Notes and Queries, Number 44, August 31, 1850 | Page 3

there the water was very rough, and I heard him say to his man, 'Jack, we'll keep the weather-shore aboard, for it grows dark and it blows a storm.' Ay, thought I, had I desir'd you to stand in under shore, you would have kept off in meer bravado; but I said nothing. By and by his mast broke, and gave a great crack, and the fellow cry'd out, 'Lord have mercy upon us!' I started up again, but still spoke cheerfully; 'What's the matter now?' says I. 'L--d, Sir,' say's he, 'how can you sleep? why my mast is come by the board.' 'Well, well,' says I, 'then you must take a goose-wing.' 'A goose-wing! why,' says he, 'I can't carry a knot of sail, it blows a storm.' 'Well,' says I, 'if you can't carry any sail, you must drive up under shore then, you have the tide under foot:' and with that I lay down again. The man did as I said. A piece of his mast being yet standing, he made what they call a goose-wing sail, that is, a little piece of the sail out, just to keep the boat steddy, and with this we got up as high as Blackwall; the night being then come on and very dark, and the storm increasing, I suffer'd myself to be persuaded to put in there, though five or six mile short of London; whereas, indeed, I was resolv'd to venture no farther if the waterman would have done it.
"When I was on shore, the man said to me, 'Master, you have been us'd to the sea, I don't doubt; why you can sleep in a storm without any concern, as if you did not value your life; I never carry'd one in my life that did so; why, 'twas a wonder we had not founder'd.' 'Why,' says I, 'friend, for that you know I left it all to you; I did not doubt but you would take care of yourself;' but after that I told him my other reason for it, the fellow smil'd, but own'd the thing was true, and that he was the more cautious a great deal, for that I took no thought about it; and I am still of opinion, that the less frighted and timorous their passengers are, the more cautious and careful the watermen are, and the least apt to run into danger; whereas, if their passengers appear frighted, then the watermen grow sawcy and audacious, show themselves vent'rous, and contemn the dangers which they are really exposed to."--p. 130.
We are not bound to suppose that this is plain relation of matter of fact, any more than the _History of Robinson Crusoe_; but it is a graphic sketch of life and manners worth the notice of those who study such things. It forms at least a little contribution to the history of travelling in England. A passenger who had just landed from a Gravesend boat, to pursue his journey by land, might well be thankful to "be received in a coach" like that which had been started at York near half a century before.
Alpha.
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NOTES ON THE SECOND EDITION OF MR. CUNNINGHAM'S HANDBOOK OF LONDON.
Mr. Cunningham's work on London is a book of such general interest, that the additions and corrections, which I shall continue from time to time to offer to your readers, will not, I think, be deemed impertinent or trifling. Let it not be imagined, for one single instant, that I wish to depreciate Mr. Cunningham's labours. On the contrary, his book is one of the most delightful publications relative to our great city which we possess. And let me candidly say, if I were to select only half-a-dozen volumes for my own reading, _Cunningham's Handbook of London_ would most assuredly be one of that number.
The quaint and learned old Fuller, in his address to the _Worthies of England_, says:
"The bare skeleton of time, place, and person, must be fleshed with some pleasant passages; and to this intent I have purposely interlaced (not as meat but as condiment) many stories, so that the reader, if he do not arise religiosior or _doctior_, with more piety or learning, at least he may depart _jucundior_, with more pleasure and lawful delight."
This remark has been well understood by Mr. Cunningham, whose pleasant quotations, and literary and artistic recollections, have made his book a readable one to the many, and an instructive companion for the initiated.
The "bare skeleton" sometimes wants "fleshing," and hence the following list of additions and corrections:
1. _Dobney's_, or, more correctly, _D'Aubigney's Bowling Green_, was a celebrated place of amusement "more than sixty years since." It is now occupied by a group of houses called _Dobney's Place_, near the bottom of Penton street, and