Club Life of London, Vol. 1 (of 2): With Anecdotes of the Clubs, Coffee-Houses and Taverns of the Metropolis During the 17th, 18th, and 19th CenturiesTimbs, John
History
Club Life of London, Vol. 1 (of 2): With Anecdotes of the Clubs, Coffee-Houses and Taverns of the Metropolis During the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries
Timbs, John
Clubs -- England -- London; Literary landmarks -- England -- London; London (England) -- Social life and customs
On the 4th of November in the same year, the birthday of King William
III., the Jacobite mob made a large bonfire in the Old Jewry, to burn
an effigy of the King; but the Mug-house men came upon them again,
gave them "due chastisement with oaken plants," extinguished their
bonfire, and carried King William in triumph to the Roebuck. Next day
was the commemoration of Gunpowder Treason, and the loyal mob had its
pageant. A long procession was formed, having in front a figure of the
infant Pretender, accompanied by two men bearing each a warming-pan,
in allusion to the story about his birth; and followed by effigies in
gross caricature of the Pope, the Pretender, the Duke of Ormond, Lord
Bolingbroke, and the Earl of Marr, with halters round their necks; and
all of them were to be burned in a large bonfire made in Cheapside.
The procession, starting from the Roebuck, went through
Newgate-street, and up Holborn-hill, where they compelled the bells of
St. Andrew's church, of which Sacheverell was rector, to ring; thence
through Lincoln's Inn Fields and Covent Garden to the gate of St.
James's Palace; returning by way of Pall Mall and the Strand, and
through St. Paul's Churchyard. They had met with no interruption on
their way, but on their return to Cheapside, they found that, during
their absence, that quarter had been invaded by the Jacobite mob, who
had carried away all the fuel which had been collected for the
bonfire.
On November 17, in the same year, the Loyal Society met at the Roebuck
to celebrate the anniversary of the Accession of Queen Elizabeth; and,
while busy with their mugs, they received information that the
Jacobites were assembled, in great force, in St. Martin's-le-Grand,
and were preparing to burn the effigies of King William and King
George, along with the Duke of Marlborough. They were so near, in
fact, that their party-shouts of High Church, Ormond, and King James,
must have been audible at the Roebuck, which stood opposite Bow
Church. The Jacobites were starting on their procession, when they
were overtaken in Newgate Street, by the Mug-house men from the
Roebuck, and a desperate encounter took place, in which the Jacobites
were defeated, and many of them were seriously injured. Meanwhile the
Roebuck itself had been the scene of a much more serious tumult.
During the absence of the great mass of the members of the Club,
another body of Jacobites, much more numerous than those engaged in
Newgate Street, suddenly assembled, attacked the Roebuck Mug-house,
broke its windows, and those of the adjoining houses, and with
terrible threats, attempted to force the door. One of the few members
of the Loyal Society who remained at home, discharged a gun upon those
of the assailants who were attacking the door, and killed one of their
leaders. This and the approach of the Lord Mayor and city officers,
caused the mob to disperse; but the Roebuck was exposed to attacks
during several following nights, after which the mobs remained
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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