No More Learning

John ©ENNis, well-known under the Appellation of Denniis ih6 Critic, was the son of a s&dler, and citizen of London, Where he' was born in 1657. He received, a literary education, first at Hari-ow-school, and afterwards at 'Caius College, Cambridge. He remained seven years at the University, and quitting
with the degree of M. A. , made the tour of France
and, Italy,' which he was enabled to accomplish by the
liberahty of his father and rich uncle, the latter of
whpm leaving him small 'fortune,';;shortly after his retiirnl, enabled; him to form an 'acquaintance with
the most distinguished poets and men of letters of the time, by. whom he was regarded as a person of know ledge and talents. He followed nbfparticular pro
fession, but devoted himself to literary life. He endeavoured to make, himself known as pbet, critic, and dramatic writer, and exerted himself with con siderable assiduity, though with but little success his poetry was turgid, heavy, and obscure.
;
a. a
it
a
a
it,
ANNE. J REMARKABLE PERSONS. 87
For the stage, he wrote both comedy and tragedy, and appears to have had some knowledge of the me chanism of the drama ; but his performances were, in general, valued by the public at a much lower rate than he himself put upon them. His tragedy, entitled '* Liberty Asserted," which became popular, on ac count of the virulent abuse of the French nation, (with which it abounded,) was of such political con sequence in his own eyes, that he imagined Lewis XIV. would make a point, at the peace, of having him; delivered up to his resentment. Under this appre
hension, he actually applied to the Duke of Marl borough for his good offices, when the treaty of Utrecht was in agitation. The Duke gravely remark
ed, "that he himself had made no application for security in the articles of peace, and yet he could net but think he had done the French king almost as much harm as Mr. Dennis had done. " Another time, being upon a visit to a friend, who lived on the coast of Sussex, he saw a ship making towards land, when, taking it into his head that this was a French vessel come to seize him, he exclaimed, that he was betrayed, and made the best of his way to London, without leave of his host.
taking" Appius Virginia" performed,. When his and was
88 MEMOIRS OF [anne.
Dennis, to augment the terror ofthe scene, invented a new species of thunder, more sonorous and alarming than that before in use, and which, indeed, was so well approved as to be employed to the present day.
His tragedy soon disappeared from the stage; but Dennis soon after heard his own thunder at the per formance of Macbeth. " S'death," cried he, "how these rascals use me ! they will not let my play run, yet they steal my thunder. "
His last tragedy, enritied " Coriolanus, or the Fatal
given out for the next night. Dennis was equally surprised and enraged. He published his tragedy,
with a dedicarion to the Duke of Newcastle, in which he states his case, charging the "three insolent actors," who were managers, * with a conspiracy against him, and against genius in general^ and assum ing the most ludicrous self-consequence.
Dennis was a sour, morose, and ill-natured man ; his irritable temper often involved him in personal
* Booth, Wilks, and Cibber.
Resentment,"
altered from Shakespeare, caused him entirely to break with the managers. After three representations to poor houses, another play was
ANNE. J REMARKABLE PERSONS. 89
disputes with men greatly his superiors, among whom were Addison and Pope; and, though his attacks
upon
reason and plain sense, yet they shewed great insen-
them were not witiiout some foundation of
sibiHty to poetical beauty, and much coarseness of animosity.
His jealousy, of a successful rival provoked him, notwithstanding his Whiggism, to publish some very severe strictures on Addison's Cato, but they
did not deprive Cato of a single admirer, notwith
standing they might prove that it was not a perfect
piece. Still less could his homespun criticism injure such an exquisite fancy-piece as the Rape of
the Lock ; yet Pope, as irritable as himself, thought proper to give him a niche in the Dunciad ; and further persecuted him with a very laughable " Narrative of the Deplorable Phrensy of Mr. John Dennis. " It
is probable that the acrimony of the critic's temper was heightened by the narrowness of his circum stances. The private fortune he possessed seems
soon to have been spent.
Through the favor of the Duke of Marlborough,
he obtained the place of a land-waiter, at the Custom house, which his extravagance obliged him in a few years to seU, with the reservation of an annuity for
vol. I. N
90
MEMOIRS OF
[anne.
a certain term ; this he outiived, so that he was
unprovided for the necessities of old age. He was obliged to secure his person, by residence within the verge of the court, and his quiet was continually disturbed by the fear of bailiffs. * When he was far advanced in years, and afflicted with loss of sight, a play was acted at the Hay-market for his benefit, to which his old antagonist. Pope, wrote a
prologue. This act of generosity would have been
more to the poet's credit, had he not written his
prologue in a style of ironical ridicule upon the old
critic. Thomson, who took the most active part in
the charity, was complimented in Dennis's name,
with some elegant lines, said to be written by
totally
Savage.
kindness, dying in his seventy-seventh year, 1734.
The veteran did not long survive this
* Straying a little beyond the rules of the court once, on the evening of a Saturday, he saw a person, with an ill-favored coun tenance, near him ; with dismay and trembling he waited till the clock had struck twelve, when he exclaimed, " I value you not now, whether bailiff or not. " The gentleman, who had caused his alarm, understanding for what he had been mistaken,
was with diflSculty restrained, by the age of Dennis, from giving liim corporal chastisement.
fBorn 1606. )
ANNE. ]
'
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 91 . ,;:; u-'. -
Hetirs
confused jumble of dates which: ;Mr. . Neble has set down concerning this person,\ would lead one to imagine he never saw the inscription to the portrait; which is, "; Henry Evans, ! born at Haber- dam. County of Caernarvon, vEt. 104, 1710. " The reverend author; remarks, several persons of the above name have lived to great' ages:—Jonathan Evans> resident near Welch Pool, in the County of Mont- gpiriery, lived: to be: 117 years of age; and left a
spn aged ninety-one, and a daughter, eighty-seven.
JWe cannot much wonder at the hardy sons bf Wales ;' Hying more; than a century, upon their; mountains ;
but Mr; Henry Evans, transplanted from Cambria^
seven years old when Charles I. was beheaded by the regicides ; and this circumstance ascertains his birth to have been in 1642, and. his. death to have occurred in 1771.
N2
The
ISSjaniS*
Spital-fields, London j yet : reached the stiU greater age. of : 129, and. retained aU his faculties to the last. He was
certainly
. resided in
Spital-street,'i
92
MEMOIRS OF
[anne. But if Evans was one hundred and four years
of age in 1710, he must have been
years of age at the time of Charles's death ; and
little short of Henry Jenkins,
I am inclined to think, the resident in
Spitalfields, and the native of Caernarvon, were different persons. Parish certificates are some times made use of for deceptive purposes, as was the case in the year 1790; when Donald Mac Leod, a Scotch soldier, travelled from Edinburgh to London, on foot, for the purpose of applying to Chelsea Hospital for admission, or a pension for past services ; he vs^as accompanied by a female, of a middle age, who passed for his wife, and they sup ported themselves on the road, by a certificate be had obtained in Scotland, representing him then as in the one hundred and second year of his age ; in person he was athletic and healthy, and was, in truth, upwards
of seventy, but had taken his father's certificate, (who had been a serjeant in an Highland regiment) instead of his own. The circumstance of his ap parent great age and strength gained
if born, as the inscription
implies, in 1606, and deceasing in 1771j according to Mr. Noble's account, he must have lived to the great age of 165, an age
street,
forty-two
Spital-
many friends.
anne. ]
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 93
and two different portraits were engraved and pub lished for his benefit, together with his memoirs ;— but, upon a strict enquiry, the cheat was discovered, the consequent disappointment and vexation of which brought the old man to the grave, in the year 1792.
94 MEMOIRS OF [anne.
:ff'Utcfftt.
Andrew Fletcher, who was a thorough-paced republican, has been variously represented by dif ferent writers, but all agree in one particular, that
to the violence and turbulent disposition of his
manners. He was son of Sir Robert Fletcher, of
Saltoun, in Scotland, and born in 1653. His father,
who died while he was child, directed he should
be placed under the tuition of Dr. Gilbert Burnet,
then rector of Saltoun, frohi whom he imbibed his
free principles in government. He spent
^ntit^itt
years of his youth in foreign travel, and peared as public character in the station of
com missioner for East Lothian, in the Scotch parliament,
when the Duke of York was lord-commissioner. He distinguished himself in such manner,
by his opposition to the measures of the court, that he
thought
upon his non-appearance to summons from the lords of the council, he was outlawed, and his estate confiscated. In 1683 he came over to England, to
adviseable to withdraw to Holland
and,
some first ap
a ,
a
a
it
a
;
a
is,
>*^
"=-? r-=l^. m. cJjJmoA^
(Of Saltan. . )
¦jfi^'v^X
¦i . ¦;
ANNE. ]
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 95
consult with some of his republican friends, but pru- , dently returned to the Continent.
In 1685, he engaged in the enterprise of the Duke of Monmouth to dethrone James XL, but was greatly disgusted at the act of Monmouth's adherents pro
claiming him king ; an unfortunate circumstance occasioned his quitting that party almost as soon as he had joined them. Fletcher having taken the horse of a country gentleman, engaged in the same cause, on
some remonstrance by the owner, drew out a pistol, and shot the man dead. This action excited such resentment against him, among the friends and countrymen of the deceased, that it became neces sary for the duke to dismiss him from the armyj
and he made his escape from justice,
on board a vessel which conveyed him to Spain, and, fortunately for him, saved him from suffering the fate that attended the unfortunate Monmouth and his deluded followers.
He is said to have undergone many hazards in Spain ; but, at length, he made his way into Hungary, where he engaged in the war against the Turks. — But his restless disposition suffering him to rest no where long, brought him back to join in the confe rences which were held among the Scottish refugees
by getting
96 MEMOIRS OF [anne.
in Holland, for the purpose of effecting a revolution ;
and, when that event took place, he returned to
Scotland, and resumed the possession of his estate,
and held it by his own law, without asking leave of
king or parliament. Jealousy of kings, indeed,
seems to have been wrought into his very nature, and he thought it was scarcely possible to provide too
many securities against their love of absolute sway. In his own disposition he was arbitrary and tyran nical, and in one of his discourses on the affairs of Scotland, he proposes a provision for the poor,
domestic slavery.
Mackay, in his Memoirs, drew the
following character of him while living :—" He is a gentleman,
steady in his principles, of nice honor, with abun dance of learning ; brave as the sword he wears, and bold as a lion ; a sure friend, but an irreconcileable enemy; would lose his
life readily to serve his country, and would not do a base thing to save it. His thoughts are large as to religion, and could never
be brought within the bounds of any particular sect ; nor will he be under the distinction of Whig or Tory, saying, " these names are only used to cloak the knavery of both parties. " It however, evi dent that Fletcher was not so brave as
Mackay
by
is,
ANNE. ]
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 97
supposed ; ,nor was he accurate, when he said, that " he would lose his life readily to serve his cotintry, but would not do a base thing to save it. '' He exiled himself from Scotland, when he should have
stayed ; and fled to a ship, after he had committed a murder.
Ifhis most particular friend, however high in rank,
accepted
moment he was his enemy ; apologies only added to his violence and obloquy. He talked and wrote against all bodies of men. Had the law taken its proper course, he must have died as a malefactor, for his unprovoked enormity at Taunton. One of his servants wishing his dismissal, Ihe asked, " Why do
an office under government, from that
Ie? " "
you leave m — Because your
temper. ''—"
sooner on than it is sooner off than it is on. "
my passion
am passionate, but is no
Bishop Burnet, in noticing Andrew Fletcher, gives him the following character: —" A gentleman of a fair estate in Scotland, attended with the improve ment of a good education, he has written some ex cellent tracts, but not published in his name ; and has a very fine genius; is a low, thin man, brown complexion, full of fire, with a stern, sour look, and
VOL. I.
o
cannot bear
—" But then. Sir, it is no
98 MEMOIRS OF [annb.
fifty years old. " Dean Swift calls him, " A most
arrogant, conceited pedant in politics ; cannot endure
the least contradiction in any of his visions or para doxes. "
Andrew Fletcher died at London, in 1716.
ANNE. ]
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 99
Munitl Mttot*
Daniel Defoe, the son of a butcher, was bprn at London, about -the year 1663; the father's name was James Foe, and. why the son prefixed the De to
the surname does not appear. *
Daniel received his eduieatipn at N^wington-green,
and early displayed his attachment, tp the cause of
libeity and Protestantism^ by joining the ill-advised insuirection under the Duke of Monmouth, in the west; and he had the good fortune to escape, and
* In a pamphlet, intituled " The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures, of Mr. D de F , of London, hosier, who has lived above fifty years by himself, in the kingdoms of tforlh and South Britain. The various shapes he has iippeared in, and the Discoveries he has made for the Benesfit of his Country. " The author makes De Foe to s^y, he always hated the English, and took a pleasure in depreciating and vilifying of them, wit ness his True-bom Englishman ; and that he changed his name merely to ^ake it sound like French. The subject of the tract is a dialogue between De Foe, Robinson Crusoe, and his Man Friday. London, 1719.
o2
100 MEMOIRS OF [anne.
writer, he joined that of a trader, and was first en gaged as a hose-factor, aud afterwards as a maker of bricks and pantiles, near Tilbury-fort ; but his com mercial schemes proved unsuccessful, and he became insolvent. It is to his credit that, after having been
amended. The first of his writings which excited the . public attention was " The True-born English
man. "
return unnoticed to London. He eariy
taste for literature, and wrote a political pamphlet before his twenty-first year. With the business of a
released from his debts by a composition, he
most of them in full, when his circumstances were
Its purpose was to furnish a reply to those
who were continually abusing King William and some of his friends as foreigners, by shewing that the present race of Englishmen was a mixed and heterogenous
breed, scarcely any of which could lay claim to native purity of blood. His " Shortest Way
with the Dissenters, or Proposals for the Establish ment of the Church ;" became a subject of complaint in the House of Commons, and was voted a sedi tious libel, and burnt by the common hangman, and a prosecution was ordered against the publishers. Defoe at first secreted himself, but upon the appre hension of his printer and
bookseller, he came
imbibed a
paid
anne. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 101
forward, in order to secure them, and stood his trial ;
was convicted, and sentenced to fine, imprison
ment, and the pillory. He underwent the infamous
punishment with the greatest forritude, and so far
from being ashamed of his fate, that he wrote " A
Hymn to the Pillory. " Pope, who thought introduce him in his Dunciad, characterises him in the following line :—
Earless on high stood unabash'd Defoe.
By this it should seem the barbarous custom of cutting off the ears of libellers was still practiced.
It was generally thought he was treated with un reasonable, and unmerited severity, and, at last, ob tained his liberation from Newgate by the interpo sition of Harley, afterwards Earl of Oxford; and the Queen herself compassionating his case, sent money to his wife and family. He continued, after he had regained his liberty, to write upon political subjects, and in 1706 he pubhshed, by subscription, his largest piece in verse, which was " Jure Divino," a satire, in twelve books. It was intended to expose the doctrine of the divine right of kings, and to decry tyrannical government.
fit to
He seems, at this time, to have enjoyed the favor of Queen Anne, by
102 MEMOIRS OF [anne.
whom he was employed, according to his own asser tion, in certain honourable, though secret, services ; and, when the union with Scotland was projected, he was sent by the ministers into that country, for the purpose of rendering the measure popular.
His knowledge of commerce and revenue caused him to be frequently consulted by the committees of
parliament
there, and he endeavoured to conciliate
the good-will of the nation by a poem, entitled
" Caledonia," highly comphmentary to its inhabit
ants. After the union was completed, he wrote
the history of in folio volume, 1709; and, in
the same year, he published *' The History of Ad
The most celebrated of aU his works, " The Life
and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe,'' appeared in
1719, and no work in any language has been more
continues to be standard success in this performance,
dresses. "
At this time he was living in tranquillity and comfort at Stoke Newington.
popular.
Its editions have been numberless, and has been translated into almost afl modern languages, and
number of other lives and adventures, which are now
published
died at London,
library book. Defoe's induced him to write
collectively with his other works. Defoe April, 1731.
in
a
it, a
a
BLI]^I> GHAIS^JSTY.
ANNE. J
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 103
iSItnti (! Brrantts.
This miserable, wretched, drunken object, who was blind of one eye, used to annpy the passengers in the streets of London, while sober, with licking her blind eye with her tongue, which was of a most enormous length, and thickness; indeed, it was of such a prodigious size, that her mouth could not contain and she cPuld never clbse her lips, or, to use common expression, keep her tongue within her teeth. This wonderful feat of washing her
eye with her tongue, was exhibited with view of obtaining money fi:om such as crowded around her and, no sooner had she obtained sufficient means,
but she hastened to the first convenient liquor-shop, to indulge her propensity in copious libations and when properly inspired, would rush into the streets, with all the gestures of frantic maniac, and roll and dance about,, until she became little sobered, which was sometimes accelerated the salutary apphcation of pail of water, gratuitously bestowed upon her, by persons whose door-way she had taken possession
a
a
it,
by
a
a
;
;
a
104 MEMOIRS OF [anne.
of, as shelter from the persecuting tormen tings of boys and girls who generally followed her.
UPON LADY GRANNY, IN HER SUPPOSED GRANDURE.
" That Fools have fortune we may now aver. Since Granny laughs at them y* laught at her;
So fame reports, then let no n3^ph despair. Since so deform'd a wretch so well can fare ; Let none suppose her Dancing days are fled.
Who see how finely Grannt's brought to bed : Have patience. Lasses, 'till the hour approach,
And then, like Grannt, you may keep your Coach. "
* UPON GRANNY IN HER NATIVE POVERTY.
" The scene is alter'd—Granny's glory. Coach and Fortune's all a story;
Yet, tho' her honor's now neglected. She's merry still, no whit dejected ; Which shows that wit may be a trouble. And only make misfortune double. While Granny always blith and jolly. Enjoys the pleasure of her folly. "
It should seem, from the above lines, this woman had been used, in early days, to scenes of gaiety and splendour, but if she really had ever kept her coach.
ANNE. ]
REMARKABLE* PERSONS.
lOS
it certainly must have been supported by other means than the attraction of her personal charms. — Whatever she might have been in the prime of her youth, not the least vestige of former beauty is to
be discovered in the resemblances of her, when ad vanced in years. There are three prints of old Grannvj one •in 4ta. , mezzotirito, and two whole- length
the best of . which is that with the first eight lines of verses,' engraved in the back
ground of the printi and from which the second is a copy.
VOL. I.
106 MEMOIRS OF [anne.
^t^n ItatHmam
John Hardman was a professed operator and doctor for corns and bunnions, and, from his badge of the king's arms, it may reasonably be conjectured William the Third's- toes, at one time or other,
might be indebted for relief to Hardnrian's skill ; the
appearance of this man, from his portrait, bespeaks
him to have been a foreigner, (probably a Dutchman,)
with whom London, during the reign of William,
swarmed ; his flowing locks of hair, and formal
curled whiskers,' ear-rings, and curiously-cut
and waistcoat, were entirely foreign, and gives him very much the appearance of what he most likely
was, a mountebank. He found it his
parade the streets in this strange attire, to attract the notice, and engage the custom, of people afflicted with what he undertook to cure ;t—however he was authorised, he took the liberty to wear the king's
arms, by way of a clasp to fasten his waistcoat, and, as if that was not sufficient to distinguish him,
wore the same, hanging by a chain, adorning his
interest to
coat
JOHK (Corn
HARB^IAlSr,
Cutter. )
ANNE. ]
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 107
side, similar to an order of knighthood. The doctors
of medicine, apothecaries, &c. his contemporaries, were distinguished by large wigs and gold-headed
canes, which peculiarly marked their profession even to the early part of the reign of George the Third ; and, it would have appeared equally singular in a counsel to plead in court without the appendages of wig and band, as to see a medical man enter a sick room divested of his wig and cane. A high- sounding title has of late years been found produc tive in most professions ; thus, the trade of a farrier is lost in that of a veterinary surgeon, a barber and
tooth-drawer in that of a dentist, and a corn-cutter in that of a chiropedist. One of the latter calling, a Mr. Corderoy, scarcely measuring three feet ten inches in height, is everlastingly on his feet, peram
the streets and squares at the west end of the town, attentive to the charge and care of the most fashionable disordered and distorted toes and
feet in the .
kingdom, though it is well known his practice is so extensive, it would enable him, were he so inclined, to set up a splendid equipage ; pru dential reasons are assigned as the cause of this
operator's forbearance, having a family often children
to provide for. It is really amusing to see the pg
bulating
108 MEMOIRS OF [annb.
double use the httle gentleman. puts his umbrella to; from the diminutiveaess of his stature, it effectually screens him from the pelting, rain, and the adroitness which practice has brought his hand tb, in making use of it in raising the knockers and bells, (otherwise out of his reach) is truly amazing.
Ferdinando Lord Fairfax, the father of the pariia- mentary general, died of a mortification in his foot, in consequence of the unskilfulness of an operator cutting his great toe-nail. Corn-cutters, or chiropcedists, con fine . themselves at presentiin their operations to their own houses, or the private chambers of their patients, without proclaiming their calling to the multitude in the open streets, and the only gentry that peram bulate with symbolic ^badges, watching for customers, are the modern rat-catchers ; who, . like Hardman, appear appareled in all the pomp and pageantry! : of
their vocation ; but it is very probable they shortly will adopt a more lofty style and title,' and some latinised term, to elevate them in dignity.
'. L-li H. A'KliY, (with 3iis Kviree Sli. ow. )
ANNE. ]
REMARKABLE PERSONS. aW
THE RAREsE-SHOW-MAN.
Old Harry had a facetious manner in describing the; contents of his Raree-show, that never failed drawing around him ,cro. wds . of auditors; his learned and . ielaborate elucidation on every subject^-, and artiiclfey vcbntainedi in the <attractiye,';Cabinet. he was in i^e ! ; babit ^iof exhibiting, be'came . ai;siiUi! . Qe: of
anlu^ment and iitstructipn to pld and yoUng^. . And
Harry. n^otitrwed', to iifiake. a . comfortable living,, at
theviesxpeiicetof the publjfi, dh return ;&>r thd rouble
he to4k iot ifureisb'. them, with, a. ispecies ibfiien^ertaidr
mei}ti;>;of . ail! integesti^nnaiture, at a . very mt^derate char^eidniitheuripiQcteis. ; But Poor. . Hdrhfm^9 not
jyithbiSif ariyairintthy'artr Jemmy MRse/HeilAfetlovf
of greatrii^enuity, . 'had Furnished; himsetf-iWiith
sAintolKixfca; siilailar descriptSmi rw3>th. . ^ar«^%>^d4i'ith
the boldness and intrepidity of a iieSotmeifii toadeii]^
progress! , through town ; knd countryi feying' efeery neighhpurhood under heavy contrilaotibns,". ! * return
a
110 MEMOIRS OF [anne.
for the compliment of his occasional visits; while Old Harry, with a modesty quite his own, was content with the patronage and support he experi
enced in his own immediate vicinity of Moorfields, seldom straying beyond the boundaries of Hoxton and Islington, and very rarely was known to travel westward beyond Temble-bar.
Sutton NichoUs, an engraver and printseller, re siding in Aldersgate-street, has preserved two repre sentations of Harry, with his raree-show; the first
a small half-sheet ; the other, in the same print with Ellis the Ideot, sitting on the rails of Moorfields. Pierce Tempest, in his Cries of London, from drawings by Marcellus Laroon, has given the character of Old Harry, with his show on his back, perambulating the streets, bawling aloud for an audience to his show.
Jemmy la Roche likewise was deemed of sufficient consequence to have his likeness handed down to pos terity, which has been preserved by Sutton NichoUs, in a print to that of Old Harry ; and Smith, the Mezzotinto Scraper, has done a very fine print of La Roche. These rival candidates for popularity
flourished about the year 1710.
Under the portrait of old Harry with his show,
are the following Unes :—
ANN e. ] REMARKABLE PERSONS. 1 1 1
" Reader, behold the Efigie of one
Wrinkled by Age ; Decrepit and Forlorne,
Then what's Inscrib'd beneath his picture trace,
That shows the Man, the Picture but his Face,
His tinkling bell doth you together call. To see his rary-show Spectators all,
That will be pleased before you by him pass.
To pay a Farthing and look through his glass. Where every Object that it doth present
Will please your fancy, yield your mind content ! Objects as strange in Nature as in Number,
Such a vast many as will make you wonder ;
That when you do look through his glass you'd swear,
That by one small sight you view'd a whole Fair Of Monsters stranger than can be express'd. There's Nippotate lies among the rest,
Twelve years together he has drove this trade, And by no upstart yet has been dismaid ;
'Tis so long since he did himself betake,
To shew the Louse, the Flea, and Spangl'd Snake^ His Nippotate which on Raw flesh fed.
He liveing shew'd, and does the same now dead ; The Bells that he when Liveing always wore.
He wears about his Neck as heretofore.
Then Buy Old Harry, stick him up that he May be remembered by Posterity. "
Nippotate was a tame hedge-hog, which Harry felt so much attachment for, as to preserve stuffed when dead.
112 MEMOIRS OF [anne.
THE GREAT SLEEPER.
Nicholas Hart liecame the subject of'general notice ahd conversation, frPm the circumstance of a lethargic fit, that bim on the 5th of August,
1711, tb theWth of the. 'same month. His friends, ,after haviri^'"tried eVery theans in their power to rouse him from the dormant state he lav. in, had him, conveyed 'to St. BarthoJomew's hospital, where he remained dUriiig thc^^abovfe pieriidd,'#ithdut taking the least refreshment of any kind whatever^ esjccepting sleep; thpugh'. several, experiments;, were maide on his persoh' tbprbtobte resfisei tation ; • It 'appears,
however, there . . was a greater, portion of. art than nature in: this unnatural slumberi >and thiEct he had purpPsely taken iiarcPtic drugs, to' produce the effect desired, namely, to procure money to be raised for him, by confederate knaves, as an object of charity and commisseration. In this speculation, Mr. Hart entirely succeeded ; and, it seems, from the symptoms of his periodical sleeping fit, faithfully detailed by a
HAUT, f The Great Sleeper. )
IS^ICHOLAS
annb. ]
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 118
gentleman of Lincoln's-inn,* that Hart slept, in order to be maintained in ease and comfort when he awoke, and that he gained more by his rest than others by their industry ; and, in short, wealth flowed so fast upon him, that he obtained sufficient to support others, besides saving his own provisions, while he carried on his profitable farce ! What use Hart put
the money to he had thus raised we are not informed;
• The symptoms this gentleman observed in Hart were, that
" On the first of the month he grew dull, On the second appeared drowsy.
On the third fell a yawning,
On the fourth began to nod.
On the fifth dropped asleep.
On the sixth was heard to snore,
On the seventh turned himself in his bed.
On the eighth recovered his former posture.
On the ninth'fell a stretching.
On the tenth about midnight awaked.
On the eleventh in the morning, called for a little small beer. "
The same gentleman observes, " He believes it a very extraor dinary circumstance for a man to gain his livelihood by sleeping, and that rest should procure a man sustenance, as well as indus try ; yet so it is, that Nicholas Hart got last year enough to sup port himself for a twelvemonth ;" and adds, " he is informed that he has had this year a very comfortable nap. "
VOL. I. Q
114 MEMOIRS OF [anne.
but Mr. Addison, in noticing the circumstance, says, " Nicholas Hart, who slept last year in St. Bartholo mew's Hospital, intends to sleep this year at the
Cock and Bottle, in Littie Britain," probably glanc ing at a similar attempt to raise contributicns on the
credulous part of the community.
Stow, in his Summarie, gives an account of a still
greater sleeper than Hart, but it is tP be hpped with different views. He infprms us, that '* The 27th pf April, 1546, being Wednesday in Easter-week, W. Foxlei, pot-maker for the mint in the Tower of Lon- dpn,* fell asleep, who could not be wakened with
* M. Brady, Physician to Prince Charles of Lorrain, gives the following particulars of an extraordinary sleeper : —
" A woman named Elizabeth Alton, of a healthful strong con
stitution, who had been servant to the curate of St. Guilain, near
the town of Mons, about the beginning of 1738, when she was
about thirty-six years of age, grew extremely restless and melan
choly.
year 1753, which is fifteen years, she fell asleep daily about three o'clock in the morning, without waking until about eight or nine at night. In 1754, indeed, her sleep returned to tlie natural
In the month of August, in the same year, she fell into a sleep which held four days, notwithstanding all possible endea vours to awake her. At length she awaked naturally, but became more restless and uneasy than before ; for six or seven days, how ever, she resumed her usual employments, until she fell asleep again, which continued eighteen hours. From that time to the
ANNE. ]
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 115
pricking, cramping, or otherwise, till the first day of the next tearm, which was full xiiij dales and xv,
nights.
The cause of his thus sleeping coulde not be knowen, though the same were diligently searched for by the physicians, and other learned men ; yea, the king himself examined the said W. Foxlei, who was in all points found as he had slept but one night ; and was living till the year of our Lorde 1587. "
periods for four months, and, in 1748, a tertian ague prevented her sleeping for three weeks. On February 20, 1755, M. Brady, with a surgeon, went to see her. About five o'clock in the even ing, they found her pulse extremely regular; on taking hold of her arm it was so rigid, that it was not bent without much trouble. They then attempted to lift up her head, but her neck and back were as as her arms. He hallooed in her ear as loud as his voice could reach ; he thrust a needle into her flesh up to the bone ; he put a piece of rag to her nose flaming with spirits of wine, and let it burn some time, yet all without being able to dis turb her in the least. At length, in about six hours and a-half, her limbs began to relax; in eight hours she turned herself in the
bed, and then suddenly raised herself up, sat down by the fire,
eat heartily, and began to spin. At other times, they whipped
her till the blood came ; they rubbed her back with honey, and
then exposed it to the stings of bees ; they thrust nails under her
finger-nails ; and it seems these triers of experiments consulted
more the gratifying their own curiosity than the recovery of the unhappy object of the malady.
Q2
116 MEMOIRS OF [anne.
1i$mt tfie aSrVinmv,
This man, who resided at Oxfprd,
nature an extreme ordinary physiognomy, turned it to the best account in his ppwer, by niaking it still more disgusting, and set up the trade of a public grinner, and was in his way allowed to be master of a great deal pf. Priginal grimace: it is still the custom, in hnany parts pf the country, particularly at fairs, to have a grinning-ma,tch throfigh a horse-collajf, >vhich is by many thought to be' adding a whimsical frame to an ugly picture. Isaac was hot the original in-
ventpr pf thi^ elegant art, but he brought it to more
than nibst of his predecessors, or subse
perfection
quent successors. The public are generally indulged
in these genteel sights by several performers, who are stimulated ta excel by the prize of a gold-laced hat, gloves, stockings, garters, or other articles of trifling value. The practice is much conimended by Mr.
Addison, in the Spectatorj and, as a personal accom plishment, he thinks it far more agreeable than burn ing the raputh with eating hpt hasty-pudding, or
having by
» »¦
ISAAC THE OXFORD
GTLUNTN'EK,
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REMARKABLE PERSONS. UT
running in a sack over hillocks, or a ploughed field,
or vaulting to seize the suspended soap-lathered goose,
plunging the head into a tub of water with the hands
tied behind, to catch with the teeth the floating
oranges or apples that elude the nimblest bite, or any other ingenious invention, to provoke a laugh.
About thirty years since, Mr. Astley, of the amphi theatre, Westminster-road, engaged an Italian buffoon, who appeared under the title of the celebrated grima- cier, and distorted his face into thirty different charac
ters, totally dissimilar one with another ; the salary of this man was ten pounds per week. Isaac of Oxford was thought of sufficient consequence to have his likeness handed down to ppsterity, and the print has
been said very much to resemble him.
118 MEMOIRS OF [annb.
:-*
BLIND JACK.
'¦ The streets '"of London, in the reigns of Queen Anne, iGePrge' the First and Second, were infested with alfsorts of paupers,,-vagabbnds, impostors, and
cotnmon adventurers ; 'and many, who. otherwise might "be' considered real cbjects of charity, by their disgusting" manners and general appearance in public
placies, rather- merited the. interference of the parish
beadles, and the disciphrie-of Bridewelli than the countenance and encouragemept-bf such persons as
mps'tly congregate: around common . street-exhibitions. One,-eyed Granny and Blind > Jack were particular nuisances to the: neighbourhoods in which they first
practiced her mad-drunk gambols, and the latter his beastly manner pf performing on the flageolet. —John Keiling, alias Blind Jack, having the misfortune to lose his sight, thought of a strange method to insure himself a livelihood. He was constitutionally a hale, robust fellow, without any complaint, saving blind-
alias
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REMARKABLE PERSONS. 119
ness, and having learnt to play a little on the flageolet, he conceived a notion that, by performing on that instrument in a different way to that generally practiced, he should render himself more noticed
by the public, and be able to lay larger contributions on
their pockets.
The manner of Blind Jack's playing the flageolet was by obtruding the mouth-piece of the instrument Up one of his nostrils, and, by long custom, he could produce as much wind as most others with their lips into the pipe ; but the continued contortion and gesti
culation of his muscles and countenance, rendered him an object of derision and disgust, as much as that of charity and commisseration.
The original print of John Keiling, which is a 4to. done in mezzotinto, is in the RadcUffe collection, and very rare to be seen in any other.
120 MEMOIRS OF [anne.
COMMONLY Called toby.
Edward King was the son of a farrier, in High- street, Coventry, an honest and industrious mtan ; his mother was Mrs. Ruth Roper, sister to Abel Roper, the celebrated bookseller ; his' uncle, Abel, having been very successful in trade, and probably remem- ^ring the kindness dohe him In early hffe by an uncle, sent for his nephew to London, and bound him ap-
prehtjce to himself as a bookseller : but soon after, leaving Pff shop-keeping, and tnaking it his whple business tp collect news for his PPst-bPy, he wanted some one to attend him, and carry his copy to the printer; and in this capacity he^&Spl:^ed his nephew, who, having a remarkable cast iri each of his eyes, and a face covered with warts, was particularly noticed
wherever he. went. One day going up-stairs at the Tilt-yard Coffee-hbuse, Whitehall, to speak with his uncle, his singular phiz attracted the attention of Cap tain Drake, one of the clerks of the Adtniralty-office,
ANNE. ]
REMARKABLE PERSONS. 121
who spontaneously ejaculated, here comes Toby f though he had never seen his comical face before. And, from that moment, Edward King hardly went by any other name than the captain's adoption to his^ dying day.
The post assigned him by his uncle Abel continu ally involved him in broils and vexation ; being sent one evening from the Rummer-tavern, Charing-cross, with some copy for the printer, at Northumberland- house he was accosted by a common-street-walker, pretty well dressed, with a how do you do. Country
says I you countrywoman manP Toby, Whyare my ?
gentlewom,an. So Tofty could no longer doubt of her being his country-woman. By this time they drew pretty near to Exeter Change, and Toby had agreed to give madam a pint of ale at the upper end of Exeter-street ; but, as ill-luck would have some of the reformers of that age, knowing the woman to be common strumpet, seized both her and her gallant;
vol. I. R
am. So jogging on
Yes, answered madam,
together, says Toby, do you know Coventry? —Aye, very well, said she ! And do you know my Lady HalesP—says Toby. Aye, God bless her, replied the pretended Coventry woman, for she is a very good
lovingly
it, a
122 MEMQJftS PF [anne.
Toby, though in a fright, had the presence of mind tp
run for it : Bqt, O grievqus misfortune I Toby was no
racer, so they soon retpok him, and as flight shews
guilt, these myroiidons conveyed him and his Ic^dy
prisoners
However, to preserve his tender reputatipn, which till now had been unspotted, he resolved to send fqr ^i^ uncle Abpl, tQ help him put pf his trouble, and giving a poor woman the qnly twp-pence he had in the WQ? ld, he dispatches her to the Rammer, but, unfortunately, Al^el was gone ; the wpnaan being unlucky in her en quiry, Mr. Crofts, the inaster pf the house, had . the curiosity to enquire what Uu§iness she had with Mr.
Jloper ? — " Why, says the woms^n, I cpme from his
kinsman ; he is in St. Martin's watch-house, and ws^ats to speak with him directly. " Toby in the watch-
hoiise, wopian ? No, no, it cannot be ; nay, feplie*^ the wonian, call him Toby, or what you pl^^iie, I do not know his nanjie ; byt he s^ys Mr. Roper i§ bis uncle ; and I t^l you he was bfOugh|t tp the watch-
hpuse with a wpfflanabiove an houragp, WeU, ^ays the vintner, Mr- Rpper is not in the house, but an't please God, I will go my^^elf, ^d kftow the truth of this matter. Accordingly he went, ^qd folding -the
to the watch-house in St. Martin's-l? ne.
ANNE. ]
REMAB^fcA^lifi PBftSONS. 1! ^^
riiessenger had n'b't decefived him, he vi^rbught Toby's
delive'rarice, by engaging to see him forth-coining wh^ri ^erit for, which he never was.
Some time after this, Toby being in haSte, and the evening dark, Mr. Evans, who was at that time under secretary to the lord^chanibferlain, and Toby happen ing to cortie in contact, unfortunately blundered against him, who, taking it for an assault, called at the lodge, in Whitehall, whei'e Toby was kept prisoner all night ; but the next mormng, his uncle, who was acquainted with Mr. Evans, wbnt and told him the misfortune of his kinsttian'S eye-sight, whereupon he was discharged without paying fees.
Sir Richard Steele was judged to be of great use to the public by his writings; particularly with regard to the dismantling and siiri^erider of Dunkirk, &c. But as it was impossible to please every body, there appeared a pamphlet uhder the following title, '• The Character of Richard S le, Esq;, with some re
marks. By Toby, Abel's kinsnian ; or, according to Mr. Calairiy, A. F. & N. in a letter to his godfather.
Price 6d. " Now this pariiphlet was not written Toby, as triany people irhagined ; what induced then! to believe it was, they knew his uncle had been at the
charge bf teaching Hihi to translate FreWch and Dutch ; R3
by
184 MEMOIRS OF [anne.
which in a year's time he did pretty well, and in a tolerable good style ; but for politics, he understood them no more than the Pestle and Mortar Apothe cary, or the Virtuoso Doctor, that- made it his busi|- ness to catch butterflies, and afterwards dissect them. The real author was Dr. Wagstaffe, Physician of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, a very ingenious, facetious, and pleasant gentleman, who was likewise author of that excellent piece, " A Comment upon the Hi-story of Tom Thumb. " —However, when Toby was asked whether he wrote Mr. Steele's character, he would shake his head, squint, and say nothing.
But now, having enjoyed a profound quiet for a
considerable time, poor Toby is called out once more to suffer. He had undertaken, to print and disperse a
pamphlet, entitled, "An English Merchant's Re marks upon a scandalous Jacobite Paper published in the Post-boy, under the name of a Memorial pre sented to the Chancery of Sweden, by the Resident of Great Britain. " It never could be learnt where Toby had the copy of this pamphlet ; and it died a se cret in his own breast. Though the government came
very artfully into the knowledge of the Printer and Publisher, they could never learn, by any art or stra
tagem, who was the Author of
those Remarks. ^
ANNB. ]
REMARKABLE PERSONS.