Chapter XVIII: Handbills, Inscriptions, Etc (1)

Under this head it is our intention to give some slight insight into peculiarities of a kind of advertising unconnected with newspapers, and independent of any of the subjects treated in preceding chapters. We set forth with a great variety of handbills, which seemed almost too extensive for use in this volume; but we have already got rid of so many that the task of disposal is considerably lightened--so lightened, indeed, by the absorption of many of the most characteristic into preceding pages, that by comparison with the original collection our present supply seems rather meagre. It will doubtless, however, be found sufficient for the requirements of readers. We have already given an outline of the history of advertising by means of bills and posters, and have referred to the gradual growth of the system of “billing” until it has attained its present proportions. This system, though regarded by the Board of Works as very objectionable, is far pleasanter than that adopted twenty years ago, when every billsticker considered it his bounden duty to overstick the placards of opponents, and when nothing but a long course of education, or a most vivid imagination, would enable the passer-by to read what was upon the dead walls and hoardings. The Board of Works certainly took the initiative at the wrong time--at the time when improvement was vast and apparent to every one; but as it failed in its object, we may consider that public opinion has admitted the improvement, and no longer regards wall-advertising as a nuisance. The Board doubtless started on the idea at a time when placarding was a most decided scandal, but it--like most other committees--took so long to bring the idea to perfection, that the scandal had abolished itself long before the Board was ready to abolish it. Having already entered into full particulars as to the modes formerly adopted, and contrasted them with those in use at the present time, individual efforts at illuminating the public mind will now be found amply sufficient for our purpose. Some of these are, as all the world knows, extremely funny on account of the vagueness of the writers, and in that particular resemble many of those we have instanced from the columns of newspapers. A very few examples of this kind will suffice, and will pave the way for the heavier material. One of the best of those inscriptions, the comicality of which is founded upon ignorance, appeared in 1821, and was posted up by order of Lord Camden in that portion of the county of Kent which called him owner. It said:--

Notice is hereby given, that the Marquis of Camden (on account of the
backwardness of the harvest) will not shoot himself, nor any of his
tenants, till the 14th of September.

We don’t suppose that the Marquis had anything to do with the actual wording of the notice, but he has always been identified with it, and doubtless was cruelly badgered about it at the time. Another lordly notice of a similar kind appeared a few years back at Osterly Park, near Brentford, the seat of the Earl of Jersey, which gave the public this information: “Ten shillings reward.--Any person found trespassing on these lands or damaging these fences on conviction will receive the above reward. Dogs poisoned.” Somebody once said that nobody expects to find education or ability in a lord, but that is because his household are expected to fulfil his duties properly. Lords would seem in imminent danger of having to pick up a little scholarship, and use it in the interest of their dependants. If so, polo and pigeon-shooting will languish, and West-End night-schools may become fashionable. But getting away from the aristocracy, and turning our attention to the other side of the social sphere, we don’t find matters anyway improved, if we are to judge by the specimens of literary ability which now and then address themselves to the curious pedestrian. In Lambeth the latter might some short time back have been terrified by an announcement in a baker’s shop, which informed all whom it might concern that _vitals_ were baked there. Not so terrible, but more comical, is the following, which is copied from an announcement in the window of a shop at Chatham: “The public are requested not to confound this shop with that of another swindler who has established himself on the other side of the way.” There is a story told of two rival shoemakers, one of whom astonished his opponent by the inscription, “Mens conscia recti.” He was not allowed his triumph unalloyed, for the other, after puzzling over the notice for some days, divined that it was some new name for “understandings,” and feeling sure there was nothing in the opposition shop that was not in his own, replied with this, “Men’s and women’s conscia recti may be obtained here.” This story, however, requires confirmation, as does that of the two provincial photographers. One is said to have placed over his studio, “The acme of photography,” to which his enemy and neighbour replied, “Photography in the very height of acme.” Salt seems necessary to both of these, but we are informed on good authority that the next one is quite true. A correspondent says that the following is a verbatim copy of a sign formerly to be seen over a shoemaker’s shop in the village of Heallan, near Denbigh, Wales. The schoolmaster would seem to have been a long way abroad when the sign was composed:--

Pryce Dyas, Coblar, daler in Bacco Shag and Pig tail, Bacon and
Ginarbread Eggs laid every morning by me, and very good Paradise, in
the Summer, Gentlemen and Lady can have good Tae and Crumquets and
Strawburry with a scim milk, because I can’t get no cream.--N.B. Shuse
and Boots mended very well.

Of a similar kind is the following, which was, years back, copied from a bill in the window of a small house near Lancaster:--

James Williams, parish clerk, saxtone, town crier, and bellman, makes
and sells all sorts of haberdasharies, groceries, &c.; likewise, hair
and wigs drest and cut on the shortest notice. N.B.--I keeps an
evening scool, where I teach, at reasonable rates, reading, riting,
and rithmitic, and singing. N.B.--I play the hooboy occasionally if
wanted. N.B.--My shop is next door, where I bleed, draw teeth, and
shoo horses, with the greatest scil. N.B.--Children taut to dance if
agreeable at 6d. per week, by me, J. Williams, who buy and sell old
iron, and coats--boots and shoos cleaned and mended. N.B.--A hat and
pr of stockens to be cudgelled for, the best in 5, on Shrof Tushday.
For particulars encuire within, or at the horse shoo and bell, near
the church, on t’other side the way. N.B.--Look over the dore for the
sign of the 3 pidgeons. N.B.--I sells good ayle, and sometimes cyder.
Lodgings for single men. N.B.--I teach jografy, algebry, and them
outlandish kind of things. A ball on Wednesdays and Fridays.

The next quaint window inscription, which treats of the troubles of a small shopkeeper, may also be depended upon, it being an exact copy of a written card suspended in the shop window of a tradesman in Horsemarket Street, Warrington. One can conceive the amount of provocation undergone and the indignation felt by the honest purveyor of mousetraps, whose blood must have been at boiling point when he penned this:--

Notice I dont keep twelve hole mousetrap nor penney ones what i keep I
sell to respectable people not to impudent Boys Hand Bad Girls that
comes to rob me and annoy me and has bad parents those that come into
my shop shall be severely beat and put into the celler and took before
the magistrates those that come into a shop and ask for article that
is not made they must come to steal.

Examples like this are manifold, and could be extended to great length, but those we have given are quite enough to afford a vivid idea of the danger of venturing upon literature without the precaution of first learning the rudiments of education, and of the ridicule likely to attend upon any more than usually ambitious effort, which succeeds in landing its perpetrator quite out of his depth.

Old playbills offer a fruitful subject to the investigator, but their actual origin is hidden in the obscurity of ages. So far as their history goes, however, they are plentiful, and mention of them is made in works of a period far anterior to the date of any specimens extant. The modern drama had its origin in an attempt to commemorate the mysteries of the Incarnation, from whence the plays were called mysteries; and it is recorded that one Gregory Nazianzen, an early father of the Christian Church, constructed a drama on the Passion, for the purpose of counteracting the profanities of the ancient plays, about the year of our Lord 364. We have to pass over eight hundred years for the next mention of dramatic representations, and then it is met in Fitzstephen, who states that “London had for its theatrical exhibitions holy plays, and the representation of miracles wrote by holy confessors.” This would be towards the close of the twelfth century; and next we come to the Chester Mysteries, which were performed about 1270. These have been reprinted during the present century, and the application of the word mystery is explained in the two subjoined verses from the proclamation or prologue to the Whitsun Plays, a title by which the famous Chester Mysteries were also known. The “moonke” mentioned is Done Rondali, of Chester Abbey, who founded the plays:--

This moonke, moonke-like in Scriptures well seene
In storyes travelled with the best sorte;
In pagentes set fourth, apparently to all eyne,
The Olde and Newe Testament with livelye comforte;
Intermynglinge therewith, onely to make Sporte,
Some things not warranted by any writt,
Which, to glad the hearers, he woulde men to take yt.

Now, you worshippfull Tanners, that of custome olde
The fall of Lucifer did set out,
Some writers awarrante your matter; therefore be boulde,
Lustily to playe the same to all the rowtte;
And yf any thereof stande in any doubte,
Your author his author hath, your shewe let bee,
Good speech, fyne players, with apparill comelye.

With the history of plays we have nothing to do, and need only state that the first regular English tragedy was “Ferrex and Porrex,” which was acted before Queen Elizabeth on the 18th of January 1561 by the gentlemen of the Inner Temple. This same play was tried at one of the minor theatres in 1854, but had no claim upon the tastes of the time. From a passage in Strype’s Life of Archbishop Grindall, it has been assumed that the custom of issuing bills, giving information concerning the time, place, and nature of plays to be acted, came in with the plays themselves, as it is there shown to exist prior to the year 1563. In alluding to Grindall’s objections to dramatic representations, Strype mentions that the Archbishop complained to Queen Elizabeth’s secretary that the players “did then daily, but especially on the holidays, set up their _bills_, inviting to plays.” This, however, is a somewhat curious error of Strype’s, into which Mr Payne Collier has also fallen. The Bishop did not write _bills_ but _booths_; his words are as follows: “Common players, now daylie, but speciallye on holy dayes, set up _boothes_ whereunto the youthe resorteth excessively.” There is, however, other evidence to prove that playbills were in use not long after the above date; for John Northbrooke, in his treatise against theatrical performances, printed about 1579, says: “They use to set up their bills upon posts some certain days before, to admonish people to make resort to their theatres.” At that time the Stationers’ Company had the right of giving licences for the printing of playbills, and in the year 1587 its Court of Assistants conferred upon John Charlewood the privilege of being the sole printer of bills for players. Before that time they were printed by one James Roberts, who names “the bills for the players” amongst his publications as early as 1573--six years before Northbrooke’s mention of them--and, authorised no doubt by Charlewood, he continued to print them until after the year 1600. This right of printing playbills was at a subsequent period assumed by the Crown. A broadside, dated 1620, is preserved in the Library of the Society of Antiquaries, by which this privilege was granted to a printing firm by James I. It is entitled “An Abstract of his Majesty’s Letters Patent granted unto Roger Wood and Thomas Symcocke, for the sole printing of paper and parchment on the one side.” Among the articles enumerated as coming under this category are, “Bills for Playes, Pastimes, Showes, Challenges, Prizes, or Sportes whatsoever.” At the end the public are informed that if they may want any work of that description, they need only repair to Edward Allde (Wood and Symcocke’s assignee), “in the Old Change at the Golden Anchor, over against Carter Lane end, where they shall be reasonably dealt with for the same.”

According to Malone these early playbills did not contain a list of the characters or of the names of the actors by whom they were represented. But that the name of the author was sometimes, if not always, on the playbill may be inferred from a passage in the anonymous play of “Histriomastix” (1610), act iv., in which Belch, speaking of Post-hast the playwriter, says, “It is as dangerous to read his name at a play dore, as a printed bill on a plague dore,” the allusion being to the practice of writing “Lord have mercy upon us” on the doors of houses in which the plague had broken out, which words of course were a caution, and made people pass on hurriedly. In the same play also we find a curious illustration of our subject in a reference to the part of one of the inferior actors. In act iii. the stage direction says, “Enter Belch setting up bills.” And it may not be out of place to remark that the word poster is evidently derived from the custom of sticking bills on posts. That bills were stuck on posts for choice, many of them at stated or customary places, there is plenty of evidence. Sometimes they were ordered to be stuck upon doors and gates, as in the following, though this very possibly means door or gate post. From the _Moderate Intelligencer_, March 18-25, 1647, we discover that in the time of civil war, when the bishops’ lands and palaces were sold, the following places were appointed by Parliament to be used for affixing bills concerning the sales. Upon the outer gate and upon the hall door of Sir Richard Gourney’s house in the Old Jewry (this was the office where the committee charged with those sales held their sitting), upon the north door of St Paul’s Church, upon the gate of Guildhall, and upon the gate of Blackwell Hall.

As long as they have had an existence--from the sixteenth century--these bills have gone by the name of playbills. In the prologue to the anonymous tragedy of “A Warning for Fair Women” (1599), Tragedy whips History and Comedy from the stage, exclaiming:--

’Tis you have kept the theatre so long
Painted in Play bills upon every post,
While I am scornèd of the multitude.

They have also, however, in various places and at various times, been called “text bills for plays.” The natural and shorter title, though, always overruled its more pretentious rival. From the prologue to Shirley’s “Cardinal” (1652) it appears that it was usual to add on the bill whether the piece was a comedy or a tragedy. This “Cardinal” being a tragedy, the author apologises in the following words for only calling it “a play” in the bills:--

Think what you please, we call it but a “play.”
Whether the comic muse, or lady’s love,
Romance, or direful tragedy it prove,
The bill determines not: and you would be
Persuaded I would have’t a comedy
For all the purple in the name.

From which it may be inferred that the names of tragedies, for greater distinction, were usually, or at all events occasionally, printed in red ink. That the custom of posting playbills continued in the reign of Charles II. may be inferred from the following entry in Pepys’ Diary: “I went to see if any play was acted and I found none upon the posts, it being Passion Weeke.”

During the Civil Wars the drama had a hard struggle not to be swamped in the deluge which destroyed all things appertaining to the pomp and luxury of the Court, or connected with pleasure generally. The face of the Parliament was turned against stage-plays, and when the war broke out, one of the first measures was that which led to the publication of the following bill:--

_Ordinance of the Lords and Commons concerning Stage-Plays._

^Whereas,^

The distressed Estate of Ireland, steeped in her own Blood, and the
distracted Estate of England, threatened with a Cloud of Blood by a
civil War, call for all possible Means to appease and avert the Wrath
of God, appearing in these Judgements; amongst which Fasting and
Prayer, having been often tried to be very effectual, have been
lately, and are still, enjoined; And whereas public Sports do not well
agree with public Calamities, nor public Stage-plays with the Seasons
of Humiliation, this being an exercise of sad and pious Solemnity, and
the other being Spectacles of Pleasure too commonly expressing
lascivious Mirth and Levity; It is therefore thought fit, and ordered
by the Lords and Commons in this Parliament assembled, That while
these sad Causes and set Times of Humiliation do continue, public
Stage-plays shall cease and be forborne. Instead of which are
recommended to the People of this Land the profitable and seasonable
consideration of Repentance, Reconciliation, and Peace with God, which
probably will produce outward Peace and Prosperity, and bring again
Times of Joy and Gladness to these Nations.

This intimation was of course received with much outcry, and “The Actors’ Remonstrance” was soon published. In it the writer complains naturally of a law which robs the poor player of his livelihood, and allows bear-gardens and suchlike places to remain unmolested to the delectation of “boisterous butchers, cutting cobblers, hard-handed masons, and the like riotous disturbers of the public peace.” The playhouses are defended against sundry charges brought against them, and a promise is made that no female whatsoever shall be admitted unless accompanied by her husband or some male relative; besides which the use of tobacco is to be forbidden even in the threepenny galleries, except in the case of “the pure Spanish leaf.” It may thus be readily guessed that something worse even than the cheap “sensation smokes” of the present day was often misnamed tobacco. This is hard to believe, however. The promise extends to the expulsion of all ribaldry from the stage; and the actors say, “We will so demean ourselves as none shall esteem us of the ungodly, or have cause to repine at our actions or interludes; we will not entertain any comedian that shall speak his part in a tone as if he did it in derision of some of the pious, but reform all our disorders and amend all our amisses.” During the Commonwealth, stage-plays were almost openly connived at; and the licence indulged in during the Restoration days is too well known to require notice here.

An interesting epoch in the history of the drama is the first appearance of David Garrick, and it is noticeable that the playbill which commemorates the event does not contain his name. Neither, for the matter of that, does it contain the name of the author of the play, who, if Shakespeare, must have been improved and amended. The monopoly of the patent theatres was such that these plays had to be advertised and regarded as simply interludes to a musical entertainment. As witness:--

_October 19, 1741._

GOODMAN’S FIELDS.

At the late Theatre in Goodman’s Fields, this Day will be perform’d a
_Concert of Vocal_ and _Instrumental Music_, divided into two Parts.

Tickets at Three, Two and One Shilling.

Places for the Boxes to be taken at the Fleece Tavern, near the
Theatre.

N.B. Between the two Parts will be presented an Historical Play,
called the Life and Death of

KING RICHARD THE THIRD,

containing the Distresses of
KING HENRY VI.
The Artful Acquisition of the Crown by
KING RICHARD,
The Murder of the young King Edward V. and his Brother, in the
Tower,
The Landing of the Earl of Richmond,
And the Death of King Richard in the memorable Battle of Bosworth
Field, being the last that was fought between the
Houses of York and Lancaster.
With many other true historical Passages.

The Part of KING RICHARD _by a Gentleman_.
(_Who never appeared on any Stage._)

King Henry, by Mr. Giffard; Richmond, Mr. Marshall; Prince Edward, by
Miss Hippisley; Duke of York, Miss Naylor; Duke of Buckingham, Mr.
Peterson; Duke of Norfolk, Mr. Blades; Lord Stanley, Mr. Pagett;
Oxford, Mr. Vaughan; Tressel, Mr. W. Giffard; Catesby, Mr. Marr;
Rutcliff, Mr. Crofts; Blunt, Mr. Naylor; Tyrrell, Mr. Puttenham; Lord
Mayor, Mr. Dunstall; The Queen, Mrs. Steel; Duchess of York, Mrs.
Yates;

And the Part of Lady ANNE
By Mrs GIFFARD.

With Entertainments of Dancing

By Mons. Fromet, Madame Duvall, and the two Masters and Miss Granier.

To which will be added a _Ballad Opera_ of one Act, called

THE VIRGIN UNMASK’D.
The Part of Lucy by Miss HIPPISLEY.

Both of which will be performed Gratis by Persons for their Diversion.
The Concert will begin exactly at Six o’Clock.

This bill would seem to contradict an inscription in the large room at the St John’s Gate Tavern, Clerkenwell, which is to the effect that Garrick made his first appearance on any stage there. The first appearance of David on any stage was at Ipswich, also in 1741, “where, under the assumed name of Lyddul, he appeared as Aboan in the tragedy of ‘Oroonoko.’” His acting at the East End of London was a decided success, and the performances were continued for what was then considered an almost fabulous period. “The other theatres were quickly deserted, and Goodman’s Fields became the resort of people of fashion, even from the West End, till that theatre was shut up.” The last performance at Goodman’s Fields is said to have taken place on a Sunday. Another playbill of the middle of the eighteenth century may be found interesting, though for no such reasons as are found in that of Goodman’s Fields. It is redolent of the pride and poverty which seem to be ever associated with the drama in days gone by, and is given by Boaden in his “Life of Mrs Siddons:”--

At the Old Theatre, in East Grinstead, on Saturday, May, 1758, will be
represented (by particular desire, and for the benefit of Mrs. P.) the
deep and affecting tragedy of

“THEODOSIUS, OR THE FORCE OF LOVE,”

with magnificent scenes, dresses, &c.

Varanes by Mr. P., who will strive, as far as possible, to support the
character of the fiery Persian Prince, in which he was so much admired
and applauded at Hastings, Arundel, Petworth, Midworth, Lewes, &c.

Theodosius by a young Gentleman from the University of Oxford, who
never appeared on any Stage.

Athenais by Mrs. P. Though her present Condition will not permit her
to wait on Gentlemen and Ladies out of the town with Tickets, she
hopes, as on former Occasions, for their Liberality and Support.

Nothing in Italy can exceed the Altar, in the first scene of the Play;
nevertheless should any of the Nobility or Gentry wish to see it
ornamented with Flowers, the Bearer will bring away as many as they
choose to favour him with.

As the coronation of Athenais, to be introduced in the fifth Act,
contains a number of Personages, more than sufficient to fill all the
dressing Rooms, &c., it is hoped no Gentlemen and Ladies will be
offended being refused admission behind the Scenes.

N.B. The great yard Dog, that made so much noise on Thursday night,
during the last Act of King Richard the Third, will be sent to a
Neighbour’s over the way; and on account of the prodigious demand for
places, part of the Stable will be laid into the Boxes on one side,
and the Granary be open for the same purpose on the other.

_Vivat Rex._

Those who are curious in the matter of playbills in all languages will perhaps accept the annexed as a compromise, and as the nearest thing in a general way we can manage in the space at command. Those also who are good at riddles may like to try their skill on it:--

NOTICE.

SAturday 30 and on Sunday 31 of the corrent, in the Royal Theatre of
St. Charles will be represented by the Italian Company the famous Holy
Drama intitled

IL TRIONFO DI GIUDITTA

O SIA

LA MORTE D’ OLOFERNE.

In the interval of the first to the second act it shall have a new and
pompous Ball of the composition of John Baptista Gianini, who has by
title:

IL SACRIFICIO D’ ABRAMO

in which will enter all the excellent corp of Ball, who dance at
present in the said Royal Theatre; the spetacle will be finished with
the second act and Ball analog to the same Drama, all with the
nessessary decoration.

This is who is offered to the Respectable Publick of whom is waited
all the proctetion and concurrence:

_It will begin at 8 o’clok._

Na officina de Simāo Thaddeo Ferreira. 1811. Com licenca.

We next append a bill of the far-famed Richardson’s Theatre under date 1825--one of those distributed during the Bartlemy Fair of that year. Hone describes the theatre thus: “The outside of this show was in height upwards of thirty feet, and occupied one hundred feet in width. The platform on the outside was very elevated; the back of it was lined with green baize, and festooned with deeply-fringed crimson curtains, except at two places, where the money-takers sat, which were wide and roomy projections, fitted up like Gothic shrine-work, with columns and pinnacles. There were fifteen hundred variegated illumination-lamps disposed over various parts of the platform, some of them depending from the top in the shape of chandeliers and lustres, and others in wreaths and festoons. A band of ten performers in scarlet dresses, similar to those worn by beefeaters, continually played on clarionets, violins, trombones, and the long drum; while the performers paraded in their gayest ‘properties’ before the gazing multitude. Audiences rapidly ascended on each performance being over, and paying their money to the receivers in their Gothic seats, had tickets in return; which being taken at the doors, admitted them to descend into the ‘theatre.’” The bill is as follows:--

⁂ Change of Performance each Day.

RICHARDSON’S
THEATRE.

_This Day will be performed, an entire New Melo-Drama, called the_
WANDERING
OUTLAW,
_Or, the Hour of Retribution_.

Gustavus, Elector of Saxony Mr. Wright.
Orsina, Baron of Holstein Mr. Cooper.
Ulric and Albert, Vassals to Orsina Messrs. Grove and Moore.
St. Clair, the Wandering Outlaw Mr. Smith.
Rinalda, the Accusing Spirit Mr. Darling.

Monks, Vassals, Hunters, &c.

Rosabella, Wife to the Outlaw Mrs. Smith.

Nuns and Ladies.

The Piece concludes with the DEATH of ORSINA, and the Appearance
of the
_ACCUSING SPIRIT_.

_The Entertainments to conclude with a New Comic Harlequinade,
with New Scenery, Tricks, Dresses, and Decorations, called_
HARLEQUIN
_FAUSTUS!_
OR, THE
DEVIL WILL HAVE HIS OWN.

Luciferno, Mr. THOMAS.

Dæmon Amozor, afterwards Pantaloon, Mr. WILKINSON.--Dæmon Ziokos,
afterwards Clown, Mr. HAYWARD.--Violoncello Player, Mr.
HARTEM.--Baker, Mr. THOMPSON.--Landlord, Mr. WILKINS--Fisherman, Mr.
RAE.--Dr. Faustus, afterwards Harlequin, Mr. SALTER.

Adelada, afterwards Columbine,
Miss WILMOT.

Attendant Dæmons, Sprites, Fairies, Ballad Singers, Flower
Girls, &c. &c.

_The Pantomime will finish with_
A SPLENDID PANORAMA
_Painted by the First Artists_.

BOXES, 2_s._ PIT, 1_s._ GALLERY, 6_d._

Of show advertisements of a different kind, we have preserved one or two notable specimens. The first is of the time of William and Mary, and gives itself in two languages, though, unlike the opera bill given a page or so back, it keeps them separate:--

A Raritie in Nature.

_Surpassing all Prodigies and
strange Births that ever were seen,
more admired by the Learned than
any sort of Creature that ever was
brought to_ England, _whose Body is
of different Colours, part white, part
brown and smooth, part Hairy like
a Satyr, with admirable unusual
growings out, that no reason can
be given for. This Maid is about
16 years of age, of a comely Countenance,
proportionable Body, hath
an excellent head of Hair, speaketh
good English, is Ingenious and
Modest. Any particular Company
may see her at any hour of the day
in_ Bell Savage Yard _on_ Ludgate
Hill, London.

_God save the_ KING.

_Vne Raretée en la Nature_, viz.

Une Fille tres Admirable, elle est
belle, agée de seize ans, son visage,
Col, mameles, Bras & Mains, sont
de Coleur Blanche, merques de
beaucoup taches naturelles, les
jambs, & pieds toutes de mesmes,
le rest du Corps est de divers
Coleurs, avec des Excrescenes
fort estranges on n’a jamais veue
une telle. L’on la voit en toutes
heures du jour dans _Bell-savage-yard_
on _Ludgate Hill, London_.

VIVAT REX.

It is noticeable that the showman uses the common Latin form of “Vivat Rex” under his French, and adopts an English equivalent in his other column. About twenty years ago a similar creature was shown in London, and those who had her in charge vamped up most marvellous stories to account for the _lusus naturæ_, both decency and probability being outraged in the attempt to excite a “sensation.” The next bill is, though of the show series, of a totally different character, and refers to one of the exhibitions of the famous Figg, the swordsman and pugilist. It is now the fashion to decry such adventures as that advertised; but it is hard to believe that both Figg and Sutton were not far more respectable characters than many who practise the licensed and misnamed sport of modern times. For ourselves, we could have looked at such free agents as the rapier and backsword men, or even the more degraded pugilists, doing their best and their worst on each other, rather than sit out an aristocratic pigeon match, assist at a battue, or be party to the coursing of trapped hares and rabbits.

G. R.

_At Mr. FIGG’s New Amphitheatre._

Joyning to his House, the Sign of the City of _Oxford_, in _Oxford
Road, Marybone Fields_, on _Wednesday_ next, being the _8th_ of
_June_, 1726. _Will be Perform’d a Tryal of Skill by the following_
Masters.

WHereas I _EDWARD SUTTON_, Pipemaker from _Gravesend_, and _Kentish_
Professor of the Noble Science of Defence, having, under a Sleeveless
Pretence been deny’d a Combat by and with the Extoll’d Mr. FIGG; which
I take to be occasioned through fear of his having that Glory Eclipsed
by me, wherewith the Eyes of all Spectators have been so much dazzled:
Therefore, to make appear, that the Great Applause which has so much
puff’d up this Hero, has proceeded only from his Foyling such who are
not worthy the name of Swordsmen, as also that he may be without any
farther Excuse; I do hereby dare the said Mr. FIGG to meet as above,
and dispute with me the Superiority of Judgment in the Sword (which
will best appear by Cuts, _&c._) at all the Weapons he is or shall be
then Capable of Performing on the Stage.

* * * * *

I _JAMES FIGG_, _Oxonian_ Professor of the said Science, will not fail
giving this daring _Kentish_ Champion an Opportunity to make good his
Allegations; when, it is to be hop’d, if he finds himself Foyl’d he
will then change his Tone, and not think himself one of the Number who
are not worthy the Name of Swordsmen, as he is pleased to signifie by
his Expression: However, as the most significant Way of deciding these
Controversies is by Action, I shall defer what I have farther to Act
till the Time above specified; when I shall take care not to deviate
from my usual Custom, in making all such Bravadoes sensible of their
Error, as also in giving all Spectators intire Satisfaction.

N.B. _The Doors will be open’d at Four, and the Masters mount between
Six and Seven exactly._

_VIVAT REX._

Sutton does not seem to have made much but hard knocks by his desire to uphold the honour of pipemakers and Kentish men, for Figg is generally characterised as retiring undefeated, and Captain Godfrey, the great amateur of his day, makes reference to the defeat of Sutton in his “Treatise upon the Useful Science of Defence” (1747). Speaking of the Oxford professor, he says: “Fig was the atlas of the sword, and may he remain the gladiating statue! In him, strength, resolution, and unparalleled judgment conspired to form a matchless master. There was a majesty shone in his countenance, and blazed in all his actions, beyond all I ever saw. His right leg bold and firm, and his left, which could hardly ever be disturbed, gave him the surprising advantage already proved, and struck his adversary with despair and panic. He had that peculiar way of stepping in I spoke of in a parry; he knew his arm and its just time of moving, put a firm faith in that, and never let his adversary escape his parry. He was just as much a greater master than any other I ever saw, as he was a greater judge of time and measure.” Of Sutton the enthusiastic captain tells us that “he was a resolute, pushing, awkward swordsman; but by his busy intruding arm, and scrambling legs, there were few judgments but what were disordered and disconcerted. Fig managed him the best of any by his charming distinction of time and measure, in which he far excelled all, and sufficiently proved these two be the sword’s true foundation.” Figg was also a great bruiser, and was regarded as the champion of the boxers as well as the master of the swordsmen. He was a genial good-tempered fellow, and was the boon companion of many eminent authors and artists of his time.

So much for show and play bills, and the celebrities to whom they have introduced us. We will now turn to handbill and poster advertisements of various descriptions. Tickets and bills containing the information that apartments were to be let were set up over doors at least as early as 1665. In the “Pillulæ Pestilentialis” of the Rev. Richard Hingston, preacher, of St James’s, Clerkenwell, there is the following in reference to the Plague and the practice just mentioned:--

No Papers then o’er our Doors were set
With “Chambers ready furnished to be Let,”
But a sad “Lord have Mercy upon us” and
A bloody Cross as fatal Marks did stand.

At the end of a pamphlet, printed in 1673, entitled “An Essay to revive the Ancient Education of Gentlewomen, in Religion, Manners, and Tongues,” there is a postscript, containing an advertisement of a boarding school at Tottenham High Cross. This establishment was under the management of Mrs Makin, who had been tutoress to the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Charles I., and who put forth part of her prospectus in the following manner:--

Here by the blessing of God, Gentlewomen may be instructed in the
principles of Religion, and in all manner of sober and virtuous
Education: more especially in all Things ordinarily taught in Schools
for the other Sex; as in

Works of all sorts,
Dancing,
Music,
Singing,
Writing,
Keeping Accounts.

Half the Time is to be spent in these Things, and the other half to be
employed in gaining the Latin and French Tongues, and those that
please may learn Greek and Hebrew, the Italian and Spanish; in all
which this Gentlewoman hath a competent knowledge.

Gentlewomen of eight or nine Years old, that can read well, may be
instructed in a Year or two (according to their Parts) in the Latin
and French Tongues, by plain and short Rules accommodated to the
English Tongue.

Those that will bestow a longer Time may learn the other Languages
before mentioned, if they please.

Repositories also for Visibles shall be prepared, by which from
beholding the things, Gentlewomen may learn the Names, Natures,
Values, and Uses of Herbs, Shrubs, Trees, mineral Juices, Metals and
Stones.

Those that please may learn Limning, Preserving, Pastry, and Cookery,
etc.

The rate shall be certain £20 per Annum; but if a competent
improvement be made in the Tongues, and the other Things before
mentioned, as shall be agreed upon them, something more will be
expected. But the Parents shall judge what shall be deserved by the
Undertaker.

Sterne, who knew as much about struggles and adversity as most people, used to tell this story about his young days: “I happened to be acquainted with a young man from Yorkshire, who rented a window in one of the paved alleys near Cornhill, for the sale of stationery. I hired one of the panes of glass from my friend, and stuck up the following advertisement with wafers:--

Epigrams, Anagrams, Paragrams, Chronograms, Monograms, Epitaphs,
Epithalamiums, Prologues, Epilogues, Madrigals, Interludes,
Advertisements, Letters, Petitions, Memorials, on every occasion,
Essays on every subject, Pamphlets for and against Ministers, Sermons
upon any Text or for any Sect, to be written here, on reasonable
terms, by

A. B. Philologer.

“The uncommonness of the titles occasioned numerous applications, and at night I used privately to glide into the office to digest the notes or heads of the day, and receive the earnest which was directed always to be left with the memorandums, the writing to be paid for on delivery, according to the subject.” Yorick speedily became disgusted with this employment, however, and as soon as he possibly could retired from it.

Another of the triumphs which have unfortunately not come down to the present generation, and which many will consider to be hardly compensated for by gas, steam, and electricity, the postal service and the police system, is that of Mr Nunn, whose bill, published to the world in the latter portion of the eighteenth century, runs thus:--

_Breeches Making improved by Geometry._

_Thomas Nunn_, Breeches-Maker, No. 29, Wigmore Street, Cavendish
Square, has invented a System on a mathematical Principle, by which
Difficulties are solved, and Errors corrected; its usefulness for Ease
and Neatness in fitting is incomparable, and is the only perfect Rule
for that Work ever discovered. Several hundreds (Noblemen, Gentlemen,
and Others) who have had Proof of its Utility, allow it to excel all
they ever made Trial of.

_N.B._ An approved Method is adopted for keeping them clean without
discommoding by Dust.

In some future day, when personal comfort again becomes one of the fine arts, one of the chief tests for a wranglership may be the making of mathematical breeches. If the age is very material, perhaps the approved method of cleaning them may stand in stead of classics, which are already going much out of fashion. Our next specimen comes from the Emerald Isle, and though short is well marked with both of the most prominent characteristics of the natives. It was given away and posted up in various parts of Dublin at the end of July 1781:--

This is to certify that I, Daniel O’Flannaghan, am not the Person that
was tarred and feathered by the Liberty Mob, on Tuesday last; and I am
ready to give 20 Guineas to any one that will lay me 50, that I am the
other Man who goes by my Name.

Witness my Hand, this 30th July.

DANIEL O’FLANNAGHAN.

A man who can afford to lay seventy guineas to thirty that he is himself, and nobody else, deserves credit for his boldness, if not for his ingenuity. Another bill from Ireland, of a few years later on, next claims our attention. It refers to a house to let in Coleraine, and is a specimen of quite another kind of Hibernian humour:--

_To be Let_

To an OPPIDAN, a RURICOLIST, or a COSMOPOLITAN, and may be
entered upon immediately.

The House in STONE ROW, lately possessed by Capt. Siree. To avoid
verbosity the proprietor with compendiosity will give a perfunctory
description of the premises, in the compagination of which he has
sedulously studied the convenience of the occupant--it is free from
opacity, tenebrosity, fumidity, and injucundity, and no building can
have greater pellucidity or translucency--in short, its diaphaneity
even in the crepuscule makes it like a pharos, and without laud, for
its agglutimation and amenity, it is a most delectable commorance; and
whoever lives in it will find that the neighbours have none of the
truculence, the immanity, the torvity, the spinosity, the putidness,
the pugnacity, nor the fugacity observable in other parts of the town;
their propinquity and consanguinity occasions jucundity and
pudicity--from which, and the redolence of the place (even in the dog
days) they are remarkable for longevity. For terms and particulars
apply to JAMES HUTCHISON, opposite the MARKET HOUSE.

_Coleraine, 30th September, 1790._

We commend this to that rather numerous class of people who like words with plenty of sound, and regard sense as quite a secondary consideration. Dogberry would have been delighted with it, and the writer could have commanded his own price as a contributor to certain newspapers, or as a sporting tipster. We have already given our readers an advertising tombstone, which was a swindle, inasmuch as it was placed up to the memory of a person who never existed. We now give another, which is really what it pretends to be--an improvement of the opportunity to combine business, not with pleasure, but with mourning. It stood, we are told, in a burial-ground belonging to one of our old ivy-clad churches in the North, and was an elegantly-carved memorial stone, the inscription being:--

Sacred to the Memory
of
JOHN ROBERTS,
Stonemason and Tombcutter,
Who died on Saturday, October the 8th, 1800.
N.B.--The business carried on by the Widow at No. 1, Freshfield place.

HERE LYES
JEREMY JOBBINS
AN AFFECTIONATE HUSBAND
AND
A TENDER PARENT

HIS·DISCONSOLATE·WIDOW
IN·THE·HOPE·OF·A·BETTER·MEATING
CONTINUES TO
CARRY ON
THE LONG ESTABLISHED
TRIPE AND TROTTER
BUSINESS
AT·THE·SAME·PLACE
AS
BEFORE HER LAMENTED
BEREAVEMENT

READER·PAUSE·&·NOTICE THE·ADDRESS

]

Perhaps her being in the “tombstone line” may be an excuse for the widow Roberts. We don’t suppose she needed one, however, for any one who would do what she did would be quite callous as to the world’s opinions. Of the two we much prefer the Frenchman who erected the stone to an entirely supposititious person, to the widow who traded on her husband’s grave. This reminds us that we have received, among many communications, one containing the above sketch of an advertising tombstone, which the writer, who dates from a well-known town in the north, Gateshead, states positively stood in a neighbouring churchyard within his recollection. The address, he says, was on the footstone. We give the illustration “without prejudice.” Do tripe and trotters after all produce a prosaic condition of the human mind suggested by this tombstone, or would the relict of Jeremy have done as she did had her wares been of a different kind? In the interests of the edibles referred to, for which we must confess a weakness, we trust she would. But who shall say?

At the time of the marriage of George the Third’s eldest daughter to the Duke of Wurtemburg, a curious little handbill was given away about London. It was printed on both sides, and looked like a tract. Its contents were to the following effect:--

FRAGMENT _of a_ CHAPTER _concerning the curious_ MANGLE of BEETHAM
_appointed to be read by all the_ LADIES _and_ LAUNDRESSES _of the
land of Albion_.

_By His Majesty’s special command._

CHAP. I.

_1 Beetham’s fame and diligence. 3 his marvellous mill. 6 he
constructs a mangle which surprises the World. 8 The Princesses visit
his museum and praise the curious Machinery. 16 He is mimiced by
others. 18 The King grants his royal patent to the Artist. 22 Beetham
is recompensed by the nobles and the people._

NOW it came to pass, even towards the close of the eighteenth century,
that there lived in the great city which is called London a certain
man of the name of Beetham who had many curious inventions.

2 The same mechanic while the world waged war against _Albion_
cultivated with all diligence the arts of Peace in the ways of wisdom.

3 When therefore he saw that his washing mill pleased the people and
was daily employed by all throughout the regions of Britain and her
colonies.

4 Behold he also constructed another machine more marvellous than the
first which is called a _Mangle_ even to this day. 5 Neither adhered
he to the old gothic plan of his predecessors but formed it new and
surprising in simplicity so that a little maiden could set it in
motion.

6 And it came to pass when a great company of ladies and laundresses
beheld the infant turn the wheel with wonderful ease and moreover saw
the wheel move backwards as well as the way of the wheel whose
revolution was always the same and also saw it move as by self
instinct.

7 That they cried aloud with one voice saying, great and marvellous is
the _Mangle_ of _Beetham_.

8 And in process of time, the princesses and the nobles accompanied a
certain great prince who came from a far country to carry away a royal
beauty, even the eldest daughter of the King.

9 And behold as they passed on their way to view the wonders of the
great temple of _Paul_, one of the damsels lifted up her azure eyes
and beheld the Museum of _Beetham_ fronting the temple of _Dunstan_.

10 At that instant the child was turning the wonderful _Mill_ which
laved the fine linen clean and white in the twinkling of an eye;

11 Also another child by its feeble arm was moving the newly invented
_Mangle_.

12 And lo, one of the nobles cried, wherefore should we pass on
further into the city, let us step aside and see this miracle.

13 Now it came to pass that the company alighted from their gilded
chariots and went into the _Museum_, and marvelled much at the curious
machines.

14 And when they saw the _Mill_ and the _Mangle_, the _Wringer_ also,
and the machine for the _Churning_ of _Milk_, which even _Solomon_
with all his wisdom never invented.

15 They all with one accord commanded the master of the Museum to
prepare for the _Princess_ one of each of these curious machines; to
the end she might spread the fame of the inventor all over the land,
in which she was soon to be a sojourner.

16 ¶ Now--the _Mimic Machinists_ of those days by their enchantments
strove to surpass _Beetham_, but failed by falling into the great
_chaos_ of complication:

17 So that, like the builders of Babel they were confounded; crying
aloud, surely all machination against Beetham must fail, neither can
we imitate the simplicity of his Mangle.

18 And word was carried to the King in those days, even concerning the
new invention of the artist of London.

19 Which prevailed upon him when he also heard of the utility of the
_Mangle_ in tender kindness to all the laundresses of the land to
cause his Royal signet to be set on a certain parchment called a
patent.

20 So that until twice seven seasons should pass no man should imitate
the machine but by the consent of _Beetham_ the Proprietor thereof.

21 And when the King had so done, lo there was prepared many machines
of various sizes in order that the high and the low, the rich and the
poor, might use the same throughout the land, but Beetham was the
vender of them all.

22 And for those which the Princess and the Lords and Ladies of the
Land did cause to be sent to them which were made of Oak whose
duration shall far exceed the years of the generations of the sons of
men and which were for smoothing all the linen of the Households of
the mighty nobles, Beetham received certain pieces of money which
being counted in the coin of Albion amounted to Ten guineas.

23 And for such as were made of the wood called Beech he received nine
pieces of gold and for others eight pieces of the like coin, but for
less than eight pieces Beetham sent not the _Mangle_ forth among the
inhabitants of the land.

24 And behold all the people rejoiced extremely and the fame of the
Mangle was spread abroad among all the isles of Britain even to the
remotest part thereof; and the ships of the sea were laden with the
same machines to the Colonies abroad, and in all those parts of the
Earth where Economy is an object, where Convenience is desirable, and
where Cleanliness is esteemed next to Godliness.

* * * * *

_Mr. BEETHAM’s_
NEW PATENT PORTABLE WASHING MILL

IS so universally used and Economical, that it deserves the serious
attention of the Public in general.

1 It renders the linen whiter and cleaner than it can be made by any
other method.

2 It will wash more in one hour than ten women can in the same time.

3 It is so saving, that for Five Shillings it will wash as much as
will cost One Guinea in the common mode.

4 The price of the Mill is very soon cleared by what it saves in soap,
coals, manual labour and the preservation of the linen.

This invaluable invention may be seen from Eleven until Two every day.

A Mill large enough to wash 8 shirts 4l. 4s. 14, 4l. 14s. 6d. 18, 5l.
5s. 24, 6l. 6s.

One to first and second, 10l. 10s. Wringer, 1l. 1s.

This Beetham was the grandfather, on her mother’s side, of Miss Reed, the celebrated old lady of Stamford Street, whose houses were for many years in a notoriously dismantled and dilapidated condition, and who not very long since left a hundred thousand pounds to the Brompton Hospital. Her mother was a pupil of Opie’s, and before she married Mr Reed, a solicitor, some of her pictures were exhibited as those of her master. She late in life became eccentric, but not to such an extent as her daughter, whose name was at one time almost a household word. Another tradesman of the City, who was well known for his devotion to the art of advertising, early in the present century put forth this, which is rather magniloquent, considering the subject which forms its basis:--

MAY THE WINGS OF EXTRAVAGANCE _be clipped by the Scissars of
Economy_--was the constant toast of a person who knew very well the
value of a sixpence. To all good economists would Romanis wish to be
recommended, though but a bad practitioner himself, (he is a little
like the clergy--“Don’t do as I do, but as I tell you to do.”) When
you want real good Stockings at a low price, come to the Sign of the
Regent, 33 in Cheapside--there you have them in perfection, and I am
certain sixpence in a pair is worth saving; and any one that is
possest of the least spark of parsimony will give their assent.
Frugality is certainly a good thing--it enables a people to pay
taxes--to pay their armies--to thrash the French--to make peace on
good terms--to extend commerce--to make people live long and
comfortable:

FOR STOCKINGS
Romanis against the whole World, at his Mart, 33 Cheapside.

From small beginnings great events arise--only see what benefit to the nation as well as to private individuals accrued from the purchase of cheap stockings. Romanis has never been mentioned in conjunction with Wellington, yet he seems to have had a good deal to do towards building up the victory of Waterloo, and ought to have been remembered, say as much as Blucher, who has been immortalised in the way of boots while the stocking-seller has been clean forgotten.

Another curious advertiser was William Hall of Lynn, who flourished early in the present century. According to Hone, Hall was a celebrated antiquarian bookseller, and received the alias of Will Will-be-So. He was also an auctioneer, and on the market-day he would knock down his lots in great style, and with many whimsical remarks. He had a craze for verse, and in such as follows all his advertisements were written:--

LYNN, 19_th_ SEPTEMBER, 1810.

First Tuesday in the next October,
Now do not doubt but we’ll be sober!
If Providence permits us action,
You may depend upon
_AN AUCTION_,
At the stall
That’s occupied by WILLIAM HALL.