A Book for a Rainy Day
Posted by SuzanneR on August 13, 1998 at 14:23:45:
Bob's wonderful postings have inspired me to contribute a bit from a rather quirky book I own. This is from A Book for a Rainy Day or Recollections of the Events of the Years 1766-1833 by John Thomas Smith (London: Methuen & Co., 1905, first published 1845):
"In the commencement of this year (1787) I took lodgings in Gerrard Street, and acquiesced in the regulations of my landlady; one of the principal of which was, that I never was to be let in after twelve o'clock, unless the servant was apprised of my staying out later, and then she was to be permitted to sit up for me. Being in my twenty-first year, of a lively disposition, and moreover fond of theatrical representations, I did not at all times 'remember twelve'; for although Mrs. Siddons sounded it so emphatically upon my ear, I could never quit the theatre till half an hour after. My finances at this period being sometimes too slender to afford an additional lodging for the night, and not too often venturing to expose myself to insult, or the artful and designing, by perambulating the city, unless the moon invited me, I fortunately hit upon the following expedient, which not only sheltered me from rain, but afforded me a seat by the fireside. I either used to go to the watch-house of St. Paul, Covent Garden, or that of St. Anne, Soho; so, having made myself free of both by agreeing with the watch-house keeper to stand the expense of two pots of porter upon every nocturnal visit, I was enabled to see what is called 'life and human nature.'
- Making friends with the Watch Caroline 14:57:48 8/13/98
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