At the Quarterly Sessions of that period the Justices had received orders to put the law in force against Vice and Immorality; and in consequence of a petition from the inhabitants of Covent-garden, complaining of the indecency and riots of the loose women and their male followers in the vicinity of the Theatre, they issued warrants for their apprehension. The execution of those were violently opposed; and the Justices were compelled to state to the Privy Council and the Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex, that the Constables were dreadfully maimed, and one mortally wounded by Ruffians aided by 40 Soldiers of the guards, who entered into a combination to protect the women.
In May, Lord Inchinbroke, Sir Mark Cole,
and some others, were found guilty on the charge of being principals in some or other of the above vile proceedings. After having complimented Government on the propriety of preventing the populace from publicly burning effigies, it would be injustice to the latter not to acknowledge they might have pleaded high authority for doing it. On the 5th of November 1712, the Queen's guards made a bonfire before the gates of St. James's Palace; into which the Pretender's effigy was thrown and shot at. Such is Human Nature! The Lord Mayor appears, however, to have done his duty, by requesting his fellow citizens to keep at home on the night of the anniversary of Elizabeth's accession.
One of the oddest occurrences I have yet met with under this head was a political contest between the Whig and Tory Footmen, who served the Members of the House of Commons. These worthy patriots had inviolably observed a custom, for many years previous to 1715, of imitating their masters in the choice of a Speaker, modestly conceiving themselves a deliberative body. Now, as the parties happened at this period to be nearly balanced, much animosity naturally ensued; and, not possessing the forbearance of their superiors, they had recourse to active hostilities, and severely beat each other, till the rising of the House compelled them to desist; but, on the following Monday, the battle was renewed, and the
Tories having gained the day by dint of blows, they carried their Speaker three times round Westminster-hall, and then, in pursuance of antient usage, they adjourned to a good dinner at an adjacent alehouse, and to expend their crown each in toasting their success.
The accession of George I. was celebrated, in the month of July of the same year, in the customary manner by the peaceable part of the community; but the more violent assembled, to the amount of several hundreds, at the Roebuck Tavern, Cheapside, where they burnt the effigies of the Pretender habited in mourning before the door, accompanied by a peal from Bow bells; and the populace were plentifully supplied with liquor. The same persons, joined by many young men and apprentices, busily employed themselves between the above date and October 22, the anniversary of the King's coronation, in preparing the effigies of the old Triumvirate for the same fate; but the Jacobin interest, then in full effervescence, contrived to drop printed bills, and to insinuate that those loyal persons meant to burn the effigies of the late Queen and Dr. Sacheverell. To repel such ideas, the Loyal Society deputed their Stewards to the Lord Mayor with a relation of their real intention, who forbid a procession, but permitted them to consume the effigies where they pleased. Thus privileged, they adorned their hats with cockades of white
and orange, and sallied forth with effigies of the Pope, the Pretender, the Earl of Man, the Duke of Ormond, and Lord Bolingbroke, accompanied by link-bearers, and precipitated them into a fire near Bow-church. Hence they went to Lincoln's-Inn-fields, and assisted at the hateful orgies of the same description ordered by the foolish Duke of Newcastle, whose power ought to have been exerted in a far different way, as the sequel will shew. The Jacobites, full of rage and disappointment, trod on their kibes, but were afraid to commit open violence. These processions and burnings were repeated again on King William's anniversary, and on the 5th of November; and, had the subject been less serious, the exhibition of the warming-pan and sucking bottle might have excited a smile. Some slight opposition occurred on these evenings; but the Loyal Society of the Roebuck routed the Jacobites on all sides. The day of the inauguration of Queen Elizabeth, November 17, shews the folly and wickedness of suffering the populace to exercise their brutal celebrations uncontrouled. The Loyal Society met at their usual rendezvous in Cheapside, whence they sent a deputation to examine a house near Aldersgate, where certain effigies were placed under the guard of a man with a hanger, said to be those of Cromwell, Ireton, Bradshaw, and Dr. Burnet, which the Jacobites intended to burn that evening. However, upon viewing the harmless
figures, they were found to be the representatives of George I. King William, Marlborough, Newcastle, and Dr. Burnet. The Deputies immediately seized them, and proceeded without opposition and no little triumph to the Roebuck. At 8 o'clock in the evening shouts of High Church and Ormond, &c. &c. announced the approach of the Pretender's friends, who poured into Cheapside from the neighbouring streets, proclaiming their intention of tearing the house to pieces. The attack commenced with stones and bricks, which soon demolished the windows; they then prepared for the assault; but the Loyal Society, thinking to terrify them, fired with powder only. The Jacobites, perceiving they had sustained no injury, renewed the attack, when a second volley, accompanied by ball, laid two of them dead on the pavement, and wounded several others. Then the Mayor made his appearance with the posse comitatus, and the Jacobites fled. Thus the Tragedy proceeded scene after scene; and in which way were either party benefited by the catastrophe? Rioters acting with a majority are like the officious bear who flattened his friend's nose in order to kill a fly that teased him; those on the side of a minority can expect nothing but disgrace and hanging: a well-ordered government should therefore suppress the turbulence of both. Another attempt was subsequently made upon the Roebuck, but the Trained
Bands prevented the accomplishment of its demolition. The Coroner's Jury returned a verdict of justifiable homicide on the two bodies.
During the rebellious year 1716 there were many violations of public decorum, which, if not really dangerous to lives and property, were alarming and extremely offensive to the quiet Citizens. One of those was the exploding a train of powder and nauseous combustibles within Shower's Dissenting Meeting in the Old Jewry in the midst of an evening service. The sudden flash, the smoke, and suffocation, put the audience into a most violent ferment; and the attempts on all sides to escape occasioned the only injury done by this stupid contrivance of a mischievous partisan, who probably congratulated himself on observing broken pews, bruised bodies, scattered shoes, wigs, scarves, and watches; a chaos begun and ended in smoke.