June 24, 1899.
THE ESTATES GAZETTE
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(the ׳best׳, too, as inns go, in the country) is to be turned into a mere private residence for the agent of the Bight Hon. B. W. Hanbury, of Ham Hall, whose property it is. So the story runs in these parts, says Mr. Kineton Partes in “ The Academy,” who adds, “ It is rather an indignity, after having served with much generous fare many a generation of inoffensive anglers, to be thus converted to the mundane uses of domesticity.”
The Wigton Brewery and eighteen public-houses were offered for sale recently, by Messrs. Castiglione and Gibbings, auctioneers, of Carlisle, in the County Hall, Carlisle. There was a considerable attendance, including representatives of many of the principal breweries in Cumberland and others interested in the liquor trade. Mr. Castiglione, in offering the property, said that the vendor, Mr. Stanley Hill, owing to the state of his health, had no intention of returning to Wigton. So far as he (Mr. Castiglione) knew, this was the largest concern of its kind which had ever been offered in one lot in Cumberland; and it would not be sold except in one lot. The brewery, it was stated in the particulars, had been reconstructed during ■the last four years under the personal supervision■ of the vendor. It is fitted with a mod'ern five-quarter plant, and there is an inexhaustible supply of good water.
The following fully licensed houses were put up along with the brewery:—The Blue Bell Inn, Wigton; ; Tire Fountain House, Marketplace, Wigton ; The Greyhound Inn, South-end, Wigton; The Oddfellows’ Arms, Caldbeck; The Grapes, Caldbeck; The Smiths’ ״rms, Market-gate; The Apple Tree, Main-street, Cockermouth ; The Fox and Hounds, Aspatria ; The Joiners’ Arms, Abbey Town; The Ship Inn, Bowness-on-Solway ; The Fish or Sportsman Inn, Glasson; and The Lowther Arms, Mawbray. Six other licensed premises were also included. There was only one bid for the property, ■that of Mr. Maughan, of the Mary-port Brewery Company, who offered £10,000. The property was withdrawn, without the reserve being declared. Mr. T. Bigg, Wigton, was the solicitor for the vendor.
The neighbourhood of Notting-hill has become of late years a favourite residence for artists and sculptors. As in most of the suburbs of London which lay along the main roads, so 1here the various inns and taverns appear to show by their signs a tendency to the sports of the road, for we find the Swan, the Horse and Groom, the Bag’s Head, etc. Te Old Swan, Notting-hill-gate, one of the oldest licensed properties in the metropolis, is to be pulled down in order to widen the thoroughfare, and Messrs. Fleuret, Sons and Adams intend to sell a building lease for the site shortly, whilst on June 27 they offer at Masons’ Hall Tavern the celebrated White Hart Tavern, Kennington-eross, a building of attractive design and bold elevation, with one of the largest trades in the south of London.
SALES AT MASONS' HALL TAVERN.
Islington.
There seemed! to be a return of good times once again at Masons’ Hall Tavern on Tuesday, the attendance being a crowded one. Several large properties were offered, whilst long prices were the rule rather than the exception. Two Islington houses were sold. One of the largest audiences gathered in the room where the Hare and Hounds, in Upper-street, Islington, was submitted by Mr. J. B. Fleuret (Messrs. Fleu-ret, Sons and Adams). This property is held on a free lease for 48 years at £150 per annum. The premises have recently been reconstructed after a large outlay, and they occupy an undoubtedly fine position upon the busy marketing thoroughfare of Upper-street, where a large number of omnibuses start, Mr. Fleuret observing that this was one of the finest places in London for such a business, inasmuch as not only was there a large shopping traffic, but the thoroughfare was used for pleasure purposes by a class of people who furnished a considerable amount of trade to the house. A short time age the Hare and Hounds was altered ■to cater for this special class of trade, and the alteration had been successful. Important improvements will ere long take place in the locality. “ I am here to sell this property,” said Mi•. Fleuret, “ and it is left entirely in your hands.” One bid of £13,000 was forthcoming, and this being the first as well as the last bid, Mr. Fleuret sold the property at that figure. A large building, with considerable accommodation, was next offered, comprising the Princess of Wales, in Abbey-road, St. John’s Wood, within a short distance from Kilburn-road and the theatre. Mr. Fleuret said that in times gone by a certain amount of hotel business was done there; the house had changed hands once in 24 years, had a billiard room with three tables, and needed modern decoration and alteration. The valuation would be £1,500 and the stock £450. The competition ranged from £20,000 to £21,490, and the property was■ withdrawn. Another
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The busy state.of the licensed property market this week has been a matter of some comment. Several large and important properties were submitted on Tuesday at Masons' Hall Tavern, and two days were appropriated׳ tor sales at the Horse Shoe Hotel, Tottenham-court-road. Messrs. Orgill, Marks and Orgill sold the White Lion Inn, in High-street, Islington, for £49,500, the purchasers being Messrs. Hill and Weaver, and! they also offered the Battersea Palace of Varieties, which was withdrawn at £32,000. Messrs. Fleuret, Sons and Adams were successful in disposing of ¡he Hare and Hounds, in Upper-street, Islington, for £13,000, whilst other large properties in their hands were the Hanover -nuns, Bye-lane, Peckham, retired at £33,490, and the Princess of Wales, in Abbey-road, St. John’s Wood, withdrawn at £21,490. Mr. W. Bolfe had little difficulty in selling the Bailway Hotel, Dartford, for £7,010.
The celebrated Eagle Hotel, Snaresbrook, will be put in the market for sale shortly by Mr. Oallier. The two principal features of Snaresbrook are the Eagle Inn and the large lake known as the Eagle pond ■that fronts upon it. The Eagle, which stands by the side of the roadway at the eastern end of the great lake, has long been a well-known hostelry, and with its large gardens and pleasure grounds of six acres, it has become a favourite resort of week-end pleasure seekers and holiday makers. The sign of the Eagle is comparatively of rare occurrence, but it is probably of heraldic origin, though here on the borders of Epping Forest it may have been suggested as a sign of some local occurrence in Which the prince of birds played a prominent part.
The forest at this point opens out in the form of a fan, crossed by two good roads, one direct on to the Eagle at Snaresbrook and the Wood-ford-road. The sheet of water mentioned covers some eight acres in extent, which has been secured for public enjoyment in the shape of angling, boating or skating. As late as the beginning of the present century herds of deer roved freely about the forest glades in this locality, whilst the large pond was a favourite haunt for wild fowl. -Many smart villas have of late years sprung up around. The Eagle premises are in excellent condition, and a cricket field adjoins.
The report that the old Seven Stars Inn, in Shudehill, near Manchester, was about to come down has been authoritatively denied׳ by viie owners. The house is said to he the oldest licensed house in Great Britain, the license being reputed to׳ date back to the year j.356. The inhabitants of Greengate, not to be outdone, claim that the license of the Bull’s Head there was taken out the same day as that of the Seven Stars, but five minutes later. ׳Che record of the original license is said to have been formerly preserved at Lancaster Castle, and to have been removed with other documents from thence to London, but the first mention of a license in connection with a public-house is not to be found until 5 and! 6, Edward VT., c 25, 1551. The number of licensed public-houses in England in 1621 was 13,000.
The old Seven Stars Inn is not mentioned in the municipal records until December 11, 1745, when John Hulme, of the Seven ^oars, was paid 5s. 6d. for horses and expresses, which had no doubt been used in carrying news of the arrival in the town of Charles Edward and his Highlanders, says the “Manchester Evening Hews,” in some interesting gossip about old Manchester Inns. Many of its old rivals, however, have disappeared. The Griffin, or Dangerous Corner, has long since gone; the Sun, best known as Port’s Comer, growing gay in its old age, paid the penalty and its license was taken away; and recently another of these noted places, the Three Tuns, one of the oldest licensed houses in the city, has been demolished and a warehouse erected on its sice. At the beginning of this century the house was the headquarters of the sporting fraternity of the district, and many notorious and eccentric persons were among the customers.
Although Greenwich is four miles distant from London, it has, nevertheless, for many years lost its separate existence and been absorbed in, the great metropolis and become a part of it. About its history there is much that is interesting, and many of its taverns have enjoyed “a little fame.” In or about 1749 there was exhibited at the Bose and Crown, near the gates of the Park, a strange collection of wild beasts. Adjoining the Bose and Crown has just been rebuilt the imposing Parthenon and Variety Theatre, which is to be sold at Masons’ Hall Tavern, together with the Bose and Crown itself, by Messrs. Thornton and Newman, on July 18, after having been in successful occupation for 22 years.
The Isaak Walton Inn, at Dovedale, is a splendid place for rest, but this classic inn
confessed that ha found tears in his own eyes while looking at this artist’s simple rustic scenes. John Buskin terms him the greatest colourist since Bubens, while his hand׳ was as light as the sweep of a cloud, as swift as the flash of a sunbeam. Bedgrave compared the reminiscence of Bubens found in Gainsborough to “the recollection, of some sweet melody Which the musician weaves into his theme, all unconscious that it is a memory, and not a child of his own creation.” As to his portraits, Brock-Amold ranks him with Beynolds ; while Walter Armstrong says that Gainsborough’s art was the pure spontaneous expression! of a personality into which no anti-artistic leaven had been mixed, and that in his finest portraits of women, as those of Mrs. Siddbns, Mrs. Sheridan, and Mrs. Beaufoy, ■he touches a height reached by no one else, there being melodies׳ in colour and miracles of distinction.
Gainsborough may be credited with the invention of a new style, which produced a great many imitators, both here and in France. It was natural, and, at the same time, thoroughly English. As opposed to the classicism of Wilson, he became the father of modem landscape. His portraits also were painted in a pure and unaffected style, but adding grace and dignity ; those of ladies possess the most endearing qualities, freshness of colour, purity of tone, and a peculiar grace all their own.
His landscapes are composed with a facile generalisation; the horses, cattle and figures, the last of which have all the charm of simple nature, are introduced with surpassing ait. It is said that at an Academy dinner Sir Joshua gave the toast of “Mr. Gainsborough, the greatest landscape painter of the day,” and that Bichard Wilson, B.A., probably affected by jealousy, slyly retorted, ‘,‘Aye, and the greatest portrait painter, too.” His style may ,be identified by his habit of hatching ; bu!t the scratches and marks׳ so noticeable on close examination, fall at the proper distance of a length and a half from the picture into their !)roper places, proving the effect one of diligence not of chance.
His “Ladv Mulgrave,” which was sold in 1880 for £1,050, realised £10,500 in 1895 ; in the previous year his “Mdme. Le Brun” fetched £3,250, and his “Market Cart” £4,725; while in 1896 a grand landscape obtained £3,255. In May, 1897, his “Mr. Puget” realised £5,040, and at ■the same sale his “ Lord Mulgrave,” for which £3,675 had been paid in July, 1895, declined to £1,070.
At Bath he painted three-quarter length portraits at five guineas each, a price which he was soon enabled to raise to eight guineas. In London, later, the figure rose to forty guineas for a half-length, and one hundred guineas for a full length portrait. At his demise he left over 1,000 sketches, one of which was sold ait Cliristie’s in 1896 for 290 guineas. The “ Duchess of Devonshire,” from the Wynn Ellis collection, realised £10,605 ini 1876, the highest price obtained■ at Christie’s for a single picture up to that ■date. It was, however, stolen from the rooms of Messrs. Agnew, the purchasers, and never recovered.
In the churchyard! on Kew-green a plain flat■ stene simply records Gainsborough’s name, age, and the dart© of his death.
The National Gaflery contains the “ Market Cart,” “Watering Place,” “Musidora,” “Bustle Children,” “ The Brook,” and portraits of “ Mrs. Siddons,” “Balph Schömberg,” the wonderfully id'eal portrait of Edward Orpen, the parish clerk of Bradford, and other pictures. The National Portrait Gallery has׳ Lord Amherst, Marquis Cornwallis, and G. Coleman. Ait the Dulwich Gallery are Mrs. Sheridan and Mrs. Tickell, the Linley family group, J. P. Loutherbourg, B.A., and the Moody family group. South Kensington possesses “The Daughters of George III.,” and a sketch for the “ Blue Boy.”
A collection of 216 of Gainsborough’s works were exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1885, and among them the celebrated “ Blue Boy,” from the Duke of Westminster’s colbec-tion. Over 200 portraits by him are known to exist.
We would draw the attention of those desirous of acquiring land, houses, or farms to the lists of property for disposal in SHEFFIELD, YORKS & DERBYSHIRE SURREY & SUSSEX.
BRISTOL.
THE WEST OF ENGLAND WEST KENT.
THE HOME COUNTIES.
SOUTH DEVON & CORNWALL. NORTH WALES.
BAYSWATER & NOTTING HILL. PLYMOUTH & DEYON. GLOUCESTER AND SOMERSETSHIRE. EASTBOURNE.
BIRMINGHAM AND MIDLANDS SOUTHEND-ON-SEA & ESSEX. BERKSHIRE & LONDON.
which appear weekly in the front portion of the paper. We shall esteem it a favour if persons negotiating for any of these properties will kindly mention the “Estates Gazette.”
THE GREAT PAINTERS.
BY J. W. W.
GAINSBOBOUGH.
Thomas Gainsborough, B.A., was the youngest of the nine children of John Gainsborough, a manufacturer of cloth and of woollen shrouds ait Sudbury, in Suffolk, one of those seats of !the Flemish weaver-colonists who were driven out of their own land in the reign of Edward HI. ,by religious persecution. John’s wife, a Miss Burroughs, a clever flower painter, gave her talented son his first lessons׳ in drawing. Both Thomas Gainsborough and his eldest brother, John, seem to have inherted from their mother some idea of painting ; and quaint stories׳ exhibiting their cleverness in this line, while still lads, throw at the present day a halo of romance about certain inns and orchards of the old east Anglian town. The son of Thomas Gainsborough's sister Sarah, Gainsborough Dupont, became a pupil of his famous unde, and would assuredly have attained to considerable repute as a painter and engraver, but for his death at the age of thirty. His׳ best-known work is the portrait group of the Trinity Elder Brethren in their Council Hall.
Thomas Gainsborough was bom in the year 1727. The high quality of his early sketches induced his father to send him at the age of 15 to London, where he became the pupil first of Gravelot, the engraver, and afterwards of Francis Haymarn, a companion of Hogarth. With the latter he continued four years, acquiring some skill in drawing and composition. He then returned to Sudbury, and owing to his talents and agreeable conversation he became a great favourite! in his native place. On■ one of his sketching expeditions, a young lady entered unexpectedly upon the scene. This wa¡• Margaret Burr, whose possession of an׳ annuity of £200 per annum made possible an early marriage. Gainsborough was but 19 years of age when the young married pair leased a small ,house at Ipswich, for which they paid £6 per annum.
In Ipswich, Gainsborough made the acquaintance of Philip Thicknesse, governor of Land-guard Fort, who commissioned him to paint the fort, with the hills which surround the port of Harwich, for the price of £30. This opening led to increased' fame, and on the advice of his patron he removed■ to Bath in the year 1758, where he paid £50 per annum for apartments in the Circus.
While Gainsborough was׳ painting the portraits of the fashionable world ait Bath, he made the acquaintance of Wiltshire, the carrier of Shockerwick, and during his visits to him often mounted an old grey horse, to which he became so attached that he wished to purchase it. Wiltshire made ■him a present of the animal, and Gainsborough, not to be outdone in generosity, painted; and presented to the carrier the old ihorse occupying a prominent position in the “Harvest Waggon.”
In 1766 Gainsborough became a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists, and Iwo years later a foundation member of the Academy.
In 1774 he returned to London and settled in Hatton-garden, but three years later removed to Schomberg House, Pall Mall, where he continued to his death in 1788.
From 1769 to 1773, and from 1776 to 1784, he regularly exhibited at the Academy ; in the last-named- year he had■ a few words with the Hanging Committee as to the place assigned to his portrait of the three Princesses, one of 18 works he exhibited that- year, and severed his connection with the Academy. Beynolds, however, visited him on his deathbed1, when Gainsborough remarked: “We are all going to heaven, and Vandyck is of the party.”
It was Gainsborough’s׳ power of keen observation Which made him successful alike in portraiture and landscape. If he found a character he liked, he ordered him to his house ; and from the fields he collected tree stumps, weeds, and animals, never drawing anything from memory, if he could obtain a model. Jackson says that he made little laymen for human figures, modelled! horses and cows, and employed large lumps of coal as models for rocks ; while his limbs of trees would form a wood-rick.
Among the ladies who sat to him,, perhaps (the loveliest was the Duchess of Devonshire, then in the bloom of youth. But his appreciation of her dazzling beauty and sparkling conversation robbed him of his readiness of hand and happiness of touch ; and the portrait was so little to his satisfaction that he declined to send it to Ohatsworth. On the occasion of a pretentious nobleman becoming a sitter, the painter took umbrage at his foibles and refused to paint him. With Garrick and Foote, too, he could not succeed in bringing out their characteristics, and threw down his pencils in despair.
The criticisms of Gainsborough, alike contemporary and modern, blend into one sustained note of praise. Beynolds, comparing him with the Italian painters subsequent to Maratti, confessed himself more, captivated by Gainsborough’s powerful impression! of nature in his portraits and landscapes and the simplicity and elegance of his little beggar children. Constable