| Citation |
BC.769.033
2-6 Mar 1769:731 (72)
St. James's Chronicle, Dec. 10. 1768. . . [2 lines] From
the beginning of time, no persons upon earth have been so
apt to quarrel as brothers. . . [9 lines]
There is one family which of late years has made a very
distinguished appearance on the political theatre. -- It
consists of three brothers and a brother-in-law, but for the
sake of brevity, I shall call them the four brothers, viz.
Bouncing Will, 'Squire Gawky, Gentle George, and Jemmy
Trimmer.
This fraternity, sir, would be ever standing up in the
grand dance of state, and extremely fond of it they were,
always at it, in and out, crossing and turning, zig-zag,
right-hand and left.
But I do not know how it happened, they were generally
divided, two in one set, and two in another: they never
could agree about calling a tune, nor about the true method
of footing--In short, every step of theirs seemed to be a
fling aimed at the opposite set, and all their ambitions
tended to obstruct each other: Bouncing Will had gone over
to Hanover, where he learnt a new dance called the
Allemande, which he performed with great applause from the
boxes along with his brother Squire Gawky, and so fond was
he of this foreign jig, that he publickly declared he
preferred it to all the country dances he had learnt in his
youth. Emboldened by so great success, he wanted to open
the next ball with a Spanish fandango, but he gave himself
such intolerable airs, that brother George and the rest of
the set would not suffer him to proceed; on which he and
Gawky in great dudgeon flounced out of the house, swearing
they would soon make it too hot for them.
George being now master of the ceremonies, made the
musick play just as he pleased: and one night (after an
extra dose of cyder) he swore he would exhibit to the
company a dance, which never had been attempted but in
North-America--It was in vain that his friends, observing
the state of intoxication he was in, endeavoured to dissuade
him from the attempt; George was obstinate as a mule, and
called aloud to the musick to play up Yanky Doodle, but the
fiddlers not playing fast enough, he roared and stamped at
such a rate, that some boards in the flooring gave way, and
down he went like a ghost in a tragedy. Bouncing Will
became once more master of the ceremonies, upon which
'Squire Gawky went off, and joined brother George, whilst
Jemmy Trimmer stuck close to Bounce, still keeping up the
equal division of the brotherhood, two against two.
In this manner things have continued for some time, but
at last common fame reports that there is likely to be an
unitas fratrum, a general reconciliation of all the four,
and that this grand partie quarre, after dancing the Hayes
most amiably in the county of Kent, will sacrifice to the
Goddess Concord in the county of Bucks. . . [21 lines,
signed] Quidnunc
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