Notes and Queries, Number 49, October 5, 1850

Notes and Queries, Number 49, October 5, 1850
Various

Various

Notes and Queries, Number 49, October 5, 1850

NOTES

STRAY NOTES ON CUNNINGHAM'S LONDON

The following notes are so trivial, that I should have scrupled to send them on any other ground than that so well-conceived and labouriously-executed a work should have its most minute and unimportant details as correct as possible. This, in such a work, can only be effected by each reader pointing out the circumstances that he has reason to believe are not quite correctly or completely given in it.

Page 24. Astronomical Society.—The library has been recently augmented by the incorporation with it of the books and documents (as well as the members) of the Mathematical Society of London (Spitalfields). It contains the most complete collection of the English mathematical works of the last century known to exist. A friend, who has examined them with some care, specifies particularly some of the tracts published in the controversy raised by Bishop Berkeley respecting "the ghosts of departed quantities," of which he did before know the existence.

The instruments to which Mr. Cunningham refers as bequeathed to the Society, are not used there, nor yet allowed to lie unused. They are placed in the care of active practical observers, according as the special character of the instruments and the special subjects to which each observer more immediately devotes his attention, shall render the assignment of the instrument expedient. The instruments, however, still remain the property of the Society.

P. 37. Bath House.—Date omitted.

P. 143.—Evan's Hotel, Covent Garden, is described as having been once the residence of "James West, the great collector of books, &c., and President of the Royal Society." There has certainly never been a President, or even a Secretary, of that name. However, it is just possible that there might have been a Vice-president so named (as these are chosen by the President from the members of the council, and the council has not always been composed of men of science): but even this is somewhat doubtful.

P. 143. Covent Garden Theatre.—No future account of this theatre will be complete without the facts connected with the ill-starred Delafield; just as, into the Olympic, the history of the defaulter Watts, of the Globe Assurance Office, must also enter.

P. 143. near top of col. 2. "Heigho! says Kemble."—Before this period, a variation of the rigmarole upon which this is founded had become poplular, from the humour of Liston's singing at Sadler's Wells. I have a copy of the music and the words; altogether identical with those in the music. Of these, with other matters connected with the amorous frog, I shall have something more to say hereafter. This notice is to be considered incidental, rather than as referring expressly to Mr. Cunningham's valuable book.

P. 153. Deans Yard, Westminster.—Several of the annual budgets of abuse, obscenity, and impudent imposture, bearing on their title-pages various names, but written by "John Gadbury, Student in Physic and Astrology," were dated from "my house, Brick Court, Dean's Yard, Westminster;" or this slightly varied, occasionally being, "Brick Court, near the Dean's Yard," &c. I have not seen a complete series of Gadbury's Almanacks, but those I refer to range from 1688 to 1694 (incomplete). His burial in St. Margaret's, Westminster, in 1704, is noticed by Mr. Cunningham, at p. 313. As brick was then only used in the more costly class of domestic buildings, this would seem to indicate that prophecy was then a lucrative trade; and that the successor and pupil of the "arch-rogue, William Lilly" was quite as fortunate in his speculations as his master had been. It is a truth as old as society itself, that "knaves grow rich while honest men starve." Whilst Gadbury was "wallowing in plenty," the author of Hudibras was perishing for want of a crust!

P. 153. Denzil Street.—Here, about the middle of the street, on the south side, lived Theophilus Holdred, a jobbing watchmaker, whose name will always hold a place in one department of mathematical history. He discovered a method of approximating to the roots of numerical equations, of considerable ingenuity. He, however, lost in his day and generation the reputation that was really due to him for it, by his laying claim to more than he had effected, and seeking to deprive other and more gifted men of the reputation due to a more perfect solution of the same problem. He was, indeed, brought before the public as the tool of a faction; and, as the tools of faction generally are, he was sacrificed by his own supporters when he was no longer of any use to them.

I once called upon him, in company with Professor Leyburn, of the Royal Military College, but I forget whether in 1829 or 1830. We found him at his bench—a plain, elderly, and heavy-looking personage. He seemed to have become "shy" of our class, and some time and some address were requisite to get him to speak with any freedom: but ultimately we placed him at his ease, and he spoke freely. We left him with the conviction that he was the bonâ fide discoverer of his own method; and that he had no distinct conception, even then, of the principle of the methods which he had been led by his friends to claim, of having also discovered Horner's process before Horner himself had published it. He did not (ten years after the publication of Horner's method) even then understand it. He understood his own perfectly, and I have not the slightest doubt of the correctness of his own statement, of its having been discovered by him fifty years before.

P. 166. Dulwich Gallery.—This is amongst the unfortunate consequences of taking lists upon trust. Poor Tom Hurst[1 - It may not be out of place here to mention one fine feature in the character of "Tom Hurst;" his deep reverence for men of ability, whether in literature, science, or art. Take one instance:Fourteen or fifteen years ago, I called one morning at his place of business (then 65. St. Paul's Church Yard, which has been subsequently absorbed into the "Religious Tract Depository"); and, as was my custom, I walked through the shop to his private room. He was "not in;" but a gentleman, who first looked at me and then at a portrait of me on the wall, accosted me by my surname as familiarly as an intimate acquaintance of twenty years would have done. He and Hurst, it appeared, had been speaking of me, suggested by the picture, before Hurst went out. The familiar stranger did not keep me long in suspense—he intimated that I had "probably heard our friend speak of Ben Haydon." Of course I had; and we soon got into an easy chat. Hurst was naturally a common subject with us. Amongst the remarks he made were the following, and in almost the words:—"When my troubles came on, I owed Hurst a large sum of money; and the circumstances under which I became his debtor rendered this peculiarly a debt of honour. He lent it me when he could ill spare it; yet he is the only one of all my creditors who has not in one way or other persecuted me to the present hour. When he first knew of my wreck, he called upon me—not to reproach but to encourage me—and he would not leave me till he felt sure that he had changed the moody current of my thoughts. If there be any change in him since then, it is in his increased kindness of manner and his assiduity to serve me. He is now gone out to try to sell 'a bit of daub' for me."Hurst came in, and this conversation dropped; but it had been well had Hurst been by his side on the day his last picture was opened to view at the Egyptian Hall. The catastrophe of that night might have been averted, notwithstanding Mr. Barnum and his Tom Thumb show in the adjoining room.] has not been in the churchyard these last eight years—except the three last in his grave. The last five years of his life were spent in a comfortable asylum, as "a poor brother of the Charterhouse." He was one of the victims of the "panic of 1825;" and though the spirit of speculation never left him, he always failed to recover his position. He is referred to here, however, to call Mr. Cunningham's attention to the necessity, in a Hand-book especially, of referring his readers correctly to the places at which tickets are to be obtained for any purpose whatever. It discourages the visitor to London when he is thus "sent upon a fool's errand;" and the Cockney himself is not in quite so good a humour with the author for being sent a few steps out of his way.

P. 190. Rogers—a Cockney by inference. I should like to see this more decidedly established. I am aware that it is distinctly so stated by Chambers and by Wilkinson; but a remark once made to me by Mrs. Glendinning (the wife of Glendinning, the printer, of Hatton Garden) still leads me to press the inquiry.

P. 191.—The Free Trade Club was dissolved before the publication of this edition of the Handbook.

P. 192.—And to Sir John Herschel, on his return from the Cape of Good Hope.

P. 210. Royal Society.—From a letter of Dr. Charles Hutton, in the Newcastle Magazine (vol. i. 2nd series), it appears that at the time of Dr. Dodd's execution the Fellows were in the habit of adjourning, after the meetings, to Slaughter's Coffee House, "to eat oysters," &c. The celebrated John Hunter, who had attempted to resuscitate the ill-fated Doctor, was one of them. "The Royal Society Club" was instituted by Sir Joseph Banks.

P. 221. Hanover Square.—Blank date.

P. 337. Millbank Prison.—It was designed, not by "Jeremy Bentham," but by his brother, the great mechanist, Sir Samuel Bentham. In passing, it may be remarked that the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, is constructed on the same principle, and, as was stated in the Mechanics' Magazine, on authority, a year or two ago, by the same engineer. General rumour has, however, attributed the design to his gracious Majesty George III; and its being so closely in keeping with the known spirit of espionage of that monarch certainly gave countenance to the rumour. It may be as well to state, however, that, so designed and so built, it has never yet been so used.

P. 428.—Benbow, not a native of Wapping, but of Shrewsbury. A life of him was published nearly forty years ago, by that veteran of local and county history, Mr. Charles Hulbert, in the Salopian Magazine.

P. 499. Whitfield.—Certainly not the founder of the Methodists, in the ordinary or recognised acceptation of the term. John Wesley was at the head of that movement from the very first, and George Whitfield and Charles Wesley were altogether subordinate to him. Wesley and Whitfield parted company on the ground of Arminianism versus Calvinism. For a while the two sects kept the titles of "Arminian Methodists" and "Calvinistic Methodists." The latter made but little ground afterwards, and the distinctive adjective was dropped by the Wesleyans when the Whitfieldites had ceased to be a prominent body.

P. 515. Doctor Dodd.—The great interest excited in favour of a commutation of his sentence, led to the belief at the time, that his life had not been really sacrificed. Many plausible stories respecting the Doctor having been subsequently seen alive, were current; and as they may possibly in some future age be revived, and again pass into general currency, it may be as well to state that the most positive evidence to the contrary exists, in a letter of Dr. Hutton's before referred to. The attempt to resuscitate him was actually made, by a no less distinguished surgeon than John Hunter. He seemed then to attribute the failure to his having received the body too late. Wonderful effects were at that time expected to result from the discovery of galvanism; but it would have been wonderful indeed if any restoration had taken place after more than two hours of suspended animation. John Hunter, according to the account, does not seem to have been very communicative on the subject, even to his philosophical friends at Slaughter's Oyster Rooms.

    T.S.D.

Shooter's Hill.

SATIRICAL SONG UPON GEORGE VILLIERS, DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM

In turning over some old bundles of papers of the early part of the seventeenth century, I met with the following satirical effusion upon "James's infamous prime minister," George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. As an echo of the popular feelings of the people at the time it was written, it merits preservation; and although I have seen other manuscript copies of the ballad, it has never yet, as far as I can learn, appeared in print.

It appears to be a parody or paraphrase of a well-known ballad of the period, the burden of which attracted the notice of the satirist. It afterwards became a common vehicle of derision during the civil war, as may be seen by turning over the pages of the collection entitled Rump Songs, and the folio volumes of the king's pamphlets.

The original of these parodies has hitherto eluded my researches. It is not among the Pepysian, Roxburghe, Wood, or Douce ballads, but perhaps some of your readers may be able to point it out in some public or private collection.

"Come heare, Lady Muses, and help mee to sing,
Come love mee where I lay;
Of a duke that deserves to be made a king—
The cleane contrary way,
O the cleane contrary way.

"Our Buckingham Duke is the man that I meane,
Come love mee where I lay;
On his shoulders the weale of the kingdome doth leane—
The cleane contrary way,
O the cleane contrary way.

"O happiest kingdome that ever was kind,
Come love mee where I lay;
And happie the king that hath such a friend—
The cleane contrary way,
O the cleane contrary way.

"Needs must I extoll his worth and his blood—
Come love mee where I lay;
And his sweet disposition soe milde and soe good—
The cleane contrary way,
O the cleane contrary way.

"Those innocent smiles that embelish his face,
Come love mee where I lay;
Who sees them not tokens of goodness and grace—
The cleane contrary way,
O the cleane contrary way.

"And what other scholler could ever arise,
Come love mee where I lay;
From a master that was soe sincere and wise—
The cleane contrary way,
O the cleane contrary way.

"Who is hee could now from his grave but ascend,