The Cries of London Part 10

The splendour of his dress, and the pomposity of his manner, procured him a livelihood for some years. His success induced other persons to imitate him; the most remarkable of whom was the famous Matthew Skeggs, who actually played a concerto on a broomstick, at the Little Theatre in the Haymarket, in the character of Signor b.u.mbasto. His portrait was painted by Thomas King, a particular friend of Hogarth, and engraved by Houston.

Skeggs, who then kept a public-house, the sign of the "Hoop and Bunch of Grapes," in St. Alban's Street, now a part of Waterloo Place, published it himself. Skeggs's celebrity is noticed in the following extract from G. A.

Stevens: "The choice spirits have ever been famous for their talents as musical artists. They usually met at the harvest-homes of grape gathering.

There, exhilarated by the pressings of the vintage, they were wont to sing songs, tell stories, and show tricks, from their first emerging until their perihelion under the presidentship of Mr. George Alexander Stevens, Ballad-Laureat to the Society of Choice Spirits, and who appeared at Ranelagh in the character of Comus, supported by those drolls of merry memory. Unparalleled were their performances, as _first fists_ upon the salt-box, and inimitable the variations they would tw.a.n.g upon the _forte_ and _piano_ Jew's harp; excellent was _Howard_ in the chin concerto, whose nose also supplied the unrivalled tones of the bagpipe. Upon the sticcado, _Matt. Skeggs_ remains still unrivalled. And we cannot now boast of one real genius upon the genuine hurdy-gurdy. Alas! these stars are all extinguished; and the remains of ancient British harmony are now confined to the manly music of the marrow-bones and cleavers. Everything must sink into oblivion. Corn now grows where Troy town stood; Ranelagh may be metamorphosed into a methodists' meeting-house; Vaux-Hall cut into skittle alleys; the two Theatres converted into auction rooms; and the New Pantheon become the stately habitation of some Jew p.a.w.nbroker: nay, the Sons of Liberty themselves, &c."

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Itinerant Musician_]

Much about this time another Bladder-man was in high estimation, whose portrait has been handed down to us in an etching by Miller, from a most spirited drawing by Gravelot. The following verses, which set forth his woful situation, are placed at the foot of the Plate:

1.

"No musick ever charm'd my mind So much as bladder fill'd with wind; But as no mortal's free from fate, Nor nothing keeps its first estate, A pamper'd prodigal unkind One day with sword let out the wind!

My bladder ceas'd its pleasing sound, While boys stood tantalizing round.

2.

"They well may laugh who always win, But, had I not then thought on tin, My misery had been compleat; I must have begg'd about the street: But none to grief should e'er give way: This canister, ne'er fill'd with tea!

Can please my audience as well, And charm their ears with, O Brave Nell."

Some few years since a whimsical fellow attracted public notice by pa.s.sing strings over the skull of a horse, upon which he played as a fidler.

Another man, remarkably tall and thin, made a square violin, upon which he played for several years, particularly within the centre arches of Westminster Bridge.

To the eternal honour of the street-players of former times, it will ever be remembered that the great Purcell condescended to set one of their elegies to music. "Thomas Farmer, in 1684, lived in Martlet Court, in Bow Street, Covent Garden. He was originally one of the London street waits, and his elegy was set to music by Purcell." See Hawkins's History of Music, Vol. V. p. 18.

The Guardian, No. 1, March 12, 1713, notices the famous John Gale. "There was, I remember, some years ago, one John Gale, a fellow that played upon a pipe, and diverted the mult.i.tude by dancing in a ring they made about him, whose face became generally known, and the artists employed their skill in delineating his features, because every man was judge of the similitude of them."

A sort of guitar or cittern, and also the fiddle, were used in this country so early as the year 1364, and may be seen upon a bra.s.s monumental plate to the memory of Robert Braunche and his two wives, in the choir of St. Margaret's Church at Lynn. The subject alluded to is the representation of a Peac.o.c.k feast, consisting of a long table with twelve persons, besides musicians and other attendants. Engravings of this very curious monument may be seen in Gough's Sepulchral Monuments, vol. i. p.

115; in Carter's Specimens of Ancient Sculpture, vol. ii. plate 15; and in Cotman's Norfolk Bra.s.ses, Pl. III. p. 4.

POSTSCRIPT. BY THE EDITOR.

The interest of the Plates in Mr. Smith's "Antient Topography of London,"

is much increased by numerous spirited little sketches of remarkable characters well known in the streets of the Metropolis; several of whom would have formed valuable additions, either to his work on the London Beggars, int.i.tuled, "Vagabondiana," or the present volume: a few of these shall be here noticed.

1. In the View of the Old Houses in London Wall, p. 63, the man with two baskets is JOHN BRYSON, well known in London, particularly in rainy weather. He had been an opulent fishmonger in Bloomsbury Market, but became, by several losses, so reduced, that he latterly carried nothing except nuts in his basket; but his custom to the last was to cry every sort of fish from the turbot to the perriwinkle, never heeding the calls of those unacquainted with his humour. In the same Plate is WILLIAM CONWAY, whose cry of "Hard metal Spoons to sell or change," was familiar to the inhabitants of London and its environs. This man's portrait is also given by Mr. Smith in the present work, p. 63.

2. In the View of old Houses at the West end of Chancery Lane, p. 48, are several figures drawn from the life. The woman with crutches represents ANNE SIGGS. She was remarkable for her cleanliness, a rare quality for her fraternity. Slander, from whose sting the most amiable persons are not invulnerable, tempted this woman to spread a report of her being the sister of the celebrated tragedian, Mrs. Siddons. From a work of singular character by Mr. James Parry, it appears that she was a daughter of an industrious breeches-maker at Dorking in Surrey. Another back view of this woman occurs in the Plate of Duke Street, Smithfield, in p. 54.

3. The man without legs, in the same print, is SAMUEL HORSEY, well known in Holborn, Fleet Street, and the Strand. In 1816 this man had been a London beggar for thirty-one years. He had a most Herculean trunk, and his weather-beaten ruddy face was the picture of health. Mr. Smith has given a back view of this beggar in "Vagabondiana," p. 37, where are some further anecdotes of him.

4. The dwarf hobbling up Chancery Lane was JEREMIAH DAVIES, a native of Wales. He was frequently shewn at fairs, and supported a miserable existence by performing sleight-of-hand tricks. He was also very strong, and would lift a considerable weight, though not above three feet high.

5. The tall slender figure next to Davies was a Mr. CREUSE, a truly singular man, who never begged of any one, but would not refuse money when offered. He died in Middles.e.x Court, Drury Lane, and was attended to the burial ground in that street by friends in two mourning coaches. It is said he left money to a considerable amount behind him.

6. In the View of Houses in Sweedon's Pa.s.sage, p. 42, is a portrait of JOSEPH CLINCH, a noisy bow-legged ballad-singer, who was particularly famous, about 1795, for his song upon Whittington and his Cat. He likewise sold a coa.r.s.e old woodcut of the animal, with its history and that of its master printed in the back ground.

7. In the view of Winchester Street, p. 68, the person with the umbrella went under the name of Count VERDION, well known to Book Collectors. This person was a professor of languages; for several years frequented Furnival's Inn Coffee-House; and was a member of a man's benefit society held at the Genoa Arms public house, in Hays's Court, Newport Market. This supposed Count eventually proved to be a female, and died of a cancer on the 16th July 1802, at her lodgings in Charles Street, Hatton Garden, in the 58th year of her age.

8. The short figure, carrying a little box, was sketched from the celebrated corn-cutter, Mr. CORDEROY, who married a lady five feet six inches high.

9. The figure beyond Mr. Corderoy, is that of the respectable Bishop of St. POL DE LEON; of whom a portrait and memoir by Mr. Eardley Wilmot, will be found in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1807.

10. In the view of Leadenhall Street, p. 52, the figure with a wig-box in his hands represents JOSEPH WATKINS, born in 1739 at Richmond, in Yorkshire; by trade a barber, and a man of retentive memory. He frequently shaved Hogarth, whom he knew well, and said he was the last person in London who wore a scarlet roquelaure. He had gathered blackberries on the north side of the road now Oxford Street, and remembered the old triangular gallows at Tyburn, as represented in the Execution Plate of the Idle Apprentice.

11. The next figure is that of a draggle-tailed bawler of dying speeches, horrid murders, elegies, &c.

12. The female in a morning jacket was sketched from the celebrated Mrs.

ELIZABETH CARTER, the learned translator of Epictetus. She died Feb. 19, 1806.

13. The clumsy figure in a white coat, holding a goose, was well known about town as a vender of aged poultry.

14. The figure with a c.o.c.ked hat, was a dealer in old iron, a man well known at auctions of building materials, and was nicknamed by the brokers as OLD RUSTY.

In 1815 Mr. Smith published a separate whole-length portrait of "Henry Dinsdale, nicknamed Sir Harry Dimsdale, mayor of the mock Borough of Garret, aged 38, anno 1800." It forms a good companion to his Vagabondiana. Dinsdale was by trade a m.u.f.fin-man. There is also a spirited head of Dinsdale by Mr. Smith; and his portrait, in his court dress, is copied into Hone's Every Day Book, vol. II. p. 829, where, by mistake, it is called Sir Jeffrey Dunstan.

P. 9. Hand's Bun-house at Chelsea was pulled down April 18, 1839. See Gentleman's Magazine for May 1839.

In p. 54 the cry of "Young Lambs to Sell" is noticed. It may be added, that in Hone's Table Book, p. 396, is a spirited engraving of William Liston, an old soldier, with one arm and one leg, who, in 1821, carried about "Young Lambs to Sell." The _first_ crier of "Young Lambs to Sell,"

Mr. Hone says, "was a maimed sailor, and with him originated the manufacture."

THE END.