A Book for a Rainy Day; or, Recollections of the Events of the Years 1766-1833 — John Shaqi
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
Most of the citizens who had saved money were very fond of retiring
to some country-house, at a short distance from the Metropolis, and
more particularly to Islington, that being a selected and favourite
spot. Charles Bretherton, Jun., made an etching, from a drawing by
Mr. Bunbury,[32] of a Londoner, of the above description, whose
waistcoat-pockets were large enough to convey a couple of fowls from a
City feast home to his family. The print is entitled, “The Delights of
Islington,” and bears the following inscription at the top:--
WHEREAS my new Pagoda has been clandestinely carried off, and a
new pair of Dolphins taken from the top of the Gazebo, by some
Bloodthirsty Villains; and whereas a great deal timber has been
cut down and carried away from the Old Grove, that was planted
last Spring, and Pluto and Proserpine thrown into my Basin:
from henceforth, Steel Traps and spring guns will be constantly
set for the better extirpation of such a nest of villains,
By me, JEREMIAH SAGO.
[Illustration: “THE DELIGHTS OF ISLINGTON”]
On a garden notice-board, in another print, also after Bunbury, published
at the same time, is inscribed,
THE NEW PARADISE.
No Gentlemen or Ladies to be admitted with nails in their
shoes.[33]
For the information of the collectors of Bunbury’s prints, I beg to
state that there is in Mrs. Banks’s collection of visiting cards, etc.,
in the British Museum, a small etching said to have been his very first
attempt when at Westminster School. It represents a fellow riding a hog,
brandishing a birch-broom by way of a baster, with another at a short
distance, hallooing.
As Mr. Walpole is silent as to Jonathan Richardson’s place of interment,
the biographical collector will find the following inscription in the
burial-ground behind the Foundling Hospital, belonging to the parish of
St. George the Martyr:--
Elizabeth Richardson,
Died 24th Dec. 1767,
Aged 74 years.
Jonathan Richardson,
Died 10th June, 1771,
Aged 77; both of this parish.[34]
1771.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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