No More Learning

They were discovered, about eight o'clock in the morning, hanging near their bed, about a yard distant from each other, with a loaded pistol by the man, and a case-knife by the woman ; and, in another room, their little child, about two years old, was found in a cradle shot through the head. In the room were found the following letters; one directed to his landlord, in which were enclosed the two others to Mr. Brindley, a bookbinder, in New
Bond-street, and the shilling as therein-mentioned
To Mr. Brightred.
" Sir. —The necessity of my affairs has obliged
I hope I have left more than is sufficient for the money I owe you. I beg of
me to give you this trouble ;
you, that you'll be pleased to send these enclosed
as directed, immediately, by some porter, and that without shewing them to any one. Your
papers
humble servant,.
" Richard Smith. "
" P. S. I have a suit of black clothes at the Cock, in Mint-street, which lies for 17s. 6d. If you can find
170 MEMOIUS OF [GEORGE II.
any chap for my dog and ancient cat it would be kind. I have here sent a shilling for the porter. "
" Cousin Brindley,
':1 ■ "«<. -'
" It is now about the time I promised payment to Mr. Brooks, which I have performed in the best manner I was able. I wish it had been done more to your satisfaction; but the thing was impossible. I
here return you my hearty thanks for the favors which I have received ; it being all the tribute I am able to
There is a certain anonymous person, whom you have some knowledge of, who, I am informed, has taken some pains to make the world believe he has done me services; I wish that said person had never troubled his head about my affairs; I am sure he had no business with them ; for it is entirely owing to his meddling, that I came pennyless into this place; whereas, had I brought twenty pounds in with me, which I could easily have done, I could not then have missed getting my bread here, and in time have been able to come to terms with my plaintiff ; whose
lunacy, I believe, could not have lasted always. I must not here conclude, for my meddling friend's man, Sancho Pancho, would perhaps take it ill, did I not make mention of him ; therefore, if it lies in
pay.
oeorge ii. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 171
your way, let Sancho know, that his impudence and insolence were not so much forgotten, as despised. I
shall now make an end of this epistle, desiring you to publish the enclosed ; as to the manner how, I leave
Richard Smith.
P. S. If it lies in your way, let that good-natured man, Mr. Duncome know, that I remembered him with my latest breath. "
To Mr. Brindley.
"These actions considered in all their circum
stances, being somewhat uncommon, it may not be improper to give some account of the cause, and that it was an inveterate hatred we conceived against poverty and rags ; evils, that through a train of un lucky accidents were become inevitable; for we appeal to all that ever knew us, whether we were either idle or extravagant ; whether or no we have not taken as
much pains for our living as our neighbours, although not attended with the same success. We apprehend, the taking our child's life away to be a circumstance for which we shall be generally condemned ; but, for
That all happiness may attend you and yours, is the prayer of your affection
it entirely to your judgment. ate kinsman even to death.
172 MEMOIRS OF [george u.
our own parts, we are perfectly easy upon that head. We are satisfied it is less cruelty to take the child with us, even supposing a state of annihilation, as some dream of, than to leave her friendless in the world, exposed to ignorance and misery. Now, in order to obviate some censures, which may proceed either from ignorance or malice, we think it proper to inform the world, that we firmly believe the existence of Almighty God ; that this belief of ours is not an implicit faith,
but deduced from the nature and reason of things; we believe the existence of an Almighty Being, from the consideration of his wonderful works ; from a consi deration of those innumerable celestial and glorious bodies, and from their wonderful order and harmony. We have also spent some time in viewing those won ders, which are to be seen in the minute part of the world, and that with great pleasure and satisfaction ; from all which particulars, we are satisfied that such amazing things could not possibly be without a first mover, without the existence of an Almighty Being ; and, as we know the wonderful God to be almighty, so we cannot help believing but that he is also good, not implacable; not like such wretches as men are; not taking delight in the miseries of his creatures; for
'which reasou, we resign up our breath unto hire
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 173
without any terrible apprehensions, submitting our selves to those ways, which in his goodness he shall please to appoint after death: we also believe the ex istence of unbodied creatures, and think we have reason for that belief; although we do not pretend to know their way of subsisting. We are not ignorant
of those laws made in terrorem, but leave the disposal of our bodies to the wisdom of the coroner and his jury; the thing being indifferent to us, where our bodies are laid ; from whence it will appear how little
anxious we are about a hie jacet ; we, for our parts, neither expect nor desire such honours, but shall content ourselves with a borrowed epitaph, which we
shall insert in this paper.
Without a name, for ever silent, dumb; Dust, ashes, nought else is within this tomb ; Where we were born or bred, it matters not,
Who were our parents, or hath us begot;
We were, but now are not; think no more of us,
For as we are, so you'll be turned to dust.
It is the opinion of naturalists, that our bodies are, at certain stages of life, composed of new matter; so that a great many poor men have new bodies oftener than new clothes : now as divines are not able to inform us which of those several bodies
VOL. iv. 2 A
georoe i1. ]
174 MEMOIRS OP [georce ii.
shall rise at the resurrection, it is very probable, that the deceased body may be for ever silent as well as any other.
" Richard Smith. "Bridget Smith. "
The coroner's inquest for prisoners in the King's Bench sat on the body of the man, and brought him in felo de se; and the inquest for the lord mayor's liberty sat on the bodies of the woman and the child, and brought in the woman the same; and that the man was guilty of wilful murder as to the child.
We find that in every neighbourhood where they formerly lived, they were esteemed among the neigh bours as an honest, industrious, frugal, and loving couple; and, to the last part of the character, their pitiable catastrophe forms too convincing and melan choly a testimony. This poor man was so honest,
that he went, a few days before his tragical end, to a neighbouring woman, to whom he owed the small sum
of four shillings, and told her he could not give her money, but that ifshe would come to his house, and select from what he possessed, any thing she stood in need of about that value, she should have it : the woman generously refused the offer, and told him he
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 175
should pay it when he was able ; and if he were never enabled, she would forgive him the debt.
Layton Smith, during his confinement in the Fleet prison, rendered many essential services to his fellow- prisoners. Under an impression of one of his por traits is inscribed :—
" Reader,
" Behold here the portrait of Layton Smith, who,
during the raging of a contagious fever in the Fleet prison, administered to the wants and necessities of the persons confined there, like the good Bishop of Marseilles, till it pleased the Almighty to assuage the raging of the fever ; and, like a second Phineas, he es caped from the evil of the epidemic calamity, unhurt or unimpaired in health ; but remained a monument of charity and beneficence towards his fellow-pri soners.
george ii. ]
2A2
176 MEMOIRS OF ' [georgk n.
&>atmaf) &tte&
Hannah SnelL was born in Fryer-street, Wor cester, on the 23d of April, 1723; her father carried on the business of a hosier and dyer, in that city ; and brought up a family of nine children, three sons and six daughters ; all of whom, except one daughter, became either soldiers or sailors, or intermarried with them. The eldest of the sons, Samuel Snell, enlisted himself a soldier, in Lord Robert Manners' company, of the First Foot Guards, commanded by His Royal
the Duke of Cumberland ; when he was draughted to go for Flanders, and, at the battle of Fontenoy, received a mortal wound ; of which he ex
pired in the hospital at Doway.
The youngest of the daughters, Hannah, when she
was scarce ten years of age, gave evident proofs of her natural heroism ; declaring, at that early period, to her young companions, that she would be a soldier, if she
lived. As a preceding specimen of this intention, she
formed a company of young soldiers, among her play fellows ; acting as chief-commander at their head, and
Highness
HANNAH SNELL , (Born at Worcester 17 23. )
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 177
frequently parading the whole city of Worcester. — This body of young volunteers was admired all over the town ; and was styled young Amazon Snell's company. The martial spirit Hannah evinced at this early age, grew up with her, until it carried her through
the many scenes and vicissitudes she afterwards en countered.
Though the other daughters of Mr. Snell were, by those who knew them, accounted genteel, amiable women, we must pass over the other five, to notice only the subject of this memoir, who, on the death of her father and mother, came up to London, on
oeorge n. ]
17*0, and resided with her sister, in Ship-street, Wapping.
Some time after her arrival, she formed an acquaint ance with James Summs, a Dutch sailor, whom she married at the Fleet, on the 6th of January, 1743-4. This marriage, however, turned out very unfortunate to our heroine ; who, though possessing sufficient
charms to secure the affections of any reasonable man, soon became neglected and despised by her husband. He frequented the company of women of the basest character ; made away with her things to support him and his companions in their debauchery and luxury. Hannah, during this time, proved with child, and
Christmas-day,
178 MEMOIRS OF [george n.
experienced all the biting necessities poverty could inflict, without exposing her distresses to her nearest friends. When she was only seven months advanced in pregnancy, her husband, finding himself deeply in volved in debt, made an elopement, and quitted the country; two months after she was delivered of a
daughter; which living no more than seven months, was decently buried, at her own expense, in St.
George's parish, Middlesex.
From the time of her husband's departure until the
time she put on man's clothes, she continued with her
sister, who had married James Gray, a house-carpen
ter, and lived in Ship-street, Wapping.
Being free of any incumbrance, Hannah Snell now
formed the romantic notion of putting on male attire, and of going in search of her run-a-way husband. — Dressed in a suit of her brother-in-law's (Mr. James Gray) clothes, she assumed his name; and, on the 93d of November, 174. 5, set out for Coventry, where she enlisted on the 27th of the same month, in General Guise's regiment, in the company commanded by
Captain Miller, with a view, as she expresses, of finding her husband in the course of her military
career.
Her stay at Coventry was about three weeks, when,
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 179
in company with seventeen other recruits, she was marched to the north, then the seat of war ; and where her regiment lay in quarters at Carlisle. During this march she appeared as little weary as any of her fellow-travellers ; and performed that long journey in twenty-two days. While Hannah remained at Car lisle, she fell into a very painful and disagreeable di lemma. A man named Davis, her serjeant,
george ii. ]
having formed a criminal inclination for a young woman in
that town, and looking upon Hannah as a proper per son to assist him in his vicious intrigue, disclosed his secret, and desired her assistance in accomplishing his purpose ; but naturally disliking the part she was to act, went and disclosed the whole matter to the young woman ; who, in consequence, broke of all connec tion with the serjeant, and cultivated an intimacy and. friendship- with the other. Davis, shortly after, con tinuing his customary visits, met with a repulse that greatly mortified and astonished him: jealously sus
pecting his confident as the cause, and that through his rivalship the affections of his mistress were alien ated, he determined to revenge himself, by rendering our female soldier liable to military chastisement.
He availed himself of the earliest opportunity, and accused her before the commanding-officer, for neglect
180 MEMOIRS OF [george n.
of duty ; upon which she was sentenced to receive six hundred lashes ; five hundred of which she received, having her hands tied to the Castle gates ; and the punishment of the other hundred would have been in flicted, had not the intercession of some of the officers prevented it. Not long after another accident occurred, which gave our heroine no small uneasiness. George Beck, an acquaintance of Hannah's, from having
lodged with her brother when in Wapping, happened to arrive at Carlisle ; and she fearing that he would recognise her, and betray the secret of her sex, came to the resolution of deserting her regiment, although
still smarting under the pain of her unmerited punish ment.
Thus determined, she shaped her course for Ports mouth, that being the place she designed to reach, if
When she had got about a mile from Car lisle, she observed some people picking and bagging pease in a field, and seeing their clothes lying at a distance, she pulled off her own regimental coat, and left it there, taking an old coat for it belonging to one
of the men, that she might in her travels be the less suspected for a deserter. She was about a month in travelling from Carlisle to Portsmouth ; but nothing material happened, except being very much fatigued
possible.
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 181
in her long journey, and the dread of being pursued by a party from her regiment.
Disdaining a life of indolent ease and inactivity, she resolved to go abroad ; and, in order thereto, once more boldly enlisted herself for a marine, in Captain Graham's company, belonging to Colonel Frazer's regiment. She had not been enlisted above three weeks in the marines, before a draught was made out of the same, to go on-board Admiral Boscawen's fleet, to the East Indies ; upon which she was ordered on board the Swallow sloop-of-war, Capt. Rosier, for that expedition. On the voyage she made herself remarkable by her dexterity and address ; and was greatly caressed by her messmates, for her readiness either to wash and mend their linen, or stand cook as occasion required. After a terrible hurricane, in which the fleet was separated, the Swallow sloop sprung her main-mast, and not only lost her gib-boom, but her top-masts also, and with great difficulty made the port of Lisbon in safety.
After this narrow escape, the Swallow made the best of her way to Gibraltar; and no sooner was she refitted there, but she set sail for the Madeira islands ; where she took in such quantity of wines, and other provisions, as was thought requisite for the pursuit of
VOL. IV. 2 b
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182 MEMOIRS OF [geokge n.
her intended voyage. From the Madeiras, the fleet proceeded to the Cape of Good Hope ; and then set sail for the French1 Islands, on the east of Madagascar. Not succeeding in their attacks here, the admiral abandoned the place, and set sail directly for Fort St. David's. There the marines were disembarked : and having joined the English army, in about six weeks they arrived at Areacopong, where they directly en camped, with a firm resolution to lay siege to the place, and, if possible, to take it by storm. For nine days successively they carried on the siege, and met with a very vigorous repulse ; but, on the 10th, a shell from the English falling very fortunately on the ene my's magazine, it blew up at once ; by which means they were reduced to the necessity of surrendering at discretion. This adventure animated our heroine, and gave her a fairer opportunity of displaying her intrepidity and thirst after glory ; and she embraced
it in such a manner, that she gained the applause of all her officers. James Gray, (for that was the name she took upon herself) was one of the party that was ordered under Lieutenant Campbell, of the indepen dent companies, to fetch up some stores from the water-side, that had been landed out of the fleet ; in so doing, they had several skirmishes, and one of the
geobge ii. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 183
common men fell close on her right side; upon which she fired and killed the very man that shot her comrade ; and was very near Lieutenant Campbell when he was wounded. She was also in the first party of the English foot that forded the river to get over to Pon- dicherry, it reaching to her breast, and attended with great danger, as the French kept continually firing on them from a battery of twelve guns. On the 11th of August she was put on the picquet-guard, and con tinued on that guard seven nights successively ; and was one of a party that lay two days and two nights without any covering, in going through the barrier ; and as she was likewise put on duty in the trenches some part of the siege, she was compelled to sit or stand all the while near middle-deep in water. At the throwing up of the trenches she worked very hard for about fourteen days ; and was paid 5d. English money per day, by one Mr. Melton, who afterwards heard her sing at Goodman 's-fields Wells.
During this long space of time our heroine still maintained her wonted intrepidity, behaving in every respect consistent with the character of a brave British soldier; and, notwithstanding she stood so deep in water, fired no Jess than thirty-seven rounds of shot.
2b 2
184 * MEMOIRS OF [george ii.
In the course of the engagement, she received six shots in her right leg, and five in the left; and, what affected her more than all the rest, one so dangerous in the groin, that had she applied for any surgical assistance her sex must inevitably have been dis covered.
In this extremity, sooner than render herself liable to detection, she resolved on endeavouring to extract the ball ; whereupon, without discovering herself, she communicated her intention to a black woman, who attended her in the hospital ; and who had access both to medicines and surgical instruments.
The black readily afforded all the assistance she could, by bringing her lint and salve to dress the wound with ; and the manner she extracted the ball was full hardy and desperate. Though suffering under the acutest pain, she probed the wound with her fin ger till she discovered where the ball lay ; and then, upon feeling thrust in both her finger and thumb to
the accomplishment of her desires. After performing this operation, she applied some of the healing salves which the black had furnished her with, and by their help she effected perfect cure of this dangerous wound rewarding her faithful assistant with the pre
;
a
it,
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 185
sent of a rupee. As to the many other wounds she had in both her legs, they were all (through the care and skill of able surgeons) absolutely healed in the compass of three months.
During her residence in the hospital, the greater part of the fleet had sailed ; and as soon as she was perfectly restored to her health and strength, she was sent on-board the Tartar Pink, which, at that time, was riding in the harbour, and continued in it till the return of the fleet from Madras, performing the duty of a common sailor. Soon after the fleet's return she was turned over to the Eltham man-of-war, Capt. Lloyd, commander, and set sail for Bombay, where they arrived in less than a fortnight. Giving umbrage to the first lieutenant, and being accused of stealing a seaman's shirt, she was put in irons ; in which she lay
for five days, underwent the discipline of twelve lashes at the gangway, and continued at the foretop- mast-head for four hours. The shirt was soon after found in a chest belonging to the man, who it was said had lost it.
After encountering a variety of dangers and adven tures, Hannah Snell returned to Europe in the Eltham, and safely made the port of Lisbon, in the
george ii. ]
186 MEMOIRS OF [george n.
year 1749 ; where the ship was to take in a very con siderable sum of money, for the use of some of the merchants then residing in London.
One day as Hannah was on-shore at Lisbon, in her way home to England, she, in company with several of her ship-mates, by mere accident, went into an Irish house of public entertainment, in order to re
fresh themselves with a glass or two of liquor. In an adjoining box sat an English sailor, who had lately been at Genoa, on-board a Dutch vessel ; and as some of our adventurer's ship-mates knew him perfectly well, they joined company. After several merry stories had gone round, as well as the glass, Hannah being very inquisitive, and desirous, if possible, to
hear some tidings of her ungrateful husband, asked this young sailor whether he knew any thing of an old acquaintance of her's, a Dutch tar, who went by
the name of Jemmy Summs.
Upon this, greatly to her surprise, he related to the
whole company the following remarkable particulars : " While I was on-shore at Genoa, there was a Dutch man, a brother tar, of that very same name, under close confinement in the city, for having wounded
with his sneeker-snee, not only a native of the place,
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 187
but a gentleman of some distinction, so desperately, that after lingering in dreadful agonies for four days he died. As Summs was a particular acquaintance, myself, and three or four of my ship-mates, agreed to pay him a visit, to condole with him under his misfor tunes. When we got to the prison-door, and desired admittance, one of the keepers introduced us to our friend's gloomy habitation, where he lay in a very de
jected posture on the ground, with his head re clining upon his hand ; he raised himself, and saluted us in English; upon which we began to in quire into the grounds of the quarrel, and the cause of
his confinement. This he waved giving any particu lar account of; but said :—. ' My dear friends, I am con scious that I carried my resentment too far, and that death awaits me, as a punishment for my crime; It is not this, however, that renders me so dejected, so restless and uneasy ; — I have still a blacker crime to answer for, which haunts me every hour of my life. I am by extraction a Dutchman, my name James Summs ; and business calling me to London a few
years ago, I resided in Wapping for some consider able time. In this interval I paid my addresses to a young woman, whose name was Hannah Snell, and
qeorge ii. ]
188 MEMOIRS OF [georgb n.
was very successful and happy, as I then imagined, in my amours. In short, I married her; and, in pro cess of time, finding her with child, my love abated ; and, contrary to the ties of humanity, and the duty of a husband, I left her helpless and destitute of all the conveniences of life ; and for aught I know to the contrary, murdered her. But I hope all of you will be so charitable as to make inquiry after my poor distressed wife, and to acquaint her, if ever you should see her, that the thoughts of death do not distract my mind half so much as the conviction of the distress to which I so inhumanly exposed her; that I sincerely repent as much of my sin against her, as of that, in particular, which my life is to atone for, though my
crime, it is true, is of the deepest stain ; and could I
but hope she would pardon and forgive me, I should
die in peace. '
" After the fullest assurances that we would make
all the inquiries, and report him as he wished, we shook him by the hand, and took our last farewell. — Not one of us ever saw him after that melancholy visit ; but were informed, however, that he was not executed publicly, as malefactors are in London, but that he was sewed up in a large bag, in which was a
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 189
sufficient quantity of stones to make him sink, and then thrown headlong into the sea. "
Hannah listened with the utmost attention to this melancholy tale ; and, pondering on every little inci dent, she found the circumstances all concurred so far as to leave no question of the murderer being her unhappy husband ; and, on withdrawing from her
company, indulged in her grief for the untimely fate of the wretched partner of her bed.
Our adventurer went from Lisbon, the 3d of May, on-board the Eltham ; and, on the 1st of June follow ing, arrived, with the rest of her ship-mates, safe at Spithead. Overjoyed at the sight once more of her
native country, she went on-shore the very day of her arrival ; and took lodgings, together with several of her comrades, at the sign of the Jolly Marine and Sailor, in Portsmouth. The various adventures in this woman's life, until her return to her brother-in- law's house, in Wapping, where she was kindly wel comed, would furnish sufficient materials to fill a volume.
She now threw off her male attire, and resumed the petticoats ; and her story, and the wounds she had received in the King's service, induced some of her friends to present a petition in her favor to his Royal
vol. iv. 2 c
oeorge ii. ]
MEMOIRS OF [george n.
Highness the Duke of Cumberland, who procured a pension to be settled on her of one shilling per day for life.
Hannah Snell performed and sung several songs at the theatre in Godman's-fields, and died at the age of 56, in the year 1779-
JOHN SWAN & ELIZ. JEFFRYES.
George ii. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 191
Mr. Jeffries, at one time a capital butcher in London, retired to Walthamstow, in Essex, to live on his fortune ; and, being a widower, without chil dren, had taken his niece, Elizabeth Jeffries, to reside with him.
John Swan was brought up to the occupation of husbandry, and was engaged in the service of Mr. Jeffries, after having lived with several other persons.
A dreadful outcry being heard at Walthamstow, about two o'clock in the morning of the 3d of July, 1751, Mr. Buckle, a near neighbour of Mr. Jeffries,
awaked his wife, who said, "it is Miss Jeffries'
Mrs. Buckle, then going to the window, said, " There is Miss Jeffries in her shift, without shoe or stocking, at a neighbour's door. " On asking
the cause of her strange appearance at that unusual hour ? she exclaimed, " Oh ! they have killed him, they have killed him, I fear. " Desiring her to cover herself, she entreatingly said, " Don't mind me ; see
after my uncle. " Mr. Buckle went immediately to 2c2
tongue. "
192 MEMOIRS OF [george ii.
the house, and the door was opened to him by Swan. The first object was Mr. Jeffries lying on his right side, having three wounds on the uppermost part of his head. The visitor taking him by the hand, said, " My name is Edward Buckle ; if you cannot speak, signify to me on which Jeffries squeezed him by the hand. Some hours after this, Miss Jeffries de sired Mr. Buckle to send information through the country of the murder of her uncle, with an account of such effects as had been stolen ; which a Mrs. Martin said were, a silver-tankard, a silver-cup, and fifteen pewter-plates. Mr. Buckle said, " If I could light on Matthews, I would take him up. " No, said Miss Jeffries, do not meddle with him, for you will bring me into trouble, and yourself too, in so doing. Matthews, however, was taken into custody, and from his apprehension, and other circumstances, the following facts came to light. Having travelled from Yorkshire, in search of work, he was acci dentally met on Epping-forest by Mr. Jeffries, who, seeing him in distress, took him home to work as an assistant to Swan in the garden : the agreement being that he should have no wages, but his food only as
. ■, *' After he had been four days in this service, Miss
a gratuity.
george h. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS.
193 Jeffries sent him up stairs to wipe a chest of drawers
said,
would tell him. Swan being in the garden, Matthews went to him, and told his message ; on which Swan smiled, took him to an out-house, and promised, if he would knock the old miser, his master, on the head, he would give him 100/. Two days afterwards, Mr. Jeffries dismissed Matthews from his service, and gave him a shilling ; and Swan, about the same time, gave him half-a-guinea to purchase a brace of pistols, to murder their master.
Matthews being possessed of this cash, went to the Green Man at Low Layton, where he spent all his money, and then proceeded towards London, when, being overtaken on the road by Swan, the
latter asked him where he was going ? Matthews said to London : on which the other took him to Mr. Gall's, the Green Man and Bell, in Whitechapel, where they drank freely till night ; and, Swan being intoxicated, swore he would fight the best man in the house for a guinea. He likewise pulled off his great coat, and threw it on the fire; but the landlord taking
and some chairs; but presently following
" what will you do, if a person gave you a hundred pounds ;" he said, " any thing in an honest way;"
on which she desired him to go to Swan, and he
194 MEMOIRS OF [george n.
it off, and finding it very heavy, searched the pockets, in which he found a brace of pistols. This circum stance giving rise to unfavorable suspicions, both the men were lodged in the round-house for that night; and, being carried before Sir Samuel Gower the next day, he committed them to Clerkenwell Bridewell,
as disorderly persons.
Miss Jeffries being made acquainted with their
situation, gave bail for their appearance; and they all went to Gall's house, in Whitechapel, where she upbraided Matthews with bringing Swan into dif ficulty. He denied that he had done so ; on which she gave him a shilling, and desired Swan to tell him to meet them at the Yorkshire Grey, at Stratford. Matthews went as agreed upon, but found only Swan there, who gave him half-a-crown, and bade him meet him at six the next morning, at the Buck, on Epping-forest. This he did, and, by appointment,
came to Walthamstow on the Tuesday at ten o'clock at night.
following,
When Matthews arrived, he found the garden-door on the latch, and going into the pantry, hid himself behind a tub till about eleven o'clock, when Swan brought him some cold boiled beef. About twelve Miss Jeffries and Swan came to him ; when the latter
oeorge ii>] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 195
said, " Now it is time to knock the old miser, my master, on the head. " Matthews relented, and said, " I cannot find in my heart to do it ;" to which Miss Jeffries replied," You may be damned for a villain, for
Matthews,
Soon after this Matthews heard the report of a pistol; when, getting out of the house by the back way, he crossed the ferry, and proceeded to Enfield-chase.
It has been mentioned, that Miss Jeffries was found in her shift, after the commission of the murder. We have now to add, that she screamed out " Diaper ! Diaper ! for God's sake, help ! murder I fire ! thieves ! " The neighbour, Mr. Diaper, saw Miss Jeffries half-way out of her window, endeavouring to get down. Mr. Diaper and a Mr. Clarke entered the house, and searched diligently ; but could find no traces of any person having quitted the premises,
as there was a dew on the grass, which did not appear to be disturbed. Swan went to fetch Mr. Forbes, a
not performing your promise. "
provided with pistols, likewise damned
and said he had a mind to blow his brains out for the refusal. Swan then produced a book, and in sisted that Matthews should swear that he would not discover what had passed ; which he did, with this reserve, " not unless it was to save his own life. "
Swan, who was
196 MEMOIRS OP [george n.
surgeon, at Woodford, who observed congealed blood in the room, and examined the wounds, which, on the
trial, he declared to have been mortal. Swan appeared much frightened at the time; and said, he wished that he had died with his master, for that he would have lost his own life to have saved him. As there appeared no marks of any person having been in the house, but those belonging to the family, violent sus picions began to arise. Mr. Jeffries died in great
agonies, at eight o'clock on the following evening. Miss Jeffries was taken into custody on suspicion, and examined by two magistrates, to whom she
confessed that she heard the report of a pistol, and found her uncle murdered. No evidence arising to criminate her, she proved her uncle's will at Doctor's Commons, and took possession of his estate ; but the coroner's inquest having sat on the body, and some further circumstances of doubt arising, she and Swan were committed to prison ; and bills of indictment being found against them, they were put to the bar, and their counsel moved for an immediate trial. This was opposed by the counsel for the prosecution , on account of the absence of Matthews, who, it was presumed, would become a material evidence. The counsel on both sides used all the arguments in their
ceorge ii. ]
power; but the trial was deferred till the following assizes. In the interim, Mr. Gall, of the public-house in Whitechapel, resolved, if possible, to take Mat thews into custody ; and, conversing with one Mr. Smith, he told him that he had seen Matthews come out of the India-house ; when, on inquiry, it was found that he had engaged to enter into the service of the East-India Company, and was at a house in Abel's-buildings, Rosemary-lane. Being taken into custody on a warrant, he was admitted an evidence for the crown, and the trial of Swan and Jeffries came
on at Chelmsford, on the 11th of March, 1752, before
Judge Wright.
Miss Jeffries fainted repeatedly during the trial,
and was once in fits for the space of half-an-hour. The evidence of Matthews was exceedingly clear ; and many corroborative circumstances arising, the
jury found the culprits guilty, and they received sentence of death. After conviction, Miss Jeffries acknowledged the justice of her sentence ; and said, she had deliberated on the murder for two years past, but could find no opportunity of getting it executed, till she engaged Swan in the business; and they
jointly offered Matthews money to perpetrate it. Swan, for some time, expressed great resentment at
VOL. IV. 2 D
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 197
198 MEMOIRS OF [geobge n.
Miss Jeffries' confession ; but when he learnt that he was to be hung in chains, he began to relent, and seemed at length to behold his crime in its true light of enormity. On the day of execution they left the prison at four in the morning, Miss Jeffries being placed in a cart, and Swan on a sledge. The un happy woman had frequent fits during the journey ; but, before she came to the place of execution, her spirits became more composed. Swan appeared to be a real penitent, and joined with the utmost ear nestness in the prayers of the clergyman who attended them. Miss Jeffries told the clergyman, that she
had been seduced by her uncle, while his wife was living, and that he had given her medicines to procure abortion at two different times ; though, for the truth of this we have no evidence but her own declaration. She fainted just before she was tied up, nor had she recovered when the cart drew away.
They were executed near the six mile-stone, on Epping-forest, on the 28th of March, 1752 ; and the body of Miss Jeffries having been delivered to her friends for interment, the gibbet was removed to another part of the forest, where Swan was hung in chains.
Miss Jeffries and her uncle had not lived on the
george n. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS.
199
best terms for some time ; he frequently expressed himself displeased with her conduct, and the day fol lowing the murder, it was Mr. Jeffries' intention to have made a considerable alteration in his will, in favor of a daughter-in-law, named Martin, and to have provided for her and her family ; this, in all probability, acce lerated the fatal catastrophe. Miss Jeffries confessed
she went into her uncle's room to see if he were asleep, and took a silver-tankard, a silver-cup, and some silver- spoons, from off a chest of drawers ; and with Swan went into the kitchen and took some pewter and brass
utensils off the shelves, which they put in a new sack, for Swan to conceal, in order to give colour to a
supposed robbery of the house.
foe MEMOIRS OF £geobge h,
John TayLor having had the fortune to perform a few successful cures in disorders of the eye, became so puffed up with pride and vanity, that he consi dered himself superior to any operator or physician of his time : nor was his son the least inferior to his father in conceit. The latter resided many years in Hatton-garden, and followed his father's profession
of an oculist, with considerable reputation. In the
1761, Mr. Taylor published the life of his father, with the following pompous title :—
" The Life and extraordinary History of the Chevalier John Taylor, Member of the most cele brated Academies, Universities, and Societies of the Learned —Chevalier in several of the first Courts in
the World—Illustrious (by patent) in the apartments of many of the greatest Princes —Opthalmiater, Pon tifical, Imperial, and Royal — to his late Majesty —to the Pontifical Court — to the Person of her Imperial Majesty —to the Kings of Poland, Denmark, Sweden,
year
JOANNE S TAYL OR, memcus, In Optica expertissimus.
eEOBGE n. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 201
&c. — to the several Electors of the Holy Empire —to the Royal Infant Duke of Parma — to the Prince of Saxe-Gotha, Serenissima, brother to her Royal Highness the Princess Dowager of Wales — to the Prince Royal of Poland—to the late Prince of Orange — to the present Princes of Bavaria, Modena, Lorrain, Brunswick, Anspach, Bareith, Liege, Salts-
Hesse-Cassel, Holstein, Zerbst, Georgia, &c. — Citizen of Rome, by a public Act in
the name of the Senate and People —Fellow of that College of Physicians —Professor in Optics—Doctor in Medicine and Doctor in Chirurgery, in several Universities abroad — who has been on his Travels
upwards of thirty years with little or no interruption, during which, he has not only been several times in
every town in these kingdoms, but in every kingdom, province, state, and city of the least consideration — in every court — presented to every crowned head and Sovereign Prince in all Europe ; without exception, containing the greatest variety of the most entertain
ing and interesting adventures, that, it is presumed, has ever yet been published in any country, or in any
language. "
Notwithstanding this bombastic puff and quackery,
bourg, Middlebourg,
802 MEMOIRS OF [geobse it.
the work is nothing more than a farrago of nonsense, drawn up in the style of a novel, in which it appears he deserted his wife for eight years, and involved his son in 200/. expense by the perplexity of his affairs. By way of advertisement, the chevalier thus addresses his son :—" My Son, if you should unguardedly have suffered your name at the head of a work, which must make us all contemptible, this must be printed in as the best apology for yourself and father —
" TO THE PRINTER.
" My dear and only son having respectfully re presented to me that he has composed work entitled My Life and Adventures, and requires my consent for its publication notwithstanding, am as yet a stranger to the composition, and, consequently, can be no judge of its merit; am so well persuaded that my son every way incapable of saying ought of his father but what must redound to his honor and reputation and, so perfectly convinced of the goodness of his heart, that does not seem possible should err in my judgment, by giving my consent to the publication of the said work. And, as have long been employed in writing my own Life and Adventures, which will,
is it
:■
I
IIa
;
; I
it,
ik]
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 208
with all expedition, be published, it will be hereafter left with all due attention to the candid reader, whether the life of the father written by the son, or the life of the father written by himself, best deserves approbation.
" The Chevalier Taylor, Ophthalmiator, Pontifical, Imperial, and Royal.
" Oxford, Jan. 10, 176 1. "
" The above is a true copy of the letter my father sent me. All the answer I can make to the bills he sends about the town and country, is, that I have maintained my mother these eight years, and do at this present time ; and that, two years since, I was concerned in his affairs, for which I have paid near
200/. , as witness my hand,
"John Taylor, Oculist
" Hatton Garden, May 25, 1761. "
The Chevalier Taylor was son of an apothecary, residing at Norwich, where he was born. His father dying before he was six years old, he was left wholly to the care of his mother, a very careful, honest, and
industrious woman, who continued the business of her husband, by which means she supported herself and three young children. At the age of nineteen
204 MEMOIRS OP [georgb ii.
she sent the Chevalier to London, giving him thirty
to open his way into St. Thomas's Hospi tal, as a student in surgery, where he practised under
guineas
Cheselden, from whom he received the first rudiments of his art as an oculist.
Having arrived at the age of twenty-one, and tole rably well-skilled as a surgeon, he returned to Nor wich ; but was surprised and mortified to find the family-mansion, as he called mortgaged, by his mother, to defray the charges of his own brother's education.
the celebrated
He managed, however, to raise 200/. by the sale of the premises, and opened fine shop in Norwich, supplied with drugs of all sorts, from London, with an
stone, &c. &c. He had promised his mother moiety of the 200/. , but fine furniture and other expenses swept away the whole; and before the doctor could open in form, he was attended with more creditors than patients. Cutting for the stone he soon laid down, as his first attempt in that way proved unsuccessful, though the process was allowed, by good judges, to be well pursued. Though he
had at this time several pupils, who brought him round sum, yet his profuse way of living, in less
apparatus for cutting for the
in a
a
a
it,
ceorge ii. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 205
than six months, drove him into sanctuary, where he remained till his creditors could be prevailed on to sign a letter of license. He married a very agreeable woman, but without money ; and, during his retire ment, he got two wenches with child, while his wife was busy abroad conciliating his creditors. One of the girls was brought to bed about a fortnight before the other, and he found it no small difficulty to give security to the parish-officers. He persuaded the other, after her lying-in, being now upon the verge of a decampment, to put on boys' clothes, attend him as his page, and fly off with him to Holland ; which she did. But an accident there discovered her sex, which obliged the doctor to send her packing home again, the laws in Holland being very severe against such masqueradings.
The life of the Chevalier Taylor abounds in lewd tales of his amorous intrigues ; and is written in a vein of satire, rather exposing to censure the actions of his father, than placing them in a favorable light. The desertion of his mother, and the money he states to have expended on the chevalier's affairs,
gave rise to family quarrels.
Noticing the birth of his father, he says, " Between the hours of eleven and one, on the sixteenth day of
VOL. iv. 2 E
probably
206 MEMOIRS OF [geobge ii.
August, one thousand seven hundred and three, did nature and the midwife give our matchless hero to the world ; the sun and his mother being in labour at the same time, he travelling through an eclipse, and
she in travail of the illustrious doctor, who, at one instant with the sun, began to break out from dark ness, and, as the parish-records testify, came rushing into light with him. "
The younger Taylor's life of the Chevalier, proves him rather to have been a mere mountebank than a skilful operator ; and that, for the purpose of decep tion, he trained a man to act the part of a person blind ; but at Oxford the collusion was discovered, when the doctor and his confederate were put to flight,
with shame and disgrace*
The Chevalier Taylor died in 1772, aged sixty-
. '-,. i; -■-. . /
nine
-
George Taylor.
george ii. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS.
*■i i
207
•. ) 1
-
*— - . . . .
.
,
George Castor, 1
PUGILIST.
George Taylor, known by the name of George the Barber, sprang up surprisingly ; he beat all the chief boxers of his time, except Broughton, whom he very injudiciously challenged before he had attempted
■>
was, he was obliged very soon to give in. It was certainly an ill-advised and wrong step in him to commence boxer by fighting the standing champion ; for Taylor was not then twenty, and Broughton was in the zenith of his age and art. After this trial, in which he was himself with others ; but never had the temerity to engage
again with Broughton.
George Taylor was a strong able man, who, with a
skill extraordinary, aided by his knowledge of the back-sword, and a remarkable judgment in the cross- buttock fall, was able to contest with most of his
one of less celebrity ; the consequence
signally defeated, he greatly distinguished
opponents.
But Captain John Godfrey, in his 2e2
208 MEMOIRS OF [george n.
" Treatise on the Science of Defence," was of opinion, that he was not overstocked with that necessary ingre dient of a boxer, called a good bottom ; and suspected that blows, of equal strength with his own, too much affected and disconcerted him in many of his fights.
He, however, on most occasions, came off victo rious ; and Death, the great conqueror of all, closed his career on the 21st of February, 1750.
george ii. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 209
COMMONLY CALLED THE STRONG MAN.
Thomas Topham was born in London, about the
His father was a carpenter, and brought his son up to the same business, which he followed until he was about twenty-four years of age ; when, having saved a little money, he took a public-house, the sign of the Red Lion, at the corner of the City- road, opposite St. Luke's Hospital. Here he might have done well, and have saved money ; but his wife, from her coquettish behaviour, caused them to lead a very unhappy life ; and he, in consequence, neglect ing the business of his house, shortly failed .
He had often displayed amazing proofs of his strength ; and necessity now prompted him to adopt some plan whereby he might turn this qualification to account ; to which purpose he proposed to perform in public such feats as astonished every one who heard of the undertaking; doubting the thing as im possible to accomplish. His first public exhibition
year 1710.
210 MEMOIRS OF [ceorge 11.
was in Moorfields, where he opposed his own personal strength against that of a young and vigorous horse, which he accomplished, by placing his feet against the dwarf-wall, dividing Upper from the Lower Moor fields; nor could the whipping and urging the horse on, remove Topham from his position, but he com- pletly kept the animal in restraint by his powerful hold. Heafterwards pulled against two horses, but as his legs were placed horizontally, instead of rising parallel to the traces of the horse, he was jerked from his seat, and had one of his knees much bruised and hurt. By t\\e strength of his fingers he rolled up a very strong and large pewter dish ; and broke seven or eight short pieces of a tobacco-pipe by the force of his middle finger, having laid them on his first and third. He thrust the bowl of a strong tobacco-pipe under his garters, and his legs being bent, he broke it
to pieces by the tendons of his hams. —Another bowl
of this kind he broke between his first and second
finger, by pressing them together sideways. — He lifted a table six feet long, with half-a-hundred weight hanging at the end of holding in an horizontal position, with his teeth, considerable time. —These, and many other feats of strength, he exhibited at the price of one shilling admission for each person.
a
it,
it
cteoKbtaih]
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 211
" When- «t' Derby,- he applied to Alderman Cooper forpermission to display the different feats he pro posed;- : The alderman was surprised at his perform- aftce> and requested him to strip, that he might examine whether he was made like other men; when he disco
vered, that the usual cavities under the arms and hams of others were in him supplied with ligaments.
The injury he received from the two horses caused
him to limp a little in his walk. He was a well-made
man, but had nothing singular in his appearance. — The performances he exhibited at Derby, where the rolling up of a pewter-dish, of seven pounds weight, with as much apparent ease as a man rolls up a sheet of paper ; holding a pewter quart-pot at arm's length, and squeezing the sides together like an egg-shell ; lifting two hundred weight with his little finger, and moving it gently over his head : he also broke a rope fastened to the floor, that would have sustained twenty hundred weight. Holding11TM his teeth a piece of leather fixed to one end of an oak-table, which had
half-a-hundred weight suspended to and with two of the feet resting upon his knees, he raised the end with the weight higher than the part he held near his mouth. Mr. Chambers, vicar of All Saints, in Derby, who weighed twenty-seven stone, he took and raised
it,
212 MEMOIRS OP [GEORGE II.
with one hand, his head being laid on one chair, and his feet on another. Four persons, of fourteen stone each, sat upon Topham's body, and these he heaved at
At a blow he struck a round bar of iron, one inch in diameter, against his naked arm, and bent it like a bow. Knowing a little of music, he enter tained the company at Derby with Mad Tom; he also sung a solo, accompanied on the organ in St.
pleasure.
church ; and though he performed it with judgment, yet his voice seemed infinitely more terrible than mellow, and, in some instances, scarcely human. The ostler at the Virgin-inn, where Topham lodged, having insulted him, he took one of the spits from the kitchen mantle-piece, bent it round his neck
like a handkerchief, and left the ends sticking out; the man appeared so awkward in his iron cravat, as to excite the mirth and laughter of all who saw the in cumbrance he laboured under ; nor could he extricate himself until Topham condescended to relieve him. But these were only the common-place performances, when he went about purposely to exhibit; by way of frolic he would accomplish more surprising feats. — One night, observing a watchman fast asleep in his box, in Chiswell-street, he took both, and carrying
the load with the greatest ease, dropped the watch
Werburgh's
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 213
'man, box and all, over the wall of Tindall's burying- ground, leaving the man to extricate himself as well as he could. Sitting once at the window of a public- house, in the same street, a butcher going by from a slaughter-house, with nearly half an ox upon his back, Topham relieved him of his load, with so much ease and dexterity, that the fellow astonished, swore nothing
but the devil could have flown away with the beef. Observing some bricklayers removing part of a scaf
fold, previous to striking from small building, he, towards assisting them, grasped hold of one of the poles so rudely, that part of the front wall followed his Herculean tug the fellows conceiving had been
the effects of an earthquake, ran without looking be hind them into an adjoining field. Mr. Topham's joke had nearly proved of serious consequence, for one
of the poles in falling hurt him severely on his side.
gborgb ii. ]
an acquaintance of his on-board West Indiaman, in the river, and being presented
with cocoa-nut, he astonished one of the sailors by
Accompanying
close to his ear, with the same ease as we crack an egg-shell. A race taking place on the Hackney-road, fellow, with horse and cart, an
noyed the spectators much, by attempting to keep close to the contending parties; Topham, who was
VOL. IV.
cracking
2 F
it, a
a
a
a it
a
:
a
it
214 MEMOIRS OF [oborgbii.
into the road, seized the tail of the cart, and, in spite of all the fellow's exertions, in whipping his horse to get forward, drew them both back, with the greatest ease possible, to the
mortification of the man, who would have resented the indignity, but was naturally dismayed. At the
time he kept a public-house, two fellows, extremely quarrelsome, could not be appeased without fighting the landlord. Topham, to satisfy their desire, seized them both by the nape of the neck, and knocked their heads together, till they were perfectly sensible of their error, and very humbly begged his pardon.
But the greatest of all his exploits was performed in Bath-street, Cold-bath-fields, on the 28th of May, 1741, when, in honor of Admiral Vernon's taking
of Porto-Bello, he lifted three hogsheads of water,
weighing 1,836 pounds, in the presence of some thousands of persons.
The levity of his wife, and her illicit attachment to another person, were the source of much uneasiness to him; and, unfortunately, becoming the slave to
jealous passions, in a fit of frenzy, after beating her very severely, he put a period to his own existence, in the very flower of his age, not having completed,
his thirty-third year.
present, stepped
oeorob ». ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 215
The impression he left on the minds of the people
in London was such, that his portrait,
some one or other of his feats, was painted on various
the metropolis ; there were many remaining, even up to the year 1 800 ; one in particular, over a public-house near the May-pole, in East
Smithfield, representing him in the act of pulling against two dray-horses.
signs throughout
displaying
2f2
216 MEMOIRS OF [otOROB n.
This Frenchman was master of a smuggling-vessel, that conveyed to the different shores of England con traband and exciseable articles; which, from the heavy customs imposed on them, rendered it a most profit
able trade to those who could, with impunity, import them free of duty. In one of these illicit trips, from Boulogne to the coast of Kent, while his vessel was hovering near Margate, for the purpose of landing his commodities as secret as possible, it was observed by some pilots, and mistaken for a ship in distress. To this end, and with a view of rendering any assistance that might be wanting, several of these pilots took a
boat, and made towards the vessel. De-la-Tour, conceiving them to be officers of the customs, with out any warning whatever, fired several shots into the boat, which killed one man, and desperately
wounded two others ; and then, without attempting to make a landing, stood out to sea.
On the boat's return to the land, with the dead body and wounded men, the survivors reported the
JEAN DE L. A
TOTTR, (Tried far Kracy. )
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 217
transaction, and described the ship in the best way they could; but, notwithstanding an armed vessel was immediately dispatched in pursuit of this supposed pirate, De-la-Tour contrived to elude the vigilance of his pursuers for a considerable length of time. The circumstance becoming widely known, every one was made acquainted with the description of the ship ; and De-la-Tour still carrying on his nefarious traffic, though he had changed the scene of his former trade, was taken, about four months after, by an English vessel, and brought to England, in order to undergo his trial for the murder. The identity of his person being ascertained by some of the men who were in
the boat at the time of the outrage, he was upon their evidence found guilty, and hanged in the year 1744.
ceorge ii. ]
MEMOIRS OF
[oBOBOsn.
These persons are associated together, on account of their being tried, condemned, and of suffering at the same time. Mr. Townley was descended from an ancient and honorable family, of some centuries resi
dence in Lancashire, and was the son of Richard Townley, of Townley-hall, in that county, who was tried for the share he had in the rebellion of 1715, but acquitted.