168 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'"i S. No 87., Aug. 29. '57. 



author to speak at random, as he does where he asserts 

 that Mr. R. C. made a doggrel upon the magistrates of 

 Edinburgh, which is as gross a lie as tha other, viz. that 

 he w;is the author of The Curse, for he professes upon the 

 former asseveration, that he never made nor heard an}' 

 such thing." See " The Spirit of Slander ExempVJied in 

 a scandalous pamphlet called The Jacobite's Curse, written 

 \>y a scandalous scribbler, an undoubted child of him that 

 is styled ' the accuser of the brethren, a liar and mur- 

 derer from the beginning.' To which the principal per- 

 son, IMr. R C — Id — r, that is traduced in page 8. gives 



this Reply to a Member of Parliament : 



If some mischief thou didst not hatch and plot, 

 Thou'd hang thyself, as did Iscariot. 



Edinburgh, by B. Freeman, 12nio., 1714."] 



DE. GOLDSMITH : " LIFE S PAINTER. 



In a curious little book now before me, entitled : 



" Life's Painter of Variegated Characters in Public 

 and Private Life, by George Parker, Librarian to the 

 College of Wit, Mirth, and Humor, and Author of the 

 Views and Society of Manners, &c. To which is added, 

 A Dictionary of Modern Flash, or Cant Language, so 

 much in use with the Swells of the Town. 



* The proper study of mankind is man.' 



• In life's journey rather seek a safe than a primrose path.' 



A modern Bamfylde Moore Carew, but not like him, who 

 ended his Days comfortably in the Country; this went 

 about from Race to Race selling Gingerbread Nuts, and 

 at last finished his Career in the Poor- House at Liverpool. 

 London : printed by R. Bassam, No. 53, St. John's Street, 

 West Smithfield. (Price One Shilling.) Post, n. d." 



In this volume occurs the followinor strange pas- 

 sage. The author, describing night-houses, and a 

 particular drink called " Hot," says : 



" This was a favourite liquor of the celebrated Ned 

 Shuter's : I remember spending an evening with him, in 

 company with that darling of his age, Doctor Goldsmith ; 

 sta^'ing rather late, as we were seeing the doctor to his 

 chambers in the Temple, where he then lived, Shuter 

 prevailed on him to step into one of these houses, just to 

 see a little fun, as he called it, at the same time assuring 

 the doctor, that no harm might be apprehended, as he was 

 well acquainted with the Cove and Covess, Slavey and 

 Moll Slavey, that is, the landlord and landlady, man and 

 maid servant: upon the strength of this, we beat our 

 rounds till we arrived at the door of the house; in the 

 middle of the door was a wicket, through which the 

 landlord looked, and the moment he saw Shuter, without 

 any questions the door flew open as if by enchantment ; 

 we entered ; the doctor slipt down on the first seat he saw 

 emptj-. Shuter ordered a quart of gin hot; we had no 

 sooner tasted it but a voice sainted Shuter thus: ' I say, 

 master Shuter, when is your benefit? Come, tip us a 

 chaunt, and hand ns over a ticket, and here's a bobstick 

 (shilling).' Shuter took the man by the hand, and 

 begged to introduce him to the doctor, which he did in 

 the following manner: 'Sit down b}' my friend; there, 

 doctor, is a gentleman as well as myself, whose family has 

 made some noise in the world ; his father I knew, a drum- 

 mer in the third regiment of guards, and his mother sold 

 oysters at Bill ngsgate; he's likewise high horned, and 

 deep learned, f r he was borned in a garret, and bred in a 

 night-cellar.' As I sat near, the doctor whispered me, to 

 know whether I knew this gentleman Mr. Shuter h«d in- 



troduced ; I replied, I had not that honour, when, imme- 

 diately, a fellow came into the box, and in kind of under 

 voice asked the person Mr. Shuter had introduced, • How 

 many there were crap'd a Wednesday?' The other re- 

 plied, 'three.' 'Was there e'er a cock among them?' 

 resumed the other (meaning a fellow who died game). 

 'No, but an old pal of yours, which I did a particular 

 piece of service to as he was going his journey; 1 took 

 the liberty of troubling him with a line, which he no 

 sooner got about his neck, than I put my thumb under 

 the bur of the left ear, and at the same time, as 1 de- 

 scended from the cart, I gave him such a gallows snatch 

 of the dew beaters, that he was dead near twenty minutes 

 by the sheritf's watch before the other two. I don't re- 

 collect that I have crap'd a man better for this last 

 -twelvemonth.' The doctor beckoned to Shuter, and in 

 the same breath cried out, 'for heaven's sake who is this 

 man you have introduced to me? ' ' Who is he? ' says 

 Shuter; 'why, he's squire Tollis, don't you know him?' 

 'No, indeed,' replied the doctor. 'Why,' answered 

 Shuter, ' the world vulgarly call him the hangman, but 

 here he is stiled the crap merchant.' The doctor rose 

 from his seat in great perturbation of mind, and exclaimed, 

 'Good God! and have I been sitting in company all this 

 while with a hangman?' The doctor asked me if I 

 would see him out of the house, which I did, highly 

 pleased with the conversation of two men, whose feelings 

 of nature as widely diflTered as those of the recording 

 angel in heaven's high chancery (as mentioned in Sterne's 

 story of La Fevre) to the opposite one of the midnight 

 ruffian, who murdered the ever-to-be-lamented Linton." * 



My Queries are, 1. Has this strange adventure 

 ever appeared in any Life of Goldsmith ? 2. Is 

 anything knort'n of this book and its author ? 



M. E. Bebby. 



[George Parker was born in 1732, at a village called 

 Green Street, near Canterbury, and in his early days en- 

 tered the naval service, which he soon quitted fur the gay 

 scenes of London life. He was compelled through dis- 

 tress to enter as a private soldier in the 67th regiment of 

 foot, under the command of the immortal Wolfe, then 

 colonel of the regiment. In this regiment he continued 

 a private, corporal, and Serjeant for seven years ; but at 

 the end of the war returned home as a supernumerary 

 exciseman. He subsequently went upon the stage in 

 Ireland, and in company with that facetious gentleman 

 the Rev. Brownlow Ford, strolled over the greater part of 

 the island. On his return to London he played several 

 times at the Haymarket; and was afterwards introduced 

 to Mr. Colman through the friendship and interest of Dr. 

 Goldsmith. But on account of his figure being too gross, 

 Mr. Colman declined his services. Parker then joined 

 the provincial strolling companies, and was engaged for 

 one season with Mr. Digges, then manager of the Edin- 

 burgh Theatre. Returning to England, he commenced 

 lecturer upon elocution, and in this character travelled 

 through France and Holland. In 1782, we find him 

 seated in the chair of the school of eloquence at the Ly- 

 ceum in the Strand, which probably proved an easy chair 

 to him for the remainder of his life. The edition of Life's 

 Painter, published b^' J. Ridgway in 1789, 8vo., contains 

 his portrait. Parker was also the author of A View of 

 Society and Mduners in High and Low Life : being his 

 Adventures in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, 

 §fc., in which is coviprised a Hi»tory of the Stage Itinerant, 

 London, 2 vols. 12mo., 1781; Humorous Sketches, Satir- 

 ical Strokes, and Attic Observations, 8vo., 1782.] 



* Mr. Linton, a musician, who was robbed and mur- 

 dered in St. Martin's Lan». 



