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Mr. Cripps encountering his Master in Mary-le-bone Gardens
George Cruikshank
May 1842
Steel-engraving
12.8 cm high by 10.1 cm wide, framed
Tenth illustration for the volume edition of William Harrison Ainsworth's The Miser's Daughter: A Tale, Book Two, Chapter 2, facing page 137 (second plate for the May 1842 number in Ainsworth's Magazine).
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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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Meanwhile, Mr. Cripps had sought this secluded walk to give him an opportunity of making a declaration to the widow, and though he was not positively accepted, he was not decidedly refused — the lady only asking time to consider over the proposal. The audacious valet was on his knees, and rapturously kissing her hand, vowing he would never rise till he had a favorable answer to his suit, when two persons were seen approaching, whom, to his infinite mortification and surprise, he recognised as Abel Beechcroft and his uncle, Mr. Jukes.
"We are interrupted, my charmer," he cried, getting up, with a countenance of angry dismay — "Let us return to the public promenade. You won't refuse me. I shall kill myself 'pon rep, if you do!"
"I'll think of it, Mr. Willars," said Mrs. Nettleship, twirling her fan. "But it would be a dreadful thing if I was to break my engagement to Mr. Rathbone."
"Oh! curse Mr. Rathbone, I'll cut his throat!" cried Mr. Cripps, glancing anxiously down the walk. But unfortunately, there was no outlet at the lower end, and he was compelled to turn and face the intruders. He looked also to the right and left, but on neither side was there a box or an arbour into which he could retreat. Nothing was left for it but impudence, and luckily for him this quality never deserted him at a pinch. Putting on his boldest manner, he strutted gaily, and with affected nonchalance towards Abel, and his uncle, who, as he advanced, stepped aside a little to look at him.
"Why, as I live!" cried Abel, "that's Mr. Villiers's valet — your nephew, Jukes."
"Lord save us! so it is," cried Mr. Jukes, lifting up his hands in astonishment. "Why, Crackenthorpe, what are you doing here — and in your master's clothes?" "Truce to your jests, old fellow," said Mr. Cripps, angrily, "and let me pass."
"What! disown your uncle!" cried Mr. Jukes, angrily, "and in the presence of his worthy master. Pay me the ten crowns you borrowed from me yesterday."
"La! Mr. Willars, what's the meaning of all this?" cried Mrs. Nettleship. [Book II, Chapter II, "Mrs. Nettleship — Mr. Cripps Personates His Master — Mary-le-bone Gardens — Mr. Cripps Detected," page 137]
Ainsworth devotes a considerable amount of space to describing the setting, another of those pleasure resorts for the fashionable and rich in eighteenth-century London, when Marylebone was a village separated from the town proper by fields and market gardens:
Marylebone Gardens, it is well-known, lay on the eastern side of the upper end of the lane bearing the same name — the whole of the country beyond Harley Street, which was not more than a third of its present extent, being open fields. They were of considerable size, and were originally laid out and planted at the beginning of the last century, at which time the public were gratuitously admitted to them. In one part of the grounds there was an excellent bowling green; which drew many lovers of that most agreeable recreation to it. By degrees, the gardens being very conveniently situated, rose in repute; and in 1737, their proprietor, Mr. Gough, began to demand a shilling for admittance — this sum entitling the visitor to its value in refreshments. But still further improvements were effected. Orchestras, boxes, and a theatre for musical entertainments, were erected within them. Besides the main walks, semicircular rows of trees were planted, and hedges contrived so as to form pleasing labyrinths for those who preferred privacy. Bowers, and alcoves were built in different places; lamps were fastened to the trees, and at night, on the occasion of a fete, every part of the garden was illuminated with myriads of lamps of various colours. The company began to improve, and the price of admission was raised to five shillings. Fetes of every kind were held here; and the place continued in vogue until nearly the end of the century with which its rise commenced. Malcolm tells us that a few trees, once forming part of Marylebone Gardens, were standing at the north end of Harley-street in 1808. But we fear not even a stump of one of them is now left. [pp. 134-35]
In 1728, dramatist John Gay mentioned the Marylebone Gardens in The Beggar's Opera as one of the unsavoury haunts of its protagonist, the highwayman Captain Macheath. The real-life highwayman Dick Turpin during the 1720s took in such entertainments at the gardens as gambling, cock-fighting, bull-baiting, and boxing matches featuring both male and female contestants. The fortunes of the gardens changed abruptly in the next decade as the new proprietor of the Rose Tavern, Daniel Gough, began the transformation of the bowling green and public house into a fashionable pleasure garden with the installation of an organ by Richard Bridge. He built architecturally pleasing rococco halls for shelter, and increased the entrance fee to a sixpence to discourage the presence of riff-raff at the afternoon concerts. Once he had erected the Great Room for balls and suppers in 1740, Gough included breakfast in his schedule. This, then, is the backdrop for the scene in which Ainsworth continues the narrative regarding a relatively minor character, the valet Cripps, who had impeached on the Jacobites in the previous illustration.
Whereas in the initial May illustration the protagonist Crew's misadventure with the Jacobites had served to reveal the depth of his character and the shallowness of many of his new London acquaintances, the second illustration for that number transports the reader to the entirely frivolous beau monde of the metropolis as he follows the impudent confidence man, Cripps, and places the protagonist well in the background:
Other and lighter portions of the Tale refer to the adventures of a young man on his first introduction to town life about the middle of the eighteenth century, when Ranelagh was in its zenith, and Vauxhall and Marylebone Gardens in vogue; when the Thames boasted its Folly; and when coffee-houses filled the place of clubs. The descriptions I believe to be tolerably accurate; and they are at all events carefully done, with the view of giving a correct idea of the manners, habits, and pursuits of our great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers. Temptations to pleasurable excess were no doubt sufficiently abundant then. [Grego, p. 107]
Although focussing on the situation comedy involving the devious Crackenthorpe Cripps absorbs Cruikshank's attention, he gives prominence to the park-like setting with the avenue of illuminated trees (exactly as in eighteenth-century prints of the gardens), and is careful in delineating the music pavillion in the background. Cruikshank realizes the moment when Cripps's employer, Beau Villiers (left of centre), encounters the gaily apparelled Mr. Cripps as he flatters the wealthy widow whom he has been courting (right), Mrs. Nettleship. Cruikshank does indeed make Cripps here Villiers' double sartorially. The story's protagonist, Randulph Crew, is in the background (far left). However, in terms of visual continuity Cruikshank is limited by the material that Ainsworth has given him, and must rely upon the immediately recognizable figure of the aged beau, whom he has already depicted in Randulph Crew introduced to Beau Villiers on the Mall (January 1844).
Ainsworth, William Harrison. The Miser's Daughter: A Tale. With 20 illustrations by George Cruikshank. First published in 3 volumes by Cunningham and Mortimer, London, 1842. London, Glasgow, and New York: George Routledge, 1892.
Grego, Joseph (intro). Cruikshank's Water Colours. [27 Oliver Twist illustrations, including the wrapper and the 13-vignette title-page produced for F. W. Cosens; 20 plates for William Harrison Ainsworth's The Miser's Daughter: A Tale of the Year 1744; 20 plates plus the proofcover the work for W. H. Maxwell's History of the Irish Rebellion in 1798 and Emmett's Insurrection in 1803]. London: A & C Black, 1903. OT = pp. 1-106]. Book in the Rare Book Collection of the University of Toronto.
Vann, J. Don. "The Miser's Daughter in Ainsworth's Magazine January-October 1842." Victorian Novels in Serial. New York: MLA, 1988. Pp. 22-23.
Last modified 21 June 2018