Chapter I: Front Matter (1)

Transcriber's Notes: Words in italics in the original are surrounded by _underscores_. A row of asterisks represents a thought break. A complete list of corrections as well as other notes follows the text.

ANECDOTES

OF THE

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS

OF

LONDON

DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY;

INCLUDING

THE CHARITIES, DEPRAVITIES, DRESSES, AND AMUSEMENTS,
OF THE CITIZENS OF LONDON,
DURING THAT PERIOD;

WITH A REVIEW

OF THE

STATE OF SOCIETY IN 1807.

TO WHICH IS ADDED,

A SKETCH OF THE DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE, AND OF
THE VARIOUS IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METROPOLIS.

ILLUSTRATED BY FORTY-FIVE ENGRAVINGS.

BY JAMES PELLER MALCOLM, F. S. A.

AUTHOR OF "LONDINIUM REDIVIVUM," &c. &c.

THE SECOND EDITION.

VOLUME II.

_LONDON_:
PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND ORME,
PATERNOSTER ROW.
1810.

John Nichols and Son, Printers,
Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street, London.

_CONTENTS_

OF

THE SECOND VOLUME.

CHAP. V. Page.

Public Methods of raising Money exemplified in
Notices relating to Lotteries, Benefit Societies, &c. 1

CHAP. VI.

The Religious and Political Passions of the Community
illustrated by Anecdotes of popular Tumults 11

CHAP. VII.

Amusement--Detail of its principal Varieties since
1700 107

CHAP. VIII.

Anecdotes of Dress, and of the Caprices of Fashion 312

CHAP. IX.

Domestic Architecture traced from its origin to its
present improved state in London--Lighting and
improving of Streets--Obstructions in them--Ornaments,
&c. 358

CHAP. X.

Sketch of the present State of Society in London 406

_PLATES_

TO

THE SECOND VOLUME.

The Plates of Dress (chronologically) 312

Croydon Palace }
Brick Gateway near Bromley } 364

The Views of Antient and Modern Houses 366

The general Views 404

CHAP. V.

PUBLIC METHODS OF RAISING MONEY EXEMPLIFIED, IN NOTICES
RELATING TO LOTTERIES, BENEFIT SOCIETIES, &C.

The community of London had superior advantages an hundred years past in the State Lotteries, though, if interested Office-keepers could be credited, the Londoners of the present Century enjoy greater gaming privileges than the world ever yet produced. The reader shall judge between the schemes of 1709 and 1807. The Post Boy of December 27 says, "We are informed that the Parliamentary Lottery will be fixed in this manner:--150,000 tickets will be delivered out at 10_l._ each ticket, making in all the sum of 1,500,000_l._ sterling; the principal whereof is to be sunk, the Parliament allowing nine _per cent._ interest for the whole during the term of 32 years, which interest is to be divided as follows: 3750 tickets will be prizes from 1000_l._ to 5_l. per annum_ during the said 32 years; all the other tickets will be blanks, so that there will be 39 of these to one prize, but then each blank ticket will be entitled to fourteen shillings a year for the term of 32 years, which is better than an annuity for life at ten _per cent._ over and above the chance of getting a prize." Such was the eagerness of the publick in subscribing to the above profitable scheme, that Mercers-hall was literally crowded, and the Clerks were found incompetent to receive the influx of names. 600,000_l._ was subscribed January 21; and on the 28th of February the sum of 1,500,000_l._ was completed.

The rage for Lotteries reigned uncontrouled; and the newspapers of the day teemed with proposals issued by every ravenous adventurer who could collect a few valuable articles; and from those shopkeepers took the hint, and goods of every description were converted into prizes, even neckcloths, snuff-boxes, toothpick-cases, linen, muslin, and plate. The prices of tickets were generally sixpence, a shilling, half a crown, &c. At the latter end of the year just mentioned, the Magistrates, being alarmed, declared their intention of putting the Act of William and Mary in force, which levied a penalty of 500_l._ on the proprietor, and 20_l._ on each purchaser. In the tenth of Queen Anne another Act was passed for suppressing private Lotteries, which was followed by a second to prevent excessive and deceitful gaming.

Matthew West, a Goldsmith, of Clare-street, Clare-market, appears to have been the man who first divided Lottery-tickets into shares. He advertised in 1712, that he had sold 100 tickets in the million and an half Lottery in twentieths, and purposed pursuing his plan, which was well received.

The Lottery for 1714 contained 50,000 tickets at 10_l._ each, with 6982 prizes and 43,018 blanks; two of the former were 10,000_l._ with one of 5, another of 4000_l._ a third of 3000_l._ and a fourth of 2000_l._ five of 1000_l._ ten of 500_l._ twenty of 200_l._ fifty of 100_l._ four hundred of 50_l._ and six thousand four hundred and ninety-one of 20_l._

Besides the drawing for prizes and blanks, there was another for the course of payment, and each 1000 tickets was called a course. The payments to the receivers were on the 10th of November and 10th of December 1713. When the Tickets were drawn, they were exchanged for standing orders, and thus rendered assignable by endorsement; all the blanks were repaid the 10_l. per_ ticket at one payment, in the order their course of payment happened to fall, and they bore an interest of four _per cent._ from Michaelmas 1713. The prizes were payable in the same manner: the first drawn ticket had 500_l._; the last 1000_l._ besides the general chance; 35,000_l. per annum_ was payable weekly from the Exchequer to the Paymaster for the discharge of the principal and interest, and the whole funds of the Civil List were chargeable for thirty-two years for 35,000_l. per annum_.

To shew the difference between past and present methods, it may be worth while to insert a modern scheme.

"State Lottery begins drawing October 13, 1806, containing more Capital Prizes, and 5000 less Tickets, than last Lottery. The first drawn Ticket entitled to 10,000_l._; all other Capital Prizes are afloat. Purchasers of Tickets and Shares will have the opportunity of obtaining all the Capital Prizes, provided they purchase before the drawing commences. The Scheme has equal advantages of 20,000_l._ Prizes, 10,000_l._ Prizes, 5,000_l._ Prizes, &c. &c. to former Lotteries of double the number of Tickets.

No. of Prizes. Value of each: Total Value.
3 of £.20,000 are £.60,000
3 10,000 30,000
3 5,000 15,000
5 1,000 5,000
8 500 4,000
20 100 2,000
40 50 2,000
4,100 20 82,000
------ ---------
20,000 Tickets. £.200,000

20,000 Tickets only, and no other State Lottery to be drawn this year."

BENEFIT SOCIETIES, &C.

The first mention of any thing of this kind I have met with is in the year 1708, under the name of the "Taylors' Friendly Society" for insuring the lives of Adults and Children male and female; which was held at the Cross Keys, Wych-street; and the Trustees met twice in each month, when 1500 persons had subscribed 5_s._ each, including policies, stamps, entrance, and first claim; and continued their payments three years. They became entitled to relief in case of illness or poverty, and their Executors after death to 200_l._ Another Society was connected with it, and termed the "Amicable Society," the terms 5_s._ 6_d._ and 2_s. per_ quarter; for which relief was afforded, and 120_l._ paid at the decease of the Subscriber.

Another, called "The Fortunate Office," was intended to provide marriage-portions for the Subscribers, who paid 2_s. per_ quarter for their tickets.

A sort of Tontine had its origin in 1709 under the name of "The Lucky Seventy, or the longest livers take all." It was declared to issue out of the Annuities granted or to be granted by Parliament for the term of 99 years; the sum subscribed 10_l._ or as many tens as the Subscriber chose. The income was immediate, tax free, and payable half-yearly during the lives of their respective nominees. The office was held at Haberdashers Hall.

An office was opened in Theobald-road, 1710, which, if really answerable to the statement announcing it, promised great benefit to the lower classes of the community; and was highly honourable to the dignified Clergy, eminent Physicians, Surgeons, and Counsellors at Law, who founded and supported it. Those persons, taking into consideration the difficulty the poor laboured under of procuring medical and surgical assistance and legal advice, offered to afford prescriptions and opinions for one shilling on delivering a case, and one other shilling at receiving the answer, which payments they declared would be applied only to the actual expences of the office.

The success of these schemes sharpened the invention of the thrifty; and immediately almost every street in London abounded with Insurance offices, where policies for infants three months old might be obtained for short periods. From those they diverged into other ages and various descriptions of persons. Their reign, however, appears to have been but short; as I meet with very few advertisements of the kind in 1712. One specimen may be worth preserving: "By the United Friendly and Perpetual Society, at the Naked Boy, the corner of Battle-bridge, in Tooley-street, Southwark, on Thursday the 25th instant, will be opened two offices on Marriages for three months, on Claims two, upon Births for two months, and two on Servants for three months on dividends." Another will verify the "Wisdom of Nations" in the adage of "Set a Thief, &c.:" indeed, the Gentleman writer lets us into the whole secret at once.

"From the _antient_ and _most reputable_ sale of Alphabetical Letters at the Golden Ball in Whalebone-court, Lothbury, fronting the end of Bartholomew-lane: Whereas several as well _impudent_ as ignorant pretenders have of late erected offices of various methods, and under several denominations, proposing such prodigious profits, in making so many several returns of _cent. per cent._ for each principal sum paid into them, that it is even _miraculous_ to those of the greatest capacities in these undertakings how or with what _assurance_ they could ever pretend to publish the same; but now it is presumed every one who has any _concerns_ in matters of this kind are thoroughly sensible of the difference between _honest_ and well-regulated schemes (_as this is_) and those _chimerical_ ones which are only set up on purpose to be a glittering show of profit, where the end fails of the expectation. The failures of some of this kind, and the probability of _all_ such methods taking the same course, _has been the only motive_ of publishing this; the proposer hereof not having advertised in print these eight months, though his sale has been of nine months standing, and has paid for re-bought letters to his subscribers out of the same upwards of 29,600_l._ never paying less than double for _all_ money paid in, and that in a very short time. Proposals may be had _gratis_ at the _Sale_ aforesaid, _all_ the books being now open for subscriptions. And on Thursday the 22d instant will be opened a subscription-book, where any person may subscribe _what sum he or they please_, and receive the _principal and profit_ entire in three months, proposals of which will be delivered out the same day. This book is of the same nature with our other books; only in this, whatever sum is subscribed must be paid down with 12_d._ for each pound entrance, whereas in the other the money is paid weekly, which is a great trouble to those who cannot spare so much time."

I think I may congratulate my fellow-citizens on the improvement in our morals after their perusal of the following modest production:

"Observe well this Advertisement,

Which comes from the old and original Sale of the Queen's picture (_Qu._ the Guinea), the very next house to the George Inn, Coleman-street, London. There having been of late great discourse about offices, _and I cannot but say great reason to suspect their honesty_ (_some not designing any_), and others who knew not how to be honest, _being they wanted experience_, which business requires a regular method to be observed, occasions me to satisfy the world that the sale of the Queen's picture has been maintained this three quarters of a year, the payment every Saturday paid honourably and justly, which thousands can testify, and which is a plain demonstration of its continuance; _good payments being the only security_ in these cases. I have all along acquainted every single person concerned that I will maintain it as long _as it is possible_ to be preserved; _whenever it decays_, I have promised them all from the very beginning to summon all my purchasers together, and _to distribute what is left_ among them. This method I have taken; and I defy _any one to say it is unjust_, and I will surely perform it. Pray take good notice we begin this present Thursday to enter again, and shall continue until Saturday the 7th of June. On that day we shall also pay above 500_l._"

One of the schemes which preceded the Bubbles of 1720 was an Insurance-office for Lottery-tickets, opened at Mercers'-hall; and 120,000_l._ was actually subscribed on the following terms: for every ninety-six tickets insured the proprietors agreed to allow to the Company (after the tickets were drawn) 16_s. per_ ticket, and 5 _per cent._ on such prizes as occurred to the ninety-six tickets, the Company returning the tickets, and in case the prizes did not amount to 288_l._ valuing the prizes at _par_; the Company to make up the money 3_l._ for every ticket. For every forty-eight tickets the proprietors agreed to allow 19_s. per_ ticket, and 5 _per cent._ on the prizes as above; the Company making up the tickets 144_l._ or 3_l. per_ ticket, and so on down to twelve tickets. The proprietors of the tickets to advance no money for this security; but, when drawn, to allow as above; the tickets to be deposited with the Company, and placed by them under seal in the Bank of England; if not called for in ninety days after the drawing, to be forfeited.

We have at length reduced these schemes to a few honourable Insurance-offices for Lives and Property; and Benefit Societies have been sanctioned by the Legislature.

CHAP. VI.

THE RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL PASSIONS OF THE COMMUNITY
ILLUSTRATED BY ANECDOTES OF POPULAR TUMULTS.

The first violent effervescence of party after the year 1700 originated from the intemperance of certain Sectaries, who omitted no opportunity of attacking the Established Church; one of the members of which, Sacheverell, equally intemperate, contrived to raise the Demon of Discord throughout the Nation by Sermons calculated to make all good Churchmen detest him. In these half religious, half political contests, the populace uniformly arrange themselves on the side of Liberty--that Liberty which prompts them to assume the reins of Justice, and to dispense it according to the best of their shallow judgments; but their whips are firebrands, and indiscriminate destruction is substituted for the terrors of the Law; _their_ Culprits are seized at the instigation of some infamous leader, and punishment is inflicted before passion subsides. While Sacheverell's trial was depending in 1709-10, the many-headed monster of this monstrous Metropolis thought proper to pronounce sentence on the harmless wainscot, pews, and other woodwork of Mr. Burgess's Meeting, near Lincoln's-inn-fields, whither they were conveyed and burnt. When this wicked exploit was accomplished, and they had contrived to kill a young man in their undistinguishing fury, they proceeded to Fetter and Leather lanes, and several other places in which Meetings were situated; and would probably have committed incredible mischief, had not the Queen's guards dispersed them, and seized several of the ringleaders; one of whom was tried and condemned, but afterwards reprieved. Some of those infatuated men stopped coaches in the streets, to demand money of the passengers, to drink Sacheverell's health; which occasioned an official communication from the Queen to the Lord Mayor. Her Majesty declared her knowledge of the riots, bonfires, illuminations, the assaults and stoppage of coaches to demand money, in opposition to her Proclamation, and in contempt of the proceedings of the High Court of Parliament; and that she was credibly informed that great part of those lawless proceedings were committed through the culpable inactivity of the Magistracy; at which she expressed great displeasure; and concluded by charging the Mayor and City Officers, at their peril, to apprehend all persons exciting tumults and hawking seditious papers through the streets for sale. To the above letter the Corporation addressed an humble answer, observing that the insolent attacks on the Constitution and Her Majesty's Prerogative, by the publication of books and pamphlets intended to infuse Republican tenets in the minds of her subjects, had roused them to a consideration of their fatal tendency; they therefore declared their detestation of such doctrines, their determination to support the Protestant succession, and, in obedience to her commands, to suppress all riotous assemblies, and to oppose with undaunted vigour all attempts to disturb the peace of her reign, or the serenity of her Royal mind, at home and abroad.

The Queen addressed a similar complaint to the Magistrates of Middlesex; and received assurances of support from them, those of Westminster, and the Lieutenancy of London.

_After these professions_ of prevention, riots occurred on the 14th of October, 1710, with the watch-word of "Sacheverell and High Church;" and the mob beat off the Constables with brands from the numerous bonfires they had lighted.

The month of November teemed with the seeds of riot; but the vigilance of Government was then excited, and secret means employed to discover those preparatives by which the mob were to be set in motion. Some of the emissaries employed on this occasion gave information that a house near Drury-lane contained certain effigies, intended to represent the Pope, the Pretender, and the Devil; this trio were accompanied by four Cardinals, four Jesuits, and four Monks, who were to have been exhibited in due state on the evening of November 17, the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's accession, and then burnt, in testimony of the abhorrence entertained against the Head of the Roman Catholic faith, his engine for establishing it again in England, and his Majesty of the Infernal regions, together with the inferior instruments of the dissemination of his doctrines. Thus informed, Government preferred opposing _such_ public support of _their_ cause, and wisely intimated by their conduct that they were willing to rest it on the conscience of each individual of the community, rather than terrify _wavering_ Protestants into their measures: in consequence, they issued orders to seize the figures; which being promptly obeyed, the Messengers and guards conveyed them in safety to the Earl of Dartmouth's office, by whose means the sentence of the mob was probably more _privately_ performed, and the evening passed away without any particular occurrence. This event was eagerly seized upon by the partizans of the day; those of Government discovering in it the _stamina_ of a thousand horrors intended to involve the Roman Catholicks and the Established Church in one grand ruin; those of the Antimonarchical side deeming the intended procession a mere common occurrence, occasionally resorted to by the populace with the best motives. By _us_, who have known the infernal proceedings accompanying the cry of "No Popery," riots of any kind must be dreaded; and we cannot but approve the vigilance of the then Government in terminating the existence of an expiring habit, whose vigorous movements were marked in the following disgusting "Account of the burning the Pope at Temple-bar in London, the 17th of November 1679;" an account that compels us to hail with ten-fold reverence the auspicious Revolution of 1688, that defined the boundaries of the Sovereign's and the People's right. At the present period, praised be Heaven! a _Jury_ of twelve men would make the instigators of such a procession tremble: and every Protestant in the City would fly from it with indignation; and yet with all our modern mildness the faith in question gains no proselytes:--a memorable _memento_ of the liberality of the age[15:A]!

"Upon the 17th of November the bells began to ring about
three o'clock in the morning in the City of London; and
several _honourable_ and _worthy_ gentlemen belonging to the
Temple as well as the City, (remembering the burning both
of London and the Temple, which was apparently executed by
Popish villainy[16:A]) were pleased to be at the charge of
an extraordinary triumph, in commemoration of that blessed
Protestant Queen, which was as follows: In the evening of the
said day, all things being prepared, the _solemn_ procession
began from Moorgate, and so to Bishopsgate-street, and down
Hounsditch to Aldgate, through Leadenhall-street, Cornhill,
by the Royal Exchange, through Cheapside, to Temple-bar, in
order following.

1st. Marched six whifflers, in pioneers' caps and
red waistcoats.

2. A bellman, ringing his bell, and with a
_dolesome_ voice crying all the way "Remember
Justice Godfrey."

3. A _dead body_, representing Justice Godfrey in
the habit he usually wore, and the cravat wherewith
he was murdered about his neck, _with spots of
blood_ on his wrists, breast, and shirt, and white
gloves on his hands, his face pale and wan, riding
upon a white horse, and one of his murderers behind
him to keep him from falling, in the same manner as
he was carried to Primrose-hill.

4. A Priest came next, in a surplice and a cope
embroidered _with dead men's sculls_ and bones and
_skeletons_, who gave out pardons very plentifully
to all that would murder Protestants, and
proclaiming it meritorious.

5. A Priest alone, with a large silver cross.

6. Four Carmelite Friars, in white and black habits.

7. Four Grey Friars, in their proper habits.

8. Six Jesuits, carrying _bloody daggers_.

9. Four wind-musick, called the waits, playing all
the way.

10. Four Bishops, in purple, with _lawn_ sleeves,
and golden crosses on their breasts, and crosiers
in their hands.

11. Four other Bishops, in their _pontificalibus_,
with _surplices_ and rich-embroidered copes, and
golden mitres on their heads.

12. Six Cardinals, in scarlet robes and caps.

13. Then followed the Pope's chief Physician, with
Jesuits powder in one hand and an _urinal_ in the
other.

14. Two Priests in surplices, with two golden
crosses.

"Lastly, the Pope, in a glorious pageant or chair of state,
covered with scarlet; the chair being richly embroidered and
bedecked with golden balls and crosses. At his feet was a
cushion of state; and two boys sat on each side the Pope in
surplices, with white silk banners painted with red crosses
and _bloody consecrated daggers_ for murdering Protestant
kings and princes, with an incense-pot before them censing
his Holiness. The Pope was arrayed in a rich scarlet gown
lined through with ermines and adorned with gold and silver
lace, with a triple-crown on his head, and a glorious collar
of gold and precious stones about his neck, and St. Peter's
keys, a great quantity of beads, _Agnus Dei's_, and other
Catholic trumpery about him. At his back stood the _Devil_,
his Holiness's privy-counsel, hugging and whispering him
all the way, and often instructing him aloud to destroy his
Majesty, to contrive a pretended Presbyterian plot, and to
fire the City again; to which purpose he held an infernal
torch in his hand. The whole procession was attended with
150 torches and flambeaus by order; but there were so
many came in volunteers as made the number to be several
thousands. Never were the balconies, windows, and houses
more filled, nor the streets more thronged, with multitudes
of people, all expressing their abhorrence of Popery with
_continual shouts and acclamations_; so that in the whole
progress of their procession by a modest computation it is
judged there could be no less than 200,000 spectators.

"Thus with a slow and solemn state in some hours they arrived
at Temple-bar, where all the houses seemed to be converted
into heaps of men, women, and children, who were diverted
with variety of excellent fire-works. It is known that
Temple-bar since its rebuilding is adorned with four stately
statues of Stone, two on each side the Gate; those towards
the City representing Queen Elizabeth and King James, and the
other two towards the Strand King Charles I. and King Charles
II.: now, in regard of the day, the statue of Queen Elizabeth
was adorned with a crown of gilded laurel on her head, and in
her hand, a golden shield with this motto inscribed thereon,
"The Protestant Religion, Magna Charta." Several lighted
torches were placed before her, and the Pope brought up near
the gate.

"Having entertained the thronging spectators for some time
with ingenious fire-works, a very great bonfire was prepared
at the Inner Temple-gate; and his Holiness, after some
compliments and reluctances, was decently tumbled into the
flames; the _Devil_ who till then accompanied him left him in
the lurch, and, laughing, gave him up to his deserved fate.
This last act of his Holiness's tragedy was attended with a
prodigious shout of the joyful spectators. The same evening
there were bonfires in most streets of London, and universal
acclamations, crying, "Let Popery perish, and Papists with
their plots and counter-plots be for ever confounded. _Amen._"

_Protestant Postboy, Nov. 20, 1711._

The brutal ferocity of the scenes just described appeared in a more matured state in the acts of an inconsiderable part of the populace in 1712: indeed, had their numbers or their courage equalled the fiend-like qualities of their souls, the consequences must have been dreadful to the publick. Fortunately, however, there were but fifty _Mohawks_, and their cowardice made them an easy prey to justice; but not before they had committed the most unheard-of excesses, of which the wounds they inflicted with their swords on the peaceable passenger of the streets at night were the least. They treated women in a manner too brutal for a man of the least spirit to repeat, and their exploits were marked in every other respect with the violation of decency: Modesty and Innocence became their victims, Impudence and Lasciviousness they patronized and protected. The Queen issued a Proclamation on this hateful occasion pregnant with just resentment, and offered a reward of 100_l._ for the apprehension of any of the offenders. The Gazette of March 18, 1711, mentions that Sir William Thomas, Bart. had been apprehended (who was accompanied by two men then unknown) for assaulting a gentleman in St. James's Park between nine and ten at night on the 15th, and calls on the injured person to appear in evidence before the Secretary of State: but whether the charge applies to the above outrages is not discoverable from the notice. April 19 following the Gazette mentions seven men and seven women who had been assaulted.

At the Quarterly Sessions of that period the Justices had received orders to put the law in force against Vice and Immorality; and in consequence of a petition from the inhabitants of Covent-garden, complaining of the indecency and riots of the loose women and their male followers in the vicinity of the Theatre, they issued warrants for their apprehension. The execution of those were violently opposed; and the Justices were compelled to state to the Privy Council and the Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex, that the Constables were dreadfully maimed, and one mortally wounded by Ruffians aided by 40 Soldiers of the guards, who entered into a combination to protect the women.

In May, Lord Inchinbroke, Sir Mark Cole, and some others, were found guilty on the charge of being principals in some or other of the above vile proceedings. After having complimented Government on the propriety of preventing the populace from publicly burning effigies, it would be injustice to the latter not to acknowledge they might have pleaded high authority for doing it. On the 5th of November 1712, the Queen's guards made a bonfire before the gates of St. James's Palace; into which the Pretender's effigy was thrown and shot at. Such is Human Nature! The Lord Mayor appears, however, to have done his duty, by requesting his fellow citizens to keep at home on the night of the anniversary of Elizabeth's accession.

One of the oddest occurrences I have yet met with under this head was a political contest between the Whig and Tory Footmen, who served the Members of the House of Commons. These worthy patriots had inviolably observed a custom, for many years previous to 1715, of imitating their masters in the choice of a Speaker, modestly conceiving themselves a deliberative body. Now, as the parties happened at this period to be nearly balanced, much animosity naturally ensued; and, not possessing the forbearance of their superiors, they had recourse to active hostilities, and severely beat each other, till the rising of the House compelled them to desist; but, on the following Monday, the battle was renewed, and the Tories having gained the day by dint of blows, they carried their Speaker three times round Westminster-hall, and then, in pursuance of antient usage, they adjourned to a good dinner at an adjacent alehouse, and to expend their crown each in toasting their success.

The accession of George I. was celebrated, in the month of July of the same year, in the customary manner by the peaceable part of the community; but the more violent assembled, to the amount of several hundreds, at the Roebuck Tavern, Cheapside, where they burnt the effigies of the Pretender habited in mourning before the door, accompanied by a peal from Bow bells; and the populace were plentifully supplied with liquor. The same persons, joined by many young men and apprentices, busily employed themselves between the above date and October 22, the anniversary of the King's coronation, in preparing the effigies of the old Triumvirate for the same fate; but the Jacobin interest, then in full effervescence, contrived to drop printed bills, and to insinuate that those loyal persons meant to burn the effigies of the late Queen and Dr. Sacheverell. To repel such ideas, the Loyal Society deputed their Stewards to the Lord Mayor with a relation of their real intention, who forbid a procession, but permitted them to consume the effigies where they pleased. Thus privileged, they adorned their hats with cockades of white and orange, and sallied forth with effigies of the Pope, the Pretender, the Earl of Man, the Duke of Ormond, and Lord Bolingbroke, accompanied by link-bearers, and precipitated them into a fire near Bow-church. Hence they went to Lincoln's-Inn-fields, and assisted at the hateful orgies of the same description ordered by the foolish Duke of Newcastle, whose power ought to have been exerted in a far different way, as the sequel will shew. The Jacobites, full of rage and disappointment, trod on their kibes, but were afraid to commit open violence. These processions and burnings were repeated again on King William's anniversary, and on the 5th of November; and, had the subject been less serious, the exhibition of the _warming-pan_ and sucking bottle might have excited a smile. Some slight opposition occurred on these evenings; but the Loyal Society of the Roebuck routed the Jacobites on all sides. The day of the inauguration of Queen Elizabeth, November 17, shews the folly and wickedness of suffering the populace to exercise their brutal celebrations uncontrouled. The Loyal Society met at their usual rendezvous in Cheapside, whence they sent a deputation to examine a house near Aldersgate, where certain effigies were placed under the guard of a man with a hanger, said to be those of Cromwell, Ireton, Bradshaw, and Dr. Burnet, which the Jacobites intended to burn that evening. However, upon viewing the harmless figures, they were found to be the representatives of George I. King William, Marlborough, Newcastle, and Dr. Burnet. The Deputies immediately seized them, and proceeded without opposition and no little triumph to the Roebuck. At 8 o'clock in the evening shouts of High Church and Ormond, &c. &c. announced the approach of the Pretender's friends, who poured into Cheapside from the neighbouring streets, proclaiming their intention of tearing the house to pieces. The attack commenced with stones and bricks, which soon demolished the windows; they then prepared for the assault; but the Loyal Society, thinking to terrify them, fired with powder only. The Jacobites, perceiving they had sustained no injury, renewed the attack, when a second volley, accompanied by ball, laid two of them dead on the pavement, and wounded several others. _Then_ the Mayor made his appearance with the _posse comitatus_, and the Jacobites fled. Thus the Tragedy proceeded scene after scene; and in which way were either party benefited by the catastrophe? Rioters acting with a majority are like the officious bear who flattened his friend's nose in order to kill a fly that teased him; those on the side of a minority can expect nothing but disgrace and hanging: a well-ordered government should therefore suppress the turbulence of both. Another attempt was subsequently made upon the Roebuck, but the Trained Bands prevented the accomplishment of its demolition. The Coroner's Jury returned a verdict of justifiable homicide on the two bodies.

During the rebellious year 1716 there were many violations of public decorum, which, if not really dangerous to lives and property, were alarming and extremely offensive to the quiet Citizens. One of those was the exploding a train of powder and nauseous combustibles within Shower's Dissenting Meeting in the Old Jewry in the midst of an evening service. The sudden flash, the smoke, and suffocation, put the audience into a most violent ferment; and the attempts on all sides to escape occasioned the only injury done by this stupid contrivance of a mischievous partisan, who probably congratulated himself on observing broken pews, bruised bodies, scattered shoes, wigs, scarves, and watches; a chaos begun and ended in smoke.

The anniversary celebrations which were usually accompanied by conviviality and pleasure seem in this turbulent year to have been authorised days for riot, fighting, and disorder, or stated times for the display of brutal courage. Were the circumstances more congenial to humanity, many instances might be given. The very focus of those mischiefs were the various _mug_-houses, as they were politely termed, or in other words Club-taverns. That of Salisbury-court was regularly assaulted in July, and the leader, a Bridewell apprentice, was shot by the Master of the House, for which he was tried and acquitted; but five of the rioters were executed. The members of the Roebuck mug-house carried their loyalty into the street on the first of August, where they had an enormous bonfire, and a table near it, when they drank their glasses of wine, and pronounced healths, accompanied by the brazen lungs of the trumpet. Several of those gentlemen having heard that the Jacobites held religious meetings in various parts of the town, where they prayed for their lawful King without naming him, determined to distribute some of their numbers in each, and when the proper time arrived they exclaimed King George and their Royal Highnesses, &c.: to which others added Amen. This expedient served to confound if not to convince; but neither lenity nor punishment operated with the fiery Jacobites, who dared to bury two of the above rioters with grand funeral honours in September, and would have made a procession of young persons in pairs habited as mourners to pass every mug-house in the City, had not the officers of the Police interfered and apprehended several.

The gentry of the Roebuck attracted public notice on the King's return from one of his excursions to Hanover, by a fresh exhibition of obnoxious effigies, which they had prepared some time before, and shown for two-pence each person. Those were dragged about till the thousand links that attended them were almost consumed, the persons who rode as Highland prisoners jaded, and the Man in armour who represented the King's champion sufficiently cooled (for it was January, good reader), when they halted at Charing-cross, and committed the inanimate part of the procession to the flames. As this folly was protected by three files of soldiers, the Jacobites remained _perdu_.

The months of May and June 1717 were war-like periods in Westminster, and marked by furious battles between the butchers of St. James's market and the footmen and valets of the same courtly City. After several actions the footmen solicited and obtained the assistance of the Bridewell-boys; to balance this accession of strength, the fraternities of Westminster, Clare, and Bloomsbury-markets were summoned, and joined the St. James's.

The Roebuck Society seem to have been exhausted by their exertions in the latter end of 1717, and determined to decline active hostility against the Jacobites; but I find them subsequently roused, and the assailants in a pitched battle and siege of Newgate-market. One of them describes the Society in the following lines--a paraphrase from Martial, lib. xiii. Ep. c.

"As Deer upon the rocks where Dogs can't go
Look down, and vex the noisy pack below,
So stands our Roebuck far above the spite
Of ill-look'd curs that growl but cannot bite;
And if they yelp against our Sun at noon,
'Tis but like puppies barking at the Moon."

The Nonjurors, unwilling to resign their pretensions and the Pretender, continued their secret meetings. Government, however, appears to have used summary measures with them. Mr. Hawes's meeting opposite St. James's was stormed in October 1717 by two Justices, two of the King's messengers, and a guard of soldiers, when an hundred persons were found within, to whom the Justices tendered the oaths; five accepted them, but the rest refused, and were dismissed after being compelled to declare their names and residences: the preacher escaped. Dr. Welton, the ejected or Nonjuring rector of St. Mary's Whitechapel, held the same kind of assemblies at his house in Goodman's-fields, which was visited in the same manner; but the Doctor thinking proper to resist, the door was broken open, and about 200 persons were discovered, all of whom except 40 refused the oaths. The Doctor not only rejected the oath, but acknowledged he did not pray for the Royal family. His escapes for a long time after furnished matter for paragraphs in the newspapers.

The year 1718 closed with a faint revival of the turbulence of party. In this instance the Bridewell-boys acted with hardened effrontery and violence against the Loyalists. This period produced the long-required interference of the Civil Power to prevent the Roebuck processions; but this happy event was succeeded by the unjustifiable conduct of the Spital-fields weavers, who were injured by the too common use of foreign calicoes. These indiscreet persons, instead of applying for redress to the Legislature, proceeded to terrify the wearers into a compliance with their wishes, by throwing pernicious liquids on the gowns of females, and tearing them from their backs in the most brutal manner. The Police were compelled to interfere; but to little purpose, till they were fired upon, and several killed and wounded, and others committed to prison, whence some were conveyed corpses through the raging of a Gaol fever, and others to the Pillory; but it was a long time before the effervescence was allayed, and a paper war exhausted.

London was remarkably quiet from the above period till November 1724; but that year produced a thief that seemed calculated to perform successfully every scheme of desperation. He enjoyed a limited sway, and during the time he was at large the publick were in constant apprehension. Sheppard finished his career at Tyburn in the midst of an incredible number of spectators; and their conduct occasions this notice of him. The Sheriff's-officers, aware of the person they had to contend with, thought it prudent to secure his hands on the morning of execution. This innovation produced the most violent resistance on Sheppard's part; and the operation was performed by force. They then proceeded to search him, and had reason to applaud their vigilance, for he had contrived to conceal a penknife in some part of his dress. The ceremony of his departure from our world passed without disorder; but, the instant the time expired for the suspension of the body, an undertaker, who had followed by his friends' desire with a hearse and attendants, would have conveyed it to St. Sepulchre's church-yard for interment; but the mob, conceiving that Surgeons had employed this unfortunate man, proceeded to demolish the vehicle, and attack the sable dependants, who escaped with difficulty. They then seized the body, and in the brutal manner common to those wretches beat it from each to the other till it was covered with bruises and dirt, and till they reached Long-acre, where they deposited the miserable remains at a public-house called the Barley-mow. After it had rested there a few hours the populace entered into an enquiry why they had contributed their assistance in bringing Sheppard to Long-acre; when they discovered they were duped by a bailiff, who was actually employed by the Surgeons; and that they had taken the corpse from a person really intending to bury it. The elucidation of their error exasperated them almost to phrensy, and a riot immediately commenced, which threatened the most serious consequences. The inhabitants applied to the Police, and several Magistrates attending, they were immediately convinced the civil power was insufficient to resist the torrent of malice ready to burst forth in acts of violence. They therefore sent to the Prince of Wales and the Savoy, requesting detachments of the guards; who arriving, the ringleaders were secured, the body was given to a person, a friend of Sheppard, and the mob dispersed to attend it to the grave at St. Martin's in the Fields, where it was deposited in an elm coffin, at ten o'clock the same night, under a guard of Soldiers, and with the ceremonies of the church.

The Weekly Journal of November 21, 1724, gives a brief abstract of Sheppard's life, published at the time, which may amuse the reader.

"An Abridgement of the Life, Robberies, Escapes, and Death,
of John Sheppard, who was executed at Tyburn on Monday the
16th instant, 1724.

"The celebrated Jack Sheppard, whose eminence in his
profession rendered him the object of every body's curiosity,
having made his exit on Monday last at Tyburn, in a manner
suitable to his extraordinary merits, we hope a short summary
of his most remarkable performances, before and since his
repeated escapes out of Newgate, together with his behaviour
at the place of execution, will not be a disagreeable
entertainment to our readers.

"He was born in 1701, and put apprentice by the charitable
interposition of Mr. Kneebone, whom he afterwards robbed, to
one Mr. Owen Wood, a Carpenter, in Drury-lane. Before his
time was out he took to keep company with one Elizabeth Lyon,
who proved his ruin: of her he gave this character. That
'there is not a more wicked, deceitful, lascivious wretch
living in England.' The first robbery he ever committed was
of two silver spoons at the Rummer-tavern, Charing-cross.
He owned several other robberies, particularly that of Mr.
Pargiter in Hampstead, for which the two Brightwells were
tried and acquitted; in relation to which he often said
jocosely, 'Little I was that large lusty man that plucked
him from the ditch,' as Pargiter had deposed at Brightwell's
trial. He was long comrade with Blueskin, lately executed,
who, according to the account Sheppard gave of him, was 'a
worthless companion, a sorry thief, and that nothing but his
attempt on Jonathan Wild could have made him taken notice
of:' afterwards he broke out of St. Giles's round-house,
throwing a whole load of bricks, &c. on the people in the
street who stood looking at him, and made his escape. After
this he broke out of New Prison; then out of the condemned
hold in Newgate; but his last escape from Newgate having made
the greatest noise, we shall insert the following particulars.

"Thursday, October the 15th, just before three in the
afternoon, he went to work, taking off first his handcuffs;
next with main strength he twisted a small iron link of the
chain between his legs asunder; and the broken pieces proved
extremely useful to him in his design; the fetlocks he drew
up to the calves of his legs, taking off before that his
stockings, and with his garters made them firm to his body,
to prevent their shackling: he then proceeded to make a hole
in the chimney of the Castle about three feet wide, and six
feet high from the floor, and with the help of the broken
links aforesaid, wrenched an iron bar out of the chimney,
of about two foot and half in length, and an inch square; a
most notable implement. He immediately entered the Red room,
which is directly over the Castle, and went to work upon the
nut of the lock, and with little difficulty got it off, and
made the door fly before him; in this room he found a large
nail, which proved of great use in his farther progress.
The door of the entry between the Red room and the Chapel
proved an hard task, it being a laborious piece of work; for
here he was forced to break away the wall, and dislodge the
bolt which was fastened on the other side: this occasioned
much noise, and he was very fearful of being heard by the
master-side debtors. Being got to the Chapel, he climbed over
the iron spikes, with ease broke one of them off, and opened
the door on the inside: the door going out of the Chapel to
the leads, he stripped the nut from off the lock, and then
got into the entry between the Chapel and the leads, and
came to another strong door, which being fastened by a very
strong lock, he had like to have stopped, and it being full
dark, his spirits began to fail him, as greatly doubting of
success; but cheering up, he wrought on with great diligence,
and in less than half an hour, with the main help of the nail
from the Red room, and the spike from the Chapel, wrenched
the Box off, and so was master of the door. A little farther
in his passage another stout door stood in his way; and this
was a difficulty with a witness; being guarded with more
bolts, bars, and locks, than any he had hitherto met with:
the chimes at St. Sepulchre's were then going the eighth
hour: he went first upon the box and the nut, but found it
labour in vain; he then proceeded to attack the fillet of
the door; this succeeded beyond expectation, for the box of
the lock coming off with it from the main post, he found his
work was near finished. He was got to a door opening in the
lower leads, which being only bolted on the inside, he opened
it with ease, and then clambered from the top of it to the
higher leads, and went over the wall. He saw the streets
were lighted, the shops being still open, and therefore
began to consider what was necessary to be further done. He
found he must go back for the blanket which had been his
covering a-nights in the Castle, which he accordingly did,
and endeavoured to fasten his stockings and that together, to
lessen his descent, but wanted necessaries, and was therefore
forced to make use of the blanket alone: he fixed the same
with the Chapel spike into the wall of Newgate, and dropped
from it on the Turner's leads, a house adjoining the prison;
it was then about nine of the clock, and the shops not yet
shut in. It fortunately happened, that the garret door on
the leads was open. He stole softly down about two pair of
stairs, and then heard company talking in a room, the door
being open. His irons gave a small clink, which made a woman
cry, 'Lord! what noise is that?' A man replied, 'Perhaps
the dog or cat;' and so it went off. He returned up to the
garret, and laid himself down, being terribly fatigued; and
continued there for about two hours, and then crept down
once more to the room where the company were, and heard a
gentleman take his leave, who being lighted down stairs,
the maid, when she returned, shut the chamber door: he then
resolved at all hazards to follow, and slip down stairs; he
was instantly in the entry, and out at the street-door, and
once more contrary to his own expectation, and that of all
mankind, a free man.

"He passed directly by St. Sepulchre's watch-house, bidding
them good-morrow, it being after twelve, and down Snow-hill,
up Holborn, leaving St. Andrew's watch on his left, and then
again passed the watch-house at Holborn-bars, and made down
Gray's-Inn-lane into the fields, and at two in the morning
came to Tottenham-court, where getting into an old house in
the fields, he laid himself down to rest, and slept well for
three hours. His legs were swelled and bruised intolerably,
which gave him great uneasiness; and having his fetters
still on, he dreaded the approach of the day. He began to
examine his pockets, and found himself master of between
forty and fifty shillings. It raining all Friday, he kept
snug in his retreat till the evening, when after dark he
ventured into Tottenham, and got to a little blind chandler's
shop, and there furnished himself with cheese, bread, small
beer, and other necessaries, hiding his irons with a great
coat. He asked the woman for an hammer, but there was none
to be had; so he went very quietly back to his dormitory,
and rested pretty well that night, and continued there all
Saturday. At night he went again to the chandler's shop, and
got provisions, and slept till about six the next day, which
being Sunday, he began to batter the basils of the fetters in
order to beat them into a large oval, and then to slip his
heels through. In the afternoon the master of the shed, or
house, came in, and seeing his irons, asked him, 'For God's
sake, who are you?' He told him, 'an unfortunate young man,
who had been sent to Bridewell about a bastard-child, and
not being able to give security to the Parish, had made his
escape.' The man replied, 'If that was the case it was a
small fault indeed, for he had been guilty of the same things
himself formerly,' and withal said, 'However, he did not like
his looks, and cared not how soon he was gone.'

"After he was gone, observing a poor-looking man like a
Joiner, he made up to him, and repeated the same story,
assuring him that twenty shillings should be at his service,
if he could furnish him with a Smith's hammer, and a
puncheon. The man proved a shoe-maker by trade, but willing
to obtain the reward, immediately borrowed the tools of
a blacksmith his neighbour, and likewise gave him great
assistance, so that before five that evening he had entirely
got rid of his fetters, which he gave to the fellow, besides
his twenty shillings.

"That night he went to a cellar at Charing-cross, and
refreshed very comfortably, where near a dozen people were
all discoursing about Sheppard, and nothing else was talked
on whilst he staid amongst them. He had tied an handkerchief
about his head, tore his woollen cap, coat, and stockings
in many places, and looked exactly like what he designed to
represent, a beggar-fellow; and now concluding that Blueskin
would have certainly been decreed for death, he did fully
resolve and purpose to have gone and cut down the gallows the
night before his execution.

"On Tuesday he hired a garret for his lodging at a poor
house in Newport-market, and sent for a sober young woman,
who for a long time past had been the real mistress of his
affections, who came to him, and rendered all the assistance
she was capable of affording. He made her the messenger to
his mother, who lodged in Clare-street. She likewise visited
him in a day or two after, begging on her bended knees of
him to make the best of his way out of the kingdom, which
he faithfully promised; but could not find in his heart to
perform.

"He was oftentimes in Spital-fields, Drury-lane,
Lewkenor's-lane, Parker's-lane, St. Thomas's-street, &c.
those having been the chief scenes of his rambles and
pleasures.

"At last he came to a resolution of breaking the house of the
two Mr. Rawlins's, brothers and pawnbrokers in Drury-lane,
which he accordingly put in execution, and succeeded; they
both hearing him rifling their goods as they lay in bed
together in the next room. And though there were none others
to assist him, he pretended there was, by loudly giving out
directions for shooting the first person through the head
that presumed to stir, which effectually quieted them, while
he carried off his booty, with part whereof, on the fatal
Saturday following, being the 31st of October, he made an
extraordinary appearance; and from a carpenter and butcher
was now transformed into a gentleman; he went into the
City, and was very merry at a public-house not far from the
place of his old confinement. At four that same afternoon,
he passed under Newgate in a Hackney-coach, the windows
drawn up, and in the evening he sent for his mother to the
Sheers alehouse, in Maypole-alley, near Clare-market, and
with her drank three quarterns of brandy; and after leaving
her drank in one place or other about that neighbourhood
all the evening, till the evil hour of twelve, having been
seen and known by many of his acquaintance; all of them
cautioning him, and wondering at his presumption to appear
in that manner. At length his senses were quite overcome
with the quantities and variety of liquors he had all the
day been drinking, which paved the way for his fate; and
when apprehended, he was altogether incapable of resisting,
scarce knowing what they were doing with him, and had but two
second-hand pistols scarce worth carrying about him.