342
NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii s. iv. OCT. , 1911.
1845 : The Man in the Moon, 1847 ; Chat,
1848-9. Keeping up his old friendship
with Albert Smith, he supplied the illustra-
tions for 'The Gent,' 'The Ballet Girl,'
and other brochures published by David
Bogue. In 1851 he joined the staff of The
Illustrated London Paper, a short-lived
rival to The Illustrated London News. The
same year he brought out a comic book on
' The Great Exhibition.'
About this time he seems to have retired from newspaper work ; one or two old cus- tomers, such as Landells and Thomas Littleton Holt, still believed in him, but he was generally regarded as " played out." But I do not think it was this which caused his retirement : his father's death very likely left him provided for, without the necessity of drudging at a profession which he may have learnt to dislike. He died, aged 59, 4 July, 1864, in Manchester Street, Argyll Square, his demise being scarcely even recorded by the press.
His son, Walter G. Henning, exhibited three portraits at the Royal Academy, 1865. Mrs. Henning, who exhibited a portrait at the British Institution, 1854 was, I should think, the wife of Archibald S. Henning.
Agnes, Archibald's elder sister, married Kenny Meadows. She was a thrifty, careful wife, and I have always understood they were a happy couple. The younger sister of Archibald, Margaret, married Joseph Thomp- son, whose daughter, also named Margaret, married James Hannay. Agnes, daughter of John Henning, jun., married George Hodder, one of the founders of Punch.
A likeness of A. S. Henning, after a minia- ture by his son Walton, appears in Spiel- mann's ' History of " Punch."
HERBERT B. CLAYTON.
39, Renfrew Road, Lower Kennington Lane.
CAPT. MORRIS'S 'SOLID MEN
OF BOSTON.'
MR. RICHARD H. THORNTON has just called my attention to some queries which have never been answered, though asked so long- ago as 1888. At 7 S. vi. 483 MR. W. H. PATTERSON printed a broadside song headed "Bow Wow Wow. As sung by Mr. Hooke at the Anacreontic Society," in which are mentioned " Billy P t," " Daddy Jenky," "Trimmer Hal," and " Ebenezer Barber, Who sailed right from England and lies in Boston harbour." The last was purely fictitious, but the others were Pitt, Charles
Jenkinson, and Henry Dundas. " Some
curious expressions," wrote MR. PATTERSON,
"occur in the song, which are perhaps Ameri-
canisms, or may be intended to appear
as such " ; and " Perhaps some Boston
correspondent could say if the song was
ever known over there, or if 'Ebenezer
Barber ' had any existence outside these
verses."
The song was written by Capt. Charles Morris (1745-1838), of whom there is a notice in the ' D.N.B.' It was printed in 1786 in ' Asylum for Fugitive Pieces,' ii. 246-50, where it is entitled " Billy Pitt and the Far- mer. By Captain Morris " ; in 1840 in ' Lyra Urbanica ; or, The Social Effusions of the Celebrated Capt. Charles Morris,' ii. 41-4, where it is entitled " Pitt and Dun- das' s Return to London from Wimbledon.. American Song " ; and presumably (though I have not seen this book) in 1786 in 'A Collection of Songs by.... Capt. Morris/ The versions in the broadside, in the ' Asylum,' and in ' Lyra Urbanica ' differ in length and in many readings.
Though popular in its day, the song would long ago have been forgotten but for its final stanza, as follows : Solid Men of Boston, banish strong potations, Solid Men of Boston, make no long orations, Solid Men of Boston, go to bed at Sun down, And never lose your way, like the Loggerheads of
London.
The expression " solid men of Boston " is proverbial on this side of the water ; but whether it originated in the above song, or was picked up in this country by Capt. Morris when he served here in the 17th Regiment of Foot, the present writer does not know.
On 1 April, 1794, the song had the honour of being quoted in the House of Commons by both Burke and Sheridan, who had then quarrelled, as thus appears (' Parl. History,' xxxi. 206-10) :
" Mr. Francis said, that before he offered his opinion on the bill, he could not but complain of a practice, which prevailed in that House, and which in effect took away all freedom of debate, by confining every discussion, on subjects of importance, to three or four individuals. That, on this point, he spoke with great impartiality. That a few distinguished persons, by occupying the whole time of the House with speeches of many hours, not only wore out the patience of the few who attended them, while a majority of the members, perhaps, were taking their nourish- ment or their repose, but precluded all others from offering their opinion ever so shortly, for want of an opportunity of being heard even for a moment ....
" Mr. Burke declared that he should not be unmindful of the hint given by Mr. Francis,
