Speaker 1: Chapter twelve of Unknown London, written by Walter George Bell.
Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by
Speaker 1: Janet Chapter twelve London's Lost King Lost. The statue of
Speaker 1: a king lost, that is to London this past century
Speaker 1: and a half, but not to the country of its creation.
Speaker 1: If travel leads your steps north, you will find in
Speaker 1: the beautiful grounds of Newby Hall, near rip in Yorks,
Speaker 1: raised in front of the mansion the historical but forgotten
Speaker 1: statue of King Charles, the second trampling on the prostrate
Speaker 1: protector Oliver. Originally it stood where to day is the
Speaker 1: mansion house. It was the one architectural adornment of the
Speaker 1: old stocks market. The king astride a pawing horse, being
Speaker 1: mounted on a high pedestal, but little honored I fear
Speaker 1: by the fishwives, the vegetable and herb cellars, and the butchers,
Speaker 1: who till the middle eighteenth century kept his company and
Speaker 1: made this central spot in the city noisy with their cries.
Speaker 1: The stocks market has gone stalls name and all. Long
Speaker 1: since the Lord Mayor's stocks have disappeared, wherein many av
Speaker 1: agram Man has been held fast by the legs. Saint
Speaker 1: Christopher le Stock's Church no longer stands. The entire parish
Speaker 1: church and churchyard have been swallowed up in the Bank
Speaker 1: of England. The passer by occasionally gets a glimpse through
Speaker 1: frowning portals of the pretty garden within the bank, bright
Speaker 1: in summer, with the gorgeous coloring of flowers amidst which
Speaker 1: a fountain plays. That was the churchyard. After the building
Speaker 1: over of the ground, the interment of one Jenkins, a
Speaker 1: bank clerk, was allowed there. He stood seven feet six
Speaker 1: inches high, and his burial took place within the bank,
Speaker 1: in order to defeat the body snatchers who might be
Speaker 1: covetous for so rich a prize. Sir Robert Viner, the
Speaker 1: Prince of Goldsmith's, was the donor of the stocks Market statue,
Speaker 1: an episode in his picturesque career. Baronet, Alderman, Sheriff, lord mayor,
Speaker 1: and much more. A genial soul addicted to good living,
Speaker 1: he was a familiar figure in restoration days. Peppies who
Speaker 1: loved bright Company kept an account with him, knew him well,
Speaker 1: and often in the diary mentions his activities in the
Speaker 1: King's interests. For Viner possessed money and Charles did not
Speaker 1: and there was the bond that linked the two goldsmith
Speaker 1: and banker. He was indeed the chief financier of his day,
Speaker 1: a man with whom Charles, in his many and devious
Speaker 1: shifts for money, could not do without. He gave Charles
Speaker 1: his crown literally for the state jewels having been sold
Speaker 1: or pawned by Charles the First, and the Parliament to
Speaker 1: provide funds for the opposing armies. Sir Robert Viner advanced
Speaker 1: thirty two thousand pounds to furnish a new set of regalia.
Speaker 1: Charles ruined him, leaving him when by an arbitrary act,
Speaker 1: the King closed the exchequer in January sixteen seventy two.
Speaker 1: An unsatisfied creditor for four hundred and sixteen thousand pounds,
Speaker 1: Viner shouldered his burden and struggled along to eventual bankruptcy,
Speaker 1: protected by royal command forbidding his clients to sue him,
Speaker 1: and an annual payment of interest promised but long deferred.
Speaker 1: And in his broad mindedness, he seems to have borne
Speaker 1: the King no malice. He is best remembered by an
Speaker 1: anecdote told of a city feast in his mayoralty whereat
Speaker 1: the king stealing away to his coach in Guildhall Yard,
Speaker 1: was seized by the hand by his host, who cried
Speaker 1: with an oath, sire, you shall stay and take t'other bottle.
Speaker 1: Charles Ready and Wit replied with the line of an
Speaker 1: old song. He that is drunk is as great as
Speaker 1: a king, and the two jovial monarchs returned to the
Speaker 1: table to finish the carrouse. The Great Fire of London
Speaker 1: in sixteen sixty six swept the full length of Lombard
Speaker 1: Street on its second day. Viner's fine House Air, the
Speaker 1: typical mansion of a rich city merchant, stood in a
Speaker 1: pleasant garden where now is a branch post office, and
Speaker 1: it burnt with the rest, but his wealth, being largely
Speaker 1: in bonds and securities, was easily removed. While the flames
Speaker 1: were still threatening, the King sent an order to Windsor
Speaker 1: Castle that Viner's securities, money and jewels should be safe
Speaker 1: lodged there, and appointed also a place for him, in
Speaker 1: order that his labors for the crown should continue undisturbed.
Speaker 1: The city churches destroyed in the Great Fire included Saint
Speaker 1: mary Woolchurch Hall and a finer and larger stocks market,
Speaker 1: being afterwards determined upon the site of the church and
Speaker 1: graveyard were thrown into it. What more befitting so central
Speaker 1: a position than a statue raised to the greatness of
Speaker 1: Charles the Second, So thought Sir Robert, with whom loyalty
Speaker 1: was the very life blood. When surely the most curious
Speaker 1: combination of circumstances that has ever occurred placed such a
Speaker 1: statue within his reach, the story has run with a
Speaker 1: ripple of laughter. It chanced that John Sobeski, King of Poland,
Speaker 1: having slaughtered a vast number of Turks and so saved Vienna,
Speaker 1: his ambassador in England, ordered an equestrian statue of his master,
Speaker 1: commemorative of the victory. Sebesky, engrossed with larger affairs, did
Speaker 1: not send his ambassador the money with which to pay
Speaker 1: the sculptor, and, pending a settlement of this vital matter,
Speaker 1: the statue lay boxed up on Tower Wharf the Low
Speaker 1: London Bridge, awaiting exportation. That was Viner's opportunity, and he
Speaker 1: was prompt to seize it. The sculptor, forgotten but meritorious,
Speaker 1: put vigor into his work, representing Sobeski in warrior's dress,
Speaker 1: trampling upon a helpless Turk. The goldsmith purchased the statue
Speaker 1: footnote one. There is another version of the origin of
Speaker 1: the statue, that Viner first heard of it from his
Speaker 1: agent at Leghorn, that he acquired it for a mere song,
Speaker 1: and shipped it from the continent to Tower wharf. I
Speaker 1: do not know which is true, end footnote, And regarding
Speaker 1: the incongruities of costume, had the head of the Polish
Speaker 1: king replaced by that of Charles the Second, and the
Speaker 1: features of the turk lying prostrate under his horse's feet
Speaker 1: altered to those of Oliver Cromwell. Thus maneuvered the statue
Speaker 1: arose on this spot in honor of the sovereign. It
Speaker 1: was dedicated on the anniversary of the King's birthday in
Speaker 1: sixteen seventy two. Walpole says that Latham carved the head
Speaker 1: of King Charles. There is not the least doubt about
Speaker 1: the story, which the oriental attire and head dress of
Speaker 1: the betrampled Cromwell, as still to be seen at Newby Hall,
Speaker 1: fully bear out. Naturally, the lampooners made busy. One wrote
Speaker 1: these lines some years after the erection of the statue.
Speaker 1: Could Robert Viner have foreseen the glorious triumph of his
Speaker 1: master the wolf Church statue to gold has been, which
Speaker 1: now is made of alabaster. But wise men think, had
Speaker 1: it been wood, twere for a bankrupt king to good
Speaker 1: Those that the fabric well consider do of a diversely discourse.
Speaker 1: Some pass their censure on the rider, others their judgment
Speaker 1: on the horse. Most say the steed's a goodly thing,
Speaker 1: but all agree tis elude. King Andrew Marvell, when Member
Speaker 1: of Parliament for Hull, spent his satire upon the ill
Speaker 1: judged statue in lines which passed from hand to hand,
Speaker 1: but attained print only posthumously. In order to understand them.
Speaker 1: Remember that the equestrian figure was set up after the
Speaker 1: general ruin which attended the closing of the exchequer. So
Speaker 1: Sir Robert advanced the king's statue in token of a
Speaker 1: broker defeated in Lombard streak broken. Some thought it a
Speaker 1: mighty and generous deed, obliging the city with a king
Speaker 1: on a steed, when with honor he might, from his word,
Speaker 1: have gone back. He that waits for a calm is
Speaker 1: absolved by a rack. By all it appears, from the
Speaker 1: first to the last to be a revenge and a
Speaker 1: malice forecast upon the king's birthday, to set up a
Speaker 1: thing that shows him a monkey more like than a king.
Speaker 1: When each one that passes finds fault with the horse,
Speaker 1: yet all do assure that the king is much worse,
Speaker 1: and some by its likeness. Sir Roberts suspect that he
Speaker 1: did for the king his own statue erect, but with
Speaker 1: all his faults, pray give us our king as ever
Speaker 1: you hope in December for spring. For though the whole
Speaker 1: world world cannot shew such another, we have better have
Speaker 1: him than his bigoted brother. Not less biting in their
Speaker 1: illusions are verses on a dialogue between two horses. The
Speaker 1: steeds bearing the figures of Charles the first at charing
Speaker 1: Cross and Charles the second at the stocks Market, have
Speaker 1: joined company at night, their riders having dismounted the father
Speaker 1: to visit Archbishop Laud and the son to seek more
Speaker 1: questionable associates. An anonymous writer of the next century gave
Speaker 1: in satirical form the last dying speech and confession of
Speaker 1: the horse at stocks Market. You whimsical people of London's
Speaker 1: fair town, who one year put up with the next
Speaker 1: year you pull down full Sixty one years have I
Speaker 1: stood in this place, and never till now met with
Speaker 1: any disgrace. What affront to crowned heads? Could you offer
Speaker 1: more bear than to pull down a king to make
Speaker 1: room for a mayre? The great Sebesky on horse with
Speaker 1: long tail, I first represented when set up for sale,
Speaker 1: A turk, as you see, was placed under my feet
Speaker 1: to prove o'er the Sultan my triumph complete. When the
Speaker 1: king was restored, you then, in a trice, called me
Speaker 1: Charles the second, and by way of device, said the
Speaker 1: old whiskered turk had Oliver's face. Though you know to
Speaker 1: be conquered, he ne'er felt the disgrace. As the market
Speaker 1: is moved, I'm obliged to retreat. I could stay there
Speaker 1: no longer with nothing to eat. Now the herbs and
Speaker 1: the greens are all carried away, I must trot unto
Speaker 1: those who will find me. In Hay. The city bore
Speaker 1: with the statue a constant shaft of opprobrium and ridicule
Speaker 1: uel for two thirds of a century. When in seventeen
Speaker 1: thirty eight the closing of the stocks market and clearance
Speaker 1: of the ground for building the mansion house left it
Speaker 1: on hand. What to do with it was a problem
Speaker 1: the Civic Fathers could not solve. They had then had
Speaker 1: more experience of the Stuarts, in no way enlarging the
Speaker 1: popularity of that dynasty. A Hanoverian sat on the British throne.
Speaker 1: Rider and horse were laid aside for several years, out
Speaker 1: of sight in a builder's shed, and when memory of
Speaker 1: them had faded, the Common Council in the year seventeen
Speaker 1: seventy nine presented the statue to Robert Viner, a descendant
Speaker 1: of the Loyal Lord Mayor. It was set up by
Speaker 1: him at Gottbee Park, Lincolnshire, and its last migration was
Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty three to Newby Hall, the Yorkshire seat
Speaker 1: of the present head of the Viner family, where to
Speaker 1: day it stands. Such in brief is the story of
Speaker 1: the stocks Market statue, and one wonders if another royal
Speaker 1: effigy has ever had such adventures. End of Chapter twelve.