The Town: Its Memorable Characters and EventsHunt, Leigh
History
The Town: Its Memorable Characters and Events
Hunt, Leigh
London (England) -- Description and travel; London (England) -- History
Not far from Gunpowder Alley, in the burying-ground of the workhouse
in Shoe Lane, lies a greater and more unfortunate name than
Lovelace--Chatterton. But we shall say more of him when we come to
Brook Street, Holborn. We have been perplexed to decide, whether to
say all we have got to say upon anybody, when we come to the first
place with which he is connected, or divide our memorials of him
according to the several places. Circumstances will guide us; but upon
the whole it seems best to let the places themselves decide. If the
spot is rendered particularly interesting by the division, we may act
accordingly, as in the present instance. If not, all the anecdotes may
be given at once.
On the same side of the way as Shoe Lane, but nearer Fleet Market, was
Hardham's, a celebrated snuff-shop, the founder of which deserves
mention for a very delicate generosity. He was numberer at Drury Lane
Theatre, that is to say, the person who counted the number of people
in the house, from a hole over the top of the stage; a practice now
discontinued. Whether this employment led him to number snuffs, as
well as men, we cannot say, but he was the first who gave them their
distinctions that way. Lovers of
"The pungent grains of titillating dust"
are indebted to him for the famous compound entitled "37." "Being
passionately fond of theatrical entertainments, he was seldom," says
his biographer, "without embryo Richards and Hotspurs strutting and
bellowing in his dining-room, or in the parlour behind his shop. The
latter of these apartments was adorned with heads of most of the
persons celebrated for dramatic excellence; and to these he frequently
referred in the course of his instructions."
"There is one circumstance, however, in his private character,"
continues our authority, "which deserves a more honourable
rescue from oblivion. His charity was extensive in an uncommon
degree, and was conveyed to many of its objects in the most
delicate manner. On account of his known integrity (for he once
failed in business, more creditably than he could have made a
fortune by it,) he was often entrusted with the care of paying
little annual stipends to unfortunate women, and others who
were in equal want of relief; and he has been known, with a
generosity almost unexampled, to continue these annuities, long
after the sources of them had been stopped by the deaths or
caprices of the persons who at first supplied them. At the same
time he persuaded the receivers that their money was remitted
to them as usual, through its former channel. Indeed his purse
was never shut even to those who were casually recommended by
his common acquaintance."[78]
This admirable man died in 1772; and by his will bequeathed the
interest of 20,000_l._ to a female acquaintance, and at her decease
the principal, &c., to the poor of his native city, Chichester.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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