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
Dr. Lort,[202] the constant correspondent of Old Cole,[203] was a man
of his own stamp, broad and bony, in height nearly six feet, of manners
equally morose, and in every respect just as forbidding. His wig was a
large _Busby_, and usually of a brown appearance, for want of a dust of
powder. He was chaplain to the Duke of Devonshire; and as he wore thick
worsted stockings, and walked anyhow through the mud, considered himself
in no way obliged to give the street-sweepers a farthing. He had some
wit, however, but it was often displayed in a cowardly manner, being
mostly directed towards his little opponent, Doctor Gossett,[204] who
was unfortunately much afflicted by deformity, and of a temper easily
roused by too frequent a repetition of threepenny biddings at Paterson’s.
Paterson sold his books singly, and took threepence at a bidding.
Hutchins was about five feet nine inches, but in appearance much shorter
by reason of his corpulency. His high forehead, when compared with a
perpendicular, was at an angle of forty-five. He was what Spurzheim
would call a _simple_ honest man: his wife was of the same build, but
most powerfully possessed the organ of inquisitiveness, which induced
her to be a constant occupant of a pretty large and easy chair, by the
side of the fire in the auction-room, in order that she might see how
business was going on. Mr. and Mrs. Hutchins appeared so affectionately
mutual in all their public conclusions, that Caleb Whitefoord, the witty
wine-merchant, one of the print-sale visitors, attempted to flourish off
the following observation as one of his invention: “You see,” said he to
Captain Baillie, “Cocker is not always correct; _one_ and _one_ do not in
this instance make _two_.”[205]
Caleb Whitefoord[206] was what is usually called a slight-built man,
and much addicted when in conversation to shrug up his shoulders. He had
a thin face, with little eyes; his deportment was gentlemanly, though
perhaps sometimes too high for his situation in life. His dress, upon
which he bestowed great attention, was in some instances singular,
particularly in his hat and wig, which were remarkable as being solitary
specimens of the Garrick School. He considered himself _a first-rate_
judge of pictures, always preferring those by the _old masters_, but
which he endeavoured to improve by touching up; and when in this
conceited employment, I have frequently seen him fall back in his chair,
and turn his head from one shoulder to the other, with as much admiration
of what he had done, as Hogarth’s sign-painter of the Barley-mow in his
inimitable print of Beer Street.
[Illustration: LONDON STREET MERCHANTS: UMBRELLAS TO MEND
ETCHED BY J. T. SMITH]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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