[26] Mr. Parry, the celebrated composer of the Welsh Melodies and several other popular pieces of music; a gentleman well known in the musical world, and who has risen to the well-merited eminence he now enjoys entirely from the possession of superior talents. Mr. Parry was originally the master of the Derbyshire Band, and the fife was the first instrument he excelled upon, when quite a boy; but his performances on the flageolet are exquisitely fine, and the admiration of all those persons who have heard him.
[27] Paintings of Hogarth and Hayman.=At the sale of the movable property, Oct., 1841, twenty-four pictures by William Hogarth [1697-1764] and Francis Hayman, R.A., historical painter [1708-1776] produced but small sums: they had mostly been upon the premises since 1742; the canvas was nailed to boards, and much obscured by dirt. Those by Hogarth fetched as follows.—A Drunken Man, £4 4s.; A Woman pulling out an Old Man’s grey hairs, £3 3s.; Jobson and Nell in the Devil to Pay, £4 4s.: The Happy Family, £3 15s.; Children at Play, £4 11s. 6d. Those by Hayman:—Children Bird’s-nesting, £5 10s.; Minstrels, £3; The Enraged Husband, £4 4s.; The Bridal Day, £6 6s.; Blindman’s Buff, £3 8s.; Prince Henry and Falstaff, £7: Scene from the Rake’s Progress, £9 15s.; Merry-making, £1 12s.; The Jealous Husband, £4; Card-party, £6; Children’s Party, £4 15s.; Battledore and Shuttlecock, £1 10s.; The Doctor, £4 14s. 6d.; Cherrybob, £2 15s.; The Storming of Seringapatam, £8 10s.; Neptune and Britannia, £8 15s. Four busts of Simpson, the celebrated Master of the Ceremonies, were sold for 10s.; and a bust of his royal shipmate, William IV.—not a sovereign!—only 19s. Among the Vauxhall composers were Arne, Boyce, Carter, Mountain, Hook (father to Theodore Edward) and Signor Storace. Male singers: Beard, Tommy Lowe, Webb, Charley Dignum, Vernon, Incledon, Braham, Pyne, Sinclair, Tinney—Pretty Jane Robinson, Paul Bedford, W. H. Williams, Sharp, Weekes, &c. Females: Miss Brent, Mrs. Wrighten, Mrs. Weischel (mother of Mrs. Billington), Mrs. Mountain, Mrs. Crouch, Mrs. Bland, Miss Tryer (afterwards Mrs. Liston), Miss Graddon, Miss Love, Miss Tunstall, Miss P. Horton, &c. Italian Operas were performed here in 1829. The band were the last to wear the semi-circular or cocked hat:—
“By the high dome that trembling glows
With lamps, cock’d hats, and shiv’ring bows,
How many hearts are shook!
A feather’d chorister is there,
Warbling some tender, grove-like air.
Composed by Mr. Hook.”—London Magazine, Sept., 1824.
[28] Vauxhall Slices! or Ham Shavings!—See page 213. Apropos to the subject we here insert the following J’eu d’esprit: from Bell’s Life in London: August 2, 1829.
A NEW SONG TO AN OLD TUNE.
[Mr. Moncrieff, the Dramatist, having received an invitation to supper from the Proprietors of Vauxhall, returned one of the Gentlemen the following extemporaneous answer:—]
By thy cold fowls, each worth, at least a crown—
And by thy ham which makes these fowls go down—
By thy French rolls—thy beef and pickled ghirkins—
By thy brown stout, by Barclay brew’d and Perkins—
And by thy lettuce, from the isle of Cos—
Thy pepper, vinegar, and mustard, pos.—
In that same place thou hast appointed me,
This ev’ning, truly, will I meet with thee!
By thy old port, and thy particular sherry,
With which men, for six shillings, oft get merry—
By thy Sauterne, thy Hock, and thy Bucellas,
Thy real Champagne—Nectar of good fellows—
By thy best Chateau Margaux; and again,
By Mr. Simpson,[A] blandest, best of men!
In that same place thou hast appointed me,
This ev’ning, truly, will I meet with thee.
By thy Italian singers, whose fine throats
Produce such a vast quantity of notes—
By thy Hydraulics and thy Cosmoramas,
Delight of all town-visiting clods and farmers—
By thy famed fire-works, pleasing great and small—
And by thy rack-punch, greatest charm of all!
In that same place thou hast appointed me,
This ev’ning, truly, will I meet with thee!
[A] M.C., and Inspector of the Gardens.
[29] The late John Camden Hotten’s Introduction to the new edition of “Life in London.” Chatto & Windus: Piccadilly.
[30] Mr. Pierce Egan says:—“Mr. Barrymore’s Burletta was thought of, written, and got up, in five days. As a friend, I attended the rehearsals, notwithstanding I had previously made an outline of a Drama for myself.”