In the winter the Academy was moved from Bethnal Green to Whitefriars.
Sir Balthazar issued advertisements as to his lectures. It is to be
feared his good intentions were not always appreciated by the public of
the day. In one of his advertisements we find him complaining bitterly
of 'the extraordinary concourse of unruly people who robbed him, and
treated with savage rudeness his extraordinary services.' Something of a
visionary, too, was Sir Balthazar;--yet, with all his vanity as to his
own merits--his coxcombry about his proceedings,--a sort of reformer and
benefactor also in a small way. At one time we find him advertising
that, besides lecturing gratis, he will lend from one shilling to six,
gratis, 'to such as are in extreme need, and have not wherewithal to
endeavour their subsistence, whereas week by week they may drive on some
trade.' By-and-by, however, Sir Balthazar was probably more disposed to
borrow than to lend. His Academy met with little support--with ridicule
rather than encouragement; was indeed a total failure; and he left
England for America. For some years nothing was heard of him.
In 1660, however, we find him publishing at Rotterdam 'a sommary
description, manifesting that greater profits are to be done in the hott
than in the cold parts of America.' This contains an account of his
journey with his family to settle at Surinam. But there, it seems, he
was seized by the Dutch, treated with much violence (one of his children
being killed), and brought to Holland. He attempted, but in vain, to
obtain redress from the States for this strange treatment of him. He
probably returned to England with Charles II., for he is said to have
aided in designing the triumphal arches erected at the Restoration.
Gerbier's name is attached to a long list of books and pamphlets. Some
of these are of a controversial character; the author was a stout
Huguenot, fond of denouncing the Pope; oftentimes alarmed at plots
against himself on account of his religion, and now publishing a letter
of remonstrance to his three daughters who, in opposition to his will,
had entered a nunnery in Paris. Other works relate to architecture and
fortifications, the languages, arts, and noble exercises taught in his
Academy, or contain advice to travellers, or deal with political
affairs. Mr. Pepys records in his diary, under date the 28th May
1663:--'At the Coffee House in Exchange Alley I bought a little book,
_Counsell to Builders_, by Sir Balth. Gerbier. It is dedicated almost to
all the men of any great condition in England, so that the dedications
are more than the book itself; and both it and them,' the diarist adds
somewhat severely, 'not worth a farthing!'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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