The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1853-03-02
The Beauty of Barbican.

There is a story current in the neigh
borhood of St Giless, Cripplcgate With
out in connection with headstone, now
only about foot above the surface OF
the crowded church. yard Of that parish
the church itself, by the by, was Nil.
toms burial.place-on which may still be
family discerned that the name of the ten
ant below was Charles something, begin
ming with p This tale seems to me
of sufficient interest and significance to
warrant lite being introduced to wider
circle
Michael Benson, a tin-plate smith
drove, it appears thriving trade in Red
Cross street, Barbican, about the middle
of the eighteenth century, and ultimate
ly amasscd considerable wealth He
was reputed a somewhat odd, eccentric,
hard grained man, whose bark, however
was much worse than his bite, which
mood of mind was ascribed by elder
gossps to his having been crossed in
love by one Lucy Andrews, the daugh-
ter of a plumber and glarier, and popu-
larly known in the days when the second
George was king, as the Beauty Of Bar
bican. This fascinating damsel unhappi-
ly preferred the showier attraction of
non commissioned cavalry officer to the
less glittering though far more solid pre-
tensions of the industrious and thriving
smith; and the Mars and Vulcan story
of classical antiquity had its Cripple
gate version by the union, in the church
of that name, of the fair and faithless
Lucy with the dashing sergeant of dra
goons. Honest Michael was at first
greatly staggered by this heavy, and, it
seems, quite unexpected blow but he
soon recovered his equilibrium, addressed
himself with hearticr zeal than ever to
his forge and anvil, and, as previously
stated, so successfully, that compassion,
ate candidates for the Office of healing
the wounds inflicted by the fckle Lucy
we're by no means wanting; but Michael
Benson would have none of them. Per
haps the treachcry of the Beauty of
Barbican had inspired him with gener-
al distrust of the deceptive sex; or,
which is likelier, her image still lived in
his memory with freshness beside which
their feebler charms showed dim and
pale. The last was the conclusion ar
rived at by those more intimate friends
of the smith, who knew how, at convivial
and unguarded moments, his heart would
leap to his lips and this opinion receiv,
ed, in the autumn of l745, striking
confirmation Following close upon the
news of Johnny Cope's brilliant battle
with the Highlander at Prestonpans.
there came news of Lucy's husband-of
color-sergoant Hasclgrove having been
killed there, and that the Barbican beau
ty, now forlorn widow, with a young
familywas temporarily sojourning in the
neighborhood of Carlisle Michael Ben
son for some time appeared to treat this
intelligence with contempt or indiffer-
ence-in reality with mistrust and dis
belief 1t was not very long before be
changed his tone Confirmation of the
tidings must have reached him from q
reliable source, for in February, l746
he suddenly disappeared from Red Cross
street and did not show himself again for
, nearly three weeks His trip to the north
, -whither IT was soon ascertained the
steps of the stalwart and faithful swain
had been directed-had, everybody ad
mitted, greatly improved him both il
looks and temper His morose manner
, fell off like a garment and reyerting
to the other extreme, he grew languish.
ingly eloquent upon connubial felicity
and the inexpressibly forlorn condition
of wretched bachelors His house, too
was newly fitted and furnished up, as a
suitable residence for a man of family
and substance and finally, he admitted
S in whispered condolences to his cronies
that the ensuing month of merry May
q would see him united in holy wedlock t
9 the bereayed widow of the slain dragoon
5 Vanity of vanities-al is vanity Fate
8 had decreed that bar barous beauty shoulC
. be Michael Benson's death or ruin
+ Whilst assisting to fix new aud flaming
sign over his shop, the ladder upon whicl
) he stood slipped, and he was precipitatet
:. with stunning violence to the pavement
d 1t was at first believed that he was mort
ally hurt, and this, it was subsequent,
manifest, must have been his own i'm
preston upon recovering consciousness
but ultimately skilful surgery and goo'
constitution brought him through; AM
). by the time bright-eyed, bliss-bringinl
J. May was at hand, he had almost recos
ersd his old health and vigor--only l.
n encounter severer stroke than he ha,
. yet suffered. A lettor reached the i'm
# patient Benedict-expectant one morning
II with the intelligence that Sergeant Has
elgrove had never been dead at all ths
o he had been severely wounded only, AM
y taken prisoner, in General Cope's illus
trious campaign, and detained withou
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