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
Were there two London legless beggars who could suggest
to two minds such images of antique magnificence of physique? It is
possible, but unlikely.
[358] First cousin, once removed, of the poet.
[359] Charles Manners-Sutton, Archbishop of Canterbury 1805-28.
[360] Thomas Gilliland, whose _Dramatic Mirror_ is still consulted,
was not too popular with the actors and actresses whose lives he
compiled. He was practically warned off the Green-room of Drury
Lane Theatre by Charles Mathews, the elder.
[361] Smith is mistaken as to the date of the first race. This
was rowed on August 1, 1716. A portrait of a waterman in his
boat, still preserved in the Watermen’s Hall, St. Mary’s Hill, is
supposed to represent the first wearer of the coat and badge, a
white horse being painted on the back-board of the boat. It is said
that John Broughton, afterwards the prize-fighter, and the founder
of boxing, was this winner. Under Doggett’s will, only one prize,
the coat and badge, was given, but additional prizes have been
added under the will of Sir William Jolliff, in 1820, and by the
Fishmongers’ Company. These prizes are generous. Even the last of
the six young watermen to reach the winning-post is sure of £2; the
other unsuccessful candidates receive sums from £3 to £6 each. The
winner of the race is £10 in pocket, his name is added to the long
roll of previous winners, and he wears Doggett’s coat (made to fit
him) among the coated élite of Watermen’s Hall.
A clever and genial man, Doggett was known everywhere by his
immense wig, on the top of which, not without the aid of pins,
rested a small cocked hat. He carried a rapier, and took snuff
incessantly. Only two portraits of him are known: one represents
him dancing the Cheshire Round with the motto, “Ne sutor
ultra crepidam,” and the Garrick Club has a portrait, but its
authenticity is questioned.
[362] _The Waterman_ was, indeed, announced as the after-piece to
_The Wonder_, but Garrick had no part in it, and his great farewell
scene rendered its performance impossible alike to actors and
audience.
[363] Sarah Sophia Banks (1744-1818) was a virtuoso, and collector
of natural history specimens. She kept house for her brother, Sir
Joseph Banks, at 32 Soho Square, at the corner of Frith Street.
Here Sir Joseph, who is mentioned by Smith elsewhere, gave his
Sunday evening conversaziones, at which Cavendish and Wollaston
were the prominent guests. Sir Henry Holland describes these
evenings in his _Recollections_. Gifford of the _Quarterly_
remarked to Moore, that the Banks’ mansion was to science what
Holland House was to literature. Horace Walpole poked incessant fun
at Sir Joseph’s curiosity about remote Atlantic islands, and Peter
Pindar scribbled verses like this:--
“To give a breakfast in Soho,
Sir Joseph’s bitterest foe
Must certainly allow him peerless merit:
Where on a wagtail and tom-tit
He shines, and sometimes on a nit:
Displaying powers few gentlemen inherit.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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