94 ftfnas of tbe 1Rofc, TCtfle, anb (Bun 



also flourished as a gunmaker at No. 6, Dover Street, 

 Piccadilly. The establishments were entirely indepen- 

 dent of one another ; and though John enjoyed nothing 

 like the celebrity of his brother, I am inclined to think 

 that in the long run he was the more successful of 

 the two. For, despite his extraordinary fame and his 

 equally extraordinary prices, Joe Manton failed to make 

 his business pay, and in January, 1826, he was gazetted 

 a bankrupt. In those days bankruptcy was looked upon 

 as a disgrace. Insolvents could not pass through the 

 court in the gay and light-hearted manner in which 

 the thing is now done sometimes half a dozen times 

 in a lifetime. Bankruptcy was a very serious mis- 

 fortune ; and Joe Manton, though there was nothing 

 dishonourable about his failure, never recovered from 

 the blow. He still carried on his business, indeed, 

 migrating to New Road, thence to Burwood Place, 

 and thence to No. 6, Hollis Street, where he finally 

 anchored, and where, after his death, his sons continued 

 the business till 1840, when it was purchased by the two 

 well-known gunmakers Charles and Henry Egg. 



Joe Manton died at Maida Vale on June 2Qth, 1835, 

 and his death is thus referred to by his lifelong friend 

 Colonel Peter Hawker in his Diary : 



" Poor Joe Manton the life and soul of the trade 

 died and was buried in the cemetery at Kensington. 

 Several epitaphs to his memory were prepared at the 

 request of his family and sporting friends. The one 

 chosen was that which I wrote, and it shall be inserted 

 here not as an essay with pretensions to merit, but 

 a memorial of justice to departed talent : 



