THE POST-BAG; OR, ECCENTRIC CORRESPONDENTS. BY R. B. PEAKE. THE following is a curiosity; the first part of it was written by the father of the celebrated Thomas Holcroft: it was addressed to a Mr. William Freeman, who wrote the remainder of the letter, which is superscribed "Mr. Thos. Holcroft, No. 46, Upper Marylebone Street, London. (Bristol post-mark.) Deare Sir i want words suficent to express my gratude to you and Mrs. Holcroft for all your Goodeness and kindness to mee in taking so mutch care for me espesheley as I can meke no returne but my ardent prayers to God for you and alle youre Good famley Mrs. Holcrofts kindness to mee wass so mutch i would Do every think in my power to serve her as i thinke shee the most Deservine of all women Deeare sir i entend in 5 Days to Go to Cheshire to see my father in lowe as it will amuse mee i have let whole of my Garden so it will be no hindrence Deeare Sir Do not re fuse this reQuest for if you Do i never shall bee happy so God bless and keepe you in the knoledge and love of God and of his son iesus Christe is the sincere prayer of youre loveing father thomas Holcroft. On the next page Mr. Freeman commences. DR. SIR, Bath, 28 Febr. 1783. You will find pleasure in the perusal of the preceding page. You will find a dawn of revival and of Hope-the disposal of the garden will produce something stated while the tenure holds without the anxiety and fatigue of disposing of the crops. The two Tenants pay £20 per annum between them. Yr Father proposes paying something annually of my Debt. I wish him to make himself perfectly easy on that head but his mind is hurt by the thought of not making his way good to his Friends. Rent, Taxes, &c. of his Garden may be about £7 per ann". His visit to Cheshire arises from a desire to see his native country and a notion of living cheaper there than at Bath or London, and I perceive a quiet retired life will yield him much more enjoyment than any situation which called him to more intercourse with the world. I shall do what is needful with regard to advances, though I find a great tenderness in your good Father's mind with regard to a son whose kindness overwhelms him. I hope your prospect of going to Paris will be realized and turn out to your advantage and the profit of the lovers of useful literature; I wish you every desirable success and that the promising blossom you carry with you may expand in its beauties and become fruitful. I am with true regard Your humble servt W. FREEMAN. As Holcroft was a person whose character, from a party feeling, was much vituperated in his day, the above letters are herein printed to show that he was a good son: and the astonishing manner in which he made his way in the world from so humble an origin, and from a father, who at one period added intemperance to ignorance, prove the abundant talent and industry of Thomas Holcroft junior. We will now give a taste of our quality, in a higher grade; and present a copy of an official document, curious on account of the autographs which are attached to it. It is on parchment, with highly embellished penmanship, engrossed in various characters. AU NOM DU PEUPLE FRANÇAIS. BONAPARTE PREMIER CONSUL A SA MAJESTE BRITANNIQUE. J'AI reçu la Lettre par laquelle Votre Majesté m' informe qu'elle a jugé à propos de rappeller auprès d'Elle le sieur François Jacques Jackson son Ministre Plenipotentiaire auprès de la République Française. La conduite sage et prudente qu'il a tenue pendant la course de la mission qu'il vient de remplir ici, lui a mérité la plus entière approbation de ma part, et c'est avec plaisir que je lui en rends le témoignage. Je ne doute pas après son retour auprès de Votre Majesté il ne soit empressé de vous transmettre tous ce que je lui ai laissé connaitre de mes sentimens personnels et de ma disposition bien sincère à concourir sans cesse au maintien de l'union et de la bonne intelligence si heureusement retablie entre les deux Nations, ainsi que de vous donner de nouvelles assurances des ceux que je forme pour la prospérité de Votre Majesté. Donné à Paris, au Palais du Gouvernement, le quinze floréal, au dix de la République Française. Cinq Mai mil huit cent deux. Le Ministre de Relations Exterieures, ch M. au TALLEYRAND. BONAPARTE. Par le Premier Consul, The following perfectly original application for a situation was addressed to the proprietor of the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh. The next epistle is written by a most respectable old Irishman, who had spent the greater part of his days in France: he had lived there so long, that his mode of expression is completely French-his letter is thus addressed, to richard peake esquire the treasurer of the Royal treasure of Drury lane theatre Bethune 12th of february 1820. SIR. I Received the letter which you have honoured me with the 13th of the last december, and j beg your pardon for my Backward answer, a hurry of cares and occupations and the excessive sharpness of the winter have diverted me to write you speedily. be pleased to accept my thanks for the goodness that you had to inform me of the decease of my dear cousin ann fouler the William Brown's wife who died consumed by a long illness, such sad event has Bitterly affected my heart, and the great distress of the poor widower grieves me very much. But alas! j am utterly unable to give any money for the expense of his wife's funeral, or to relieve him in the least manner. upon my honour, j declare you, Sir, that my yearly income exceeds not eleven hundred french livres and even amounts hardly to this small sum of which an half only proceeds from the universal legacy that my most dear cousin late Madam Ann Fouler the Relict of the captain owen ô Sullivan made me by his last will.— With so exigious means j must pay the rent of the little house that j hire, and the wages of my maid servant, feed her, and provide to my livelihood, clothes, and other necessaries, j never can spare a penny. further-more the dearth of all things has forced me to Borrow nearly four hundred french livres. judge, Sir, after the true account of my circumstances, if it is in my power to comply with your request in favour of William Brown whom you protect. his wife indulged herself to an illusion forgetting what j had often said to her concerning the state of my fortune, or Believing not my word tho' certainly it deserves a firm belief. J conjure God Almighty to Be pay his blessings and be a comforter to the poor William Brown and his family. in the year following that in which my creator will take me off from this world, my universal legatee, on probity of whom j am grounded to depend undoubtedly, shall send you, Sir, with your leave, a pretty gift of money, to be put by you, an half into the hands of William Brown, and the other half delivered to his children together, or his grand-children in the case of the death of their fathers, or mothers, and the all to these children and grandchildren, if the said William Brown is not then alive. J beseech you to salute kindly in my name the honest and infortunate William Brown, his daughter eleanor, and his sons, and j have the honour to be with respect and gratitude Sir, your most humble and obedient servant GEORGE MAGANIS of Klinconnel formerly canon of the Royal and collegiate church of Bethune. P. S. J live, Sir, under the weight of sixty-fifteen years about of age; But, God be thank'd, my constitution is good, and j enjoy a perfect health. The following letter is from an Itinerant Professor, offering his powers of entertainment. It is addressed to CAPTAIN H....... 59th Regt. of Foot. Eniskillen, 12th of Decr. 1831. Sir, i take the liberty of writing those few lines to you to your honour to let you know there is a boy here that has the segacious Dog of knowledge which will Do any thing unles speak. and also will tell any gentleman's complexsion in company also will tell any gentleman's colour of hair. and a far better trick than any of those he will tell the gentleman that's most after the ladies. Gentleman the boy himself will do many other things noomerous to mention. Any gentleman in company may come forward and hold this letter wile the performance is going on. anything that is in the letter he may come and recal on it and it must be Done hopping the gentlemen will a lows us to perform to them after the cloth is taken off. PHELIM GALlagher. By the following epistle, we discover that a high dignitary of the church can be anxious to see himself in print, and to be well reported. Bromley House, Kent, Nov. 22, 1795. SIR, I am very ready to give my support to a paper so well suited to the times as yours. You will therefore be pleased to send it to me every day. As I am not yet fix'd in London for the Winter, you will send it by the general post to this place till further orders. As for the Numbers that have been already published, you may send them in one parcel to my London House, the Deanery at West'. I have not seen in any of the public prints any good account of my speech in the house of Lords, in reply to the Earl of Lauderdale on the 3rd reading of the Treason Bill. If I should think to furnish you with a copy of it, (which I can do, for tho' it was unpremeditated, I committed it to writing the same night as soon as I returned from the house,) can you give it a place in the Tomahawk in the course of this week? I beg the favour of your answer by return of post. I am, Sir, your obed' servt ROCHESTER. A bona fide application for an engagement, addressed to Mr. Bunn, Drury Lane Theatre. SIR,-Having for the last 9 years practised Mr. Macready's style of speaking I have at last got him to such perfection that I feel confident I can take any of his characters. To the theatrical world I am (as yet) perfectly unknown If you think this worthy of your Notice oblige with an answer directly however brief it may be as it will determine me from making other applications I can also play in Warde's Vandenhoff's Anderson's Phelp's Diddear's or in fact in any man's style but more particularly in Macready's Address to EDMUND DAVIS 13 Lower Road Islington 5 feet 3 Inches high very thin I have practised Mackbeth and Othello principally N. B. No lack of loudness in my speech. CROCKFORD AND CROCKFORD'S. "One who did build his faith so nice Upon the argument of dice, By th' infallibility of deuce ace." FEW men have held a more notorious position in the world, that is to say, in Fashion's world, the world of the metropolis, than the individual whose name forms the subject of our present biographical memoir. Mr. Crockford was (to make free with the comprehensive phraseology of a leading journalist) "a great fact," the personification of a ruling passion, or propensity, pervading, in greater or less degree, all classes of society. He was "learned in the turf, and practised in the dice," the Croesus of the great community of gamesters, the Rothschild of the betting-ring; and it is questionable whether his distinguished prototype of London's eastern hemisphere possessed greater influence in the money market than Crockford had, and exercised, in the immediate region of the sporting world, in which he may be said to have "lived, moved, and had his being." He was a perfect illustration of the proverb, "He plays well that wins;" in him the predicate was fully and practically demonstrated: his gains were enormous, for they were the beneficial results of events, occurring with almost mathematical precision and undeviating accuracy through a lengthened period of time, and governed by the most wealthy and powerful influences. His coffers were an ocean, into which were continually flowing the tributary streams of minor and less experienced capitalists. The tide of success was with him from a very early period of life's voyage, until its termination. The fickleness of Fortune, so descanted on by poets and moralists of all ages, was known to him only by proverbial report; for he basked in the sunny locality of her smiles, and felt the substantial influence of her favours, with little variation, up to the period of his life's dissolution. The death of this extraordinary man (for such he must be considered, regard being had to his original low position in society, and the accidental circumstances that occasioned, and gave impetus to, his long, uninterrupted, and successful career; his immense accumulation of wealth, and the modes by which such wealth was amassed,) created, as may be conceived, an unusual sensation in the sporting circles, and the public have still a desire to learn something more of his life than has yet been presented to them through the medium of the daily and weekly press. The present sketch may be relied on as coming from an authentic source; it will be found to embrace the leading characteristics of the man, and to point, with faithful narration, to the most remarkable of those eventful speculations in which he was engaged, and the fortunate results of which elevated him to place and standing amongst the most opulent of the day. Mr. Crockford was born in the year 1775: his father was a fishmonger, in a very humble way of business in the immediate neighbourhood of the Strand, and died while his son William (the subject of our Memoir) was a mere youth; his widow continuing the business. |