Edinburgh Bookshelf

Kay's Originals Vol. 2

Search

478 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 335. KING, QUEEN, and DAUPHIN OF FRANCE.' This well-executed Print of the unfortunate Louis the Sixteenth, and his equally ill-fated Consort and Son, is said by Kay to have been taken from the lid of a French snuff-box. 336. This is rather an ingenious Portrait of the EMPERORN APOLEONI. ; but whether the design be original or a copy has not been stated by Kay. 337. TOUSSAINLTO WERTURGEe,n eral of the black troops of St. Domingo, and Governor of that island. Born a slave, his means of instruction were extremely limited, yet he acquired a tolerable knowledge of the rudiments of education, and conducted himself with the utmost propriety while a bondsman. On the revolt of the blacks he joined his countrymen, and gradually attained the supreme command. During the period of his government, he displayed a capacity for legislation equal to his courage and generalship in the field. When, after a severe struggle for the independence of Hayti, he at length submitted to the overwhelming forces of the French, and had retired to his estate, under the guarantee of protection, he was privately seized, carried on board a French man-of-war, and hurried away to France, where he was thrown into prison, and there expired, after a lingering illness, in the second year of the Consulate (1803). His fate, however, operated with talismanic effect upon his countrymen ; they flew to arms ; and, headed by the brave but cruel Dessaline, completed that independence of which, under the patriotic Louverture, they had shown themselves worthy. He was an extraordinary man. 338. HENRYB ROUGEAMa, fterwards Lord Brougham and Vaux. This Etching of the la.te Lord High Chancellor is from a medal, cast in 1812, to commemorate his exertions in the cause of commerce. The public life of Lord Brougham is too well known to require any comment here. His father, Henry Brougham, of Brougham Hall, in Westmoreland, happening to visit Edinburgh, was recommended to reside with the widow of the Rev. Mr. Syme, sister of Principal Robertson, who occupied the second flat of WLellan's Land, head of the Cowgate. Here he found himself so much at home that he was induced to prolong his stay ; and at length falling in love with Miss Eleanor, daughter of Mrs, Syme, he married her, and settled in Edinburgh. For some time the parties continued to reside with Mrs. Syme, but they afterwards removed to St. Andrew Square, where the subject of the medal was born in 1779. He was the eldest son ; and, as generally known, studied for the Scottish bar, to which he was admitted in 1800, and where he practised for some time prior to A curious volume was printed some time ago, the object of which waa to establish that the Dauphin escaped from the revolutionary murderers-that the Empress Josephine and Napoleon were cognisant of his existence-that he lived for a series of years as a watchmaker in Prnssia-and that, if he were allowed half-an-hour's conversation with the Duchess d'ilngoulbme, he could establish his birth. He set up no claim to the crown of France, but merely demanded restoration of his civil rights as a true-born Frenchman. He commenced legal proceedings to have his status established, but these were stopped by Louis Philippe. He took the title of Duke of Normandy.
Volume 9 Page 636
  Enlarge Enlarge  
EIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 4;9 his entering the arena of the King’s Bench. The esteem entertained for him by his Scottish friends was manifested by a public banquet, at which eight hundred were present, given to his lordship (then Henry Brougham, Esq., M.P.) at Edinburgh, on the 5th April 1825. Lord Brougham’s father died in Edinburgh on the 18th February 1810. 339. This is a second Portrait of the late REV. DR. PEDDIE. It was executed in the same year with the one formerly given, and is therefore in some measure superfluous. 340. THE MAN OF CONSEQUENCET. his is said to be the likeness of an old gentleman (now dead) who was by profession a Writer to the Signet. There can be little doubt that it is the resemblance of some self-important personage who once figured as a denizen of “ Auld Reekie ;” but as Kay has given no designation, it is impossible to state with anything like certainty who the Print is meant to represent. 341. THE WOMAN WHO MINDED HER OWN AFFAIRS, is another of the characters regarding whom the artist has left no record. The Portrait is said to bear a striking resemblance to a Mrs. Gibb, who at one time was landlady of a tavern of some note, near the head of the Canongate, and which had for its sign the figure of a goat. She was a contemporary of Peter Ramsay, the famed stabler in St. Mary’s Wynd, and exerted herself greatly in favour of the coaches which that individual commenced running betwixt Edinburgh and Leith.l Her husband was the first in Edinburgh who kept a hearse and mourning-coach for hire. It was at the sign of the goat that Peter Williamson exhibited himself in the costume of a Cherokee Indian, shortly after his return from America. 342. MODERNN URSING. This was meant as a satire on the short-waisted gowns in fashion towards the close of last century. 343. GEORGEP RATTA ND A FOOL. Honest George, who was for many years city bell-man, has already had the honour of a place in the body of the work. The name of the “ fool ” is unknown. 344. QUARTER-MASTEGRU EST,o f the Pembrokeshire Cavalry, stationed at Edinburgh in 1798. This and the two following were executed at the request of the parties themselves. 345. MR. NUGENoTf the above regiment. 346. XIR, WOODROWof ,t he Pembrokeshire Cavalry. At that period the notion of expditious travelling must-have been very different from what it is at present. Peter’s coaches, proceeding by the Eaater Road, took full three hours to complete the journey-one being spent in going, another in resting at Leith, and 8 third in returning.
Volume 9 Page 637
  Enlarge Enlarge