as some dream of) than to leave her friendless
in the world, exposed to ignorance and misery. Now in order
to obviate some censures, which may proceed either from
ignorance or malice, we think it proper to inform the world,
that we firmly believe the existence of Almighty God; that
this belief of ours is not an implicit faith, but deduced
from the nature and reason of things. We believe the
existence of an Almighty Being, from the consideration of his
wonderful works; from a consideration of those innumerable
celestial and glorious bodies, and from their wonderful order
and harmony. We have also spent some time in viewing those
wonders which are to be seen in the minute part of the world,
and that with great pleasure and satisfaction; from all which
particulars, we are satisfied that such amazing things could
not possibly be without a first mover, without the existence
of an Almighty Being; and as we know the wonderful God to be
Almighty, so we cannot help believing but that he is also
good, not implacable; not like such wretches as men are, not
taking delight in the miseries of his creature; for which
reason we resign up our breaths unto him without any terrible
apprehensions, submitting ourselves to those ways, which in
his goodness he shall please to appoint after death. We also
believe the existence of unbodied creatures, and think we
have reason for that belief; although we do not pretend to
know their way of subsisting. We are not ignorant of those
laws made _in terrorem_, but leave the disposal of our bodies
to the wisdom of the Coroner and his Jury; the thing being
indifferent to us where our bodies are laid; from whence it
will appear how little anxious we are about a _Hic jacet_; we
for our parts neither expect nor desire such honours, but
shall content ourselves with a borrowed epitaph, which we
shall insert in this paper:
Without a name, for ever silent, dumb;
Dust, ashes, nought else is within this tomb;
Where we were born or bred it matters not,
Who were our parents, or hath us begot;
We were, but now are not; think no more of us,
For as we are, so you'll be turn'd to dust.
"It is the opinion of naturalists, that our bodies are, at
certain stages of life, composed of new matter; so that a
great many poor men have new bodies oftener than new clothes;
now, as Divines are not able to inform us which of those
several bodies shall rise at the resurrection; it is very
probable that the deceased body may be for ever silent as
well as any other.
"RICHARD SMITH,
BRIDGET SMITH."
Smith was pronounced by the Coroner's Jury, _felo de se_, and guilty of
murder with respect to the child: his wife they declared a lunatic.
At a Sermon preached at Bow-church in 1734, before eight Bishops, many
Magistrates, and a numerous auditory, by the Rev. Mr. Bedford, on the
Anniversary of the Society for the Reformation of Manners; it was
stated, that the Society had prosecuted, between December 1732 and
December 1733, 89 persons for disorderly and lewd practices; 13 for
keeping disorderly houses, and for exercising their trades on Sundays
395.
Three different sets of sharpers infested the Metropolis in the
following winter, who went from house to house with counterfeited
letters of request from the Magistrates and Rectors of Tid St. Mary's,
Lincolnshire, and Outwell and Terrington, Norfolk; representing, that
dreadful fires had almost desolated those places; when, in truth, no
such events had happened.
The Weekly Register of December 8, 1733, declares: "Those honest City
Tradesmen and others, who so lovingly carry their wives and mistresses
to the neighbouring villages in chaises to regale them on a Sunday,
are seldom sensible of the great inconveniencies and dangers they are
exposed to; for besides the common accidents of the road, there are
a set of regular rogues kept constantly in pay to incommode them in
their passage, and these are the drivers of what are called waiting
jobs, and other Hackney travelling coaches, with sets of horses, who
are commissioned by their masters to annoy, sink, and destroy all the
single and double horse chaises they can conveniently meet with, or
overtake in their way, without regard to the lives or limbs of the
persons who travel in them. What havock these industrious sons of blood
and wounds have made within twenty miles of London, in the compass
of a Summer's season, is best known by the articles of accidents in
the newspapers; the miserable shrieks of women and children not being
sufficient to deter the villains from doing what they call their duty
to their masters; for, besides their daily or weekly wages, they have
an extraordinary stated allowance for every chaise they can reverse,
ditch, or _bring by the road_, as the term or phrase is.
"I heard a fellow, who drove a hired coach and four horses, give a
long detail of a hard chace he gave last Summer to a two-horse chaise
which was going with a gentleman and three ladies to Windsor. He said
he first came in view of the chaise at Knightsbridge, and there put on
hard after it to Kensington; but that being drawn by a pair of good
cattle, and the gentleman in the seat pretty expert at driving, they
made the town before him; and there stopping at a tavern-door to take
a glass of wine, he halted also; but the chaise not yet coming on,
he affected another delay, by pretending that one of his horses had
taken up a stone, and so dismounting, as if to search, lay by till
the enemy had passed him; that then they kept a trot on together to
Turnham-green, when the people suspecting his design, again put on;
that he then whipped after them for _dear blood_, thinking to have done
their business between that place and Brentford. But here he was again
disappointed, for the two horses still kept their courage, till they
came between Longford and Colnbrook, where he plainly perceived them
begin to droop or _knock-up_, and found he had then a sure game of it.
He went on leisurely after them, till both parties came into a narrow
road, where there was no possibility of an escape, when he gave his
horses a sudden jerk, and came with such violence upon the people, that
he pulled their machine quite over. He said, the cries of the women
were so loud, that the B--s might be heard to his Majesty's garden,
Piccadilly; that, there being nobody near to assist the people, he got
clear off with two or three blind old women his passengers some miles
beyond Maidenhead, safe both from pursuit and evidence.
"I have been credibly informed, that many of the coachmen and
postillions belonging to the gentry, are seduced by the masters of
the travelling-coaches to involve themselves in the guilt of this
monstrous iniquity, and have certain fees for dismounting persons on
single horses, and overturning chaises, when it shall suit with their
convenience to do it with safety (that is, within the verge of the
law); and in case of an action or indictment, if the master or mistress
will not stand by their servant, and believe the mischief was merely
accidental, the offender is then defended by a general contribution
from all the Stage-coach masters within the Bills of Mortality.
"Those Hackney gentlemen who drive about the City and suburbs of
London, have by their overgrown insolence obliged the Government to
take notice of them, and make laws for their regulation; and as there
are Commissioners for receiving the Tax they pay to the publick, so
those Commissioners have power to hear and determine between the
drivers and their passengers upon any abuse that happens: and yet these
ordinary coachmen abate very little of their abusive conduct; but
not only impose in price upon those that hire them, but refuse to go
this or that way as they are called; whereas the Law obliges them to
go wherever they are legally required, and at reasonable hours. This
treatment, and the particular saucy impudent behaviour of the coachman,
in demanding the other _twelver_ or _tester_ above their fare, has been
the occasion of innumerable quarrels, fighting, and abuses; affronting
gentlemen, frighting and insulting women; and such rudenesses, that
no Civil Government will, or, indeed, ought to suffer; and above all,
has been the occasion of killing several coachmen, by gentlemen that
have been provoked by the villainous tongues of those fellows beyond
the extent of their patience. Their intolerable behaviour has rendered
them so contemptible and odious in the eyes of all degrees of people
whatever, that there is more joy seen for one Hackney-coachman's going
to the gallows, than for a dozen highwaymen and street-robbers.
"The driver of a Hackney-coach, having the misfortune to break a leg
and an arm by a fall from his box, was rendered incapable of following
that business any longer; and therefore posted himself at the corner
of one of the principal avenues leading to Covent-garden, with his
limbs bound up in the most advantageous manner to move the passengers
to commiseration. He told his deplorable case to all, but all passed
without pity; and the man must have inevitably perished, had it not
come into his head to shift the scene and his situation. The transition
was easy; he whipped on a leather apron, and from a Coachman became a
poor Joiner, with a wife and four children, that had broke his limbs
by a fall from the top of a house. Showers of pence poured daily into
his hat, and in a few years he became able to purchase many figures as
well as horses; and he is now master of one of the most considerable
Livery-stables in London.
"The next are the Watermen; and indeed the insolence of these, though
they are under some limitations too, is yet such at this time, that
it stands in greater need than any other of severe Laws, and those
Laws being put in speedy execution. A few months ago, one of these
very people being steersman of a passage boat between Queenhithe
and Windsor, drowned fifteen people at one time; and when many of
them begged of him to put them on shore, or take down his sails, he
impudently mocked them, asked some of the poor frighted women if they
were afraid of going to the Devil, and bid them say their prayers;
then used a vulgar water-phrase, which such fellows have in their
mouths, '_Blow, Devil, the more wind the better boat_.' A man of a
very considerable substance perishing with the rest of the unfortunate
passengers, this villain, who had saved himself by swimming, had the
surprising impudence to go the next morning to his widow, who lived
at Kingston-upon-Thames. The poor woman, surrounded by a number of
sorrowful friends, was astonished to think what could be the occasion
of the fellow's coming to her; but thinking he was come to give some
account of her husband's body being found, at last she condescended to
see him. After a scurvy scrape or two, the monster very modestly 'hoped
his good mistress would give him half a-crown to drink her health, by
way of satisfaction for a pair of oars and a sail he had lost the night
before, when her husband was drowned.'
"I have many times passed between London and Gravesend with these
fellows; when I have seen them, in spite of the shrieks and cries of
the women, and the persuasions of the men-passengers, and indeed, as
if they were the more bold by how much the passengers were the more
afraid; I have seen them run needless hazards, and go as it were within
an inch of death, when they have been under no necessity of it; and
if not in contempt of the passengers, it has been in mere laziness, to
avoid their rowing. And I have been sometimes obliged, especially when
there have been more men in the boat of the same mind, so that we have
been strong enough for them, to threaten to cut their throats, to make
them hand their sails, and keep under shore, not to fright, as well as
hazard the lives of the passengers, when there was no need of it. But
I am satisfied, that the less frighted and timorous their passengers
are, the more cautious and careful the Watermen are, and the least apt
to run into danger. Whereas, if their passengers appear frighted, then
the Watermen grow saucy and audacious, show themselves venturous, and
contemn the dangers they are really exposed to.
"_Set one knave to catch another_, is a proverbial saying of great
antiquity and repute in this kingdom. Thus the vigilant Vintner,
notwithstanding all his little arts of base brewings, abridging his
bottles, and connecting his guests together, does not always reap
the fruits of his own care and industry. Few people being aware of
the underhand understandings, and petty partnerships these sons
of Benecarlo and Cyder have topped upon them; and the many other
private inconveniences that they, in the course of their business,
are subjected to. Now, to let my readers into this great _arcanum_
or secret, I must acquaint them, that nothing is more certain and
frequent, than for some of the principal customers to a tavern to
have a secret allowance, by way of drawback, of 6_d._ or 7_d._; nay,
sometimes I have heard of 8_d._ on every bottle of port-wine that
themselves shall drink, or cause to be drank in the house, and for
which they have seemingly paid the price of 2_s._; and so are a sort of
Vintners in vizards and setters of society. Those are mostly sharping
Shopkeepers, who, by being considerable dealers, hold numbers of
other inferior tradesmen in a state of dependency upon them; officers
of parishes, old seasoned soakers, who, by having served an age to
tippling, have contracted a boundless acquaintance; house-stewards,
clerks of kitchens, song-singers, horse-racers, valets-de-chambre,
merry story-tellers, attorneys and solicitors, with legions of
wrangling clients always at their elbows. Wherefore, as they have got
the lead upon a great part of mankind, they are for ever establishing
clubs and friendly-societies at Taverns, and drawing to them every soul
they have any dealings or acquaintance with.
"The young fellows are mostly sure to be their followers and admirers,
as esteeming it a great favour to be admitted amongst their seniors
and betters, thinking to learn to know the world and themselves. One
constant topic of conversation is, the civility of the people, the
diligent attendance, together with the goodness of the wines and
cheapness of the eatables, with a side-wind reflection on another
house. And, if at any time the wine is complained of, it is answered
with 'People's palates are not at all times alike; my landlord
generally hath as good, or better, than any one in the town.' And often
the poor innocent bottle, or else the cork, falls under a false and
heavy accusation.
"In a morning there is no passing through any part of the town without
being _hemmed_ and _yelped_ after by these locusts from the windows of
Taverns, where they post themselves at the most convenient views, to
observe such passengers as they have but the least knowledge of; and if
a person be in the greatest haste, going upon extraordinary occasions,
or not caring to vitiate his palate before dinner, and so attempts an
escape, then, like a pack of hounds, they join in full cry after him,
and the landlord is detached upon his dropsical pedestals, or else a
more nimble-footed drawer is at your heels, bawling out 'Sir, Sir, it
is your old friend Mr. Swallow, who wants you upon particular business.'
"The sums which are expended daily by this method are really
surprising. I knew a clerk to a vestry, a half-pay officer, a chancery
solicitor, and a broken apothecary, that made a tolerable good
livelihood, by calling into a tavern all their friends that passed
by the window in this manner. Their custom was, to sit with a quart
of white port before them in a morning; every person they decoyed
into their company for a minute or two never threw down less than
his sixpence, and few drank more than one gill; and, if two or three
glasses, he seldom came off with less than one shilling. The master of
the house constantly provided them with a plain dinner, _gratis_. All
dinner-time they kept their room, still in full view of the street, and
so sat catching gudgeons (as they used to call it) from morning till
night; when, besides amply filling their own carcases, and discharging
the whole reckoning, they seldom divided less than seven or eight
shillings per man, _per diem_.
"Some people, unacquainted with this fellow-feeling at Taverns, often
wonder how such-a-one does to hold it; that he spends a confounded deal
of money, is seldom out of a Tavern, and never in his business: when,
in reality, he is thus never out of his business, and so helps to run
away with the chief profits of the house.
"Nor are these all the hardships many of the Vintners lie under; for,
besides, their purses must too often stand a private examination behind
the bar, when any of these sort of customers necessities shall require
it.
"It is such dealings drives the poor Devils to all the little tricks
and shifts imaginable. I went one day into a Tavern near Charing-cross,
to enquire after a person whom I knew had once used the house. The
Mistress being in the bar, cried out, 'What an unfortunate thing
it was, Mr. ---- being that instant gone out of the house, and was
surprised I did not meet him at the door, but that he had left word he
expected a gentleman to come to him, and would return immediately.' I
staid the sipping of two or three half pints, and began to shew some
uneasiness that he did not come according to her expectation, when she
again wondered at it, saying, 'it was one of his times of coming; for
that he was a worthy good gentleman, and constantly whetted four or
five times in a morning.' At length being out of all patience, I paid,
and went to my friend's house, about twenty doors farther; where his
wife informed me, he had been gone about three months before to Jamaica.
"The bankruptcies so frequently happening among the sons of Bacchus,
are doubtless to be attributed chiefly to such leeches as I have
been describing, lying so closely upon them; and then an innocent
industrious man is to be called forsworn rogue, villain, and what
not: and to be told that he affected a failure, to sink a dozen or
fourteen shillings in the pound upon his creditors, when, in reality,
he hath not a single shilling left in the world, and shall oftentimes
be obliged to become a common waiter to a more fortunate fellow, and
one perhaps too that he once had thoughts of circumventing in his
business and trade, by no other means than a more humble and tractable
behaviour.
"A Vintner, who has been looked upon by all mankind to have been a
20,000_l._ man at least, hath died not worth eighteen-pence; and then
the poor wretch has been worried to his grave, with the character of a
private gamester."
Colonel De Veil, as celebrated for his address and the number of his
commitments as Sir John Fielding afterwards was, had two legal culprits
brought before him for examination, in 1737, who were a Counsellor
and an Attorney, and as rare bucks and swindlers as ever disgraced
the annals of turpitude. These gentlemen were charged with defrauding
Mrs. Eddowes, keeper of a Bagnio in St. James's-street, and two other
persons, of 12_l._, by proceeding to the Bagnio in the characters of
country gentlemen just arrived; the Attorney styling himself Sir John
Peering, and the Counsellor plain _Tom_. After remaining a short time
with Mrs. E. they sent a porter for _ladies_, and one kind soul even
left her bed to visit them; they then proposed to hire a coach and
four, in order to make an excursion for pleasure, and promised the
woman a velvet cap and riding habit if she would make one of the party;
this she consented to do, provided they would permit her to go home
to dress; but Sir John and Tom, entertaining doubts whether she would
return, demanded, and received, _and kept_ two guineas as a pledge.
The coach was hired and used, and two days and two nights were passed
at the Bagnio; but when the _charges_ were to be _discharged_, the
Knight and Tom had nothing to produce but a valuable box carefully
corded, containing the writings of Sir John's vast estates and several
bank notes. This they offered to leave as _security_ till _their
return_; but Mrs. E. suspecting a fraud, had them immediately conveyed
to the Magistrate, in whose presence the following _writings_ were
taken from the box: a parcel of rags and some hay, an empty bottle, an
earthen pipkin, an earthen candlestick, and a japanned tin box. They
were bound over for trial.
While the unthinking part of the community fled from place to place,
rather in search of amusement than the means of preserving their
health, the Police of the City appointed Beadles and Watchmen as
follows, under the then recent Act, for better regulating the night
watch of London:
£. _s._
In Aldersgate ward, one beadle at 30_l.
per annum_, 25 watchmen at 13_l. per
annum_. To be raised, for defraying
the charges 415 0
In Aldgate ward, one beadle at 40_l._ 31
watchmen 13_l._ each, charge 501 0
In Bassishaw ward, one beadle at 40_l._
6 watchmen at 13_l._ 131 0
In Billingsgate ward, two beadles at 70_l._
20 watchmen at 13_l._ 381 0
In Bishopsgate ward, two beadles at 100_l._
49 watchmen at 13_l._ 794 0
In Bread-street ward, one beadle at 50_l._
12 watchmen at 13_l._ 220 0
In Bridge ward, one beadle at 30_l._ 22
watchmen at 13_l._ 360 0
In Broad-street ward, one beadle at 50_l._
38 watchmen at 13_l._ 634 0
In Candlewick ward, one beadle at 25_l._
16 watchmen at 13_l._ 293 8
Castle-Baynard ward, one beadle at 50_l._
24 watchmen at 13_l._ 442 0
Cheap ward, one beadle at 50_l._ 26
watchmen at 13_l._ 430 0
Coleman-street ward, one beadle at 40_l._
24 watchmen at 13_l._ 407 0
Cordwainer's ward, one beadle at 45_l._
16 watchmen at 13_l._ 318 14
Cornhill ward, one beadle at 50_l._ 18
watchmen at 13_l._ 305 0
Cripplegate Within, one beadle at 50_l._
26 watchmen at 13_l._ 430 0
---- Without, one beadle at 32_l._
28 watchmen at 13_l._ 550 0
Dowgate ward, one beadle at 50_l._ 16
watchmen at 13_l._ 300 0
Farringdon Within, two beadles at 85_l._
49 watchmen at 13_l._ 764 10
---- Without, four beadles at
100_l._ 89 watchmen at 13_l._ 1550 0
Langbourn ward, one beadle at 40_l._ 23
watchmen at 13_l._ 450 0
Lime-street ward, one beadle at 50_l._ 10
watchmen at 13_l._ 200 0
Portsoken ward, one beadle at 50_l._ 28
watchmen at 13_l._ 474 5
Queenhithe ward, one beadle at 30_l._
10 watchmen at 13_l._ 202 0
Tower ward, one beadle at 40_l._ 32
watchmen at 13_l._ 571 0
Vintry ward, one beadle at 40_l._ 16
watchmen at 13_l._ 312 0
Wallbrook ward, one beadle at 50_l._ 18
watchmen at 13_l._ 349 0
By this arrangement, the guardianship of the City was intrusted to 32
beadles and 913 watchmen.
The wretches, kept in some degree of awe by the above members of the
Police, when nothing occurred to set their passions afloat, or to
assemble them from all parts of the town to one point, committed horrid
excesses at Tyburn this year, by the brutal practice of throwing stones
and dirt; besides which they had one ludicrous contrivance that will
force a smile, though disgust and abhorrence must succeed, when it
is recollected it was performed at the hour of execution. The mob dug
two large holes in the fields, and filled them with soil: those they
carefully covered with turf; the populace of course walked into the
filth, from which they were ushered amidst loud huzza's and laughter,
while every effort was made to entice or force others into them.
The extreme misery of the lowest description of Londoners received
some amelioration, about 1750, through the commendable inquiries
and remedies made and applied by the Legislature, relating to their
monstrous excesses in drinking ardent spirits. The evidence given
before a Committee is too interesting to be omitted; yet it is a
disgusting and melancholy picture of London, as it was at that date.
An eminent Physician to one of our Hospitals gave the following
information: "That the increase of patients in all the hospitals from
1704 to 1718, being 14 years, the total increase was from 5612 to 8189,
which was somewhat above one-fourth; that from 1718 to 1734, being 16
years, the total increase was from 8189 to 12,710, or perhaps 13,000,
which was above one-third; but that from 1734 to 1749, being 15 years,
the total increase was from 12,710 to 38,147, which was near three
times the number." Being asked his opinion, whence he apprehended
so great an increase could arise, he answered from the melancholy
consequences of Gin-drinking principally; which opinion he enforced
with such strong reasons (in which he was supported by another eminent
Physician to one of the Hospitals) as gave full conviction to the house.
It appeared by the evidence of John Wyburn, of Whitechapel, and John
Rogers, of Trinity-lane, both of whom had followed the trade of bakers
for 30 years: "that the consumption of bread amongst the poor was
greatly diminished since the excessive drinking of Gin, which would
proportionably increase again as that vice abated; that the poor laid
out their earnings in gin, which ought to purchase them bread for
themselves and families; and that, in many of the out-parts, the bakers
were obliged to cut their loaves into halfpenny-worths, a practice
unknown to the trade till gin was so universally drank by the poor."
It appeared "that one house in seven, from the Hermitage to Bell-wharf,
was a gin-shop: it appeared there were about 16,000 houses in the City
of London, and that there were about 1050 licences granted yearly to
victuallers, which was about one house to fifteen."
"It appeared by the evidence of the High Constable of Westminster, that
there were in that City about 17,000 houses, of which 1300 licenced,
and 900 unlicenced that sold liquors, which was about one house in
eight.
"It appeared by the evidence of the High Constable of Holborn, that
there were in his division 7066 houses, of which 1350 licenced and
unlicenced, being about one house in five and a quarter. That in St.
Giles's there were about 2000 houses and 506 gin-shops, being above one
house in four; besides about 82 twopenny-houses of the greatest infamy,
where gin was the principal liquor drank."
Hateful as the subject is, its ramifications spread, though rather
softened, into higher scenes of life. Cordials, _alias_ drams, were not
_quite_ unknown to the ladies; it was almost noon--
----ere Celia rose,
But up she rear'd, and rang her bell,
When in came dainty Mistress Nell;
"Oh dear, my lady, e'ent you well?"
"Well! yes--why what's o'clock?--Oh Heaven"--
"A little bit a-past eleven."
"No more! why then I'll lay me down--
No, I'll get up--Child, bring my gown;
My eyes so ache I scarce can see;
Nelly, _a little Ratifia_[170:A]."
A vile impostor was detected in January 1757, and committed to
Bridewell by John Fielding, Esq. This wretch had a practice of
lying upon his back in some court or narrow passage, and feigning
insensibility; at other times he would appear in the habit of a
countryman just arrived in London, where he knew no person, and would
declare that, being destitute of money, he had not eaten for four
days: another trick represented him as an old worn-out and pennyless
Soldier, just arrived from Jamaica; but the repetition of the first
performance proved fatal to his _finesse_. A physician found him in the
fainting scene, conveyed him to a comfortable bed, and gave him money;
but meeting Master Anthony Needham a second time, to all appearance
breathing his last, he adopted a new prescription, which procured the
healthful exercises of Bridewell. Cash and provisions were found in
his pockets when he arrived at the Police-office, though he had just
declared he had fasted four days.
When an author is to be found who disinterestedly examines into any
particular abuse, another writing on the same subject cannot surely
do amiss in quoting such facts from his publication as may suit his
purpose. A person who assumed the signature of Philanthropos exposed
the villainy of Register-offices, as they were in 1757, in the
following forcible manner: "I come now to the article of places under
the Government, &c. to be sold, which we see frequently advertised from
Register-offices in these or such like terms, and which you generally
find in their hand-bills: 'A place to be disposed of for 100 guineas,
which brings in 100_l. per annum_. A public office to be sold, where
nothing less than gold is taken for any business transacted, &c.'
"I have the happiness to assure the publick, that most of the
advertisements that have appeared within these twelve months past have
been carefully perused, and an impartial enquiry made after several of
the places to be disposed of (which are not confined to private life,
but comprehend Church and State), by a public-spirited gentleman, who
has been at the expence of applying to the offices from whence they
were advertised, and was so kind as to furnish me with the remarks
I offer to the publick, on the exposing to sale public offices and
employments. The result of an enquiry after the place which brought
in 100_l. per annum_, and might be purchased for 100 guineas, was,
that the proprietor of the office took one shilling for answering to
the question, 'What is the place?' notwithstanding it was so publicly
advertised; and then told the gentleman, that it was a place in the
Custom-house, and that he must apply for particulars to Mr. ----, at a
certain Coffee-house. This the gentleman patiently submitted to; but
when he came there, on enquiring for the person he was directed to, he
was told at the bar, that he was just gone, and the place sold; and,
notwithstanding the most diligent enquiry, the gentleman could never
find out either who bought, or who sold the place. On his return to
the Register-office, he naturally demanded his shilling again; but was
told it was only the customary fee of the Office, that it was a pity
he had not applied earlier (it was then only three o'clock on the very
day the advertisement appeared in the paper); and if the place had not
been gone, perhaps it would not have suited the gentleman's talents, as
accompts were requisite; and if that had been the case, it was no fault
of the Office; thus intimating, let what would be the success attending
the enquiry, the Office-keeper was intitled to one shilling. It is
highly probable that eight or ten more might have paid for the same
enquiry."
Sir John Fielding received an _involuntary_ present, in November
1757, from a number of Publicans, consisting of Billiard-tables,
Mississippi-tables, Shuffle-boards, and Skittles, which the worthy
Magistrate caused to be piled in a pyramidal form, near thirty-feet
high, at the end of Bow-street near the Police-office, where they were
consumed. A good hint for the Magistrates at present, as the word
Billiards is really very conspicuous in various parts of the Metropolis
every night, and, indeed, may be found not an hundred doors from the
facetious Knight's old office.
One of the most wicked impositions practised by knaves in London, is
the adulteration of Bread. The wretch who improves his circumstances
by this detestable method of increasing his profits, is an assassin,
full as wicked as the celebrated Italian Tophana: that human fiend
poisoned her victims by degrees, suited to the malice of her employers;
the Baker who throws slow poisons into his trough does worse, for he
undermines the constitutions of his supporters, his customers. He that
eats bread without butter or meat, throughout London, at the present
moment, and afterwards visits a friend in the country who makes his
own, cannot fail of perceiving the delicious sweetness which the
mercy of our Creator hath diffused through the invaluable grain that
produces it; the inducement held out to us, to preserve life by the
most innocent means, is thus in a great measure lost to the inhabitants
of London. I once broke a piece of alum with my teeth, which lay in
the depth of a slice of bread, when at breakfast, as large as a pea;
and was only deterred from prosecuting the baker by the dread of that
obloquy which attends the least interested informers. At another time I
lodged a week at a baker's house in a country-town, and during a lazy
fit, strolled into the bake-house where bread was mixing; in an instant
my landlord's countenance changed, and I was rudely desired to leave
the place, as he would allow no one to pry into his business. This
conduct from a man who had before behaved with the utmost civility,
convinced me all was not right, and that other materials were within
view than simple flour, yeast, and a little inoffensive salt. Let me
not, however, be understood to apply this censure indiscriminately;
it is aimed only at the guilty; the honest baker will adopt my
sentiments, which are merely an echo of a little work published in
1757, intituled, "Poison detected: or, Frightful Truths, and alarming
to the British Metropolis," &c. The Author asserts that, "Good bread
ought to be composed of flour well kneaded with the slightest water,
seasoned with a little salt, fermented with fine yeast or leaven, and
sufficiently baked with a proper fire; but, to increase its weight,
and deceive the buyer by its fraudulent fineness, lime, chalk, alum,
&c. are constituent parts of that most common food in London. Alum
is a very powerful astringent and styptic, occasioning heat and
costiveness; the frequent use of it closes up the mouths of the small
alimentary ducts, and by its corrosive concretions, seals up the
lacteals, indurates every mass it is mixed with upon the stomach, makes
it hard of digestion, and consolidates the fæces in the intestines.
Experience convinces me (the Author was a physician) that any animal
will live longer in health and vigour upon two ounces of good and
wholesome bread, than upon one pound of this adulterated compound; a
consideration which may be useful, if attended to in the times of
scarcity."
After explaining many deleterious effects produced by alum, the Author
proceeds, "But it is not alum alone that suffices the lucrative
iniquity of bakers: there is also added a considerable portion of lime
and chalk; so that if alum be prejudicial alone, what must be the
consequences of eating our bread mingled with alum, chalk, and lime?
Obstructions, the causes of most diseases, are naturally formed by
bread thus abused. I have seen a quantity of lime and chalk, in the
proportion of one to six, extracted from this kind of bread; possibly
the baker was not so expert at his craft as to conceal it, the larger
granules were visible enough: perhaps a more minute analysis would have
produced a much greater portion of these pernicious materials."
An _Author_ cannot be suspected of wishing to restrain the inoffensive
liberty of the press; but he may, without fear or resentment, venture
to reprobate the turpitude which it too often promotes. There have
been, and still are, persons who will take a few facts, and compound
them with many falsehoods, and, thus prepared, present them to some
hungry printer or editor, to answer their own base purposes; the
unsuspecting read them with avidity, and public bodies and individuals
suffer without remedy; an instance of this description produced the
following address to the community from John Fielding, Esq. in
November 1759.
"About twelve months ago a very salutary law took place, to the
great benefit of a large and useful body of men, commonly called
Coal-heavers. By this law they were not only relieved from the
impositions they then complained of, and the profits of their severe
labour secured to themselves; but a provision was made for the
infirm, sick, and disabled coal-heavers, and their dead buried, by
their paying two shillings in the pound out of their earnings into an
office established by the said law, and under the inspection of so
worthy and so able a magistrate in the City, that it is impossible
for any coal-heaver to be deprived of any advantage, privilege, or
support, that the nature of this institution entitles them to. On
Sunday the 28th of last month, one Patrick Crevey, a coal-heaver,
chairman, and an Irishman, was buried according to the usual custom of
burying coal-heavers, and was carried from Gravel-lane to St. Pancras
church-yard; his corpse being preceded, as is customary, by the beadle
of the coal-heavers' office, with a long staff in his hand, the common
ensign of his office; the pall was supported by six chairmen, and
eight others followed the corpse as mourners in black cloaks; for
whenever a chairman is buried, he is constantly attended by as many of
his brethren as can be got together: these mourners were followed by
a considerable number of coal-heavers, who walked two and two. This
procession gave rise to that extraordinary paragraph in the London
Chronicle, on the 30th day of October last, wherein it is confidently
asserted, that a Roman-catholic was carried through the streets of
London to be buried at St. Pancras, and that the Host was carried,
and Priests walked publicly before the corpse; and that the numerous
attendants that followed, insulted and knocked down all who did not
pay due obedience to their foreign foppery, and beat many persons whom
common curiosity excited to ask any questions relative to the said
procession. Should any part of this alarming account be true, the
offenders cannot be punished with too much severity; but should it be a
misrepresentation of facts, the publick would be equally pleased to be
undeceived, and he who indiscreetly or wickedly propagated the report
without foundation will be the only offender.
"In order therefore to get at the real truth of this matter, a few days
ago, the informations on oath of the beadle of the said coal-heavers
office, of the pall-bearers, mourners, undertaker, his servant, the
landlord of the house from whence the corpse was carried, and some
other inhabitants who followed the corpse (several of whom were
Protestants), were taken before John Fielding, Esq.; and they all
positively declared that at, or from the house, whence the man was
carried to the grave in Pancras church-yard, no Host, representation
of Host, crucifix, or other visible and external mark of the deceased
Patrick Crevey being a Roman-catholick, was carried either before or
after the said corpse; and that no Catholic Priest of any sort, to
their knowledge, attended the said burial; but that the said Crevey
(though a Roman-catholic) was buried by a Clergyman of the Church of
England, and strictly conformable to the ceremonies of the said Church.
And the aforesaid beadle, pall-bearers, mourners, and undertaker,
further declare, that they themselves during their passage from the
house to the grave, neither met with, nor were witnesses to any
obstruction whatever; but that they afterwards heard that some of the
coal-heavers who were at farther distance from the corpse behind had
some dispute, which occasioned blows, with some persons who imitated
the Irish howl, and called out _Paddy_, by way of derision to the
deceased and his attendants, &c. &c.
"JOHN FIELDING."