The Fleet: Its Rivers, Prison, and Marriages — John Shaqi
The Fleet: Its Rivers, Prison, and MarriagesAshton, John
History
The Fleet: Its Rivers, Prison, and Marriages
Ashton, John
Fleet Prison (London, England); Fleet, River (England)
[Footnote 35: These papers appeared in the _Illustrated Family
Journal_.]
[Footnote 36: In Cromwell's "History of Clerkenwell," p. 322,
we read, "In memory of its supposed proprietor, the owner of
some small tenements near the north end of the gardens styled
them 'Nell Gwynn's Buildings;' but the inscription was erased
before 1803."]
[Illustration]
CHAPTER VIII.
The gardens were pretty, after the manner of the times; we should not,
perhaps, particularly admire the formally cut lines and hedges, nor the
fountain in which a Cupid is hugging a swan, nor the rustic statuary
of the haymakers. Still it was a little walk out of London, where
fresh air could be breathed, and a good view obtained of the northern
hills of Hampstead and Highgate, with the interlying pastoral country,
sparsely dotted with farmhouses and cottages. The Fleet, here, had not
been polluted into a sewer as it was further on, and there were all the
elements of spending a pleasant, happy day, in good air, amid rural
scenes.
[Illustration: A VIEW TAKEN FROM THE CENTER BRIDGE IN THE GARDENS OF
BAGNIGGE WELLS.]
[Illustration: WAITER FROM THE BREAD AND BUTTER MANUFACTORY; OR, THE
HUMOURS OF BAGNIGGE WELLS.]
[Illustration: THE BREAD AND BUTTER MANUFACTORY; OR, THE HUMOURS OF
BAGNIGGE WELLS.]
The place, however, rapidly became a disreputable _rendezvous_, and
we get an excellent glimpse of the costumes of _circa_ 1780 in the
two following engravings taken from mezzotints published by Carington
Bowles; although not dated, they are of that period, showing the
Macaronis and Belles of that time. The first is called "The BREAD and
BUTTER MANUFACTORY,[37] or the Humours of BAGNIGGE WELLS," and the
second "A Bagnigge Wells Scene, or no resisting temptation," which gives
a charming representation of the ultra fashion of dress then worn.
[Illustration: A BAGNIGGE WELLS SCENE; OR, NO RESISTING TEMPTATION.
(_Published for Carington Bowles._)]
Yet another glance at the manners of the time is afforded by the boy
waiter, who hurries along with his tray of tea-things and _kettle of
hot water_.[38]
[Illustration: THE BAGNIGGE ORGANIST.]
And there was good music there, too--an organ in the long room, on
which Charles Griffith performed, as may be seen in the accompanying
illustration. The name of Davis on the music books, is that of the then
proprietor, and the lines underneath are parodied from Dryden's "Song
for St. Cecilia's day, 1687."
"What passion cannot music raise and quell!
When Jubal struck the corded shell,
His listening brethren stood around,
And, wondering, on their faces fell."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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