Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London during the Eighteenth Century; Vol. 1 (of 2): Including the Charities, Depravities, Dresses, and Amusements etc.Malcolm, James Peller
History
Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London during the Eighteenth Century; Vol. 1 (of 2): Including the Charities, Depravities, Dresses, and Amusements etc.
Malcolm, James Peller
London (England) -- Social life and customs -- 18th century
Immediately after the disclosure of the shocking villainy practised
by Stock-jobbers and the South-Sea Directors, another impostor was
exposed to public view, and the Charity that had voluntarily flown
into his pockets turned to more worthy channels. It is true, the
fellow was a little villain, but his arts may serve as a beacon to
the unwary. This wretch pretended to be subject to epileptic fits,
and would fall purposely into some dirty pool, whence he never failed
to be conveyed to a dry place, or to receive handsome donations;
sometimes he terrified the spectators with frightful gestures and
convulsive motions, as if he would beat his head and limbs to pieces,
and, gradually recovering, receive the rewards of his performance; but
the frequency of the exploit at length attracted the notice of the
Police, by whom he was conveyed in a dreadful fit to the Lord Mayor, in
whose presence the symptoms continued with the utmost violence; that
respectable Magistrate, undertaking the office of physician, prescribed
the Compter, and finally the Workhouse, where he had no sooner arrived,
than, finding it useless to counterfeit, he began to amend, and beat
his hemp with double earnestness.
A brother in iniquity went to as many as twenty taverns in one
afternoon, the landlords of which were ordered by him to prepare a
supper for three officers of the guards, and to pay him a shilling for
his trouble, and charge it to the officers.
The following Report of a Committee was made to his Majesty's Justices
of the Peace for the County of Middlesex, in their General Quarter
Sessions, assembled 1725.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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