{574}
_Marquis of Granby_ (Vol. ix., pp. 127. 360.).--In a critique which
appeared in the _Quarterly Review_ for January or April, 1838, on Dickens's
earlier works, it is stated that Sumpter, a discharged soldier of the royal
regiment of Horse Guards, opened a public-house at Hounslow, having as its
sign "The Marquis of Granby," which was the first occasion of the marquis's
name appearing on the sign-board of a public-house. This note appeared in
reference to the public-house kept at Dorking by Mrs. Weller, the "second
wentur" of Tony Weller, father of the immortal Samivel, of that ilk.
John, Marquis of Granby, was colonel of the royal regiment of Horse Guards
from May 13, 1758, to his decease, which occurred Oct. 19, 1770, and was
justly considered the soldier's friend. (See Captain Packer's _History of
the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards_, p. 95.) Mr. Dickens, in his
description of the sign-board at Dorking, has arrayed the marquis in the
uniform, not of the regiment, but of a general officer: he states,--
"On the opposite side of the road was a sign-board representing the
head and shoulders of a gentleman with an apoplectic countenance, in a
red coat, with deep blue facings, and a touch of the same over his
three-cornered hat for a sky. Over that, again, were a pair of flags,
and beneath the last button of his coat were a couple of cannon; and
the whole formed an expressive and undoubted likeness of the Marquis of
Granby of glorious memory."
Witty, I admit, but that "touch of the same" (blue _facings_?) for a sky is
ambiguous. _Brevis esse laboro, obscurus fio._
The uniform of the royal regiment of Horse Guards, from 1758 to 1770,
consisted of a dark blue coatee, with red facings, red breeches, jacked
boots, and three-cornered hats bound with gold lace.