ITALIAN OPERA PLAYBILL, KING'S THEATRE Boxes and stalls could only be had when not required by subscribers. Very few bills for strictly operatic performances are preserved, probably because, for the reasons mentioned in the text. not many were issued. A number of bills, however, still exist, announcing the annual benefits of the manager," the only night of the season at playhouse prices," when the performances included comedy as well as operatic selections. In Lent oratorios, or selections from oratorios, were performed at this theatre and Drury Lane. The theatre was on the site of the present His Majesty's Theatre, in the Haymarket. DR. JOHN PLAYFAIR, BY SIR HENRY RAEBURN, R.A. . SIR CHARLES LYELL, BART., F.R.S., BY GEORGE RICHMOND, R.A. 79 ADAM SEDGWICK, BY T. PHILLIPS, R.A. . SIR RODERICK IMPEY MURCHISON, BY STEPHEN PEARCE HUGH MILLER, BY WILLIAM BONNER, R.S.A.. In the possession of relatives of the subject. DAVY SAFETY LAMPS. The first on the left is the original experimental lamp; the next three are improvements. In the fourth, an uncommon form, a lens is inserted. The safety depends on the cooling action of the wire gauze, which prevents the flame from igniting the explosive mixture of gas and air outside. A lamp based on the same principle, but consisting of a glass cylinder cased in wire gauze, to which air is admitted by a perforated metal ring underneath, was invented almost at the same time by George Stephenson, and is shown on the extreme right. Reservoirs of the Davy lamp are also shown. SIR HUMPHRY DAVY, BY SIR T. LAWRENCE, P.R.A. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, GOWER STREET, LONDON Now a "constituent college" of the remodelled University of London. The front is 400 ft. long. SIR ASTLEY COOPER, F.R.S., AFTER SIR T. LAWRENCE THE JACQUARD APPARATUS A model of a loom with a Jacquard apparatus attached, its function being to raise the set of "healds" through which the warp threads pass in the order required for weaving complicated patterns. Briefly, the "griffe" or frame at the top of the machine moves up and down, and has bars to catch the hooks below it, which raise the healds or vertical threads, terminated by leaden weights, which in their turn lift the various warp threads. Which hooks shall be left in position to be thus raised is determined ultimately by the perforated cards passing over the "prism" near the top of the machine on the spectator's left. There is one card for each "pick" of weft in the pattern. At each upward movement of the griffe the prism makes a quarter turn and presents a new card to the row of spring needles opposite to it. Each card in turn is forced against these needles, some of which pass through the holes in its face into holes drilled in the prism to receive them. But the non-perforated card forces back some of the needles, and as each of the hooks has its shaft passed through a loop in the centre of the needle, the hooks not needed to be raised are pushed out of the way of being caught by the griffe. The machine is weaving a narrow ribbon. PORTRAIT OF J. M. JACQUARD, WOVEN BY HIS OWN MACHINE RICHARD ROBERTS, AFTER RIPPINGILLE. PAGE 99 101 104, 105 MAP OF PART OF OXFORDSHIRE AND BERKSHIRE IN 1797 The cutting was done by a series of double-edged shears, the mowing blade in each pair actuated by a common rod driven by a crank worked by the travelling wheels. Cutting blades were afterwards substituted in America. The machine was propelled by two horses walking behind attached to a pole. It is said to have cut 12 acres a day. THOMAS COKE OF HOLKHAM, BY THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH He was created Earl of Leicester in 1837. HOLKHAM HALL, NORFOLK The house, two miles from Wells, was begun in 1734, and is described by Mr. Walter Rye (Tourist's Guide to Norfolk, as one of the ugliest, if most commodious, in the three kingdoms." It is said to have been built after a plan by Palladio. The front is 344 ft. long. It is in a beautiful park of 3,500 acres, and contains a fine collection of paintings. REAPING MACHINE INVENTED BY JAMES SMITH OF DEANSTON The cutter, 5 ft. 4 in. in diameter, is seen projecting under the drum, which was rotated with it by the action of the driving wheels. The cutting and driving mechanism could be disconnected, and the former arranged to revolve either way, according as it was desired to throw the corn to the right or left. The cutter made 128 revolutions per minute when the machine was going 23 miles an hour. It could cut a quarter of an acre without requiring to be sharpened, and could be raised or adjusted to cut at different heights. An elaborate description is given in the Farmer's Magazine (Edinburgh), 1816. THE SCALES OF JUSTICE REVERSED Published 1815. The loaf, price 1s. 6d., is outweighed by the taxes, the imps which have crushed John Bull. The landed interest dances with joy at the repeal of the property tax, shown as an imp flying away. WILLIAM COBBETT FORTUNES MADE BY STEAM, 1825 The Annual Register, 1825, page 2, mentions a list of 276 companies of various sorts formed in England in 1824 and the first months of 1825, with a total capital of £174.114,050. Poyais," on the Mosquito coast of Central America, was frequently the hunting-ground of promoters at this time. A Poyais bond for £100, part of a loan of £200,000 to His Serene Highness Gregor I., Cacique of the Poyais Indians," whose real name was Mac Gregor, is preserved in the British Museum, and dates from 1823. An attempt was made to found a colony in that year, and failed, but its repetition was advocated as late as 1838. 109 109 111 113 117 120 123 Le Poyais" Company seems to have been what would now be called an exploration company concerned with the region. A caricature of 1828 also refers to it. The actual crisis came in December, 1825, when the bankers, having locked up their funds in securities they could not realise, were unable to help the speculators, who were in like case. Four London banks failed on December 5 and 6, and 67 country banks shortly afterwards. The crisis was mitigated by issue of £1 and £2 notes, and by the coinage of sovereigns. FRANCIS PLACE, BY DANIEL MACLISE, R.A.. THE MASSACRE OF PETERLOO, OR BRITONS STRIKE HOME PAGE 125 By George Cruikshank; published in 1819, and representing the charge of the Manchester Yeomanry on the unarmed populace in St. Peter's Fields, Manchester. The yeomanry are depicted as butchers armed with axes reeking with the blood of the victims. COINS OF GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV. 126, 127 The double sovereign bears the initials of the Hon. W. W. Pole, afterwards Lord Mornington, and of J. B. Merlen and Benedetto Pistrucci, who made the dies. Merlen also designed the reverse of the so-called "lion shilling." The groat, or 4d. piece, which had been discontinued except as Maundy Money" since Charles I., was said to have been revived at the instance of Joseph Hume, M.P., the wellknown financial reformer, and was therefore known as a "joey." Its issue was discontinued in 1856, as it was too near the threepenny in value, but it remained current till 1887. QUEEN CAROLINE'S MATRIMONIAL LADDER, BY GEORGE CRUIKSHANK 128, 129 A series of drawings printed on a piece of cardboard, which folds over in the centre so as to protect them. For the most part they explain themselves. The Prince Regent's drunkenness, shown in "Qualification," the first drawing of the series, and, with his preference for other ladies, in "Alteration," was notorious. In "Declaration" he appears to be showing an empty purse to the king, who had refused him assistance unless he would marry. The subject was much more elaborately treated by the same artist in a pamphlet bearing a similar title, which exhibits, amongst other incidents, the efforts of George III. to protect the princess, the sympathy of Princess Charlotte, and the base devices resorted to by the Prince Regent to obtain evidence of his wife's unfaithfulness. FASHIONS OF 1819, 1822, 1825, 1827 . 130, 131 These are fashion plates, supplied by dressmakers to a magazine for ladies. The morning dress. 1819, is of cambric muslin, with a lace flounce at bottom, surmounted by rows of letting-in lace, and with lace cuffs. The headdress is described as a "Cornette à la Vallière." Limerick gloves and white kid shoes completed the costume. The walking-dress of 1819 is a grey (or lavender) Kerseymere pelisse, lined with white sarsnet; the waist is described as "rather long;' the trimming, epaulettes, and cuffs are of ruby velvet; the bonnet is of the same material. intermixed with levantine, and its trimming 'adds much softness to the countenance." These two costumes are for winter. The walking dress of 1822 (a spring dress) is of French grey poplin ornamented with chenille on the bust in a scroll pattern so as to form a "stomacher à l'antique." The pelisse is between a peach blossom and a red lilac lutestring in colour, tied up with bows of lutestring. The bonnet (1ke the skirt) is of "gros de Naples," trimmed with amber gauze. The evening dress of 1825 (autumn) is of citron-coloured silk barège, the turban of the same colour trimmed with beads; the bracelet studded with rubies, the ornaments pearl and turquoise. The promenade dress of October, 1827, is of Egyptian bleu du Cape, with leg-of-mutton sleeves; the epaulettes edged with golden satin; the bonnet of floss silk, with a colour graduated from deep orange to pale straw, and lined with pale pink satin; the strings are "en bride" (bridlewise); the veil of embroidered lace; the costume is completed by boots of corded silk, with a narrow fringe at top and yellow gloves. The elaboration of these dresses, as in all fashion plates, is no doubt greater than that of those usually worn. LITERARY LADIES, BY DANIEL MACLISE, R.A. From the spectator's left, and round the front of the table, the order is Mrs. Hall, on the left of the negro servant; Letitia Elizabeth Landon, with face slightly turned away; Lady Morgan, with the dog; Mrs. Norton, at the head of the table; the Countess of Blessington by her; Miss Jane Porter, authoress of Thaddeus of Warsaw, stirring her coffee; Miss Harriet Martineau; Miss Mary Russell Mitford, next to Mrs. Hall. The ladies by the glass are unnamed. REGENT STREET, WITH THE QUADRANT COLONNADE The colonnade was found to make the shops beneath it too dark for comfort, and to interfere with their trade by attracting undesirable loungers; hence its removal in 1848. WEST LONDON IN 1832 The St. George's Cemetery still exists, though closed long ago. The houses seem hardly to go west of Edgware Road. SPECIFICATION DRAWINGS FOR HANSOM'S CAB, 1834 Joseph Hansom, an architect, of Hinckley, Leicestershire, designed to increase the size of the wheels of carriages and bring the body nearer the ground, so as to facilitate entering or leaving it, and apply the tractive force to the best advantage. The wheels of his cab were fitted into the sides-not on to a continuous axle-and the shafts were level with their centres and with the main body of the carriage. A more novel type of vehicle had the body suspended within huge rings serving as wheels, with which it was connected by friction rollers, and it was entered sideways and through one of the wheels. A wagon with detachable body was another of Hansom's inventions. MASTER DOGBERRY, THE PARISH WATCHMAN. FRANCIS HORNER, BY SIR HENRY RAEBURN, R.A.. THOMAS CHALMERS, BY KENNETH MACLEAY, R.S.A. A PARLIAMENTARY GAME OF SHUTTLECOCK O'Connell attempted to take his seat as M.P. for Clare on May 15, 1829. He had been elected before the passing of the Catholic Relief Act, but he claimed to substitute for the Oath of Supremacy the form prescribed by that Act. On the Speaker's ruling he withdrew, but was heard at the Bar of the House in support of his claim on May 18. He was excluded by 190 votes to 116, but was re-elected for Clare without opposition, and being thus entitled to the benefit of the Act. took his seat on February 4, 1830. The Marquis of Anglesey, who had lost his leg at Waterloo, had been Lord Lieutenant, and had been recalled in January, 1829, for writing a letter to the Romanist Archbishop of Armagh, urging that the Duke of Wellington's suggestion that the agitation for Catholic relief should be postponed ought not to be entertained, but that "all constitutional means should be used to forward the cause." PAGE 135 136 137 139 140 143 145 147 THE FREEHOLDER BETWIXT PRIEST AND LANDLORD THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT IN 1821 The House of Commons sat in the chapel dedicated to St. Stephen, of the old Westminster Palace, and made over to them under Edward VI. ; the House of Lords in an oblong chamber, formed out of an ancient building long known as the Court of Requests. Between the two was the Painted Chamber. The House of Commons was repaired and refitted by Sir Christopher Wren. Thornbury, Old and New London, III., 499. A PROTEST AGAINST EMANCIPATION The Duke of Wellington, with Lords St. Vincent, Penshurst, and Wynford, joined in a protest against the West India Slavery [Abolition] Bill. published in The Times, September 3, 1833. Their first reason was that the slaves were not prepared by a previous course of education, of religious instruction, or of training to habits of industry, or of social intercourse," for their new position. IRELAND'S BIG BEGGARMAN Besides the ordinary subscription of a guinea a year to the Catholic Association, founded in 1823 for the promotion of Catholic Emancipation, a subscription of not less than one penny per week entitled to membership. This "Catholic Rent" (O'Connell's device), for the last week of 1824, reached £1,032, and for the week after O'Connell's election for Clare, July, 1828, £2,704. The caricature doubtless refers to a proposal to revive this rent in support of an agitation for Repeal of the Union, and to a testimonial from O'Connell's admirers. AN APPROACHING CONGRESS Ridiculing the régimes lately set up in Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Brazil, and the efforts of the Powers to control and maintain them. The doll with which the Queen of Portugal is playing may possibly be Lord Howard de Walden and Seaford, who had been sent out as envoy extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary three weeks before the date (December 16, 1833) assigned to the print, but who was only 34: or Lord William Russell, who had been sent on a special mission to Portugal in the previous August. There seems to be no specific political allusion in the pill or the birch rod for Don Pedro, or the sop for King Otho. SIR ROBERT PEEL, BY JOHN LINNELL THOMAS DRUMMOND Under-Secretary for Ireland 1833-1840, when he died of overwork. He is remembered for his conciliation of O'Connell by governing Ireland in the interest of the Irish, and for his famous aphorism that "property has its duties as well as its rights." CHARTIST ATTACK ON THE WESTGATE INN, NEWPORT, 1839. The old building is shown; the present one was erected about 1859. John Frost, who had been a magistrate for Newport, Monmouthshire, and mayor of the borough, was struck off the Commission of the Peace in 1839 for using seditious language. On November 4, 1839, he marched on Newport by night, at the head of a body of armed miners, to release certain Chartist prisoners, stop the mail coach, and so give the signal for a general rising in Birmingham and the North. Two other divisions of miners failed to arrive, and delayed his advance till after daybreak. His force attacked the Westgate Inn, where the mayor had been all night with the magistrates, and which was defended by special constables and by 30 soldiers. These fired on the PAGE 149 151 153 154 155 157 159 160 |