A Book for a Rainy Day; or, Recollections of the Events of the Years 1766-1833Smith, John Thomas
History
A Book for a Rainy Day; or, Recollections of the Events of the Years 1766-1833
Smith, John Thomas
Great Britain -- Social life and customs -- 18th century; Great Britain -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
“How wholesome is’t to breathe the vernal air,
And all the sweets it bears, when void of care.”[493]
Here the Waltonian, too, will find a seat, and view the canal--
“Kissing with eddies soft the bordering grass.”
My thanks are here offered to my friend Mr. West,[494] late of Drury Lane
Theatre, now a professor of music, for the kind loan of an imperfect
copy (which he met with at a stall) of a work of rarity, of which I have
not been able to hear of another copy. It is not mentioned by Watt, and,
what is more remarkable, the Rev. Hartwell Horne,[495] of the British
Museum, never heard of it. It is a small quarto, bearing the following
title:--
“THE POST ANGEL, OR, UNIVERSAL ENTERTAINMENT.
“London: printed, and to be sold by A. Baldwin, near the Oxford
Arms, in Warwick Lane, 1702, where is to be had the first and
second volume, or any single month, from January, 1701, to this
time; price of each, one shilling.”[496]
Page 191 of the third volume affords the admirers of wax effigies the
following information:--
“TO THE EDITOR.
“SIR,--You having promised to give an account of the
curiosities of art, as well as the wonders of nature, I thought
it would oblige the public to acquaint you that the effigies
of his late Majesty, King William III., of glorious memory, is
curiously done to the life in wax, dressed in coronation robe,
with so majestic a mien that nothing seems wanting but life
and motion, as persons of great honour upon the strictest view
have with surprise declared. Likewise the effigies of several
persons of quality, with a fine banquet, and other curiosities
in every room, passing to and from the King’s apartment, are
all to be seen at Mrs. Goldsmith’s, in Green Court, in the Old
Jury, London.”
From the following flummery bespattered on this wax-worker by the editor
of the _Post Angel_, I may, with the greatest probability, conclude that
his substance was just as vulnerable as that of many of the hirelings who
feed themselves by puffing what they denominate “the fine arts,” and that
he had no objection to a dozen of port, _had it been ever so crusted_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account