{"product_id":"2940149429066","title":"Portraits of Curious Characters in London, \u0026c. \u0026c. (Illustrated)","description":"Mr. Bentley resided at the corner of the avenue leading to the house formerly the Old Crown Tavern, Leadenhall-street, not far from the East-India House.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe house and character of this eccentric individual are so well described in a poem published in the European Magazine, for January 1801, that we shall transcribe it:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Who but has seen (if he can see at all)\u003cbr\u003e'Twixt Aldgate's well-known pump and Leadenhall,\u003cbr\u003eA curious hard-ware shop, in general full\u003cbr\u003eOf wares, from Birmingham and Pontipool?\u003cbr\u003eBegrim'd with dirt, behold its ample front,\u003cbr\u003eWith thirty years collected filth upon't.\u003cbr\u003eSee festoon'd cobwebs pendent o'er the door,\u003cbr\u003eWhile boxes, bales, and trunks, are strew'd around the floor.\u003cbr\u003e\"Behold how whistling winds and driving rain\u003cbr\u003eGain free admission at each broken pain,\u003cbr\u003eSave where the dingy tenant keeps them out\u003cbr\u003eWith urn or tray, knife-case, or dirty clout!\u003cbr\u003eHere snuffers, waiters, patent screws for corks;\u003cbr\u003eThere castors, card-racks, cheese-trays, knives and forks:\u003cbr\u003eHere empty cases pil'd in heaps on high;\u003cbr\u003eThere pack-thread, papers, rope, in wild disorder lie.\u003cbr\u003e\"O say, thou enemy to soap and towels!\u003cbr\u003eHast no compassion lurking in thy bowels?\u003cbr\u003eThink what thy neighbours suffer by thy whim\u003cbr\u003eOf keeping self and house in such a trim!\u003cbr\u003eThe officers of health should view the scene,\u003cbr\u003eAnd put thy shop and thee in quarantine.\u003cbr\u003eConsider thou, in summer's ardent heat,\u003cbr\u003eWhen various means are tried to cool the street,\u003cbr\u003eWhat must each decent neighbour suffer then\u003cbr\u003eFrom various vapours issuing from thy den.\u003cbr\u003e\"When fell Disease, with all her horrid train,\u003cbr\u003eSpreads her dark pinions o'er ill-fated Spain,\u003cbr\u003eThat Britain may not witness such a scene,\u003cbr\u003eBehoves us doubly now to keep our dwellings clean.\u003cbr\u003e\"Say, if, within the street where thou dost dwell,\u003cbr\u003eEach house were kept exactly like thy cell;\u003cbr\u003eO, say, thou enemy to brooms and mops!\u003cbr\u003eHow long thy neighbours could keep open shops,\u003cbr\u003eIf, following thee in taste, each wretched elf,\u003cbr\u003eUnshav'd, unwash'd, and squalid like thyself,\u003cbr\u003eResolv'd to live?—The answer's very plain,\u003cbr\u003eOne year would be the utmost of their reign:\u003cbr\u003eVictims to filth, each vot'ry soon would fall,\u003cbr\u003eAnd one grand jail-distemper kill them all.\u003cbr\u003e\"Persons there are, who say thou hast been seen\u003cbr\u003e(Some years ago) with hands and face wash'd clean;\u003cbr\u003eAnd, wouldst thou quit this most unseemly plan,\u003cbr\u003eThou art ('tis said) a very comely man:\u003cbr\u003eOf polish'd language, partial to the fair,\u003cbr\u003eThen why not wash thy face and comb thy matted hair?\u003cbr\u003eClear from thy house accumulated dirt,\u003cbr\u003eNew paint the front, and wear a cleaner shirt.\"\u003cbr\u003eMany are the reports concerning his civility, and polite manner of attending to the ladies whenever they have honoured him with their commands; and several curious persons have come to town from various parts of the country, on purpose to see so remarkable a figure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBefore the powder-tax was introduced, Nathaniel frequently paid a shilling for dressing that head, which of late years he scarcely seemed to think worthy of a comb! He mends his own clothes and washes his own linen, which he proudly acknowledges. His answer to a gentleman who wished to convert him to cleanliness, was, \"It is of no use, Sir; if I wash my hands to-day, they will be dirty again to-morrow.\" On being asked whether he kept a dog or cat to destroy rats, mice, \u0026amp;c. he replied, \"No, Sir, they only make more dirt, and spoil more goods than any service they are of; but as to rats and mice, how can they live in my house, when I take care to leave them nothing to eat?\" If asked why he does not take down his shutters which have been so long up, or why he does not put his goods in proper order, his answer is, \"he has been long thinking of it, but he has not time.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith all Nathaniel Bentley's eccentricities, it must be acknowledged, he is both intelligent and polite: like a diamond begrimed with dirt, which, though it may easily conceal its lustre in such a state, can easily recover its original polish—not a diamond indeed of the first water—not a rough diamond—but an unwashed diamond.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn his beauish days, his favourite suit was blue and silver, with his hair dressed in the extremity of fashion; but now—strange fancy—his hair frequently stands up like the quills of the porcupine, and generally attended in his late shop without a coat, while his waistcoat, breeches, shirt, face, and hands, corresponded with the dirt of his warehouse.","brand":"Lost Leaf Publications","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47149040926960,"sku":"2940149429066","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940149429066_p0.jpg?v=1763716951","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940149429066","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}