My antiquarian tendencies bring me acquainted with many neglected and
obscure individuals connected with our earlier English literature, who,
after "fretting their hour" upon life's stage, have passed away; leaving
their names entombed upon the title-page of some unappreciated or
crotchetty book, only to be found upon the shelves of the curious.
To look for these in Kippis, Chalmers, Gorton, or Rose would be a waste of
time; and although agreeing to some extent with the _Utilitarians_, that we
have all that was worth preserving of the _Antediluvians_, there is, I
think, here and there a name worth resuscitating, possessing claims to a
_niche_ in our "Antiquary's Newspaper;" and for that distinction, I would
now put in a plea on behalf of my present subject, William Blake.
Although our author belongs to the _eccentric category_, he is a character
not only deserving of notice, but a model for imitation: the "_bee_ in his
bonnet" having set his sympathies in the healthy direction of a large
_philanthropy_ for the spiritual and temporal interests of his fellow men.
The congenial reader has already, I doubt not, anticipated that I am about
to introduce that nondescript book bearing the running title--and it never
had any other--of _Silver Drops, or Serious Things;_ purporting, in a kind
of colophon, to be "written by William Blake, housekeeper to the Ladies'
Charity School."[1] The curious in old books knows too, that, apart from
its subject, the _Silver Drops_ of W. B. has usually an attractive
exterior; most of the _exemplaires_ which have come under my notice being
sumptuously bound in old morocco, profusely tooled; with the name of the
party to whom it had apparently been presented, stamped in a compartment
upon the cover. Its value is farther enhanced by its pictorial and
emblematical accompaniments. These are four in number: the first
representing a heart, whereon {70} a fanciful picture of Charity supported
by angels; second, a view of Highgate Charity Schools (Dorchester House);
third, Time with his scythe and hour-glass[2]; and the fourth, in three
compartments, the centre containing butterflies; the smaller at top and
bottom, sententious allusions to the value of time--"Time drops pearles
from his golden wings," &c. These are respectable engravings, but by whom
executed I know not. After these, and before coming to the _Silver Drops_,
which are perhaps something akin to Master Brooks' _Apples of Gold_, the
book begins abruptly: "The Ladies' Charity School-house Roll of Highgate,
or a subscription of many noble well-disposed ladies for the easie carrying
of it on." "Being well informed," runs the Prospectus, "that there is a
pious, good, commendable work for maintaining near forty poor or fatherless
children, born all at or near Highgate, Hornsey, or Hamsted: we, whose
names are subscribed, do engage or promise, that if the said boys are
decently cloathed in blew, lined with yellow; constantly fed all alike with
good and wholsom diet; taught to read, write, and cast accompts, and so put
out to trades, in order to live another day; then we will give for one
year, two or three (if we well like the design, and prudent management of
it,) once a year, the sum below mentioned," &c. The projector of this good
work was the subject of my present note; and after thus introducing it, the
worthy "woollen-draper, at the sign of the Golden Boy, Maiden Lane, Covent
Garden," for such he was, goes on to recommend and enforce its importance
in a variety of cajolling addresses, or, as he calls them, "charity-school
sticks," to the great and wealthy; ostensibly the production of the boys,
but in reality the concoctions of Mr. Blake, and in which he pleads
earnestly for his _hobby_. In _An Essay, or Humble Guess, how the Noble
Ladies may be inclined to give to and encourage their Charity-school at
Highgate_, Mr. Blake farther humorously shows up the various dispositions
of his fair friends:--"And first," says he, "my lady such-a-one cryed,
Come, we will make one purse out of our family;" and "my lady such-an-one
said she would give for the fancy of the Roll and charity stick. My lady
such-an-one cryed by her troth she would give nothing at all, for she had
waies enough for her money; while another would give five or six stone of
beef every week." Again, in trying to come at the great citizen-ladies, he
magnifies, in the following characteristic style, the city of London; and,
by implication, their noble husbands and themselves:--"There is," says Mr.
Blake, "the Tower and the Monument; the old Change, Guild-Hall, and
Blackwall-Hall, _which some would fain burn again_; there is Bow steeple,
the _Holy Bible_, _the Silver Bells of Aaron_, _the godly-outed ministers_;
the melodious musick of the Gospels; Smithfield martyrs yet alive; and the
best society, the very best in all the world for civility, loyalty, men,
and manners; with the greatest cash, bulk, mass, and stock of all sorts of
silks, cinnamon, spices, wine, gold, pearls, Spanish wooll and cloaths;
with the river _Nilus_, and the stately ships of _Tarshish_ to carry in and
out the great merchandizes of the world." In this the city dames are
attacked collectively. Individually, he would wheedle them thus into his
charitable plans:--"Now pray, dear madam, speak or write to my lady out of
hand, and tell her how it is with us; and if she will subscribe a good
_gob_, and get the young ladies to do so too; and then put in altogether
with your lordship's and Sir James's also: for it is necessary he or you in
his stead should do something, _now the great ship is come safe in, and by
giving some of the first-fruits of your great bay, or new plantation, to
our school, the rest will be blessed the better_." The scheme seems to have
offered attractions to the Highgate gentry:--"The great ladies do allow
their house-keeper," he continues, "one bottle of wine, three of ale, half
a dozen of rolls, and two dishes of meat a-day; who is to see the
wilderness, orchard, great prospects, walks, and gardens, all well kept and
rolled for their honours' families; and to give them small treats according
to discretion when they please to take the air, which is undoubtedly the
best round London." Notwithstanding the eloquent pleadings of Mr. Blake for
their assistance and support, it is to be feared that the _noble ladies_
allowed the predictions of his friends to be verified, and _did_ "suffer
such an inferiour meane and little person (to use his own phraseology) to
sink under the burden of so good and great a work:" for we find that Gough,
in allusion thereto, says (_Topographical Anecdotes_, vol. i. p. 644.):--
"This Hospital at Highgate, called the Ladies' Charity School, was
erected by one W. Blake, a woollen-draper in Covent Garden; who having
purchased Dorchester House, and having fooled away his estate in
building, was thrown into prison."
Even here, and under such circumstances, our subject was nothing daunted;
for the same authority informs us, that, still full of his philanthropic
projects, he took the opportunity his leisure there admitted to write
another work upon his favourite topic of educating and caring for the {71}
poor; its title is, _The State and Case of a Design for the better
Education of Thousands of Parish Children successively in the vast Northern
Suburbs of London vindicated, &c._ Besides the above, there is another
remarkable little piece which I have seen, beginning abruptly, "Here
followeth a briefe exhortation which I gave in my owne house at my wife's
funerall to our friends then present," by Blake, with the MS. date, 1650;
and exhibits this original character in another not less amiable light:--"I
was brought up," says he, "by my parents to learne _Hail Mary_,
paternoster, the Beliefe, and learne to reade; and where I served my
apprenticeship little more was to be found." He attributes it to God's
grace that he fell a reading the _Practice of Piety_, by which means he got
a little persuading of God's love to his soul:--"Well, my time being out, I
set up for myselfe; and seeking out for a wife, which, with long waiting
and difficulty, much expence and charge, at last I got. Four children God
gave me by her; but he hath taken them and her all again too, who was a
woman of a thousand." Mr. B. then naturally indulges in a panegyric upon
this pattern of wives, and reproaches himself for his former insensibility
to her surpassing merits: relating with great _naivete_ some domestic
passages, with examples of her piety and trials, in one of which latter the
_enemy_ would tempt her to suicide:--"There lie your garters," said he;
"but she threw them aside, and so escaped this will of the Devil."
In conclusion, let me inquire if your Highgate correspondents are cognisant
of any existing institution raised upon the foundation of William Blake's
Charity School at Dorchester House?