The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1914-10-31
IN 0LD-TIME LONDON
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY MANNERS
AND CUSTOMS.
City Was a Remarkable Mixture OF
Wealth and Poverty-Police Pro-
lection Solely a Matter OF
Individual Concern.

lection Solely a Matter OF
Individual Concern.
The scenes in Lady Betty Martin
gale, or The Adventures of a Lively
Hussy," depict phases of life in Lon
don in 1850. That city then offered
most remarkable contrasts of wealth
and poverty, of learning and ignor-
ance and of light-hearted gayety and
abject despair. While the men and
women of fashion were RECALLING them
selves merrily at VauXhall Garden,
the Turks Head or one or another of
the many places of amusement OF like
character in London. the poorer citi-
zens were enduring hardships of pow
erty and degradation such as probably
have not been known since in Lon
don even when Whitechapel was at
its worst. Ii was no uncommon thing
for jewellers returning home at day
break to see women bearing dead
children to fields outside of the city
to bury the bodies surreptitiCusly In
order to save parish charges for in
terment. Streets at night were filled
with beggars and DULLES. ballad sing
ers and pickpockets. clerks and ap-
prentices ''on the ran-dan which, in
the phrase of the day. was a very eX-
aggerated spree-watchmen who took
tips from hOusebreakers, and who
when not properly fed by household
ers, had revenge by calling the hours
wrongly. The streets we're ill-lighted
by means OF oil street lamps and
lamps in front of houses In the year
1886 there were only 1000 street
lamps in the whole city of London.
Persons of quality, who were out after
dark. invariably were accompanied by
| torch-bearers, and after respectable
! folk were abed these torch earers
| increased their incomes tremendously
by escorting bibulous gentlemen to
their homes, stopping by the way to
rob the convivial persons.
Except for the watchmen-who re-
| ceived no pay from the government
and whose sole remuneration came
were no policemen in London. Watch
men were first employed In 1858 and
| from that time to as late as 1880 they
were the sole guardians of London
streets. In that year Sir Robert Peel
organized the first London police
force-and from his name comes the
slang word ''peeler." There were, of
course, in the eighteenth century,
sheriffs, constables and bailiffs in
plenty, but these men did nothing in
the matter Of patrolling the streets
or Of preventing crime. Indeed, for
those fellows, the more crime the
merrier, since every crime committed
meant a goodly harvest Of fees and
tips. The scene In Newgate prison
in Lady Betty Martingale" Is said to
] present an accurate picture of the
| oil jail itself and the customs that OBJ
tained there. Capital punishment was,
| of course, at that time by no means
uncommon. And as the hanging Of q
officials of the prison. and, indeed,
the prisoners themselves, were in
clined to treat the matter rather
lightly; except, Of course, the princi-
pal actor in the little drama him.
self. On the night before an execu-
ton the prisoners, in order to keep
up the spirits Of the condemned man,
sang rollicking song which was COM
posed by prisoner in Newgate early
In the eighteenth century. This song
was discovered by William Furst
while he was arranging the music for
Lady Betty Martingale" and is in.
troduced in the scene.
A custom in connection with execu.
tions at the time came about through
what was doubtless meant to be a
Christian-like and kindly act on the
part Of one Robert DOVE who, in 1905,
gave so pounds as a fund to have
the bell of st. Sepulchre's church.
which was not far from Newgate
prison. tolled through the night
Furthermore the thoughtful Dove
gave orders that the sexton of the
church should go to the door Of the
condemned mans cell at midnight
ring a hand-bell and proceed to de
liver an exhortation which Dove him
self wrote.
The "Newgate marriage" upon
which the plot Of Lady Betty Martin
gale" is hinged. was a well-established
institution at the middle of the
eighteenth century. Many women Of
birth were married to condemned
criminals either to avoid paying theil
debts-the husband of course, assum
Ing legally the financial responsible
ties of the wife at the moment the
marriage took place-or to avoid com
plications Of a more romantic ma.
ture. The jailers did actually encour
age marriages, since the tips pait
by the women to the condemned mar
were. of course, more likely than moi
to find their way into the pocket Of 9
prison official Immediately the traI
was sprung.
Too Much Style.