212
NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. v. MAR. i 6 , 1012.
5. Ld Geo Gordon Died in Newgate Nov 1 1793.
On the reverse, Honour, and an open hand with a heart on the palm, and at the wrist James.
Copper token, with similar portrait to Nos. 3 and 4.
On the edge of these three tokens : Spence Dealer in Coins London.
6. Moses Gorden, or the Wandering. Jew. In the Dress he now wears in Newgate.
Pub. Jan* 5, 1788, by A. Davis, Bir- mingham.
Etching, 7iX 6J, coloured.
Caricature representing Lord George Gordon attired as a Jew " Old CIo' " man, with a slouched hat and beard. It is inter- esting to note that this caricature was pub- lished in the year and in the town in which he embraced Judaism.
7. [Moses Gorden, or the Wandering Jew.]
A pen-and-ink drawing on tinted paper of No. 6. Probably the original drawing.
8. ' The Birmingham Moses.'
To Law & Presbyters he bid adieu, To save his Soul & Body in the Jew ; And ivonder not he stole to misbelievers, Since they of stolen things are oft receivers : But Justice their strange Proselyte found out And lodg'd the Runaway in prison stout, Lest he, mad flaming Bigot, should surprise The Christians his new friends to naturalize.
Designed by Runaway. Executed by L d G G. Pubd. for the Proprietor as the Act directs by W. Dickie, No. 195, Strand, Dec. 12th, 1788.
Etching, 5Jx 6, coloured.
Caricature of Lord George Gordon, with a beard and hat, walking, with an open book in hand, entitled ' Mosaic Law.' 1 A weather- cock is seen on a hillock in the distance. On the foreground is inscribed " Protestant Association." Two dogs are sei'/ing him, their collars being -marked " Boio Street " and " King's Bench " respectively.
9. Moses Chusing his Cook.
Published Feb. 11, 1788, by T. Harmar, Engraver, No. 161, Piccadillv.
Etching, 10|X 13|.
Caricature of Lord George Gordon, seated at a table in his cell in Newgate. He is without his hat, but bearded. With him are ten Polish Jews, who are tempting him with kosher food. A cook is bringing in a sucking pig on a dish, to the consternation of two of the Jews, one of whom is hoi ing his nose with his fingers to avoid inhaling the unholy savour.
10. Ditto, impression coloured.
11. A reissue. Pubd. April 1st, 1803, by 8. W. Fores, 50, Piccadilly.
12. Ditto, impression coloured.
13. [Polly Levi. Ozias Humphry pinx. W. Bond sculp. London. Published Januarv 2nd, 1797, by I. Thane, Spur Street.]
Stipple engraving 6x 5, proof before inscription.
On the margin, in a contemporary hand, the following has been written in ink :' "Polly Levi Jewess in attendant [.sic] on Lord
George Gorden [sic] During his confinement
in Neivgate.'"
She is represented holding a tray, on which is a decanter.
Evans's Second Catalogue of Portraits records : " No. 18,381, ' Miss Levy, a Jewish Courtesan. P.B.L. 4to. 3/.' '
This entry no doubt refers to Polly Levi, and she is described as a courtesan in con- sequence of the malicious slander that had been circulated by the enemies of Lord George Gordon in reference to his female domestics j but, as Watson, his biographer, affirms,. " Nothing could be more false." 14. Another impression, printed in brown.
ISRAEL SOLOMONS.
My great-grandfather, Lord Robert Sey- mour, wrote in his diary for December, 1788 :
" Lord George Gordon is now confined in Newgate, and under three separate Sentences . . ... the third, for not giving oral Evidence that MF.
in his presence by word of mouth left his
Personalty to Mr. Jennings (I believe), whereby he was by Law excommunicated. By the advice of his Sollicitor he then turned Jew, as a Jew cannot be excommunicated, & his Goods and Chattels, which otherwise must have been for- feited to the Crown, were restored to him."
G. W. E. R.
Lord George Gordon died 1793. It is stated in The Jewish Chronicle, 17 June, 1898, that Polly Levi, Jewess, was an attendant on Lord George Gordon during his confinement in Newgate. There seems some doubt as to who she was. Lord George Gordon arrived at Harwich from Amsterdam on 22 July, 1787. He retired incognito to Birmingham, where he resided at the house of a Jew and underwent circumcision under the agency of Rabbi Jacob of Birmingham.
" Amongst a thousand things injurious to his- [Gordon's], character, it has been observed that he kept two Jewish nand maids with him night and day. Nothing could be more false. He indeed kept two maidservants, one of whom was a Jewess, the other a Christian. But they regu- larly left the prison at nine o'clock at night and returned at eight in the morning."
Lord George Gordon, while in Birmingham, lodged in one of the dirtiest houses in Dudley Street, " where the Jews chiefly inhabit. The Jew woman who kept the house had a son." The authorities from which the above notes are taken are ( 1 ) ' Life of Lord George Gordon,' by Robert Watson, M.D., London, 1795, pp. 83 and 109 ; (2) Gentleman's Magazine, vol. Ivii. pp. 1120, 1121, and vol. Ixiii. pp. 1056, 1057, and the volumes mentioned therein ; (3) ' Picciotto ; Sketches of Anglo-Jewish History,' London, 1875, p. 185. A portrait of Polly Levi is believed to be in existence.
MATTHIAS LEVY.
