FOOTNOTES:
[1] Morning Post, Jan. 7, 1800.
[2] Annual Register, Jan. 25, 1800.
[3] “Parliamentary History,” vol. xxxv. pp. 25, 26
[4] By Colley Cibber.
[5] By James Cobb.
[6] Silver medals in commemoration of the King’s escape were struck by order of Sheridan. The Obverse represents Providence protecting the King from the attempt upon his life, figuratively displayed by a shield and shivered arrows, portraying the Sovereign’s safety; and encircled are the words “GOD SAVE THE KING.” On the Reverse is the British Crown in the centre of a wreath of laurel, the radiant beams of glory spreading their influence over it, with the words, “Preserved from Assassination, May 15, 1800;” and on the knot of the wreath, “Give God Praise.” Hadfield died in Bedlam.
[7] The barrels and locks of the muskets of that date were bright and burnished. Browning the gun-barrels for the army was not introduced till 1808.
[8] Annual Register, vol. xlii. p. 94.
[9] A comb is four bushels, or half a quarter.
[10] G. Fr. Kolb, “The Condition of Nations,” &c.
[11] W. Toone, “The Chronological Historian.”—[When the Julian Calendar was introduced, the Vernal Equinox fell on the 25th of March. At the time of the Council of Nice, A.D. 325, it had retrograded to the 21st of March; and when the reformation was made in 1582, to the 11th of March. Pope Gregory XIII., to restore it to its place, directed ten days to be suppressed in the calendar; and as the use of the Julian intercalation was found to be three days in 400 years, he ordered the intercalation to be omitted in all the centenary years except those which were multiples of 400. According to Gregorian rule, therefore, every year of which the number is divisible by four, without a remainder, is a leap year, excepting the centenary years, which are only leap years when divisible by four, on suppressing the units and tens. Thus—
16(00) is a leap year.
17(00), 18(00), 19(00), are not leap years.
20(00) is a leap year.
The shifting of days caused great disturbance in festivals dependent on Easter. Pope Gregory, in 1582, ordered the 5th of October to be called 15th of October; the Low Countries made 15th of December 25th of December. Spain, Portugal, and part of Italy, accepted the Gregorian change, but the Protestant countries and communities resisted up to 1700. In England the ten days’ difference had increased to eleven days, and the Act of 24 Geo. II. was passed to equalize the style in Great Britain and Ireland to the method now in use in all Christian countries, except Russia. In England, Wednesday, September 2, 1752, was followed by Thursday the 14th of September, and the New Style date of Easter-day came into use in 1753.—Note by John Westby Gibson, Esq., LL.D.]
[12] The Great Seal in use in 1800, was the fifth made during the reign of George III. Its Obverse was the King, in Roman costume, with flying mantle, on horseback, facing left hand. In his right hand he holds a marshal’s baton. Legend—both Obv. and Rev. “Georgius III. D.G. BRIT. FR. REX. F.D. BRVNS. ET. LVN. DVX. S.R.I.A.T. ET. PR. ELECT. ETC.” The Reverse has the King royally robed and crowned, seated on a throne, on the back of which is emblazoned the Royal arms. He holds the sceptre in his right, the orb in his left hand. He is surrounded by allegorical figures. On his right (heraldically) stand Hercules, typical of Power, Minerva, of Wisdom, and Justice with sword and scales; on his left are Britannia with spear, shield, and palm branch, and a female, figurative of piety, carrying the model of a church. The Seal of 1801 is identical, except that Britannianum is substituted for Brit., and Fr. is left out. Also in the Royal arms on the throne, the French fleur de lys is omitted, and the harp of Ireland is introduced. It is worthy of note, that the medallist has omitted the Cross of St. Patrick in Britannia’s shield, although proclaimed.
[13] There is verily “nothing new under the sun.” On January 22nd, the first Parliament of the United Kingdom met. Addington was chosen Speaker, and members were sworn in. On the 2nd of February the King opened the Session with a speech, and on the very next day, 3rd of February, an Irish member was twice called to order by the Speaker. He was a Mr. Martin of Galway, a gentleman who afterwards complained of his speech being reported in italics, and plaintively asked, “Mr. Speaker, did I speak in italics?”
[14] Signed by the Marquis Cornwallis for England, Joseph Bonaparte for France, Azara for Spain, and Schimmelpenninck for Holland.
[15] “Memoirs of the Later Years of the Right Hon. Charles James Fox.” By John Bernard Trotter, Esq., late private secretary to Mr. Fox. London. 1811.
[16] “Parliamentary History,” vol. xxxvi. p. 346, &c.
[17] Notably the following, 806. k. 1.————1—154 Squibs on Bonaparte’s threatened Invasion; 1890 e. Miss Banks’ Collection, Threatened Invasion; and 554 f. 25 Squibs on the Threatened French Invasion.
[18] On the site of which The Grand Hotel, Charing Cross, now stands.
[19] In two advertisements only of voluntary offers of horses and carriages, in August, we find they amount to 2,370 horses and 510 carriages.
[20] Morning Herald, February 18, 1804.
[21] Pitt says, as he looks from the Salt-box, “How do you do, cookey?” She exclaims, “Curse the fellow, how he has frightened me. I think in my heart he is getting in everywhere! Who the deuce would have thought of finding him in the Salt-box!!!”
[22] September 11, 1805.
[23] Morning Post, January 8, 1806.
[24] Morning Post, January 3, 1806.
[25] Morning Post, January 26, 1806
[26] Ibid., January 21, 1806.
[27] Annual Register, vol. xlviii. p. 916.
[28] “Parliamentary Debates,” vol. x.
[29] Napoleon met the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia at Tilsit. His historical meeting with the former took place on the 25th of June, 1807, on a barge, or raft, sumptuously appointed, moored in the middle of the river Niemen.
[30] The King of Portugal, and his family, fled to the Brazils, protected by a British squadron, November 29, 1807.
[31] “A General History of England from the Landing of Julius Cæsar to the Revolution of 1688,” by William Guthrie, London, 1744 1751, vol. ii. p. 213.
[32] The Bachelors had provided about twenty bushels of plum pudding.
[33] This version is taken from “The Life of the Right Hon. George Canning,” by Robert Bell, London, 1846. The first line, however, is generally rendered, “The Earl of Chatham, with his sword drawn.”
[34] The number of dollars issued by the Bank of England to February 8, 1810, inclusive, was:
| Dollars | stamped in | 1797 | and issued | 2,325,099 |
| ” | ” | 1804 | ” | 1,419,484 |
| ” | ” | 1809 and 1810 | ” | 1,073,051 |
| ———— | ||||
| Total | 4,817,634 | |||
| ———— | ||||
[35] The account of Sir F. Burdett’s arrest, &c., is mainly taken from the Annual Register, vol. lii.
[36] A number of persons on horseback, who met at Moorfields.
[37] “A View of London; or, The Stranger’s Guide, 1803-4.”
[38] “The Picture of London for 1802.”
[39] The generic name for coachman.
[40] Morning Post, June 9, 1808.
[41] Annual Register, vol. lix. p. 883.
[42] Sculls, as being lighter, were always cheaper than the heavy oars.
[43] Par parenthèse. This Mr. Waddington, whilst in the King’s Bench Prison, gave away a ton of potatoes a day, about Christmas time. They were first of all sold at one halfpenny a pound, and the produce in money was put in the poor’s box, for the benefit of the poor prisoners.
[44] Owing to the war, it was found safer for many merchant vessels to sail in company, and these fleets usually had two or three men-of-war in attendance to act as guards, and to protect them; they were called “the Convoy.”
[45] This probably was the shop of Owen and Bradley whose names first appear in the London Directory of 1812, as fruiterers, 77, New Bond Street.—J.A.
[46] “The grand Dramatic Romance of Blue Beard; or, Female Curiosity.” The Words by George Colman the younger—the Music composed and selected by M. K. (Michael Kelly). London, 1798.
[47] This word has two meanings, which are here played upon. One is spirit or pluck; the other is the name indifferently for match splints, or dry, rotten wood.
[48] “Slight Reminiscences of a Septuagenarian,” by Emma Sophia, Countess of Brownlow, p. 2. London, 1867.
[49] Sic in orig.
[50] “Old Times.” London: Nimmo, 1885.
[51] From the Globe, January 26, 1885:
“WEST END GAMBLING HOUSES.
“TO THE EDITOR OF THE GLOBE.
Sir,—Can it be true—as rumour has it—that in an old-established gambling club, not 100 miles from St. James’s Street, enormous sums are nightly staked, and that fortunes rapidly change hands? I hear that three men sat down a few nights ago to play écarté in this said club, and that one of their number was at a certain period of the evening a loser of the enormous sum of £100,000. That when this very impossible figure was reduced to limits within which the winners considered the loser could pay, play ceased and the party broke up. The next day—so runs the story—one of the winners called with bills to the amount of £26,000, drawn on stamped paper, for the loser to accept. This gentleman, however, though he freely admits having played, states that, having dined not wisely but too well, he has no sort of recollection of losing any specific sum, but merely a hazy idea that fabulously large amounts were recklessly staked all round, and no accounts kept. In other words, he repudiates, and finally, after a lengthened discussion, has consented to place himself in the hands of a friend to decide what he is to pay. If this is true, and I have no reason to doubt it, I can only stigmatize the whole affair as a public scandal, and the police should promptly interfere and shut up a club where such disgraceful things occur. When Jenks’s baccarat ‘hell’ was closed, and Mr. J. Campbell Wilkinson and his six associates were each fined £500 (hence the very excellent bon mot which appeared in the Sporting Times that ‘Jenks’ babies’ had become ‘Jenks’ monkeys’), the public were justified in believing that, at last, there was not to be one law for the rich and another for the poor, and that in future men who broke the law by gambling for thousands, would have the same justice meted out to them as those who did so by tossing for coppers. However, it appears such hopes were premature, and before this happy state of things is arrived at, further attention must be drawn to the matter, hence this letter, for which I sincerely trust you will be able to find space.—I am, Sir, yours, &c.,
“A Hater of Professional Gamblers.
“January 24th.”
[52] In May, 1775, a Bluecoat boy confessed that he had been tampered with, and had concealed a ticket, which was afterwards drawn. A man was arrested as the accomplice, but was discharged; but the Lottery Committee, in order to prevent a similar fraud, moved the following resolution (December 12, 1775), which was afterwards always adhered to: “That it be requested of the Treasurer of Christ’s Hospital, not to make known who are the twelve boys nominated for drawing the lottery till the morning the drawing begins; which said boys are all to attend every day, and the two who are to go on duty at the wheels, are to be taken promiscuously from amongst the whole number, by either of the Secretaries, without observing any regular course, or order; so that no boy shall know when it will be his turn to go to either wheel.”
[53] “Parliamentary History,” vol. xxxvi.
[54] There is a story told of a Lord Mayor in times long past, who went a-hunting in Epping Forest. Some one riding past him saluted him with, “My Lord! the Hare comes this way.” His lordship bravely drew his trusty sword, and, flourishing it, exclaimed, “Let him come! let him come! I thank my God, I fear him not.”
[55] Joseph Manton was at that time the great gun maker.
[56] “The Confessions of William Henry Ireland, containing the Particulars of his Fabrication of the Shakespeare Manuscripts.” London, 1805.
[57] “Talk of the Town,” by James Payn.
[58] A famous Bow Street Runner, and one in great favour with, and attendance on, Royalty.
[59] John Kemble.
[60] Townsend—a very good likeness.
[61] Supposed to be Madame Catalani’s husband. She died at Paris, of cholera, 12th of June, 1849.
[62] He was afterwards reinstated.
[63] Used also for the concerts of Ancient Music.
[64] This marks, as much as anything, the manners of the times. Fancy the upper ten, nowadays, ordering their supper from a tavern!
[65] The famous ballet-dancer of that time.
[66] Otherwise Willis’s Rooms.
[67] This Collection was sold in March, 1810—vide Morning Post, March 22, 1810: “The sale at Pidcock’s, Exeter ’Change, has been well attended. The skeleton of the famous elephant was put up at 20 guineas, and knocked down at 55. The skeleton of the spermaceti whale, sixty-six feet long, which formerly appeared in Rackstraw’s Museum, sold for nine guineas. Many scarce and beautiful birds sold at low prices, and the whole collection, consisting of 205 lots, produced about £140.”
[68] Afterwards known as “The Rotunda.”
[69] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society—the “guinea stamp” of a scientific man, at the age of 21.
[70] See “A Course of Lectures on Natural Philosophy and the Mechanic Arts” by Dr. Thomas Young. 2 vols. 1807.
[71] Thirty-six bushels, similar to the sealed measure kept at the Guildhall, heaped up; average weight, 28½ cwt. The Newcastle chaldron weighed 53 cwt.
[72] That part of the Thames from the east side of London Bridge is called “The Pool.”
[73] Edited by his daughter, Lady Bourchier. London, 1872.
[74] Lord St. Vincent had a lawsuit which was decided in March, 1801, for an eighth share of two Spanish ships captured in 1799. Its value was £9,674, and he won his case.
[75] So called from the brown barrel. At one time all gun barrels were not only bright, but burnished—the date of the abolition of which, is fixed by the following—Morning Post, October 3, 1808: “The system of cropping the hair of the soldiers is on the point of being followed up by the adoption of a plan which will, no doubt, give equal satisfaction to the whole army: we mean the abolition of that absurd practice of polishing the arms, which, in some regiments, has been carried to such an excess as materially to injure the piece, and render it totally unfit for use in half the time estimated for fair wear in usual service. Fire-locks upon a new principle, with brown locks and barrels, have been already issued to the light companies of several regiments, and the Board of Ordnance have received orders to complete the issue to the remainder of the army, with all the expedition possible; in consequence of which, a requisition has been made of the gunsmiths in the several regiments to repair, without loss of time, to the Royal Manufactory of Arms at Lewisham.”
[76] Dalswinton is in county Dumfries, and the estate was about 5,000 acres, formerly belonging to the Comyns, but it came into the possession of Patrick Miller, Esq., who built a fine mansion on the site of the old castle. He was a man well up to his time, for here, in 1788, he launched, on a lake, the first steamboat ever attempted.
[77] Mrs. Clarke is saying:
“Ye Captains and ye Colonels, ye parsons wanting place,
Advice I’ll give you gratis, and think upon your case,
If there’s any possibility, for you I’ll raise the dust,
But then you must excuse me, if I serve myself the first.”
[78] Commonly known as Colonel Wardell, or Wardle. His real military rank was Major, in which capacity he served in Sir W. W. Wynne’s regiment during the rebellion in Ireland.
[79] The italics are mine.—J. A.
[80] The Times, February 22, 1805.
[81] These days amounted to 80 or 90 in the year.