being so revived I could not have had power to give my evidence. Mr. Boys, a solicitor from Margate, who was in the lobby with several witnesses from that place, in support of a bill for improving the pier, played a conspicuous part on the occasion, but was not called on the trial; where, indeed, other witnesses answered for him as they did for me. The committal was formally made out about nine o'clock, and the prisoner sent, securely guarded, to Newgate. The wonderful speed with which the intelligence spread over London and the suburbs is almost incredible-one might have supposed there were electric telegraphs, so unaccountable was the rapid diffusion of the information, and the alarm it occasioned throughout the populous circle, as if a revolution had broken out, and been commenced with a foul murder, unparalleled for national concern since Felton's assassination of the Duke of Buckingham. On my weary return home to Old Brompton, I found that the news had penetrated that retirement, and excited great uneasiness, which was only dissipated by my arrival with the striking proofs of Bellingham's pre-determined resolution, and the mortal means by which he executed it. I had with me a manuscript copy of his petition to government, to "remunerate his losses, and give compensation for his personal sufferings :" it is written and signed " John Bellingham," in a bold mercantile hand, and marked, as I have noticed, with the initials of Mr. Hume. This document I had afterwards bound, and with a plan of the lobby and its occupants, and a facsimile of the fatal pistol, presented to my much-valued friend Sir Francis Freeling.* I had also the pair of pistols, and kept them till the day of the trial; when there was a prodigious struggle for their possession among the official persons engaged in the prose * See Appendix. cution and the lawyers; and to whose lot they fell after I gave them up, I am ignorant. I, however, laid them down on a sheet of paper, and traced their size-not three inches in the barrel, but a rather wide bore, and very strong in every part. The only other remarkable article, which, however, I still retain, was a plain but powerful opera-glass in a red case; and it was important, as it had frequently been seen, during the fortnight before, in the assassin's hands in the gallery of the House of Commons, whence he surveyed the members below, and ascertained surely by asking the reporters which was Mr. Perceval. There can, therefore, be no doubt but that he had long fixed upon his victim; and given up the idea, if he ever entertained it, of murdering Lord Leveson Gower, whom he accused of traversing his commercial course in Russia. I received my subpoena on Thursday, the 14th, attended at the Grand Jury and the Old Bailey on Friday, the 15th, but was not examined; and the wretched being expiated, as far humanly as such guilt can be expiated, his atrocious crime, in front of Newgate on Monday, the 18th; one week having sufficed to fulfil this memorable tragedy. CHAPTER XIX. PINDAR, HOGG, BOWLES. Genius is of no country, her pure ray Why should we then abroad for judges roam, When abler judges we may find at home ?-CHURCHILL. FROM these dark themes will my readers allow me to seek refuge for myself and them, by disregarding the order of dates, and offering them a foretaste of the correspondence with which I hope to make my work more interesting to them, and the literary world at large, when I come to busier times and the distinguished individuals with whom they brought me into contact. In serious Opera, I have generally observed the audience pleased with the Divertissement between the acts; and I trust my interlude will be equally well received. Peter Pindar was a comical animal, and not easily to be over-reached, however clever he might be in the way of over-reaching; of which a notable instance is related when he took in" all the astute combination of London publishers. A meeting was convened (as I have heard described), at which Dr. Wolcot was to treat for the sale of his copyrights to this united body, which in those days acted in concert with regard to important new productions, and the joint purchase of established publications. This was "the Trade; a name of wealth and might. The Doctor had previously been unwell, but the booksellers had received no intimation how extremely ill he was. They were almost shocked to negotiate with a person who had one foot, if not both, in the grave. Peter was pale and worn, and afflicted with a cough so dry and hollow that it went to the heart to hear it. It was of little consequence to him what bargain was struck; in his dying condition he would prefer a considerable sum down at once, to dispose of as he thought proper on the other side an annuity was suggested, they hoped he would speedily recover, and enjoy it for many years to come in ease and independence. Peter had no idea of what possible value an annuity could be to him; but, to cut the business short, after a good deal of haggling and a great deal more of fearful coughing, which threatened to choke him on the spot and put an end to the treaty, he consented to take an annual allowance more apportioned to his evanescent state, than to the real worth of the wares he sold. The contract was engrossed and signed, and the forlorn recipient no sooner put it in his pocket, than he wiped the chalk off his face, dropt all practice of his hectic and killing cough, and in a lively manner wished his customers good bye, as he danced out of the room, laughing at the success with which he had gulled them. Tom Campbell used to say, he greatly admired Buonaparte because he had shot a bookseller (the heroic and unfortunate Palm): had he been here in the same ironical mood, he must have worshipped Pindar. He escaped, poor old gentleman, as well out of his famous crim. con. case, where it was endeavoured to entrap him into damages, for doing nothing but teach the wife of his lodging-house host to spout tragedy, as he assured her she would be as great as Mrs. Siddons on the stage. To bare her breast, and throw about her arms, let down her disheveled hair, were the natural parts of this dramatic tuition, and so the jury thought, and found a verdict for the defendant. Of his negociation with government I can give an authentic account, which for the sake of all poets, I am sorry to remark did not redound to the credit of the satirist. His writings had a wide range, and great popular effect; and his absurd pictures of the King, tended to make nearly the whole country believe that his Majesty was little better than a simpleton or a fool. Some of these squibs annoyed the monarch, or at any rate his family, and most attached and loyal servants; and when it pleased God to visit him with the sore affliction of wandering reason, his ministers felt a laudable anxiety to guard against any chance of vexation from the venomous pen of this modern Thersites. I was interested enough to inquire into this matter, and the explanation I received from the most authentic source was as follows: "All I can recollect of the point to which you refer is that the gentleman in question (P. P.) proposed through a friend to lend his literary assistance in support of the measures of government, at the time referred to, with the expectation of some reward for such services. He did nothing, and then claimed a remuneration for silence, and for not having continued those attacks which he had been in the habit of making. This claim was, of course, rejected, and he took his line accordingly, ridiculing and slandering as before." |