He retired, in the full possession of his histrionic fame, to enjoy the otium cum dignitate. Vivat Charles Young! LISTON, Momus's god-son!-The comic John Liston once held the serious office of schoolmaster (either principal or sub) to the little blue-coated, leather-breeched, muffin-capped urchins of the anti-Malthusian parish of Saint Martin's-in-the-Fields. Let your ❝ mind's eye, Horatio," or rather, gentle reader, whatever your name be, view Liston, the Liston, in his early manhood— pen in ear, and ruler in his nervous grasp, the presiding deity over one hundred pair of small leather unmentionables, and their pigmy wearers. O for the pencil of a Cruikshank! What was old Jupiter in Olympus, with his thunberbolt in hand, compared with youthful Liston, wielding that dreadful and dreaded ruler? His look was then sufficient to make each little Geoffry Muffincap tremble in his "two-and-fourpenny shoes." How must that look have changed since then!-it now makes man, woman, and child appear like laughter, holding both his sides." Sic transit gloria, Dominie Liston. N.B. Liston never had but one fear of professional rivalry, and that was when Lord Mcame before the public. The world is divided, and Liston still lives,-n'importe. KEAN, MACREADY, and JAMES WALLACK, three histrionic geniuses of the first order, were Melpomene's own chickens, hatched and reared by her from their shells; we wish she would hatch a few more such, to "Fret and strut their hour upon the stage, next night with pleasure. They took to the stage, for which we are very much obliged to them, simply because they had no other profession than their hereditary one; or perhaps, at the time, forced by family necessity; and we wish necessity would force a few more such geniuses before the public, instead of gentlemen amateurs-golden calves, or rather, "asses fancying themselves histrionic lions," who pay those arbiters of England's dramatic literature, the griping speculators in patent rights, various sums, from one to three hundred pounds per night, to be allowed the privilege of murdering Shakspeare, and insulting the British public. But of this more partiularly anon. (To be continued.) FF? TO LA BELLE KATE. K. Hen. Do you like me, Kate? Kath. Pardonnez moi, I cannot tell vat is-like me. K. Hen. An angel is like you, Kate; and you are like an angel. I HAVE searched through hall and tower, And the mansions of the great, Where pride and pomp and power Keep alive their purple state; I have been to other climes By the incense-tree I've stood- Like thee, sweet Kate, like thee. I have borrowed Fancy's wing- But for ever bright and fair, And many a thing of light Which others could not see, And many a meteor bright But wond'rous though to gaze upon, Yet could I find not one, not one And when often I have dreamed That the azure veil was riven, To be looking into heaven- Were then beaming down on me, Like thee, dear Kate, like thee. HORACE BLACK. THE LIFE, OPINIONS, AND PENSILE ADVENTURES OF JOHN KETCH.1 WITH RECOLLECTIONS OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES DURING THE LAST THREE REIGNS. 66 EDITED BY THE AUTHOR OF OLD BAILEY EXPERIENCE." THE case of Hunton, who was executed for forgery, is one which takes in the consideration both of cause and effect, and therefore peculiarly claims a record in the history of the annals of crime. Most writers, when touching on the biography of offenders, blacken their general character, and seldom admit that they possess any one good trait or redeeming quality, treating them as if they were no longer worthy to be considered as having been numbered in rerum naturæ. This mode of treating the subject has been occasioned by a notion, that, in allowing a criminal to possess virtues, his crimes are palliated, and the effect of public odium is diminished, which may tend to weaken the force of example. But whenever it is proper to speak of things, it is always proper to speak the truth of them. In tracing the causes which brought Hunton to the scaffold, the conduct of lawgivers is strikingly shown. I now refer to the period just before the Bank of England restricted their discounts to wholesale dealers in trade, and to the discounting only those bills which were made payable at a banking-house in town. When this measure was adopted, the Governor and Company of the Bank of England had in their hands, on which they had made advances in their own notes to the amount of the several sums of money named upon them, to an enormous amount, many of which were forgeries, or professed to be drawn and accepted by persons not in existence. A large number were accepted by clerks, shopmen, porters, and, in some instances, the wives of the party who sent them into the bank, and obtained the money upon them. Thus, while the circulation of one and two pound notes were tempting men, in a state of starvation, to become utterers of forged notes, the means by which they were issued into the world was, to a very great extent, productive of another kind of forgery. The committee for regulating the discounts for the Bank of England had once a remarkable opportunity of ascertaining this fact. A Mr. R. Sh, a woollen-draper, who saw ruin before him, in consequence of the intended restriction to discount only for wholesale dealers, he being himself dependent upon a retail shop of business, took the extraordinary resolution of going before the committee, and making known his situation. It was, as he informed the writer, no 'Continued from p. 336. consequence what use they made of the information he intended to give them; if they stopped, he said, his discounts, they ruined him, and after that event he cared not for consequences. The committee met every Wednesday morning, but when he attended, he had much difficulty to obtain admittance, as they met only to decide on the amount of discounts, and to whom they should be granted, and for no other purpose. He, however, did obtain admittance, and at once entered upon his business. He told them that all the paper they held of his was not worth the stamps upon which the several amounts were written, and then proceeded to inform them in what manner he had manufactured the bills, stating his object to be, the raising a capital to carry on a business which he had made with the money obtained from the Bank, and not with any intention of swindling, concluding with this proposition for settlement, viz. that the committee should retain his name upon the books as before, and continue to discount his bills, lessening the amount upon an average of fifty pounds a week; this arrangement, he said, would enable him to liquidate all claims upon him. Extraordinary as this may appear, yet in those times the Bank committee consented to the arrangement. If Mr. Rogers, the then chief clerk in the discount office, were living, he would confirm this statement, and so may his predecessor, and some of the members of the committee, still in the land of the living. Ultimately the woollendraper paid them all his engagements, and made his own fortune; but the most remarkable incident in the drama is, that, subsequently, instead of being circumscribed in his discounts, they were granted him unlimitedly. Reader, pray be not sceptical; this is a fact and no fiction; the writer is aware of the tender ground upon which he treads, but challenges inquiry. This case, which is not a solitary one, shows what monstrosities may at times be tolerated, and the inconsistencies of which public bodies, connected with government, are capable, not even excepting the Governor and Company of the Bank of England. There might be much more matter on this subject laid before the public; it is, however, here introduced to illustrate the causes of one crime, viz. forgery; and to infer therefrom that all crimes may, by diligent inquiry, be traced to their sources; and further to show, that the nearer we approach to the cause, the better we become acquainted with the prosecutors; and that those who are uniformly advocates for inflicting upon offenders the severity of the law, are generally, like unrelenting creditors, not themselves wholly free from blame. One more remark regarding bills and the times gone by. I am justified, from my knowledge of facts, in stating that many persons who were in the habit of advancing money and goods upon acceptances, took such bills as Hunton was convicted upon, in preference to legitimately drawn and accepted documents on and by persons of undoubted solvency. Who, living in those days, has not, if connected with the trading world, heard men often say" I knew the security from the first was good for nothing, but I got my profit on the transaction; and he must pay the bill, or he knows if he does not, he will be hanged, and you cannot have a better security than a man's life?" Thus the law, which was made to prevent the commission of crime, promoted it, giving the lives of the needy into the hands of usurers and trading cheats. Even in Dr. Dodd's case, (the real facts of which are not generally known,) this principle of dealing was recognised. It was not Doctor Dodd's first offence, as generally supposed. Hunton lived in the times above alluded to, and was one of the many tradesmen who, for a series of years, without capital, struggled with the world, following the example of many others who terminated their career more fortunately. He raised money upon bills drawn upon and accepted by persons described as residing in certain towns. in England; while, in fact, they were manufactured by himself, and made payable in London, or at some place of reference, where the bills, when due, might be presented for payment, and so again returned into his hands. Criminal as this mode of raising money was, Hunton, there is every reason to believe, never did contemplate any positive robbery. "What did he do it for?" exclaims the monied citizen. I answer, "for the same purpose that you formerly committed the same crime, and many others, who, if properly estimated, and had your deserts, would be cast out of society, viz. to become respectable; and as you are now one of the respectables, as a matter of course, you must talk of nothing but honour and honesty, and uphold respectability. Hunton calculated upon working himself out of the dilemma into which he had brought himself, by obtaining a succession of discounts, upon the same kind of bills, which, of course, could be always made and varied, as to the amount and names, according as circumstances might require, calculating that ultimately the profits of his business would bear him through all his difficulties. Unlike Fauntleroy, who was always conscious that he had no door open to him for his escape but flight, Hunton quieted his fears, and easily appeased his conscience, by a peculiar species of sophistry, taught by the devil for the purpose of persuading his victims that, as they intended, when the means were granted, to pay all demands, they were in nowise morally guilty of crime. The real truth, however, is, that while you are endeavouring to make money there is no such thing as moral crime-legal crime there may be, but that of course you will keep in your eye, at least such are the metaphysics taught-in a radius tolerably large drawn round the Exchange. Some years before he underwent the sentence of the law, the nonpayment of some bills, which had been discounted at the bankinghouse of Messrs. Roberts, Curtis, and Co., led to the discovery of the dangerous practice of raising money into which he had fallen. On this occasion he was sent for, and it is said that the late Sir William Curtis took him into a private room, and communicated to him that the house was aware of the course he had pursued; but after remonstrating with him for some time, said, "Let the bills in our hands be paid, and take warning for the future." Hunton paid these bills, but again resorted to his old practice of making fictitious ones. When he was apprehended, he kept a large linen-draper's shop in Bishopsgate Street; he was also in partnership with a wholesale |