"THE FACE IN THE STRAW."—FROM ABBOT'S "ANTHOLOGIA," 1613 (see page 266). breast, saying, "In nomine Patris, Filii, et Spiritus | attacked by a dangerous disease, from which there was no hope of his recovery; and while in this state to my mind, I endeavoured to drive it away, that I honestest man in the nation," as Goldsmith said might not vainly appear to tempt Providence by of him in a doggerel riddle which he wrote. Newlooking for a miracle where it was not necessarily bery's nephew printed the "Vicar of Wakefield" to be expected. Early the next morning I betook for Goldsmith, and the elder Newbery published myself to the place of execution, and, arriving there the "Traveller," the corner-stone of Goldsmith's before any other person, stationed myself close to fame. It was the elder Newbery who unearthed the scaffold, though I was afterwards somewhat the poet at his miserable lodgings in Green Arbour forced from my position as the crowd increased." Court, and employed him to write his "Citizens of Having then described the details of the execution, the World," at a guinea each, for his daily newshe proceeds thus :-"Garnet's limbs having been paper, the Public Ledger (1760). The Newberies divided into four parts, and placed, together with seem to have been worthy, prudent tradesmen, the head, in a basket, in order that they might be constantly vexed and irritated at Goldsmith's exexhibited, according to law, in some conspicuous travagance, carelessness, and ceaseless cry for place, the crowd began to disperse. I then again money; and so it went on till the hare-brained, approached close to the scaffold, and stood between delightful fellow died, when Francis Newbery wrote the cart and place of execution; and as I lingered a violent defence of the fever medicine, an excess in that situation, still burning with the desire of bear- of which had killed Goldsmith. ing away some relic, that miraculous ear of straw, The office of the Registrar of the High Court of since so highly celebrated, came, I know not how, Admiralty occupied the site of the old cathedral into my hand. A considerable quantity of dry bakehouse. Paul's Chain is so called from a chain straw had been thrown with Garnet's head and that used to be drawn across the carriage-way of quarters into the basket, but whether this ear came the churchyard, to preserve silence during divine into my hand from the scaffold or from the basket I service. The northern barrier of St. Paul's is of cannot venture to affirm; this only I can truly say, wood. Opposite the Chain, at the time of the that a straw of this kind was thrown towards me Restoration, lived that king of writing and arithbefore it had touched the ground. This straw I metic masters, the man whose name has grown into a afterwards delivered to Mrs. N——, a matron of proverb-Edward Cocker-who wrote "The Pen's singular Catholic piety, who inclosed it in a bottle, Transcendancy," an extraordinary proof of true eye which being rather shorter than the straw, it and clever hand. became slightly bent. A few days afterwards Mrs. In the Chapter House of St. Paul's, which Mr. N- showed the straw in a bottle to a certain Peter Cunningham not too severely calls “a noble person, her intimate acquaintance, who, look- shabby, dingy-looking building," on the north side ing at it attentively, at length said, 'I can see of the churchyard, was performed the unjust cerenothing in it but a man's face.' Mrs. N-mony of degrading Samuel Johnson, the chaplain and myself being astonished at this unexpected to William Lord Russell, the martyr of the party exclamation, again and again examined the ear of the straw, and distinctly perceived in it a human countenance, which others also, coming in as casual spectators, or expressly called by us as witnesses, likewise beheld at that time. This is, as God knoweth, the true history of Father Garnet's St. Paul's Coffee House stood at the corner of straw." The engraving upon the preceding page the archway of Doctors' Commons, on the site of is taken from Abbot's " Anthologia," published "Paul's Brew House" and the "Paul's Head" in 1613, in which a full account of the "miracle" tavern. Here, in 1721, the books of the great is given. of liberty. The divines present, in compassion, and with a prescient eye for the future, purposely omitted to strip off his cassock, which rendered the ceremony imperfect, and afterwards saved the worthy man his benefice. collector, Dr. Rawlinson, were sold, "after dinner;" and they sold well. At 65, St. Paul's Churchyard, north-west corner, lived Goldsmith's kind friend and employer, Mr. Child's Coffee House, in St. Paul's Churchyard, John Newbery, that good-natured man with the was a quiet place, much frequented by the clergy of red-pimpled face, who, as the philanthropic book- Queen Anne's reign, and by proctors from Doctors' seller, figures pleasantly in the "Vicar of Wake- Commons. Addison used to look in there, to field;" always in haste to be gone, he was ever smoke a pipe and listen, behind his paper, to the on business of the utmost importance, and was conversation. In the Spectator, No. 609, he smiles at that time actually compiling materials for the at a country gentleman who mistook all persons in history of one Thomas Trip. "The friend of scarves for doctors of divinity. This was at a time all mankind." Dr. Primrose calls him. 66 The when clergymen always wore their black gowns in public. "Only a scarf of the first magnitude," he says, "entitles one to the appellation of 'doctor' from the landlady and the boy at 'Child's."" "Child's" was the resort of Dr. Mead, and other professional men of eminence. The Fellows of the Royal Society came here. Whiston relates that Sir Hans Sloane, Dr. Halley, and he were once at "Child's," when Dr. Halley asked him (Whiston) why he was not a member of the Royal Society? Whiston answered, "Because they durst not choose a heretic." Upon which Dr. Halley said, if Sir Hans Sloane would propose him, he (Dr. Halley) would second it, which was done accordingly. Garrick, who kept up his interest with different coteries, carefully cultivated the City men, by attending a club held at the "Queen's Arms" tavern, in St. Paul's Churchyard. Here he used to meet Mr. Sharpe, a surgeon; Mr. Paterson, the City Solicitor; Mr. Draper, a bookseller, and Mr. Clutterbuck, a mercer; and these quiet cool men were his standing council in theatrical affairs, and his gauge of the city taste. They were none of them drinkers, and in order to make a reckoning, called only for French wine. Here Dr. Johnson started a City club, and was particular the members should not be "patriotic." Boswell, who went with him to the "Queen's Arms" club, found the members "very sensible, well-behaved men." Brasbridge, the silversmith of Fleet Street, who wrote his memoirs, has described a sixpenny card club held here at a later date. Among the members was generous and hospitable man, Henry Baldwin, who, under the auspices of Garrick, the elder Colman, and Bonnell Thornton, started the St. James's Chronicle, the most popular evening paper of the day. "I belonged," says Brasbridge, "to a sixpenny card club, at the 'Queen's Arms,' in St. Paul's Churchyard; it consisted of about twenty members, of whom I am the sole survivor. Among them was Mr. Goodwin, of St. Paul's Churchyard, a woollen draper, whose constant salutation, when he first came down-stairs in the morning, was to his shop, in these words, 'Good morrow, Mr. Shop; you'll take care of me, Mr. Shop, and I'll take care of you.' Another was Mr. Curtis, a respectable stationer, who from very small beginnings left his son £90,000 in one line, besides an estate of near £300 a year." "The 'Free and Easy under the Rose' was another society which I frequented. It was founded sixty years ago, at the Queen's Arms,' in St. Paul's Churchyard, and was afterwards removed to the 'Horn' tavern. It was originally kept by Bates, who was never so happy as when standing behind a chair with a napkin under his arm; but arriving at the dignity of alderman, tucking in his callipash and calipee himself, instead of handing it round to the company, soon did his business. My excellent friend Briskett, the Marshal of the High Court of Admiralty, was president of this society for many years, and I was constantly in attendance as his vice. It consisted of some thousand members, and I never heard of any one of them that ever incurred any serious punishment. Our great fault was sitting too late; in this respect, according to the principle of Franklin, that 'time is money,' we were most unwary spendthrifts; in other instances, our conduct was orderly and correct." One of the members in Brasbridge's time was Mr. Hawkins, a worthy but ill-educated spatterdash maker, of Chancery Lane, who daily murdered the king's English. He called an invalid an “individual," and said our troops in America had been "manured" to hardship. Another oddity was a Mr. Darwin, a Radical, who one night brought to the club-room a caricature of the head of George III. in a basket; and whom Brasbridge nearly frightened out of his wits by pretending to send one of the waiters for the City Marshal. Darwin was the great chum of Mr. Figgins, a waxchandler in the Poultry; and as they always entered the room together, Brasbridge gave them the nickname of "Liver and Gizzard." Miss Boydell, when her uncle was Lord Mayor, conferred sham knighthood on Figgins, with a tap of her fan, and he was henceforward known as "Sir Benjamin." The Churchyard publisher of Cowper's first volume of poems, "Table Talk," and also of "The Task," was a very worthy, liberal man-Joseph Johnson, who also published the "Olney Hymns" for Newton, the scientific writings of the persecuted Priestley, and the smooth, vapid verses of Darwin. Johnson encouraged Fuseli to paint a Milton Gallery, for an edition of the poet to be edited by Cowper. Johnson was imprisoned nine months in the King's Bench, for selling the political writings of Gilbert Wakefield. He, however, bore the oppression of the majority philosophically, and rented the marshal's house, where he gave dinners to his distinguished literary friends. "Another set of my acquaintances," writes Leigh Hunt in his Autobiography, "used to assemble on Fridays at the hospitable table of Mr. Hunter, the bookseller, in St. Paul's Churchyard. They were the survivors of the literary party that were accustomed to dine with his predecessor, Mr. Johnson. The most regular were Fuseli and Bonnycastle. Now and then Godwin was present; oftener Mr. Kinnaird, the magistrate, a great lover of Horace. His laugh "Fuseli was a small man, with energetic features corn would have hung well on him. and a white head of hair. Our host's daughter, was equine, and showed his teeth upwards at the then a little girl, used to call him the white-headed sides. Wordsworth, who notices similar mysterious lion. He combed his hair up from the forehead, manifestations on the part of donkeys, would have and as his whiskers were large his face was set in thought it ominous. Bonnycastle was extremely a kind of hairy frame, which, in addition to the fond of quoting Shakespeare and telling stories, fierceness of his look, really gave him an aspect and if the Edinburgh Review had just come out, of that sort. Otherwise his features were rather would have given us all the jokes in it. He had sharp than round. He would have looked much once a hypochondriacal disorder of long duralike an old military officer if his face, besides its tion, and he told us that he should never forget real energy, had not affected more. There was the comfortable sensation given him one night the same defect in it as in his pictures. Con- during this disorder by his knocking a landlord scious of not having all the strength he wished, that was insolent to him down the man's staircase. he endeavoured to make up for it by violence and On the strength of this piece of energy (having pretension. He carried this so far as to look first ascertained that the offender was not killed) fiercer than usual when he sat for his picture. His he went to bed, and had a sleep of unusual soundfriend and engraver, Mr. Houghton, drew an ad- ness. mirable likeness of him in this state of dignified extravagance. He is sitting back in his chair, leaning on his hand, but looking ready to pounce withal. His notion of repose was like that of Pistol. "A student reading in a garden is all over intensity of muscle, and the quiet tea-table scene in Cowper he has turned into a preposterous conspiracy of huge men and women, all bent on showing their thews and postures, with dresses as fantastic as their minds. One gentleman, of the existence of whose trousers you are not aware till you see the terminating line at the ankle, is sitting and looking grim on a sofa, with his hat on and no waistcoat. "Fuseli was lively and interesting in conversation, but not without his usual faults of violence and pretension. Nor was he always as decorous as an old man ought to be, especially one whose turn of mind is not of the lighter and more pleasurable cast. The licences he took were coarse, and had not sufficient regard to his company. Certainly they went a great deal beyond his friend Armstrong, to whose account, I believe, Fuseli's passion for swearing was laid. The poet condescended to be a great swearer, and Fuseli thought it energetic to swear like him. His friendship with Bonnycastle had something childlike and agreeable in it. They came and went away together for years, like a couple of old schoolboys. They also like boys rallied one another, and sometimes made a singular display of it-Fuseli, at least, for it was he who was the aggressor. "Bonnycastle was a good fellow. He was a tall, gaunt, long-headed man, with large features and spectacles, and a deep internal voice, with a twang of rusticity in it; and he goggled over his plate like a horse. I often thought that a bag of "It was delightful one day to hear him speak with complacency of a translation which had appeared in Arabic, and which began by saying, on the part of the translator, that it pleased God, for the advancement of human knowledge, to raise us up a Bonnycastle. "Kinnaird, the magistrate, was a sanguine man, under the middle height, with a fine lamping black eye, lively to the last, and a body that 'had increased, was increasing, and ought to have been diminished,' which is by no means what he thought of the prerogative. Next to his bottle, he was fond of his Horace, and, in the intervals of business at the police office, would enjoy both in his arm-chair. Between the vulgar calls of this kind of magistracy and the perusal of the urbane Horace there must have been a quota of contradiction, which the bottle, perhaps, was required to render quite palatable." Mr. Charles Knight's pleasant book, "Shadows of the Old Booksellers," reminds us also of another of the great Churchyard booksellers, John Rivington and Sons, at the "Bible and Crown." They published, in 1737, an early sermon by Whitefield, before he left the Church, and were booksellers to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; and to this shop country clergymen invariably went to buy their theology, or to publish their own sermons. In St. Paul's Churchyard, says Sir John Hawkins, in his "History of Music," were formerly many shops where music and musical instruments were sold, for which, at this time, no better reason can be given than that the service at the Cathedral drew together, twice a day, all the lovers of music in London-not to mention that the choirmen were wont to assemble there, and were met by their friends and acquaintances. "The only works of Clark published by himself are lessons for the harpsichord and sundry songs, which are to be found in the collections of that day, particularly in the 'Pills to Purge Melancholy,' but they are there printed without the basses. He also composed for D'Urfey's comedy of 'The Fond Husband, or the Plotting Sisters,' that sweet ballad air, 'The bonny grey-eyed Morn,' which Mr. Gay has introduced into 'The Beggar's Opera,' and is sung to the words, "'Tis woman that seduces all mankind.'" "Mattheson, of Hamburg," says Hawkins, "had sent over to England, in order to their being published here, two collections of lessons for the harpsichord, and they were accordingly engraved on copper, and printed for Richard Meares, in St. Paul's Churchyard, and published in the year 1714. Handel was at this time in London, and in the afternoon was used to frequent St. Paul's Church for the sake of hearing the service, and of playing on the organ after it was over; from whence he and some of the gentlemen of the choir would frequently adjourn to the 'Queen's Arms' tavern, in St. Paul's Churchyard, where was a harpsichord. It happened one afternoon, when they were thus met together, Mr. Weeley, a gentleman of the choir, came in and informed them that Mr. Mattheson's lessons were then to be had at Mr. Meares's shop; upon which Mr. Handel ordered them immediately to be sent for, and upon their being brought, played them all over without rising from the instrument." Jeremiah Clark, a composer of sacred music, the 'Harmonia Sacra;' 'Bow down thine ear,' and who shot himself in his house in St. Paul's Church-Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem.' yard, was educated in the Royal Chapel, under Dr. Blow, who entertained so great a friendship for him as to resign in his favour his place of Master of the Children and Almoner of St. Paul's, Clark being appointed his successor, in 1693, and shortly afterwards he became organist of the cathedral. "In July, 1700," says Sir John Hawkins, "he and his fellow pupils were appointed Gentlemen Extraordinary of the Royal Chapel; and in 1704 they were jointly admitted to the place of organist thereof, in the room of Mr. Francis Piggot. Clark had the misfortune to entertain a hopeless passion for a very beautiful lady, in a station of life far above him; his despair of success threw him into a deep melancholy; in short, he grew weary of his life, and on the first day of December, 1707, shot himself. He was determined upon this method of putting an end to his life by an event which, strange as it may seem, is attested by the late Mr. Samuel Weeley, one of the lay-vicars of St. Paul's, who was very intimate with him, and had heard him relate it. Being at the house of a friend in the country, he took an abrupt resolution to return to London; this friend having observed in his behaviour marks of great dejection, furnished him with a horse and a servant. Riding along the road, a fit of melancholy seized him, upon which he alighted, and giving the servant his horse to hold, went into a field, in a corner whereof was a pond, and also trees, and began a debate with himself whether he should then end his days by hanging or drowning. Not being able to resolve on either, he thought of making what he looked upon as chance the umpire, and drew out of his pocket a piece of money, and tossing it into the air, it came down on its edge, and stuck in the clay. Though the determination answered not his wish, it was far from ambiguous, as it seemed to forbid both methods of destruction, and would have given unspeakable comfort to a mind less disordered than his was. Being thus interrupted in his purpose, he returned, and mounting his horse, rode on to London, and in a short time after shot himself. He dwelt in a house in St. Paul's Churchyard, situate on the place where the Chapter-house now stands. Old Mr. Reading was passing by at the instant the pistol went off, and entering the house, found his friend in the agonies of death. "The compositions of Clark are few. His anthems are remarkably pathetic, at the same time that they preserve the dignity and majesty of the church style. The most celebrated of them are 'I will love thee,' printed in the second book of "There dwelt," says Sir John Hawkins, "at the west corner of London House Yard, in St. Paul's Churchyard, at the sign of the Dolphin and Crown,' one John Young, a maker of violins and other musical instruments. This man had a son, whose Christian name was Talbot, who had been brought up with Greene in St. Paul's choir, and had attained to great proficiency on the violin, as Greene had on the harpsichord. The merits of the two Youngs, father and son, are celebrated in the following quibbling verses, which were set to music in the form of a catch, printed in the pleasant Musical Companion,' published in 1726: "You scrapers that want a good fiddle well strung, "This young man, Talbot Young, together with |