London in the Jacobite times, Volume IDoran, Dr. (John)
History
London in the Jacobite times, Volume I
Doran, Dr. (John)
London (England) -- History -- 18th century
On the other hand, the feeling on the Jacobite side very much
resembled that which is recorded in the ‘Memoirs of P. P., clerk of
this Parish,’――in which parish, Jenkins, the farrier, ‘never shoed
a horse of a Whig or fanatic, but he lamed him sorely.’ Turner, the
collar-maker, was held to have been honoured by being clapt in the
stocks for wearing an oaken bough on the 29th of May;――Pilcocks, the
exciseman, was valued for the laudable freedom of speech which had
lost him his office;――and White, the wheelwright, was accounted of good
descent, his uncle having formerly been servitor at Maudlin College,
where the glorious Sacheverel was educated!
[Sidenote: _THE CHEVALIER IN LONDON._]
At a somewhat later period, a pamphlet was published, in which the
Chevalier de St. George is introduced, saying:――‘Old _Lewis_ assur’d
me he would never desert my Interest, and he kept his _Bona fide_ till
he was drub’d into the humble Condition of su’ing for Peace, and I was
seemingly to be sacrificed to the Resentment of my Enemies; but our
_dear Sister_ and the _Tories_ concerted privately to elude the force
of the Treaty, and kept me at Bar-le-Duc, from whence I made a Trip
to Somerset House, but was soon Frighten’d away again by the sound of
a Proclamation, at which Sir Patrick and I scour’d off. Soon after,
dear Sister departed this mortal Life, but the Schemes being yet not
entirely finish’d, and my good Friends not having the Spirit of Greece,
_Hanover_ whipt over before me.’ This passage will recall an incident
in Mr. Thackeray’s ‘Esmond.’
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CHAPTER III.
(1715.)
[Illustration: Drop-T]he second homage paid by the stage to the royal
family was, in 1715, rendered in person by Tom Durfey. Tom had been
occasionally a thorough Tory. Charles II. had leant on his shoulder.
Great Nassau, nevertheless, enjoyed his singing. Queen Anne laughed
loudly at his songs in ridicule of the Electress Sophia; and yet here
was the Electress’s son, George I., allowing the Heir Apparent to be
present at Tom’s benefit. This took place on January 3rd, 1715. On
this occasion, Tom turned thorough Whig. After the play, he delivered
an extraordinary speech to the audience on the blessings of the new
system, the condition and merits of the royal family, and on the state
of the nation as regarded foreign and domestic relations! At the other
play-house, in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, a piece was acted called the
‘Cobler of Preston,’ in which _Kit Sly_ and his story were ‘lifted’
from the ‘Taming of the Shrew.’ _Kit_ was played by Pinkethman. When
he said, ‘Are you sure now that I’m your natural Lord and Master? I
am devilishly afraid I am but a _Pretender_!’――the Whigs clapped till
their hands were sore, and the Tories ‘pished’ at the poorness of the
joke.
[Sidenote: _AT THE PLAY._]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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