Betwixt them there
happened
a terrible clutter.
Caulfield - Portraits, Memoirs, of Characters and Memorable Persons
77 .
82
. 86
.
.
XU CONTENTS.
Evans, Henry, an aged Welshman . Fletcher, Andrew, a turbulent Republican - Defoe, Daniel, a Political Writer and Novelist Granny, a drunken half-blind Woman Hardman, John, a singular Corn-cutter
.
Page . 91
. 94 . 99 . 1 03 . 106
. 109 . 112 . 116 . 118 . 120
. 129 . 132 . 134 . 1 37
, 141 . 147 . 149 . 153 . 163
Harry, an Old Raree-show-man
Hart, Nicholas, a Great Sleeper
Isaac, the Oxford Grinner
Keiling, John, an extraordinary Street Musician King Edward, Abel Roper's Man . Poro, James, an extraordinary Twin
.
.
. Yorkshire Nan, Prince George's Cap Woman
.
. .
Read, Sir William, a Quack Oculist
Roper, Abel, a Political Bookseller
Sacheverel, Henry, a Seditious Preacher
Scrimshaw, Jane, an aged Pauper
"futchin, John, a Seditious Writer
Valerius, John, born without arms
White, Jeremiah, humorous chaplain to Oliver Cromwell
.
.
.
.
. .
. .
.
.
.
.
.
.
. .
. .
.
MEMOIRS
REMARKABLE
WiilUum
It [WILLIAM III. very often happens that we are indebted to the
casual circumstance of a person living to a great age,
PERSONS.
mtfvUfQt,
personal
perpetuity of their likenesses being handed down to
deformity, size, or other chances, for the
posterity.
in whose character there appears noithing more parti cular than of his living to the very advanced age of 1 14- years. He was by profession a wheelwright, and
resided at Acton, in Middlesex, and was buried there November 21st, 1698.
The portrait from which this print was engraved, was painted two years before his death, and was in the possession of his great grandson, Mr. Thomas
VOL. I. B
Such was the case with 5filham Aldridge,
2 MEMOIRS OF [william hi.
Aldridge, vestry-clerk of Acton parish, where the family have been established upwards of a century. The portrait has the appearance of a hale man of
sixty, rather than that of 112, which was his age at the period it was painted. He was buried under a
tomb in the cemetery, the inscription upon gives his age one year older.
which
WILI. ? ^
'Gout Doctor. )
A. T'KI]? ^S,
WILLIAM III. ] REMArRKABLE PERSONS.
^Killtam nt^im, THE GOUT DOCTOR.
Of all thej diseases incident to the, human frame the Gout, (to those who are afflicted ; with itj) is the most vexatious, painful, and tormenting in the cata logue of evils attendiant on man; and no complaint has created more quacks, fo tamper with, and poison the constitutiiQja with- sovereign remedies, than this.
Among the, first-rate of . tjies^ eiliimrics . naay rank William Atki|! ,s,. "whose renovating elixir restored pristine youth, and vigour to the patient, however old or decayed,^' and -whose vivifying drops inf^i/Uibly cured imbecility in men, and barrenness, in 'women ; he resided in the Qld Bailey, and was, (in his own conceit) the Solomon ofthe day ; his bills exceeded all others, in extravagant assertions and impudence ;
to, declare he had raised a woman from a fit of the dead palsy, and . rendered her
capable of walking immediately.
This wonderful great man was short in stature, fat,
and waddled as he walked ; he always wore a white B2
he even had the audacity
4 ll^EMdllft* OF
[VfrtLLiA'»i ill.
three-tailed wig, nicely combed and frizzed upon each cheek. He generally carried a cane, but a hat never. He was represented oh the top of his own bills sitting in an arm-chair, holding a bottle between his finger and thumb, surrounded with rotten teeth, nippers, pills, packets, and gally-pots.
Atkins boasted of his humility in using a hackney- coach instead of keeping one of his own; but what would he have said, dr thought, had he lived in the
pf^sent rimes, to see that carriages and eqliipaige ar6 as 'e'sseiritial in the tfade of a quack-doctb'r as the distribution of their hand-bills in every street ihrdughout the metropolis ; ri^y, most of these gentry that are successful, have their country-seats and parks; and, in 'tWir tables and company, vie with the first nobility, and people of rank and fashion ; Gilead House, the Seat of Dr. Soloinon, near Liver pool, has beefn dediiied important ehoilgh tb fa's
'ehgra\red Eriglahd.
ahd published, to adoi'h the Beauties bif
Somie of Atkihs's medicines %ere coihpbSed thirty different ingrediehts! what hope retliaitied fbr an individual assailed by so many enettiies united?
A fei^ years since flourished, near Leicester-sqUare, a
German quack, Dr. Delalina, who prtjtended
of
to
WILLIAM III. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 5
eradicate the gout from any person, however aged or infirm, in six visits. —The well-known French remedy has been found, by sad experience, not only to eradi cate the gout, but likewise the lives of most persons who have been desperate enough to venture on that fatal remedy.
MEMOIRS OF [WILLIAM iii.
This whimsical enthusiast, who affected manners and habits peculiarly his own, was born and resided at a place called Bayworth, in the parish of Sunning- well,' near Abingdon. — In his younger days he was
considered a person of learning and curious research, and was author of a journal of his own travels through a great part of England^ in the years 1677 and 1678, still existing in manuscript. — He was well known to the Oxford Students, who, from his dry, droll, and formal appearance, gave him tbe nickname of the King of Jerusalem, he being of a religious turn, and constantly speaking of that heavenly city ; a pretention to inherit which, he founded on what he Styled his regeneration or second birth, in the year 1666, as may be gathered from his own poetic lines, inserted under his portrait :—
As shadows fly , so houres dye.
And ddyes do span the age ofman ; In Month o/ August twenty'nine, Ifirst began my Mourning time,
Thousand six hundred and ninety-nine.
'
. \
THOMAS
BASKERVILLE
WILLIAM III. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 7
Yet I drudge on as said before,
Ther's Time, when Time shall be no more,
A second BiaiH /
January Eleventh day.
In that circle Fifty-two Weeks,
. Thousand Six hundred Sixty-six
had
say,
A ray ofLight I
Enter my heart with heat and joy, Saying these words unto me then
King of Jerusalem.
The number of Sectaries that sprung up at the period Baskerville lived, without question bewildered a brain naturally not very strong ; Fox the Quaker, Naylor the blasphemer, Venner the Fifth Monarchy- man, Muggleton, and a whole tribe of Schismatic pre tenders to new-born lights, had each their several followers ; to one party or other it may naturally be imagined Baskerville inclined ; or he might probably feel inspired ; similar with Swendenbourg of latter days, to convey disciples to the new Jerusalem, by a path unknown to any other than himself.
His portrait, which exhibits a meagre, long, and mortified countenance, was engraved when he was in his 70th year. Over his monogram BM is inscribed two lines, doubtless of his own editing :—
Once I was alive, and had flesh to thrive, But now I am a skellitan. at 70.
I
saw that day,
8 MEMOIRS OF [WILLIAM III.
He affected most of the singularities which natu rally adhere to reclusive and habitual retirement, and lived to a very advanced age, dying aboi^t the year 1705.
Many of his MSS. went with the Harleian collec tion to the Brirish Museum.
WILLIAM in] REMARKABLE PERSONS.
THE DINTON HERMIT.
Many men from necessity, not choice, have as sumed singular habits, and manners, which have, from time immemorial, amused and instructed mankind: such a being was John Bigg. — Disappointed (no doubt) in his prospects through life, he became sulky^ and adopted a way of life he thought peculiarly his own ; in that, however,- he was mistaken ; as others, previous to his time, had taken the same course ; wit ness the hermits of La Trappe, Roger Crabb, of Uxbridge, who lived on three-farthings per day, and
other singular humourists, among whom may be remembered, of late days, Simon Eady the pauper of St. Giles's, with Mathews the Dulwich Hermit, found some few years back murdered in his cave. All that is left as a memorial of Bigg; is the following: — John Bigg, the Dinton Hermit, baptized 22d of April, 1629, buried 4th of April, 1696. Brojvne Willis gives the particulars of this 'man out of a lette? written
VOL. I. c
10 MEMOIRS OF [william ni.
to him by Thomas Hearne, dated Oxon, Feb. 12,
1712. He was formerly clerk to Simon Mayne, of Dinton, one of the judges who passed sentence on
King Charles I. He lived Dinton (county Bucks,) in a cave, had been, a man of tolerable wealth, was looked upon as a pretty good scholar, and of no con temptible parts. Upon the restoration he grew melan
choly, betook . himself to a recluse life, and. lived by charity, but never asked for; any thing but leather, which he would immediately nail to his cloathes. He kept three bottles, that hung; to his girdle, viz. for strong and small beer, and milk: his,shoes are. still
preserved ; they are very large, and made up of about a thousand patches of leather ; one of them is in the Bodlean Repository, the other in the collection of Sir John Vanhatten, of Dinton, who had his cave dug up some years since, in hopes of discovering something
relative to him, but without success. . The print of him is done from a picture in the possession of Scroop
Bernard, Esq. of Nether Winchendon, Bucks. <
time since it was reported the celebrated Margravine of Anspach proffered to any person who would lead a
recluse life, five hundred pounds annuity for life ; after period of seven years (during which rime they were to have no converse, or see mankind, and suffer
, Some
a
if,
WILLIAM ni. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 11
their hair and nails to grow untouched) they survived, but it does not appear any one was desperate enough in circumstances to undergo the ordeal. — It has befen
said a man endured this kind of life four years, but gave it up in despair.
c2
12
MEMOIRS OF
[william in.
-Thomas (commonly called Tori, ),,B. kp,tv,N; was the son of a considerable farmer of Shiffnall, in Shrop shire, and educated at Newport-school; in that county ; frpm. s whence he was removed to Christ-church, in
Oxford, where he soon distinguished himself by his uncommon- attainments in literature. He had great
parts and quickness of apprehension, ,nor does it appear that he was wanting in application^; for we are told, that he was very well skillfid in the Latin, Greek, French, Italian, and Spani^ languages, even before he was sent to Oxford. The irregularities of liis life did not suffer him, however^ tb continue long
at the university, but when obliged to quit he took advantage of remittance sent by his indulgent father, and thinking he had sufficiency of wit and learning, left Oxford for the capital, in hopes of making his fortune some way or other there. This scheme did not answer, and he was very soon in danger of starving upon which he made interest to be school
master of Kingston-upon-Thames, in which pursuit he succeeded. But this was profession very unsuit-
a
;
a
^
it,
THOMAS BROITK^ .
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 13
able to a man of his turn, and a situation that must needs have been extremely disagreeable to him ; and therefore we cannot wonder that he soon quitted this school, and returned again to London, where, finding his old companions more delighted with his humour than ready to relieve his necessities, he had recourse to his pen, and became an author, and partly a libel ler, by profession . He wrote a great variety of pieces, under the names of dialogues, letters, poems, &c. in all which he discovered no small erudition, and a vast and exuberant vein of humour ; for he was in his writings, as in his conversation, always lively and facetious. In the mean-time he made no other advan tage of these productions than what he derived from the booksellers ; for though they raised his reputation, and made his company sought after, yet, as he possessed less of the gentleman than wits usually do,
and more of the scholar, so he was not apt to choose his acquaintance by interest, but was more solicitous
recommended to the ingenious who might admire, than to the great who might relieve him. An anonymoifts author, who has given the world some account of Mr. Brown, says, that though a good- natured man, he had one pernicious quality, which was, rather to lose his friend than his joke. He had
WILLIAM iii. J
to be
14 MEMOIRS OF
[william hi.
a particular genius for satire, and dealt it but liberally
whenever he could find occasion. He is famed for
being the author of a libel, fixed one Sunday morning
on the doors of Westminster-abbey ; and of many others, agaiiist the clergy and quality. He used to
treat religion very lightly, and would often say, that he understood the world better than to have the impu tation of righteousness laid to his charge ; yet, upon
the approach of death, his heart misgave him, and he began to express sentiments of remorse for his past life.
Towards the latter end of Brown's life, we are informed by Mr. Jacob that he was in favor with the Earl of Dorset, who invited him to dinner on a Christmas-day, with Dryden, and some other men of genius ; when Brown, to his agreeable surprise, found a bank-note of 60l. under his plate ; and Dryden
at the same time was presented with another of 100/.
Brown died in 1704, and was interred
of Westminster-abbey, near the remains of Mrs. Behn, with whom he wae intimate in his life-time;
His whole works were printed in 1707, consisting of dialogues, essays, declamations, satires, letters from
the dead to the living, translations, amusements, &c; in 4, vols. ; there are several other editions ofhis works.
in the clbister
WILLIAM III. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 15
but all have become scarce, and have not been re printed for many years ; indeed, the indelicacy of many of his pieces preclude the likelihood of their ever appearing collectively before the public in a new edition ; his remains, in 2 vols, are very rare to be
met with, and abound with as much ribaldry and
as his other productions. Tom Brown thought it the. pinnacle of excellence to be thought " a merry fellow," and therefore laid out his powers upon small jests or gross buffoonery, so that his per formances have little intrinsic value, and were read
only while they were recommended by the novelty of the event that occasioned them. What sense or knowledge his works contain is disgraced by the garb in which it is exhibited. The Rev. Mr. Noble says,
he died in great poverty.
obscenity
16
MEMOIRS OF
[william hi.
¦. J
Thomas D'Urpey. , E^q. was originally intended
to have beeh-broaght up to the bar^ btit po^essing too
much wit to confine himself to •that ; dfy stbdy, and
too. little, to make a shining character in any other,
experienced ail the varied- fortunes of men who have
not great abilities, and whb trust entirely to their pens
for theif support and appearance through life. Very
little more is known of D'Urfey's origin and family
than, that he was a native of Devonshire. His plays,
which are numerous, were in their day 4cted with
considerable applause, but the low wit and humour
with which they abound, would not suit the taste of the present enlightened generation. He was, besides,
author of many small Poems, the chief "of which are collected in his most celebrated work of " Wit and Mirth, or Pills to purge Melancholy," in
6 vols. 12mo. which have now become
scarce. He has been compared to Colley Cibber,
but their wit^ and humour were
Oibber's writings keeping their reputation to the
extremely
widely different,
THOMAS D'URFEY.
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 17
present day, and are as much read as ever.
was admitted to great familiarity with King Charles the Second, and that merry monarch would often lean on his shoulder,
frequently amused and entertained Queen Anne, singing catches and glees ; yet, with all his gaiety and high acquaintance, poor Tom was always in straitened circumstances ; as a Tory he was very much caressed and beloved by his party, yet he was esteemed and respected by the Whigs.
The Author of the prologue to D'Urfey's last play thus speaks of him :—
" Though Tom the poet writ with ease and pleasure, " The comic Tom abounds in other treasure. "
Addison was well acquainted with him, and often pleaded successfully for his friend, when he became aged and in decayed circumstances ; — in one of his
papers he remarks, " He has made the world merry, and I hope they will make him easy, as long as he stays among us. This," adds he, " I will take upon me to say, they cannot do a kindness to a more cheer ful, honest, good-natured man. " D'Urfey died at a good old age, February ^6, 1723, and was buried in the cemetery of St. James's Church, Westminster.
VOL. I. D
WILLIAM III. J
andhumatunewithhim; hehas by
D'Urfey
18 MEMOIRS OF [william iij.
D'Urfey and Bello, a musician, had high words at Epsom, and swords were resorted to, but with great
caution. A brother wit maliciously compared this rencounter with that mentioned in Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, between Clinias and Dametas.
I sing of a duel in Epsom befel
'Twixt fa sol la D'Urfey and sol la mi Bell :
But why do I mention the scribbling brother?
For naming the one, you may guess at the other.
Betwixt them there happened a terrible clutter.
Bell set up the loud pipes, and D'Urfey did splutter.
" Draw Bell, wert thou Dragon, I'd spoil thy soft notes :" " Thy squalling, said t'other, for I'll cut thy throat. "
With a scratch on the finger the duel's dispatch'd ;
Thy Clinias (O Sidney) was never so match'd.
WILLIAM III. ]
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 19
Sir John Fenwick, of Fenwick Castle, in the county of Northumberland, Bart, a man of consider able abilities, but- of; a profligate and restless dispo sition, commanded a regiment in
the service of William III. when Prince of Orange, in 1676. He was apprehended^ in. Kent, when on his way to France, upon suspicion of being engaged in a plot to
assassinate the; king. ' Oh his. being taken into cus tody, he (wrotea letter to his lady, setting forth his
miatbrtune, andgiviing himself for dead, unless; power ful applications) could be made for him, or that some of ;the jury co«M be hired: to starve out the rest; and
to that he ftdded, this or nothing can save my life. This letter was taken from the person to whom' he hadigi^ren it: at his first examination, before the lords-
jtis,|iees, he denied every thing', till he was shewed thi$M>letter; and then he was confounded. In his private treaty with the Duke ! of Devonshire, he desired an assurance of life, upon his promise to tell all he knew; but the king refused that, and would have it left to himself to judge of the truth and the
D2
20 MEMOIRS OF [william ni.
importance of the discoveries he should make. So he, resolving to cast himself on the king's mercy, sent him a paper, in which, after a bare account of the consultations among the Jacobites (in which he took care to charge none of his own party,) he said, that King James, and those who were emplbyed by him, had assured them, that both the Earls of Shrewsbury and Marlborough, the Lord Godolphin, and Admiral Russell, were reconciled to him, and were now in his interests, and acting for him. This was a discovery that could signify nothing, but to give the king a
jealousy of those persons ; for he did not offer the
or of
least shadow or circumstance, either of proof, presumption, to support this accusation. The king, not being satisfied herewith, sent an order for bringing him to a trial, unless he made other discoveries. He desired to be further examined by the lords-justices, to whom he, being upon oath, told some more parti culars, but he took care to name none of his own side, but those against whom evidence was already brought, or who were safe and beyond sea ; some few others he named, in matters of less consequence, that did not amount to high-treason ; he owned a thread of negociations that had passed between them and King James, or the court of France ; he said the Earl of
WILLIAM III. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 21
Aylesbury had gone over to France, and had been admitted to a private audience with the French king,
where he had proposed the sending over an army of 30,000 men ; and had undertaken that a great body of gentlemen and horses should be brought to join them; it appeared, by his discoveries, that the Jacobites in England were much divided. Some were called com pounders, and others non-compounders. The first sort desired securities from King James, for the pre servation of the religion and liberties of England ; whereas, the second sort were for trusting him upon discretion, without asking any terms, putting all in his power, and relying entirely on his honor and generosity. These seemed, indeed, to act more suitably to the great principle upon which they all insisted, that kings have their power from God, and are accountable only to him for the exercise of it. Dr. Lloyd, the deprived Bishop of Norwich, was the only eminent clergyman who joined in this; and, therefore, all that party had, upon Sancro/t's death, recommended him to King James, to have his nomina tion for Canterbury. Fenwick put all this in writing, upon assurance that he should not be forced to wit ness any part of it. When that was sent to the king, all appearing to be so trifling, and no^other proof being
22 MEMOIRS OF [william hi.
offered for any part of except his own word, which
he had stipulated should not be made use of, his
majesty sent an order to bring him to his trial. But
as the king was slow in sending this order, so the
Duke of Devonshire, who had been in the secret
management of the matter, was for some time in the country. The lords-justices delayed the matter till
he came to town and then the king's coming was so near, that was respited till he came over. By these delays Fenwick gained his main design, which was to practice upon the witnesses.
His lady began with Porter he was offered, that
he would go beyond sea, he should have good sum in hand, and an annuity secured to him for his life; he listened so far to the proposition, that he drew those who were in treaty with him, together with the lady herself, who carried the sum that he was to receive, to meeting, where he had provided wit nesses who should over^hear all that passed, and should, upon signal,
the money which was done, and prosecution upon
was ordered. The fact was fully proved, and «be persons concerned in were censured and punished so Porter was no more to be dealt with. — Goodman was the other witness First, they gathered matter to
come in and seize them with
;
it
:
it
if
;
aa
it
;
a
a
;
it,
WILLIAM III. J REMARKABLE PERSONS. 23
defame him, in which his wicked course of life fur nished them very copiously ; but they trusted not to this method, but betook themselves to another, in which they prevailed more effectually ; they per
suaded him to go out of England ; and, by this means, when the last orders were given for Fenwick's trial, there were not two witnesses against him. So, by the course of law, he must have been acquitted ; the
whole was upon this kept entire for the session of Par liament. The king sent to the House of Commons the two papers that Fenwick had sent him ; Fenwick was brought before the house ; but he refused to give
any farther account of the matter contained in them, and they were rejected as false and scandalous, made
to create jealousies; and ordered a bill of attainder to be brought against him, which met with great opposition in both houses, in every step that was made. In conclusion, the bill passed by a small majority of only seven in the House of Lords: The royal assent was soon given to and Fenwick then
made all possible applications to the king for reprieve: and, as main ground for that, and as an article of merit, related how he had saved the king's
life, two years before but as this fact could not be proved, so could confer no obligation on the king, since he had given him no warning of his danger
only
it
a ;
;a
it,
MEMOIRS OF [william hi. and, according to his own story, had trusted the con
spirators'
24
words very easily, when they promised to pursue their design no farther, which he had no reason to do. Fenwick, seeing no hope was left, prepared himself to die; he desired the assistance of one of the deprived bishops, which was not granted, but he was attended by Bishop Burnet. He was beheaded on Tower-hill, January 23, 1697, aged 52 ; and was buried near the altar, in the church of St. Martin's in the Fields, London, with his three sons. Sir
John, though a very profligate character, and an indif ferent husband, was yet so tenderly beloved by his lady, that no stratagem was omitted by her to save him that love could invent, or duty practice. She even erected a monument, in York Cathedral, to per petuate his memory. She was Lady Mary, eldest daughter of Charles Howard, Earl of Carlisle. Hap pily their only daughter, Jane, as well as all their sons, died very young. He died very composed, and left a paper in writing, wherein he did not deny the facts that had been sworn against him, but com plained of the injustice of the procedure, and left his thanks to those who had voted against the bill. He owned his loyalty to King James, and to the Prince of Wales after him. But mentioned the design of assassinating King WiUiam in terms full of horror.
lOHN. GALE las
Z)uml' lack
WILLIAM ivi. ^
REMARKABLE PERSONS. <25
3>o1&n €fale, alias ,
DUMB JACK.
John Gale, otherwise Dumb Jack, noticed by
the Rev. Mark Noble as an
unfortunate person, character,
appeiars rather to have been a ¦ felicitous
enjoying life, while he lived, in a way pfeculiar to him
self. Mr. Noble, who had the use of Granger's
valuable papers, iiaraes him as an ideot^ and -deaf and
dumb into the bargain, " so much foi; the leatned and
Reverend Gentleman ;" but it does not always follow,
that a deprivation of one faculty entails the party
afflicted with lack of others ; on the contrary, we
know the blind, in general, have a nicety in feeling
greatly- beyond those blessed with sight*
* I knewa gentleman, Mr. Francis Linley, bfga'riisi of 'l*en- tonvillS Chapel, Clerkenwell, from his birth blinds whose greatest amusement was to explore church-yards, and with his fingers trace out memorials of ^he dead from tomb-'Stones;, indeed, the fineness of his touch would lead him to know a book from the lettering at the back of a volume : and cpuld, without si guide, make his way throughout the bustling streets of London. ¦,
VOL. I. E
26 MEMOIRS OF [william hi.
uncouth
John Gale had a something so remarkably
in his physiognomy and manner, that he attracted general notice wherever he appeared. He lived prin cipally in the neighbourhood of Clare-market, where he picked up a maintenance among the butchers, and other tradesmen thereabouts, by helping to drive cattle and carrying heavy loads of meat, and other servile employments
of that nature. Being perfectly harm less, he was rather under protection of the mob, than,
as is too often the case with unhappy Objects of this description, exposed to their unfeeling scoffs and abuse. He always wore his hat in a particular direc tion ; so much on one side, as hardly to keep its place on his head, and was seldom seen without a pipe in his mouth. Tobacco and ale were his two grand animal gratifications ; and his highest mental enjoyment seemed to be that of witnessing the public execution of criminals, whom he constantly accom panied from the gaol to Tyburn, riding on the copse of the cart, and smoking his pipe with perfect decorum the whole way, unmoved at the passing scene, while
Clever Tom Clinch as the rabble was bawling, Was riding up Holborn to die in his calling ;
And the maids to the windows and balconies ran. And cry'd out. Alack ! he's a proper young man '.
WILLIAM HI. ]
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 27
From this circumstance Dumb Jack (his general and familiar appellation,) became universally known ; and from the many prints of him extant, it was not wished the remembrance of him should perish ; his form too existing on walking sticks, and on tobacco-
stoppers, both of wood and metal, many of which still
Mr, Noble regrets the pen of the biographer was wanting
are to be found in the cabinets of the curious.
to the fame of poor Jack, and very gravely remarks his ignorance, whether he died by violence from a ruffian, while sleeping on a bulk in the streets, or of disease in a garret, or hospital ; but, it is reasonable to conjecture, he came to his end in a similar way with other mortals, a gradual decay of nature.
E2
28
MEMOIRS OF
[william iii.
pl^iIip
Hermon.
PhilXp Hermon was one of those visionary enthusiasts amoiig the people called Quakers, that pretended to ppssess lights unknown to the rest of
mankind ; and, through, holding forth this doctrine to othersi at Length brought, hinaself to imagine he was inspired;by a divine spirit, to, become a teacher and prophet, to guide and collect the stray-lambs that had M'ander^d from the fold of the rightepus. — The Qu^. -
kers had been stigm^tiized during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, and the reign of Charles the Second,
for their perverse spirit, false doctrine, and lying pro
In 1 653, one Hannah Trapnel, residing at an ordinary in Whitehall, set up tbe trade of inspiration, pray'mgipv the Lord Protector, and that God would keep him close, to himself, and delivet him from carnal councils. It was said she was in a trance while pray
ing^ but, at the expiration of a fortnight, she recovered
sufficienriy to take her journey homeward to Dunbar: and, in December, 165. 1, the same woman went to St. Matvs, in Cornwall, to visit one Carew, a prisoner
phets.
PHIJ. IP
IlffiKMOM ()ii ;il<er. )
WILLIAM III. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 29
there, and had in company with her three fellows, one having a sword : this party was stopped by a trooper, who informed them he had orders from the Lord Pro tector to disarm all Cavahers ; to this they replied.
Thy Lord Protector we own not, thou art of the army of the beast. The Governor of Pendinnis sent for the woman, but she refused to attend: on which
an order was given to follow, and bring her before a justice of peace at Penryn.
About the same time, James Naylor, who had been converted to Quakerism by George Fox, took upon himself the character of the Messiah, and pretended
to heal the sick, and raise the dead, and was for this
offence most severely and most deservedly punished. Near the latter end of the reign of Charles the Second, one John Kelsey undertook the laudable task
of converting the grand Signior to the Quaking prin ciples, and actually made his way to Constantinople for that purpose ; a good bastinado on the soles of his feet, as a recompence for his trouble, could not, how ever, effectually wean him from the pursuit of his
mission, and he was secured per force, and sent on
board a ship to convey him to England.
It is not very probable Mr. Hermon went quite so
far as either of the above of his fellow-labourers in the
so MEMOIRS OF [WILLIAM iii.
Quaking Vineyard, but it is highly probable he came in for a share of the imprisonment and persecution, as
the Friends call that was liberally dealt out government against these innovators, on their first attempts to establish themselves as the chosen sect. On one occasion, Herman was moved by the spirit to ejaculate, " Oh the blessed man, Joseph Friends, believe he had not the law as we have Oh, Friends,
think Joseph had not the law to the best of my memory, the law was not writ in Joseph's time — Oh, Infallibility ! "
I
;
;
I
by
;
:
!
it,
WILLIAM III. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 31
Sit ^of^n ^of)n0ton.
Sir John Johnston was born at Skickaldy, in Fifeshire, and his father who had a good estate, having diminished it by a too generous way of living. Sir John went young i into -the army to raise his fortune;
and, being at the siege, of Maestrich, underthe com
mand of the Duke of Monmouth, he so behaved him
self as to obtain a captain's commission, but. both that
and his personal estate were too scanty for his way, of
living;
While he was at Utrecht, in Holland, he was charged with committing a rape on a young wpman, and likewise of the like crime near Chester, while in England. After-. this he went over to Ireland^ where he^ thought to better his ' circumstances by marriage ; and g. etting into the acquaintance of a . Mr; Magrath, in the county of Clare, he, by the manner of his con- versarion, so gained his good opinion, that he fre quently invited him to dinner, and Mr. Magrath hav ing a daughter, who had 10,000/. to her porrion. Sir John took every opportunity to insinuate himself into
her company, and so far gained upon her affections as
32 MEMOIRS OF [william hi.
to obtain her consent to elope with him ; but the father, having some hints given him of their private courtship, kept a very watchful eye over their actions, and at last being confirmed in his suspicions, forbad
Sir John his house, and kept his daughter close. She being very uneasy under her confinement, arid being deprived of the sight of Sir John, whom she loved to distracrion, made a kinswoman her confidant, and entrusted her with a letter to Sir John, to let him know how uneasy her life was, and that if he would
come to such a place, at such a time, she would endeavour to make her escape, and meet him ; but
the lady thinking she should gain most by obliging
her uncle, delivered the letter to him, instead of Sir
John ; Mr. Magrath, having read sealed up again,
and sent to Sir John, who received with great
deal of satisfaction, and immediately wrote an answer,
and sends back by the same messenger.
repairing to the place of rendezvous, instead of meet
ing the lady, fell into an ambuscade of fellows with
sticks and clubs, who beat him so unmercifully that
he promised to relinquish his pursuit. parts, he repaired to Dublin where,
Leaving those
having before contracted debts, he was arrested, and thrown into
prison.
Not knowing how to extricate himself put
But
;
it it
it
it a
it,
WILLIAM iiii] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 33
of this difficulty, and having had some acquaintance with the Lady Thomond, who was a'zealous Roman Catholic, and knowing she kept a priest in her house, he sent a letter to her, acquainting her with his hard fortune, and informing her that he was reconciled to the see of Rome, begged that she would send her chaplain
to be assistant to him in the concerns of his soul. The lady acquiesced with his desire, and gave orders to her confessor to attend him; when intro duced to Sir John, he told him he could not be ignorant of the danger he was in, knowing how all those of his function were persecuted at that time, King^William having so lately made a conquest of that nation, and, therefore, he could not venture to stay long with him, hoping he was fully prepared to make his confession : Sir John replied, his confession was but short; — it was, that he wanted money, and he must work his deliverance, or he should be obliged to inform against him. The priest, being terrified, thought it better to part with his money, than hazard a discovery ; and gave him what he had about him, which was a good sum in broad pieces ; but Sir John, not thinking this enough to answer his wants, obliged him to send for a scrivener, and give him a bond for
60/. more, which being done, the priest was permitted VOL. I. F
34 MEMOIRS OF [william hi.
to depart. Sir John immediately employed a person
to settle with his creditors, and with the bond and part of the money compounded his debts, got out of
prison, and made the best of his way for England. Having been here some small time, and spent the remainder of his money, he was obliged to be
beholden to some of his countrymen for support : and Captain James Campbell having a design to steal an heiress, one Miss Mary Wharton,* he and Mr. Mont gomery were assistants in the affair ; which being
* Miss Wharton was daughter of Philip Wharton, Esq. , and at the age of thirteen, by his death, inherited 1 ,500Z. per annum, besides a personal property to the amount of 1,000/. This young lady resided with her mother, in Great Queen-street ; when Cap tain James Campbell, brother of the Earl of Argyle, wishing to possess so rich a prize, determined to marry her per force, and for that purpose prevailed upon Sir John Johnston and Archibald Montgomery to assist him in conveying Miss Wharton from her home. The enterprize succeeded but too well, to Johnston's cost ; Campbell, who was the real culprit, escaped punishment, and married Margaret Leslie, daughter of David Lord Newark, after parliament had dissolved his first marriage ; but every effort
to save Johnston proved inefiectual.
married Colonel Bierly, who commanded a regiment of horse in tbe service of William III.
Previous to this unpleasant affair, an act for preventing clan
destine marriages had been introduced
Commons, which met with considerable opposition ; and, although
Miss Wharton afterwards
into the House of
WILLIAM HI. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 35
done, and a reward of 100/. offered for the apprehend ing Captain Campbell, and 50/. a-piece for him and Mr. Montgomery. Sir John being betrayed by his landlord, was apprehended and indicted for the
11th of December, 1690. The evidence was in sub stance, that Miss Mary Wharton, being an heiress of considerable fortune, and under the care of her guardian, (Mr. Bierly,) was decoyed out on the 10th of November, and being met with by Sir John John ston, Captain Campbell, and Mr. Montgomery, in Queen-street, was forced into coach with six horses, (appointed to wait there by Captain Campbell,) and carried to the coachman's house, and there married to
Captain Campbell, against the consent of herself, or knowledge of her' guardian. The Jury finding the
prisoner Guilty, he received sentence of death.
At the plac^ bf execution, he addressed the specta
in which he not only endea voured to make appear he was blameless in the transaction for which he suffered, but that he had
Campbell's violence was strong argument in favor of the mea sure, the house rejected but annulled his marriage, much against the wishes of the Earl of Argyle, who earnestly petitioned that might be confirmed.
F
tors in long
2
it
a it,
it
a
a
it,
36 MEMOIRS OF [WILLIAM III.
been greatly wronged by printed papers, in which he was charged with a rape at Chester, and a siniilar crime at Utrecht, in Holland. He was executed, at
c Tyburn, the 23d of December, 1690.
JOY, ( Tlie En^'lisli Sainpson. ^
^V^ILLIAM
;, I
WILLIAM III. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 37
THE ENGLISH SAMPSON.
William Joy was a native of Kent, and born May 2, 1675, i at St. Lawrence, a small village, one mile, from Ramsgate,. in the Isle of Thanet. When very young, he distinguished himself among his juve-
. nile companions 'and play-mates, by 'his amazing superiority in strength, over any antagonist that dare to ;come in competition with his power, whether in play or earnest, iWhen ; about twenty-four years; of
age, he first began to exhibit in spublic his astonishing feats, ihf a disjplay of personal prowess inferior tonone but the Hebrew champion recorded in holy writ. Among^^ many other of this man's extraordinary per formances may be recorded: — 1. A strong horse,
> urged by the whip to escape his powerful rein, is
'"
kept froffli escape by the check solely
T^srestrained and
of his pull, aided by a strong rope, and this without
stay, or support; whatever. 2. Seated upon a
any
stool, with his legs hPrizontally elevated, solely by muscular power, he jumps clearly from his seat.
38 MEMOIRS OF [william iii.
3. To prove the agility and flexibility of his joints, he places a glass of wine on the sole of his foot, and, in an erect posture, without the least bending of his head
or body, raises the glass to his mouth, and drinks the contents, turning his foot with both hands, to accom modate his draught. 4. Aided by a strong leather
girdle, or belt, and supporting himself by pressing his arms on a railing, he lifts from the ground a stone of the enormous weight bf 5240 lbs. 5. A rope fastened to wall, which had borne 3500 lbs. weight, without
giving way, is broke asunder by his amazing strength. The celebrity of this man attracted the curiosity of King WiUiam III. , befbre whom he exhibited at Kensington Palace ; likewise before George, Prince of Denmark, and his royal consort, the Princess, after
wards Queen Ann, and their son William, Duke of Gloucester, called the hopes of England. — He also
went through a regular course of performances
at the Salisbury-square, which was attended by the first nobility and gentry in the kingdom. The portrait of William Joy, which
is presumed to be unique, is dated 1699, and printed
Duke's Theatre, in Dorset-gardens,
on a whole sheet, and is noticed
catalogue of English Heads, but has escaped notice of the Rev. Mark Noble, in his continuation of
by Bromley in his the
WILLIAM III. J REMARKABLE PERSONS. 39
At all times, and in all ages, we hear and read of ex traordinary persons, celebrated for one thing or another. September 4th, 1818, was shown at Bar tholomew Fair, "The strongest woman in Europe,
the celebrated French Female Hercules^ Madame Gobert, who will lift with her teeth a table five feet
long and three feet wide, with several persons seated upon it ; also carry thirty-six weights, fifty-six pounds
each, equal to 2016 lbs. and will disengage herself from them without any assistance ; will , carry a barrel containing 340 bottles ; also an anvil 400 lbs. weight, on which they will forge with four hammers at the same time she supports it on her stomach; she will also hft with her hair the same anvil, swing it from
the ground, and suspend it in that position to the astonishment , of every beholder ; will take up a chair by the hind stave with her teeth, and throw it over her head, ten feet from her body. Her travelling
caravan, (weighing two tons,) on its road from Har wich to Leominster, owing to the neglect of the driver, and badness of the road, sunk in the mud,
nearly to the box of the wheels ; the two horses being
Granger's Biographical History.
The head is sur rounded with five vignettes, representing the manner in which he performed his various feats of strength.
40 MEMOIRS OF [william iii.
unable to extricate it she descended, and, with appa rent ease, disengaged the caravan from its situation, without any assistance whatever. "
Having the curiosity to see this wonderful Female, I went for the purpose of accurately observing her manner of performance, which was by laying ex tended at length on her back on three chairs, pillows were then placed over her legs, thighs, and stomach,
over those two thick blankets, and then a moderately thick deal board, the thirty-six weights were then placed on the board, beginning at the bottom of the legs, and extending upwards above the knees and thighs, but none approaching towards the stomach. She held the board on each side with her hands, and when the last Weight was put on, she pushed the board upwards on one side, and tumbled the weights to the ground. On the whole, there appeared more of trick than personal strength in this feat. Her next performance was raising the anvil, (which might weigh nearly 200 lbs. ,) from the ground with her hair, which is thick, black, and as strong
in the tail of a horse; this is platted on
side, and fixed to two cords, which is attached to
the anvil, then rising from a bending to an erect
posture, she raises : and. swings the
anvil several
as that
each
WILLIAM HI. ]
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 41
times backwards and forwards through her legs.
next feat was raising a table with her teeth, a slight
rickety thing, made of deal, with a bar across the
legs, which, upon her grasping sustained against
her thighs, and enables her more easily to swing
round several times, maintaining her hold only her
teeth. The chair she makes nothing of, but canters
over her head like plaything.
derfully strong woman evident, but that she can
little exertion, quarter of hundred weight.
In the year 1794, the writer of this article saw at the Admiralty Coffee-house, Charing-cross, man
named Sheppard, sergeant the Coventry volun teers, commanded by Colonel Troughton he was then about five or six-and-twenty years of age, and was remarked by his comrades and friends for extra ordinary strength, many particulars of which were related, that aroused the curiosity of some officers of that regiment, and some gentlemen, their friends, to see the man and become witnesses of his power after being introduced, and requested to show proof of strength, he desired to have few oysters sent for, the
VOL. I. G
notorious untruth. She has an infant which now sucks at her breast, about eleven months old that lifts, with very
That she won
Her
perform what promised in her bills
a
a in
a
;
;
a
is a
a a
is
;
it, is
a is
it
is a
by
it
42 MEMOIRS OF
[william hi.
largest which could be procured, unopened, which being produced, (and large ones they were) he took six, and devoured them shells and all, in a manner we
see a person munch a biscuit ; a heavy mahogany qoffee-house-table, seven feet long and four wide, he fixed his teeth in, placing his arms behind him, and, by mere strength, elevated the end to touch the ceiling ; he likewise took two men, of moderate size, one in each hand, raised them from the ground, and held them at arms length ; but he acknowledged his superior strength to lay in his jaw and neck. He has been known to take a pewter pint pot, and tear it into pieces and shreds with his teeth, and what may appear extraordinary, he said he felt a visible decay of strength upon any time having his hair cut ; whether this was an affectation of imitating Samson of old or
not, we cannot determine, but must entirely depend on the man's assertion ; — but all this does not come up to the feats of William Joy. Topham, Sheppard, and Madame Gobert, were but pigmies compared with the English Samson.
The facetious Tom Brown, in a letter to George
Moult, Esq.
. 86
.
.
XU CONTENTS.
Evans, Henry, an aged Welshman . Fletcher, Andrew, a turbulent Republican - Defoe, Daniel, a Political Writer and Novelist Granny, a drunken half-blind Woman Hardman, John, a singular Corn-cutter
.
Page . 91
. 94 . 99 . 1 03 . 106
. 109 . 112 . 116 . 118 . 120
. 129 . 132 . 134 . 1 37
, 141 . 147 . 149 . 153 . 163
Harry, an Old Raree-show-man
Hart, Nicholas, a Great Sleeper
Isaac, the Oxford Grinner
Keiling, John, an extraordinary Street Musician King Edward, Abel Roper's Man . Poro, James, an extraordinary Twin
.
.
. Yorkshire Nan, Prince George's Cap Woman
.
. .
Read, Sir William, a Quack Oculist
Roper, Abel, a Political Bookseller
Sacheverel, Henry, a Seditious Preacher
Scrimshaw, Jane, an aged Pauper
"futchin, John, a Seditious Writer
Valerius, John, born without arms
White, Jeremiah, humorous chaplain to Oliver Cromwell
.
.
.
.
. .
. .
.
.
.
.
.
.
. .
. .
.
MEMOIRS
REMARKABLE
WiilUum
It [WILLIAM III. very often happens that we are indebted to the
casual circumstance of a person living to a great age,
PERSONS.
mtfvUfQt,
personal
perpetuity of their likenesses being handed down to
deformity, size, or other chances, for the
posterity.
in whose character there appears noithing more parti cular than of his living to the very advanced age of 1 14- years. He was by profession a wheelwright, and
resided at Acton, in Middlesex, and was buried there November 21st, 1698.
The portrait from which this print was engraved, was painted two years before his death, and was in the possession of his great grandson, Mr. Thomas
VOL. I. B
Such was the case with 5filham Aldridge,
2 MEMOIRS OF [william hi.
Aldridge, vestry-clerk of Acton parish, where the family have been established upwards of a century. The portrait has the appearance of a hale man of
sixty, rather than that of 112, which was his age at the period it was painted. He was buried under a
tomb in the cemetery, the inscription upon gives his age one year older.
which
WILI. ? ^
'Gout Doctor. )
A. T'KI]? ^S,
WILLIAM III. ] REMArRKABLE PERSONS.
^Killtam nt^im, THE GOUT DOCTOR.
Of all thej diseases incident to the, human frame the Gout, (to those who are afflicted ; with itj) is the most vexatious, painful, and tormenting in the cata logue of evils attendiant on man; and no complaint has created more quacks, fo tamper with, and poison the constitutiiQja with- sovereign remedies, than this.
Among the, first-rate of . tjies^ eiliimrics . naay rank William Atki|! ,s,. "whose renovating elixir restored pristine youth, and vigour to the patient, however old or decayed,^' and -whose vivifying drops inf^i/Uibly cured imbecility in men, and barrenness, in 'women ; he resided in the Qld Bailey, and was, (in his own conceit) the Solomon ofthe day ; his bills exceeded all others, in extravagant assertions and impudence ;
to, declare he had raised a woman from a fit of the dead palsy, and . rendered her
capable of walking immediately.
This wonderful great man was short in stature, fat,
and waddled as he walked ; he always wore a white B2
he even had the audacity
4 ll^EMdllft* OF
[VfrtLLiA'»i ill.
three-tailed wig, nicely combed and frizzed upon each cheek. He generally carried a cane, but a hat never. He was represented oh the top of his own bills sitting in an arm-chair, holding a bottle between his finger and thumb, surrounded with rotten teeth, nippers, pills, packets, and gally-pots.
Atkins boasted of his humility in using a hackney- coach instead of keeping one of his own; but what would he have said, dr thought, had he lived in the
pf^sent rimes, to see that carriages and eqliipaige ar6 as 'e'sseiritial in the tfade of a quack-doctb'r as the distribution of their hand-bills in every street ihrdughout the metropolis ; ri^y, most of these gentry that are successful, have their country-seats and parks; and, in 'tWir tables and company, vie with the first nobility, and people of rank and fashion ; Gilead House, the Seat of Dr. Soloinon, near Liver pool, has beefn dediiied important ehoilgh tb fa's
'ehgra\red Eriglahd.
ahd published, to adoi'h the Beauties bif
Somie of Atkihs's medicines %ere coihpbSed thirty different ingrediehts! what hope retliaitied fbr an individual assailed by so many enettiies united?
A fei^ years since flourished, near Leicester-sqUare, a
German quack, Dr. Delalina, who prtjtended
of
to
WILLIAM III. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 5
eradicate the gout from any person, however aged or infirm, in six visits. —The well-known French remedy has been found, by sad experience, not only to eradi cate the gout, but likewise the lives of most persons who have been desperate enough to venture on that fatal remedy.
MEMOIRS OF [WILLIAM iii.
This whimsical enthusiast, who affected manners and habits peculiarly his own, was born and resided at a place called Bayworth, in the parish of Sunning- well,' near Abingdon. — In his younger days he was
considered a person of learning and curious research, and was author of a journal of his own travels through a great part of England^ in the years 1677 and 1678, still existing in manuscript. — He was well known to the Oxford Students, who, from his dry, droll, and formal appearance, gave him tbe nickname of the King of Jerusalem, he being of a religious turn, and constantly speaking of that heavenly city ; a pretention to inherit which, he founded on what he Styled his regeneration or second birth, in the year 1666, as may be gathered from his own poetic lines, inserted under his portrait :—
As shadows fly , so houres dye.
And ddyes do span the age ofman ; In Month o/ August twenty'nine, Ifirst began my Mourning time,
Thousand six hundred and ninety-nine.
'
. \
THOMAS
BASKERVILLE
WILLIAM III. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 7
Yet I drudge on as said before,
Ther's Time, when Time shall be no more,
A second BiaiH /
January Eleventh day.
In that circle Fifty-two Weeks,
. Thousand Six hundred Sixty-six
had
say,
A ray ofLight I
Enter my heart with heat and joy, Saying these words unto me then
King of Jerusalem.
The number of Sectaries that sprung up at the period Baskerville lived, without question bewildered a brain naturally not very strong ; Fox the Quaker, Naylor the blasphemer, Venner the Fifth Monarchy- man, Muggleton, and a whole tribe of Schismatic pre tenders to new-born lights, had each their several followers ; to one party or other it may naturally be imagined Baskerville inclined ; or he might probably feel inspired ; similar with Swendenbourg of latter days, to convey disciples to the new Jerusalem, by a path unknown to any other than himself.
His portrait, which exhibits a meagre, long, and mortified countenance, was engraved when he was in his 70th year. Over his monogram BM is inscribed two lines, doubtless of his own editing :—
Once I was alive, and had flesh to thrive, But now I am a skellitan. at 70.
I
saw that day,
8 MEMOIRS OF [WILLIAM III.
He affected most of the singularities which natu rally adhere to reclusive and habitual retirement, and lived to a very advanced age, dying aboi^t the year 1705.
Many of his MSS. went with the Harleian collec tion to the Brirish Museum.
WILLIAM in] REMARKABLE PERSONS.
THE DINTON HERMIT.
Many men from necessity, not choice, have as sumed singular habits, and manners, which have, from time immemorial, amused and instructed mankind: such a being was John Bigg. — Disappointed (no doubt) in his prospects through life, he became sulky^ and adopted a way of life he thought peculiarly his own ; in that, however,- he was mistaken ; as others, previous to his time, had taken the same course ; wit ness the hermits of La Trappe, Roger Crabb, of Uxbridge, who lived on three-farthings per day, and
other singular humourists, among whom may be remembered, of late days, Simon Eady the pauper of St. Giles's, with Mathews the Dulwich Hermit, found some few years back murdered in his cave. All that is left as a memorial of Bigg; is the following: — John Bigg, the Dinton Hermit, baptized 22d of April, 1629, buried 4th of April, 1696. Brojvne Willis gives the particulars of this 'man out of a lette? written
VOL. I. c
10 MEMOIRS OF [william ni.
to him by Thomas Hearne, dated Oxon, Feb. 12,
1712. He was formerly clerk to Simon Mayne, of Dinton, one of the judges who passed sentence on
King Charles I. He lived Dinton (county Bucks,) in a cave, had been, a man of tolerable wealth, was looked upon as a pretty good scholar, and of no con temptible parts. Upon the restoration he grew melan
choly, betook . himself to a recluse life, and. lived by charity, but never asked for; any thing but leather, which he would immediately nail to his cloathes. He kept three bottles, that hung; to his girdle, viz. for strong and small beer, and milk: his,shoes are. still
preserved ; they are very large, and made up of about a thousand patches of leather ; one of them is in the Bodlean Repository, the other in the collection of Sir John Vanhatten, of Dinton, who had his cave dug up some years since, in hopes of discovering something
relative to him, but without success. . The print of him is done from a picture in the possession of Scroop
Bernard, Esq. of Nether Winchendon, Bucks. <
time since it was reported the celebrated Margravine of Anspach proffered to any person who would lead a
recluse life, five hundred pounds annuity for life ; after period of seven years (during which rime they were to have no converse, or see mankind, and suffer
, Some
a
if,
WILLIAM ni. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 11
their hair and nails to grow untouched) they survived, but it does not appear any one was desperate enough in circumstances to undergo the ordeal. — It has befen
said a man endured this kind of life four years, but gave it up in despair.
c2
12
MEMOIRS OF
[william in.
-Thomas (commonly called Tori, ),,B. kp,tv,N; was the son of a considerable farmer of Shiffnall, in Shrop shire, and educated at Newport-school; in that county ; frpm. s whence he was removed to Christ-church, in
Oxford, where he soon distinguished himself by his uncommon- attainments in literature. He had great
parts and quickness of apprehension, ,nor does it appear that he was wanting in application^; for we are told, that he was very well skillfid in the Latin, Greek, French, Italian, and Spani^ languages, even before he was sent to Oxford. The irregularities of liis life did not suffer him, however^ tb continue long
at the university, but when obliged to quit he took advantage of remittance sent by his indulgent father, and thinking he had sufficiency of wit and learning, left Oxford for the capital, in hopes of making his fortune some way or other there. This scheme did not answer, and he was very soon in danger of starving upon which he made interest to be school
master of Kingston-upon-Thames, in which pursuit he succeeded. But this was profession very unsuit-
a
;
a
^
it,
THOMAS BROITK^ .
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 13
able to a man of his turn, and a situation that must needs have been extremely disagreeable to him ; and therefore we cannot wonder that he soon quitted this school, and returned again to London, where, finding his old companions more delighted with his humour than ready to relieve his necessities, he had recourse to his pen, and became an author, and partly a libel ler, by profession . He wrote a great variety of pieces, under the names of dialogues, letters, poems, &c. in all which he discovered no small erudition, and a vast and exuberant vein of humour ; for he was in his writings, as in his conversation, always lively and facetious. In the mean-time he made no other advan tage of these productions than what he derived from the booksellers ; for though they raised his reputation, and made his company sought after, yet, as he possessed less of the gentleman than wits usually do,
and more of the scholar, so he was not apt to choose his acquaintance by interest, but was more solicitous
recommended to the ingenious who might admire, than to the great who might relieve him. An anonymoifts author, who has given the world some account of Mr. Brown, says, that though a good- natured man, he had one pernicious quality, which was, rather to lose his friend than his joke. He had
WILLIAM iii. J
to be
14 MEMOIRS OF
[william hi.
a particular genius for satire, and dealt it but liberally
whenever he could find occasion. He is famed for
being the author of a libel, fixed one Sunday morning
on the doors of Westminster-abbey ; and of many others, agaiiist the clergy and quality. He used to
treat religion very lightly, and would often say, that he understood the world better than to have the impu tation of righteousness laid to his charge ; yet, upon
the approach of death, his heart misgave him, and he began to express sentiments of remorse for his past life.
Towards the latter end of Brown's life, we are informed by Mr. Jacob that he was in favor with the Earl of Dorset, who invited him to dinner on a Christmas-day, with Dryden, and some other men of genius ; when Brown, to his agreeable surprise, found a bank-note of 60l. under his plate ; and Dryden
at the same time was presented with another of 100/.
Brown died in 1704, and was interred
of Westminster-abbey, near the remains of Mrs. Behn, with whom he wae intimate in his life-time;
His whole works were printed in 1707, consisting of dialogues, essays, declamations, satires, letters from
the dead to the living, translations, amusements, &c; in 4, vols. ; there are several other editions ofhis works.
in the clbister
WILLIAM III. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 15
but all have become scarce, and have not been re printed for many years ; indeed, the indelicacy of many of his pieces preclude the likelihood of their ever appearing collectively before the public in a new edition ; his remains, in 2 vols, are very rare to be
met with, and abound with as much ribaldry and
as his other productions. Tom Brown thought it the. pinnacle of excellence to be thought " a merry fellow," and therefore laid out his powers upon small jests or gross buffoonery, so that his per formances have little intrinsic value, and were read
only while they were recommended by the novelty of the event that occasioned them. What sense or knowledge his works contain is disgraced by the garb in which it is exhibited. The Rev. Mr. Noble says,
he died in great poverty.
obscenity
16
MEMOIRS OF
[william hi.
¦. J
Thomas D'Urpey. , E^q. was originally intended
to have beeh-broaght up to the bar^ btit po^essing too
much wit to confine himself to •that ; dfy stbdy, and
too. little, to make a shining character in any other,
experienced ail the varied- fortunes of men who have
not great abilities, and whb trust entirely to their pens
for theif support and appearance through life. Very
little more is known of D'Urfey's origin and family
than, that he was a native of Devonshire. His plays,
which are numerous, were in their day 4cted with
considerable applause, but the low wit and humour
with which they abound, would not suit the taste of the present enlightened generation. He was, besides,
author of many small Poems, the chief "of which are collected in his most celebrated work of " Wit and Mirth, or Pills to purge Melancholy," in
6 vols. 12mo. which have now become
scarce. He has been compared to Colley Cibber,
but their wit^ and humour were
Oibber's writings keeping their reputation to the
extremely
widely different,
THOMAS D'URFEY.
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 17
present day, and are as much read as ever.
was admitted to great familiarity with King Charles the Second, and that merry monarch would often lean on his shoulder,
frequently amused and entertained Queen Anne, singing catches and glees ; yet, with all his gaiety and high acquaintance, poor Tom was always in straitened circumstances ; as a Tory he was very much caressed and beloved by his party, yet he was esteemed and respected by the Whigs.
The Author of the prologue to D'Urfey's last play thus speaks of him :—
" Though Tom the poet writ with ease and pleasure, " The comic Tom abounds in other treasure. "
Addison was well acquainted with him, and often pleaded successfully for his friend, when he became aged and in decayed circumstances ; — in one of his
papers he remarks, " He has made the world merry, and I hope they will make him easy, as long as he stays among us. This," adds he, " I will take upon me to say, they cannot do a kindness to a more cheer ful, honest, good-natured man. " D'Urfey died at a good old age, February ^6, 1723, and was buried in the cemetery of St. James's Church, Westminster.
VOL. I. D
WILLIAM III. J
andhumatunewithhim; hehas by
D'Urfey
18 MEMOIRS OF [william iij.
D'Urfey and Bello, a musician, had high words at Epsom, and swords were resorted to, but with great
caution. A brother wit maliciously compared this rencounter with that mentioned in Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia, between Clinias and Dametas.
I sing of a duel in Epsom befel
'Twixt fa sol la D'Urfey and sol la mi Bell :
But why do I mention the scribbling brother?
For naming the one, you may guess at the other.
Betwixt them there happened a terrible clutter.
Bell set up the loud pipes, and D'Urfey did splutter.
" Draw Bell, wert thou Dragon, I'd spoil thy soft notes :" " Thy squalling, said t'other, for I'll cut thy throat. "
With a scratch on the finger the duel's dispatch'd ;
Thy Clinias (O Sidney) was never so match'd.
WILLIAM III. ]
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 19
Sir John Fenwick, of Fenwick Castle, in the county of Northumberland, Bart, a man of consider able abilities, but- of; a profligate and restless dispo sition, commanded a regiment in
the service of William III. when Prince of Orange, in 1676. He was apprehended^ in. Kent, when on his way to France, upon suspicion of being engaged in a plot to
assassinate the; king. ' Oh his. being taken into cus tody, he (wrotea letter to his lady, setting forth his
miatbrtune, andgiviing himself for dead, unless; power ful applications) could be made for him, or that some of ;the jury co«M be hired: to starve out the rest; and
to that he ftdded, this or nothing can save my life. This letter was taken from the person to whom' he hadigi^ren it: at his first examination, before the lords-
jtis,|iees, he denied every thing', till he was shewed thi$M>letter; and then he was confounded. In his private treaty with the Duke ! of Devonshire, he desired an assurance of life, upon his promise to tell all he knew; but the king refused that, and would have it left to himself to judge of the truth and the
D2
20 MEMOIRS OF [william ni.
importance of the discoveries he should make. So he, resolving to cast himself on the king's mercy, sent him a paper, in which, after a bare account of the consultations among the Jacobites (in which he took care to charge none of his own party,) he said, that King James, and those who were emplbyed by him, had assured them, that both the Earls of Shrewsbury and Marlborough, the Lord Godolphin, and Admiral Russell, were reconciled to him, and were now in his interests, and acting for him. This was a discovery that could signify nothing, but to give the king a
jealousy of those persons ; for he did not offer the
or of
least shadow or circumstance, either of proof, presumption, to support this accusation. The king, not being satisfied herewith, sent an order for bringing him to a trial, unless he made other discoveries. He desired to be further examined by the lords-justices, to whom he, being upon oath, told some more parti culars, but he took care to name none of his own side, but those against whom evidence was already brought, or who were safe and beyond sea ; some few others he named, in matters of less consequence, that did not amount to high-treason ; he owned a thread of negociations that had passed between them and King James, or the court of France ; he said the Earl of
WILLIAM III. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 21
Aylesbury had gone over to France, and had been admitted to a private audience with the French king,
where he had proposed the sending over an army of 30,000 men ; and had undertaken that a great body of gentlemen and horses should be brought to join them; it appeared, by his discoveries, that the Jacobites in England were much divided. Some were called com pounders, and others non-compounders. The first sort desired securities from King James, for the pre servation of the religion and liberties of England ; whereas, the second sort were for trusting him upon discretion, without asking any terms, putting all in his power, and relying entirely on his honor and generosity. These seemed, indeed, to act more suitably to the great principle upon which they all insisted, that kings have their power from God, and are accountable only to him for the exercise of it. Dr. Lloyd, the deprived Bishop of Norwich, was the only eminent clergyman who joined in this; and, therefore, all that party had, upon Sancro/t's death, recommended him to King James, to have his nomina tion for Canterbury. Fenwick put all this in writing, upon assurance that he should not be forced to wit ness any part of it. When that was sent to the king, all appearing to be so trifling, and no^other proof being
22 MEMOIRS OF [william hi.
offered for any part of except his own word, which
he had stipulated should not be made use of, his
majesty sent an order to bring him to his trial. But
as the king was slow in sending this order, so the
Duke of Devonshire, who had been in the secret
management of the matter, was for some time in the country. The lords-justices delayed the matter till
he came to town and then the king's coming was so near, that was respited till he came over. By these delays Fenwick gained his main design, which was to practice upon the witnesses.
His lady began with Porter he was offered, that
he would go beyond sea, he should have good sum in hand, and an annuity secured to him for his life; he listened so far to the proposition, that he drew those who were in treaty with him, together with the lady herself, who carried the sum that he was to receive, to meeting, where he had provided wit nesses who should over^hear all that passed, and should, upon signal,
the money which was done, and prosecution upon
was ordered. The fact was fully proved, and «be persons concerned in were censured and punished so Porter was no more to be dealt with. — Goodman was the other witness First, they gathered matter to
come in and seize them with
;
it
:
it
if
;
aa
it
;
a
a
;
it,
WILLIAM III. J REMARKABLE PERSONS. 23
defame him, in which his wicked course of life fur nished them very copiously ; but they trusted not to this method, but betook themselves to another, in which they prevailed more effectually ; they per
suaded him to go out of England ; and, by this means, when the last orders were given for Fenwick's trial, there were not two witnesses against him. So, by the course of law, he must have been acquitted ; the
whole was upon this kept entire for the session of Par liament. The king sent to the House of Commons the two papers that Fenwick had sent him ; Fenwick was brought before the house ; but he refused to give
any farther account of the matter contained in them, and they were rejected as false and scandalous, made
to create jealousies; and ordered a bill of attainder to be brought against him, which met with great opposition in both houses, in every step that was made. In conclusion, the bill passed by a small majority of only seven in the House of Lords: The royal assent was soon given to and Fenwick then
made all possible applications to the king for reprieve: and, as main ground for that, and as an article of merit, related how he had saved the king's
life, two years before but as this fact could not be proved, so could confer no obligation on the king, since he had given him no warning of his danger
only
it
a ;
;a
it,
MEMOIRS OF [william hi. and, according to his own story, had trusted the con
spirators'
24
words very easily, when they promised to pursue their design no farther, which he had no reason to do. Fenwick, seeing no hope was left, prepared himself to die; he desired the assistance of one of the deprived bishops, which was not granted, but he was attended by Bishop Burnet. He was beheaded on Tower-hill, January 23, 1697, aged 52 ; and was buried near the altar, in the church of St. Martin's in the Fields, London, with his three sons. Sir
John, though a very profligate character, and an indif ferent husband, was yet so tenderly beloved by his lady, that no stratagem was omitted by her to save him that love could invent, or duty practice. She even erected a monument, in York Cathedral, to per petuate his memory. She was Lady Mary, eldest daughter of Charles Howard, Earl of Carlisle. Hap pily their only daughter, Jane, as well as all their sons, died very young. He died very composed, and left a paper in writing, wherein he did not deny the facts that had been sworn against him, but com plained of the injustice of the procedure, and left his thanks to those who had voted against the bill. He owned his loyalty to King James, and to the Prince of Wales after him. But mentioned the design of assassinating King WiUiam in terms full of horror.
lOHN. GALE las
Z)uml' lack
WILLIAM ivi. ^
REMARKABLE PERSONS. <25
3>o1&n €fale, alias ,
DUMB JACK.
John Gale, otherwise Dumb Jack, noticed by
the Rev. Mark Noble as an
unfortunate person, character,
appeiars rather to have been a ¦ felicitous
enjoying life, while he lived, in a way pfeculiar to him
self. Mr. Noble, who had the use of Granger's
valuable papers, iiaraes him as an ideot^ and -deaf and
dumb into the bargain, " so much foi; the leatned and
Reverend Gentleman ;" but it does not always follow,
that a deprivation of one faculty entails the party
afflicted with lack of others ; on the contrary, we
know the blind, in general, have a nicety in feeling
greatly- beyond those blessed with sight*
* I knewa gentleman, Mr. Francis Linley, bfga'riisi of 'l*en- tonvillS Chapel, Clerkenwell, from his birth blinds whose greatest amusement was to explore church-yards, and with his fingers trace out memorials of ^he dead from tomb-'Stones;, indeed, the fineness of his touch would lead him to know a book from the lettering at the back of a volume : and cpuld, without si guide, make his way throughout the bustling streets of London. ¦,
VOL. I. E
26 MEMOIRS OF [william hi.
uncouth
John Gale had a something so remarkably
in his physiognomy and manner, that he attracted general notice wherever he appeared. He lived prin cipally in the neighbourhood of Clare-market, where he picked up a maintenance among the butchers, and other tradesmen thereabouts, by helping to drive cattle and carrying heavy loads of meat, and other servile employments
of that nature. Being perfectly harm less, he was rather under protection of the mob, than,
as is too often the case with unhappy Objects of this description, exposed to their unfeeling scoffs and abuse. He always wore his hat in a particular direc tion ; so much on one side, as hardly to keep its place on his head, and was seldom seen without a pipe in his mouth. Tobacco and ale were his two grand animal gratifications ; and his highest mental enjoyment seemed to be that of witnessing the public execution of criminals, whom he constantly accom panied from the gaol to Tyburn, riding on the copse of the cart, and smoking his pipe with perfect decorum the whole way, unmoved at the passing scene, while
Clever Tom Clinch as the rabble was bawling, Was riding up Holborn to die in his calling ;
And the maids to the windows and balconies ran. And cry'd out. Alack ! he's a proper young man '.
WILLIAM HI. ]
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 27
From this circumstance Dumb Jack (his general and familiar appellation,) became universally known ; and from the many prints of him extant, it was not wished the remembrance of him should perish ; his form too existing on walking sticks, and on tobacco-
stoppers, both of wood and metal, many of which still
Mr, Noble regrets the pen of the biographer was wanting
are to be found in the cabinets of the curious.
to the fame of poor Jack, and very gravely remarks his ignorance, whether he died by violence from a ruffian, while sleeping on a bulk in the streets, or of disease in a garret, or hospital ; but, it is reasonable to conjecture, he came to his end in a similar way with other mortals, a gradual decay of nature.
E2
28
MEMOIRS OF
[william iii.
pl^iIip
Hermon.
PhilXp Hermon was one of those visionary enthusiasts amoiig the people called Quakers, that pretended to ppssess lights unknown to the rest of
mankind ; and, through, holding forth this doctrine to othersi at Length brought, hinaself to imagine he was inspired;by a divine spirit, to, become a teacher and prophet, to guide and collect the stray-lambs that had M'ander^d from the fold of the rightepus. — The Qu^. -
kers had been stigm^tiized during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, and the reign of Charles the Second,
for their perverse spirit, false doctrine, and lying pro
In 1 653, one Hannah Trapnel, residing at an ordinary in Whitehall, set up tbe trade of inspiration, pray'mgipv the Lord Protector, and that God would keep him close, to himself, and delivet him from carnal councils. It was said she was in a trance while pray
ing^ but, at the expiration of a fortnight, she recovered
sufficienriy to take her journey homeward to Dunbar: and, in December, 165. 1, the same woman went to St. Matvs, in Cornwall, to visit one Carew, a prisoner
phets.
PHIJ. IP
IlffiKMOM ()ii ;il<er. )
WILLIAM III. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 29
there, and had in company with her three fellows, one having a sword : this party was stopped by a trooper, who informed them he had orders from the Lord Pro tector to disarm all Cavahers ; to this they replied.
Thy Lord Protector we own not, thou art of the army of the beast. The Governor of Pendinnis sent for the woman, but she refused to attend: on which
an order was given to follow, and bring her before a justice of peace at Penryn.
About the same time, James Naylor, who had been converted to Quakerism by George Fox, took upon himself the character of the Messiah, and pretended
to heal the sick, and raise the dead, and was for this
offence most severely and most deservedly punished. Near the latter end of the reign of Charles the Second, one John Kelsey undertook the laudable task
of converting the grand Signior to the Quaking prin ciples, and actually made his way to Constantinople for that purpose ; a good bastinado on the soles of his feet, as a recompence for his trouble, could not, how ever, effectually wean him from the pursuit of his
mission, and he was secured per force, and sent on
board a ship to convey him to England.
It is not very probable Mr. Hermon went quite so
far as either of the above of his fellow-labourers in the
so MEMOIRS OF [WILLIAM iii.
Quaking Vineyard, but it is highly probable he came in for a share of the imprisonment and persecution, as
the Friends call that was liberally dealt out government against these innovators, on their first attempts to establish themselves as the chosen sect. On one occasion, Herman was moved by the spirit to ejaculate, " Oh the blessed man, Joseph Friends, believe he had not the law as we have Oh, Friends,
think Joseph had not the law to the best of my memory, the law was not writ in Joseph's time — Oh, Infallibility ! "
I
;
;
I
by
;
:
!
it,
WILLIAM III. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 31
Sit ^of^n ^of)n0ton.
Sir John Johnston was born at Skickaldy, in Fifeshire, and his father who had a good estate, having diminished it by a too generous way of living. Sir John went young i into -the army to raise his fortune;
and, being at the siege, of Maestrich, underthe com
mand of the Duke of Monmouth, he so behaved him
self as to obtain a captain's commission, but. both that
and his personal estate were too scanty for his way, of
living;
While he was at Utrecht, in Holland, he was charged with committing a rape on a young wpman, and likewise of the like crime near Chester, while in England. After-. this he went over to Ireland^ where he^ thought to better his ' circumstances by marriage ; and g. etting into the acquaintance of a . Mr; Magrath, in the county of Clare, he, by the manner of his con- versarion, so gained his good opinion, that he fre quently invited him to dinner, and Mr. Magrath hav ing a daughter, who had 10,000/. to her porrion. Sir John took every opportunity to insinuate himself into
her company, and so far gained upon her affections as
32 MEMOIRS OF [william hi.
to obtain her consent to elope with him ; but the father, having some hints given him of their private courtship, kept a very watchful eye over their actions, and at last being confirmed in his suspicions, forbad
Sir John his house, and kept his daughter close. She being very uneasy under her confinement, arid being deprived of the sight of Sir John, whom she loved to distracrion, made a kinswoman her confidant, and entrusted her with a letter to Sir John, to let him know how uneasy her life was, and that if he would
come to such a place, at such a time, she would endeavour to make her escape, and meet him ; but
the lady thinking she should gain most by obliging
her uncle, delivered the letter to him, instead of Sir
John ; Mr. Magrath, having read sealed up again,
and sent to Sir John, who received with great
deal of satisfaction, and immediately wrote an answer,
and sends back by the same messenger.
repairing to the place of rendezvous, instead of meet
ing the lady, fell into an ambuscade of fellows with
sticks and clubs, who beat him so unmercifully that
he promised to relinquish his pursuit. parts, he repaired to Dublin where,
Leaving those
having before contracted debts, he was arrested, and thrown into
prison.
Not knowing how to extricate himself put
But
;
it it
it
it a
it,
WILLIAM iiii] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 33
of this difficulty, and having had some acquaintance with the Lady Thomond, who was a'zealous Roman Catholic, and knowing she kept a priest in her house, he sent a letter to her, acquainting her with his hard fortune, and informing her that he was reconciled to the see of Rome, begged that she would send her chaplain
to be assistant to him in the concerns of his soul. The lady acquiesced with his desire, and gave orders to her confessor to attend him; when intro duced to Sir John, he told him he could not be ignorant of the danger he was in, knowing how all those of his function were persecuted at that time, King^William having so lately made a conquest of that nation, and, therefore, he could not venture to stay long with him, hoping he was fully prepared to make his confession : Sir John replied, his confession was but short; — it was, that he wanted money, and he must work his deliverance, or he should be obliged to inform against him. The priest, being terrified, thought it better to part with his money, than hazard a discovery ; and gave him what he had about him, which was a good sum in broad pieces ; but Sir John, not thinking this enough to answer his wants, obliged him to send for a scrivener, and give him a bond for
60/. more, which being done, the priest was permitted VOL. I. F
34 MEMOIRS OF [william hi.
to depart. Sir John immediately employed a person
to settle with his creditors, and with the bond and part of the money compounded his debts, got out of
prison, and made the best of his way for England. Having been here some small time, and spent the remainder of his money, he was obliged to be
beholden to some of his countrymen for support : and Captain James Campbell having a design to steal an heiress, one Miss Mary Wharton,* he and Mr. Mont gomery were assistants in the affair ; which being
* Miss Wharton was daughter of Philip Wharton, Esq. , and at the age of thirteen, by his death, inherited 1 ,500Z. per annum, besides a personal property to the amount of 1,000/. This young lady resided with her mother, in Great Queen-street ; when Cap tain James Campbell, brother of the Earl of Argyle, wishing to possess so rich a prize, determined to marry her per force, and for that purpose prevailed upon Sir John Johnston and Archibald Montgomery to assist him in conveying Miss Wharton from her home. The enterprize succeeded but too well, to Johnston's cost ; Campbell, who was the real culprit, escaped punishment, and married Margaret Leslie, daughter of David Lord Newark, after parliament had dissolved his first marriage ; but every effort
to save Johnston proved inefiectual.
married Colonel Bierly, who commanded a regiment of horse in tbe service of William III.
Previous to this unpleasant affair, an act for preventing clan
destine marriages had been introduced
Commons, which met with considerable opposition ; and, although
Miss Wharton afterwards
into the House of
WILLIAM HI. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 35
done, and a reward of 100/. offered for the apprehend ing Captain Campbell, and 50/. a-piece for him and Mr. Montgomery. Sir John being betrayed by his landlord, was apprehended and indicted for the
11th of December, 1690. The evidence was in sub stance, that Miss Mary Wharton, being an heiress of considerable fortune, and under the care of her guardian, (Mr. Bierly,) was decoyed out on the 10th of November, and being met with by Sir John John ston, Captain Campbell, and Mr. Montgomery, in Queen-street, was forced into coach with six horses, (appointed to wait there by Captain Campbell,) and carried to the coachman's house, and there married to
Captain Campbell, against the consent of herself, or knowledge of her' guardian. The Jury finding the
prisoner Guilty, he received sentence of death.
At the plac^ bf execution, he addressed the specta
in which he not only endea voured to make appear he was blameless in the transaction for which he suffered, but that he had
Campbell's violence was strong argument in favor of the mea sure, the house rejected but annulled his marriage, much against the wishes of the Earl of Argyle, who earnestly petitioned that might be confirmed.
F
tors in long
2
it
a it,
it
a
a
it,
36 MEMOIRS OF [WILLIAM III.
been greatly wronged by printed papers, in which he was charged with a rape at Chester, and a siniilar crime at Utrecht, in Holland. He was executed, at
c Tyburn, the 23d of December, 1690.
JOY, ( Tlie En^'lisli Sainpson. ^
^V^ILLIAM
;, I
WILLIAM III. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 37
THE ENGLISH SAMPSON.
William Joy was a native of Kent, and born May 2, 1675, i at St. Lawrence, a small village, one mile, from Ramsgate,. in the Isle of Thanet. When very young, he distinguished himself among his juve-
. nile companions 'and play-mates, by 'his amazing superiority in strength, over any antagonist that dare to ;come in competition with his power, whether in play or earnest, iWhen ; about twenty-four years; of
age, he first began to exhibit in spublic his astonishing feats, ihf a disjplay of personal prowess inferior tonone but the Hebrew champion recorded in holy writ. Among^^ many other of this man's extraordinary per formances may be recorded: — 1. A strong horse,
> urged by the whip to escape his powerful rein, is
'"
kept froffli escape by the check solely
T^srestrained and
of his pull, aided by a strong rope, and this without
stay, or support; whatever. 2. Seated upon a
any
stool, with his legs hPrizontally elevated, solely by muscular power, he jumps clearly from his seat.
38 MEMOIRS OF [william iii.
3. To prove the agility and flexibility of his joints, he places a glass of wine on the sole of his foot, and, in an erect posture, without the least bending of his head
or body, raises the glass to his mouth, and drinks the contents, turning his foot with both hands, to accom modate his draught. 4. Aided by a strong leather
girdle, or belt, and supporting himself by pressing his arms on a railing, he lifts from the ground a stone of the enormous weight bf 5240 lbs. 5. A rope fastened to wall, which had borne 3500 lbs. weight, without
giving way, is broke asunder by his amazing strength. The celebrity of this man attracted the curiosity of King WiUiam III. , befbre whom he exhibited at Kensington Palace ; likewise before George, Prince of Denmark, and his royal consort, the Princess, after
wards Queen Ann, and their son William, Duke of Gloucester, called the hopes of England. — He also
went through a regular course of performances
at the Salisbury-square, which was attended by the first nobility and gentry in the kingdom. The portrait of William Joy, which
is presumed to be unique, is dated 1699, and printed
Duke's Theatre, in Dorset-gardens,
on a whole sheet, and is noticed
catalogue of English Heads, but has escaped notice of the Rev. Mark Noble, in his continuation of
by Bromley in his the
WILLIAM III. J REMARKABLE PERSONS. 39
At all times, and in all ages, we hear and read of ex traordinary persons, celebrated for one thing or another. September 4th, 1818, was shown at Bar tholomew Fair, "The strongest woman in Europe,
the celebrated French Female Hercules^ Madame Gobert, who will lift with her teeth a table five feet
long and three feet wide, with several persons seated upon it ; also carry thirty-six weights, fifty-six pounds
each, equal to 2016 lbs. and will disengage herself from them without any assistance ; will , carry a barrel containing 340 bottles ; also an anvil 400 lbs. weight, on which they will forge with four hammers at the same time she supports it on her stomach; she will also hft with her hair the same anvil, swing it from
the ground, and suspend it in that position to the astonishment , of every beholder ; will take up a chair by the hind stave with her teeth, and throw it over her head, ten feet from her body. Her travelling
caravan, (weighing two tons,) on its road from Har wich to Leominster, owing to the neglect of the driver, and badness of the road, sunk in the mud,
nearly to the box of the wheels ; the two horses being
Granger's Biographical History.
The head is sur rounded with five vignettes, representing the manner in which he performed his various feats of strength.
40 MEMOIRS OF [william iii.
unable to extricate it she descended, and, with appa rent ease, disengaged the caravan from its situation, without any assistance whatever. "
Having the curiosity to see this wonderful Female, I went for the purpose of accurately observing her manner of performance, which was by laying ex tended at length on her back on three chairs, pillows were then placed over her legs, thighs, and stomach,
over those two thick blankets, and then a moderately thick deal board, the thirty-six weights were then placed on the board, beginning at the bottom of the legs, and extending upwards above the knees and thighs, but none approaching towards the stomach. She held the board on each side with her hands, and when the last Weight was put on, she pushed the board upwards on one side, and tumbled the weights to the ground. On the whole, there appeared more of trick than personal strength in this feat. Her next performance was raising the anvil, (which might weigh nearly 200 lbs. ,) from the ground with her hair, which is thick, black, and as strong
in the tail of a horse; this is platted on
side, and fixed to two cords, which is attached to
the anvil, then rising from a bending to an erect
posture, she raises : and. swings the
anvil several
as that
each
WILLIAM HI. ]
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 41
times backwards and forwards through her legs.
next feat was raising a table with her teeth, a slight
rickety thing, made of deal, with a bar across the
legs, which, upon her grasping sustained against
her thighs, and enables her more easily to swing
round several times, maintaining her hold only her
teeth. The chair she makes nothing of, but canters
over her head like plaything.
derfully strong woman evident, but that she can
little exertion, quarter of hundred weight.
In the year 1794, the writer of this article saw at the Admiralty Coffee-house, Charing-cross, man
named Sheppard, sergeant the Coventry volun teers, commanded by Colonel Troughton he was then about five or six-and-twenty years of age, and was remarked by his comrades and friends for extra ordinary strength, many particulars of which were related, that aroused the curiosity of some officers of that regiment, and some gentlemen, their friends, to see the man and become witnesses of his power after being introduced, and requested to show proof of strength, he desired to have few oysters sent for, the
VOL. I. G
notorious untruth. She has an infant which now sucks at her breast, about eleven months old that lifts, with very
That she won
Her
perform what promised in her bills
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42 MEMOIRS OF
[william hi.
largest which could be procured, unopened, which being produced, (and large ones they were) he took six, and devoured them shells and all, in a manner we
see a person munch a biscuit ; a heavy mahogany qoffee-house-table, seven feet long and four wide, he fixed his teeth in, placing his arms behind him, and, by mere strength, elevated the end to touch the ceiling ; he likewise took two men, of moderate size, one in each hand, raised them from the ground, and held them at arms length ; but he acknowledged his superior strength to lay in his jaw and neck. He has been known to take a pewter pint pot, and tear it into pieces and shreds with his teeth, and what may appear extraordinary, he said he felt a visible decay of strength upon any time having his hair cut ; whether this was an affectation of imitating Samson of old or
not, we cannot determine, but must entirely depend on the man's assertion ; — but all this does not come up to the feats of William Joy. Topham, Sheppard, and Madame Gobert, were but pigmies compared with the English Samson.
The facetious Tom Brown, in a letter to George
Moult, Esq.
