(now an uncommon
though pensive
embellished with numerous and.
though pensive
embellished with numerous and.
Caulfield - Portraits, Memoirs, of Characters and Memorable Persons
Portraits, memoirs, and characters, of remarkable persons, from
the revolution in 1688 to the end of the reign of George II. Collected
from the most authentic accounts extant. By James Caulfield.
Caulfield, James, 1764-1826. London, T. H. Whitely, 1819-20.
http://hdl. handle. net/2027/yale. 39002004920444
Public Domain
http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd
We have determined this work to be in the public domain, meaning that it is not subject to copyright. Users are free to copy, use, and redistribute the work in part or in whole. It is possible that current copyright holders, heirs or the estate of the authors of individual portions of the work, such as illustrations or photographs, assert copyrights over these portions. Depending on the nature of subsequent use that is made, additional rights may need to be obtained independently of anything we can address.
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YALE LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY
WlI^IilAM AI. 1I>1« IIJ) GK .
PORTRAITS, MEMOIRS,
REMARKABLE PERSONS,
REVOLUTION in 1688
END OF THE REIGN OF GEORGE II.
COLLECTED FROM THE MOST AUTHENTIC ACCOUNTS EXTANT.
JAMES CAULFIELD. IN FOUR VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
PUBLISHED BY H. R. YOUNG, 56, PATERNOSTER-ROW ; AND
T. H. WHITELY, J 03, NEWGATE-STREET.
1819.
v. LEWIS, PRINTER, FINCH-LANB, CORNHILL, LONDON.
ADVERTISEMENT.
1 HERE are no description of persons who
excite public curiosity more than those who have been ushered into notice by circum
stances of peculiar notoriety,
such as have not been restrained by the laws of their country, or influenced by the common obligations of society. Men, whose daring
enterprise and deep cunning might, properly cultivated, and differently directed, have ren dered them the brightest ornaments of the age
in which they lived ; and Whitney, Jack Shep- pafd, or Turpin, (common thieves) instead of the ignominious fate which attended them, ihight have emulated the extolled deeds of
a Marlborough or a Wellington; and, like thetii, have enjoyed similar honours. As might Bamfylde Moore Carew, in negociation and
VOL. I.
a
particularly
vi
ADVERTISEMENT.
equalled or excelled Lord Castlereagh or Mr. George Canning ; and why
contrivance, have
and ability, as a counsellor, have vied with any
not
George
Barrington, for ingenuity
pleader who has
himself at the bar. Of another description of
advocate or
persons, James Bick the mimic trumpeter,
Grinner, stage, have been formidable rivals in repute with Mathews
celebrated Oxford might, if exhibited on a public
and Isaac the
distinguished
and Grimaldi.
different are the multitude who are noticed only as instances of the deviation of nature, such as giants, dwarfs, strong men, personal deformity, &c. In like manner are
distinguished those persons who have lived to
an
extraordinary
Very
age; others, as empirics and quacks, buffoons, prize-fighters, and ad
serve but to' fill up the class of
venturers,
Remarkable Characters; and if
eccentricity of manners characterises another description
ADVERTISEMENT. VU
of persons, that very eccentricity entitles them to a place in the present work.
The period in which many of the persons lived who are commemorated in this under
taking, is perhaps the most eventful in the annals of British history. England witnessed the ascent to its throne of two different families, in the short space of twenty-six years. The revolution of 1688 gave to the country, as its king, William Prince of Orange, after wards William IIL and, on the demise of Queen Anne, the succession was vested in the house of Brunswick, by the accessiou of George I. Party-strife ran so high on this
event taking place, that it ultimately ended
open rebellion. And, men of the most exalted rank, and of the highest consideration
in the country, were, with numbers of infe rior note, alike made examples of; and the axe and the gibbet became as much in re-.
a2
in
viii
ADVERTISEMENT.
quest as when the strife for sovereignty, existed between the contending houses of York and Lancaster.
It is an extraordinary circumstance, that among the many collected lives of highway men, and other notorious offenders, that what ever embellishments by plates, which have hitherto accompanied the accounts, they have
been given from the invention of
invariably
the artist, without the least, regard to
the personal resemblance of the party described
iu the narrative. In Johnson's highwaymen, &c. (now an uncommon
though pensive
embellished with numerous and. ex plates, there is not. one through out the work that is a faithful representation
of the person, even in the article of dress, much less of their physiognomy and general
character. Mull'd Sack, the cess, Whitney, Jonathan Wild,
German Prin Jack Sheppard,
history qf book,)
ADVERTISEMENT. ix
and Sarah Malcolm's transactions, are delineated entirely by scenic views of their robberies and
subsequent
The only cause that can be assigned for this palpable error, is the uncommon rarity of the true prints. That of MuU'd Sack, in particular, has been sold at a public auction for upwards of forty guineas ; Whitney, copied
in this collection, is considered to be unique ;
William Joy, the English samson; Jonathan
Wild, with the ticket to his funeral ; Turpin in
his cave ; Old Harry, with his raree-show ;
Guy, founder of Guy's Hospital, writing his will ; and many others, interspersed throughout
the work, are likewise taken from originals of the greatest scarcity and value ; and not a life or character is recorded, but is accompanied by a portrait of unquestioned authenticity.
JAMES CAULFIELD
executions.
CONTENTS.
REIGX OF WILLIAM
Aldridge, William, an aged Wheelwright Atkins, William, an eccentric Gout-doctor
Baskerville, Thomas, a whimsical Enthusiast
III.
Pag*
Bigg, John, the Dinton Hermit
Brown, Thomas, a Facetious Writer
D'Urfey, Thomas, a Humorous Poet Fenwick, Sir John, executed for High -treason Gale, John, a singular Deaf and Dumb Man Hermon, Philip, a visionary Quaker
. Johnston, Sir John, executed for stealing an Heiress
Joy, William, the English Samson . Radcliffe, John, an extraordinary Physician Rymer, Thomas, a Critic and Compiler Tryon, Thomas, a singular Enthusiast
.
.
.
.
Whitney, James, an extraordinary Highwayman K£IGN OF QUEEN ANNE.
JEsop of Eton, a rhyming Cobler
Biek, James, a Mimic Trumpeter . Britton, Thomas, a Musical Small Coal-man Burgess, Daniel,. a Pulpit Buffoon
Dennis, John, a sour and severe Critic
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. .
.
, 1 . 3 . 6 . 9
. 12 . 16 . 19
. 25
. 28
¦ 31 . 37 . 44 . 50
. 54 57
. 73 . 75 . 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.
(now an uncommon
though pensive
embellished with numerous and. ex plates, there is not. one through out the work that is a faithful representation
of the person, even in the article of dress, much less of their physiognomy and general
character. Mull'd Sack, the cess, Whitney, Jonathan Wild,
German Prin Jack Sheppard,
history qf book,)
ADVERTISEMENT. ix
and Sarah Malcolm's transactions, are delineated entirely by scenic views of their robberies and
subsequent
The only cause that can be assigned for this palpable error, is the uncommon rarity of the true prints. That of MuU'd Sack, in particular, has been sold at a public auction for upwards of forty guineas ; Whitney, copied
in this collection, is considered to be unique ;
William Joy, the English samson; Jonathan
Wild, with the ticket to his funeral ; Turpin in
his cave ; Old Harry, with his raree-show ;
Guy, founder of Guy's Hospital, writing his will ; and many others, interspersed throughout
the work, are likewise taken from originals of the greatest scarcity and value ; and not a life or character is recorded, but is accompanied by a portrait of unquestioned authenticity.
JAMES CAULFIELD
executions.
CONTENTS.
REIGX OF WILLIAM
Aldridge, William, an aged Wheelwright Atkins, William, an eccentric Gout-doctor
Baskerville, Thomas, a whimsical Enthusiast
III.
Pag*
Bigg, John, the Dinton Hermit
Brown, Thomas, a Facetious Writer
D'Urfey, Thomas, a Humorous Poet Fenwick, Sir John, executed for High -treason Gale, John, a singular Deaf and Dumb Man Hermon, Philip, a visionary Quaker
. Johnston, Sir John, executed for stealing an Heiress
Joy, William, the English Samson . Radcliffe, John, an extraordinary Physician Rymer, Thomas, a Critic and Compiler Tryon, Thomas, a singular Enthusiast
.
.
.
.
Whitney, James, an extraordinary Highwayman K£IGN OF QUEEN ANNE.
JEsop of Eton, a rhyming Cobler
Biek, James, a Mimic Trumpeter . Britton, Thomas, a Musical Small Coal-man Burgess, Daniel,. a Pulpit Buffoon
Dennis, John, a sour and severe Critic
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. .
.
, 1 . 3 . 6 . 9
. 12 . 16 . 19
. 25
. 28
¦ 31 . 37 . 44 . 50
. 54 57
. 73 . 75 . 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.
the revolution in 1688 to the end of the reign of George II. Collected
from the most authentic accounts extant. By James Caulfield.
Caulfield, James, 1764-1826. London, T. H. Whitely, 1819-20.
http://hdl. handle. net/2027/yale. 39002004920444
Public Domain
http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd
We have determined this work to be in the public domain, meaning that it is not subject to copyright. Users are free to copy, use, and redistribute the work in part or in whole. It is possible that current copyright holders, heirs or the estate of the authors of individual portions of the work, such as illustrations or photographs, assert copyrights over these portions. Depending on the nature of subsequent use that is made, additional rights may need to be obtained independently of anything we can address.
r^ -*.
. . . 's
^%'t^ :' '-#•.
'"-'•
y t». 1. 'l
l^A ^^ r*eyj^-,
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^-a wife
^
YALE LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY
WlI^IilAM AI. 1I>1« IIJ) GK .
PORTRAITS, MEMOIRS,
REMARKABLE PERSONS,
REVOLUTION in 1688
END OF THE REIGN OF GEORGE II.
COLLECTED FROM THE MOST AUTHENTIC ACCOUNTS EXTANT.
JAMES CAULFIELD. IN FOUR VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
PUBLISHED BY H. R. YOUNG, 56, PATERNOSTER-ROW ; AND
T. H. WHITELY, J 03, NEWGATE-STREET.
1819.
v. LEWIS, PRINTER, FINCH-LANB, CORNHILL, LONDON.
ADVERTISEMENT.
1 HERE are no description of persons who
excite public curiosity more than those who have been ushered into notice by circum
stances of peculiar notoriety,
such as have not been restrained by the laws of their country, or influenced by the common obligations of society. Men, whose daring
enterprise and deep cunning might, properly cultivated, and differently directed, have ren dered them the brightest ornaments of the age
in which they lived ; and Whitney, Jack Shep- pafd, or Turpin, (common thieves) instead of the ignominious fate which attended them, ihight have emulated the extolled deeds of
a Marlborough or a Wellington; and, like thetii, have enjoyed similar honours. As might Bamfylde Moore Carew, in negociation and
VOL. I.
a
particularly
vi
ADVERTISEMENT.
equalled or excelled Lord Castlereagh or Mr. George Canning ; and why
contrivance, have
and ability, as a counsellor, have vied with any
not
George
Barrington, for ingenuity
pleader who has
himself at the bar. Of another description of
advocate or
persons, James Bick the mimic trumpeter,
Grinner, stage, have been formidable rivals in repute with Mathews
celebrated Oxford might, if exhibited on a public
and Isaac the
distinguished
and Grimaldi.
different are the multitude who are noticed only as instances of the deviation of nature, such as giants, dwarfs, strong men, personal deformity, &c. In like manner are
distinguished those persons who have lived to
an
extraordinary
Very
age; others, as empirics and quacks, buffoons, prize-fighters, and ad
serve but to' fill up the class of
venturers,
Remarkable Characters; and if
eccentricity of manners characterises another description
ADVERTISEMENT. VU
of persons, that very eccentricity entitles them to a place in the present work.
The period in which many of the persons lived who are commemorated in this under
taking, is perhaps the most eventful in the annals of British history. England witnessed the ascent to its throne of two different families, in the short space of twenty-six years. The revolution of 1688 gave to the country, as its king, William Prince of Orange, after wards William IIL and, on the demise of Queen Anne, the succession was vested in the house of Brunswick, by the accessiou of George I. Party-strife ran so high on this
event taking place, that it ultimately ended
open rebellion. And, men of the most exalted rank, and of the highest consideration
in the country, were, with numbers of infe rior note, alike made examples of; and the axe and the gibbet became as much in re-.
a2
in
viii
ADVERTISEMENT.
quest as when the strife for sovereignty, existed between the contending houses of York and Lancaster.
It is an extraordinary circumstance, that among the many collected lives of highway men, and other notorious offenders, that what ever embellishments by plates, which have hitherto accompanied the accounts, they have
been given from the invention of
invariably
the artist, without the least, regard to
the personal resemblance of the party described
iu the narrative. In Johnson's highwaymen, &c. (now an uncommon
though pensive
embellished with numerous and. ex plates, there is not. one through out the work that is a faithful representation
of the person, even in the article of dress, much less of their physiognomy and general
character. Mull'd Sack, the cess, Whitney, Jonathan Wild,
German Prin Jack Sheppard,
history qf book,)
ADVERTISEMENT. ix
and Sarah Malcolm's transactions, are delineated entirely by scenic views of their robberies and
subsequent
The only cause that can be assigned for this palpable error, is the uncommon rarity of the true prints. That of MuU'd Sack, in particular, has been sold at a public auction for upwards of forty guineas ; Whitney, copied
in this collection, is considered to be unique ;
William Joy, the English samson; Jonathan
Wild, with the ticket to his funeral ; Turpin in
his cave ; Old Harry, with his raree-show ;
Guy, founder of Guy's Hospital, writing his will ; and many others, interspersed throughout
the work, are likewise taken from originals of the greatest scarcity and value ; and not a life or character is recorded, but is accompanied by a portrait of unquestioned authenticity.
JAMES CAULFIELD
executions.
CONTENTS.
REIGX OF WILLIAM
Aldridge, William, an aged Wheelwright Atkins, William, an eccentric Gout-doctor
Baskerville, Thomas, a whimsical Enthusiast
III.
Pag*
Bigg, John, the Dinton Hermit
Brown, Thomas, a Facetious Writer
D'Urfey, Thomas, a Humorous Poet Fenwick, Sir John, executed for High -treason Gale, John, a singular Deaf and Dumb Man Hermon, Philip, a visionary Quaker
. Johnston, Sir John, executed for stealing an Heiress
Joy, William, the English Samson . Radcliffe, John, an extraordinary Physician Rymer, Thomas, a Critic and Compiler Tryon, Thomas, a singular Enthusiast
.
.
.
.
Whitney, James, an extraordinary Highwayman K£IGN OF QUEEN ANNE.
JEsop of Eton, a rhyming Cobler
Biek, James, a Mimic Trumpeter . Britton, Thomas, a Musical Small Coal-man Burgess, Daniel,. a Pulpit Buffoon
Dennis, John, a sour and severe Critic
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. .
.
, 1 . 3 . 6 . 9
. 12 . 16 . 19
. 25
. 28
¦ 31 . 37 . 44 . 50
. 54 57
. 73 . 75 . 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.
(now an uncommon
though pensive
embellished with numerous and. ex plates, there is not. one through out the work that is a faithful representation
of the person, even in the article of dress, much less of their physiognomy and general
character. Mull'd Sack, the cess, Whitney, Jonathan Wild,
German Prin Jack Sheppard,
history qf book,)
ADVERTISEMENT. ix
and Sarah Malcolm's transactions, are delineated entirely by scenic views of their robberies and
subsequent
The only cause that can be assigned for this palpable error, is the uncommon rarity of the true prints. That of MuU'd Sack, in particular, has been sold at a public auction for upwards of forty guineas ; Whitney, copied
in this collection, is considered to be unique ;
William Joy, the English samson; Jonathan
Wild, with the ticket to his funeral ; Turpin in
his cave ; Old Harry, with his raree-show ;
Guy, founder of Guy's Hospital, writing his will ; and many others, interspersed throughout
the work, are likewise taken from originals of the greatest scarcity and value ; and not a life or character is recorded, but is accompanied by a portrait of unquestioned authenticity.
JAMES CAULFIELD
executions.
CONTENTS.
REIGX OF WILLIAM
Aldridge, William, an aged Wheelwright Atkins, William, an eccentric Gout-doctor
Baskerville, Thomas, a whimsical Enthusiast
III.
Pag*
Bigg, John, the Dinton Hermit
Brown, Thomas, a Facetious Writer
D'Urfey, Thomas, a Humorous Poet Fenwick, Sir John, executed for High -treason Gale, John, a singular Deaf and Dumb Man Hermon, Philip, a visionary Quaker
. Johnston, Sir John, executed for stealing an Heiress
Joy, William, the English Samson . Radcliffe, John, an extraordinary Physician Rymer, Thomas, a Critic and Compiler Tryon, Thomas, a singular Enthusiast
.
.
.
.
Whitney, James, an extraordinary Highwayman K£IGN OF QUEEN ANNE.
JEsop of Eton, a rhyming Cobler
Biek, James, a Mimic Trumpeter . Britton, Thomas, a Musical Small Coal-man Burgess, Daniel,. a Pulpit Buffoon
Dennis, John, a sour and severe Critic
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
. .
.
, 1 . 3 . 6 . 9
. 12 . 16 . 19
. 25
. 28
¦ 31 . 37 . 44 . 50
. 54 57
. 73 . 75 . 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.
