It was a death blow to the Reverend Alexander, although he tried to laugh it off, if Horace Walpole may be believed. In a letter to George Montagu, Esqr. (June 11, 1753), he says: "I shall only tell you a bon mot of Keith's, the marriage broker, and conclude. 'G—d d—n the Bishops,' said he (I beg Miss Montagu's pardon), 'so they will hinder my marrying. Well, let 'em, but I'll be revenged: I'll buy two or three acres of ground, and by G—d, I'll under bury them all.'"
This may have been true, but it was mere bravado, for he appealed from his prison to the benevolent, as we see by the following advertisement. "To the Compassionate. By the late Marriage Act, the Rev. Mr. Keith, from a great Degree of Affluence, is reduc'd to such a deplorable State of Misery in the Fleet Prison, as is much better to be conceiv'd than related, having scarce any other thing than Bread and Water to subsist on. It is to be hoped he will be deemed truly undeserving such a Fate, when the Publick are assured, that not foreseeing such an unhappy Stroke of Fortune, as the late Act, he yearly expended almost his whole Income (which amounted to several Hundred Pounds per Annum) in relieving not only single distress'd Persons, but even whole Families of wretched Objects of Compassion. This can be attested by several Persons of the strictest Character and Reputation, as well as by Numbers who experienced his Bounty. Mr. Keith's present calamitous Situation renders him perhaps as great an Object of Charity himself, as all Circumstances consider'd, as ever in his better Days partook of his own Assistance, or that of others equally compassionate; and is indeed sufficient to awaken Humanity in the most uncharitable. Any Gentleman or Lady may be satisfied of the above by applying to Mr. Brooke, Engraver, facing Water Lane, Fleet Street, by whom Donations from the Publick will be received for the Use of Mr. Keith."
Footnotes
[156] Joshua Lilly, who kept one of the Hand and Pen houses, and said that he had been appointed Registrar of Marriages, by the Lord Chancellor, and had paid £1,000 for the post. He did not marry people, but kept presumable Clergymen to do so. He is mentioned several times in the Registers and Pocket-books. Once, at all events, he was in danger of the judgment seat, as Ashwell writes in one of his pocket-books: "N.B. On Sunday, November ye 6, 1740, at ye hour of 9, in my house declared that, if he had not come home out of ye country, being fled for punishment, having Cut of his hair (to prevent being known), yt ye indictment for marrying James Hussey to Miss Henrietta Arnold, he had (been) ruin'd but yt he swore it off and ye attorney promis'd to defend him, and it cost him only a treat of 10/; had I staid, says the sd Joshua Lilley, where I was, viz. ——, the indictment would have stood good against me, but my taking ye side of the prosecutor, ye young ladies, I have got safe off." In a Register is a notice relating to him. "June ye 13th, 1744. Whereas one Joshua Lilley, being a noted man for having more marriages at his house than the generality of ye people could have, he the said Joshua Lilley keeping several plyars, as they are call'd, to gett these weddings, I have put his marriages down in a separate book, but findend ill-convenience arise thereby, fro' this 13th instant, do insert it wth ye rest." And one of his handbills describes him as 'I. Lilley, at ye Hand and Pen, next door to the china shop, Fleet Bridge, London, will be perform'd the solemnization of marriages by a gentleman regularly bred att one of our Universities, and lawfully ordain'd according to the institutions of the Church of England, and is ready to wait on any person in town or countrey."
[157] This was John Lilley, who kept a public-house, called the Bull and Garter. In 1717 he was found guilty, and fined five pounds, for acting as Clerk at a Fleet Marriage. He was a turnkey at the Fleet Prison, and in his house he had a room for solemnizing marriages—which he called a Chapel—issuing certificates bearing the City Arms, and purporting to be the Lord Mayor's Certificates.
[158] Probably John Evans, who married from 1689 to 1729, both at the King's Bench and Fleet.
[159] I am unable to identify these initials.
A FLEET WEDDING.
