“All the time the Duke of Portland was alive he used to allow me 7s. 6d. a-week, which was 1s. a-day and 1s. 6d. for Sundays. He was a little short man, and a very good man he was too, for it warn’t only me as he gave money to, but to plenty others. He was the best man in England for that.
“Lord George Bentinck, too, was a good friend to me. He was a great racer, he was, and then he turned to be member of parliament, and then he made a good man they tell me; but he never comed over my crossing without giving me something. He was at the corner of Holly Street, he was, and he never put foot on my crossing without giving me a sovereign. Perhaps he wouldn’t cross more than once or twice a month, but when he comed my way that was his money. Ah! he was a nice feller, he was. When he give it he always put it in my hand and never let nobody see it, and that’s the way I like to have my fee give me.
“There’s Mrs. D——, too, as lived at No. 6; she was a good friend of mine, and always allowed me a suit of clothes a-year; but she’s dead, good lady, now.
“Dr. C—— and his lady, they, likewise, was very kind friends of mine, and gave me every year clothes, and new shoes, and blankets, aye, and a bed, too, if I had wanted it; but now they are all dead, down to the coachman. The doctor’s old butler, Mr. K——, he gave me twenty-five shillings the day of the funeral, and, says he, ‘Bill, I’m afraid this will be the last.’ Poor good friends they was all of them, and I did feel cut up when I see the hearse going off.
“There was another gentleman, Mr. W. T——, who lives in Harley-street; he never come by me without giving me half-a-crown. He was a real good gentleman; but I haven’t seen him for a long time now, and perhaps he’s dead too.
“All my friends is dropping off. I’m fifty-five, and they was men when I was a boy. All the good gentlemen’s gone, only the bad ones stop.
“Another friend of mine is Lord B——. He always drops me a shilling when he come by; and, says he, ‘You don’t know me, but I knows you, Billy.’ But I do know him, for my mother worked for the family many a year, and, considering I was born in the house, I think to myself, ‘If I don’t know you, why I ought.’ He’s a handsome, stout young chap, and as nice a gentleman as any in the land.
“One of the best friends I had was Prince E——, as lived there in Chandos-street, the bottom house yonder. I had five sovereigns give me the day as he was married to his beautiful wife. Don’t you remember what a talk there was about her diamonds, sir? They say she was kivered in ’em. He used to put his hand in his pocket and give me two or three shillings every time he crossed. He was a gentleman as was uncommon fond of the gals, sir. He’d go and talk to all the maid-servants round about, if they was only good-looking. I used to go and ring the hairy bells for him, and tell the gals to go and meet him in Chapel-street. God bless him! I says, he was a pleasant gentleman, and a regular good ’un for a bit of fun, and always looking lively and smiling. I see he’s got his old coachman yet, though the Prince don’t live in England at present, but his son does, and he always gives me a half-crown when he comes by too.
“I gets a pretty fine lot of Christmas boxes, but nothing like what I had in the old times. Prince E—— always gives me half a crown, and I goes to the butler for it. Pretty near all my friends gives me a box, them as knows me, and they say, ‘Here’s a Christmas box, Billy.’
“Last Christmas-day I took 36s., and that was pretty fair; but, bless you, in the old times I’ve had my hat full of money. I tells you again I’ve have had as much as 5l. in old times, all in old silver and halfpence; that was in the old war, and not this runaway shabby affair.