The Romance Of Madame Tussaud's - free ebook by John Theodore Tussaud

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The Romance Of Madame Tussaud's

John Theodore Tussaud

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PREFACE

PREFACE

The earliest information we have concerning Madame Tussaud is that she was born in Switzerland on the 7th of December, 1760, and was the only child of Joseph and Marie Grosholtz. Her mother was the daughter of a Swiss clergyman. She married on the 20th of October, 1795, François Tussaud, who, it appears, was her junior by seven years. We are able to trace his family back as far as 1630, when his great-great-grandfather, one Denis Tusseaud—for that is how he spelt his name—was born. There is docu

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INTRODUCTION By Hilaire Belloc

INTRODUCTION By Hilaire Belloc

This is a fascinating book and its fascination consists in two things attaching to its subject: first that the famous collection of modelled portraits which has become a sort of national institution in England under the name of “Madame Tussaud’s” has its roots in the greatest period of modern history, the French Revolution; second, in that the complete and growing record has passed through so many changes and has yet survived. Even though the famous collection had dealt with nothing more than th

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CHAPTER I

CHAPTER I

Mr. Tussaud first enters his father’s studio—Reverie—Madame Tussaud’s uncle forsakes the medical profession for art—Madame’s birth and parentage—A Prince’s promise. It was at the age of fourteen and in the year 1872 that I first entered my father’s studio, and well I remember the bright summer morning I passed its threshold to place myself under his tuition. It was an odd rememorative sort of place, the eeriness of which sat uneasily on the mind of, I fear, a somewhat jocose and irresponsible yo

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CHAPTER II

CHAPTER II

Curtius leaves Berne for Paris—The Hôtel d’Aligre—The Court of Louis XV—Madame arrives in Paris. In response to the Prince de Conti’s invitation, Curtius left Berne for Paris a few months later, and for once the time-honoured adage proffering a warning to those prone to rely upon the promises of princes had no bearing, for this Prince kept his word. On his arrival at Paris, Curtius found a handsome suite of apartments awaiting him at the Hôtel d’Aligre, hard by the Croix du Trahoir in the Rue St

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CHAPTER III

CHAPTER III

Life-size figures—Museum at the Palais Royal—Exhibition on the Boulevard du Temple—Benjamin Franklin—Voltaire. A good deal of hearsay and some incontestable evidence helps to fill the hiatus between the time Curtius came to Paris and the outbreak of the Revolution. Although the many years spent by Curtius in the production of miniatures in coloured wax do not appear to have brought him a very great or a very wide reputation, yet they were the means of leading him to the modelling of life-size po

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CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER IV

Madame Elizabeth of France—Madame Tussaud goes to Versailles—Foulon—Three notable groups—“Caverne des Grands Voleurs.” In the year 1780 the ill-fated Louis XVI had been six years on the throne, and Curtius by this time had become well ingratiated with the followers of the New Régime. MADAME ELIZABETH OF FRANCE The Sister of Louis XVI and Patroness of Madame Tussaud. A Portrait Study by John T. Tussaud. Among the many distinguished visitors who honoured Curtius’s studio with their presence in 178

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CHAPTER V

CHAPTER V

Eve of the French Revolution—Necker and the Duke of Orléans—Louis XVI’s fatal mistakes—His dismissal of the people’s favourites. We are now approaching the day when the long-pent-up storm, threatening for so great a while, was about to burst, and we must contemplate King Louis XVI and his advisers seeking for a means to placate a people at last stirred to resentment through the cruel and unjust burdens it had for generations been made to bear. The murmurings which had long been general and indef

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CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VI

Madame Tussaud recalled from Versailles—The 12th of July, 1789—Busts taken from Curtius’s Exhibition—A Garde Française slain in the mêlée. It must be remembered that the “romance” of Madame Tussaud’s began in the French capital one hundred and fifty years ago. As we view to-day the quaint little figure of Madame which stands in the Exhibition she helped to found in France and established in this country, we must imagine her in the full vigour of her young womanhood, sensible to the dangers and t

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CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VII

Heads of the Revolution—Madame’s terrible experiences—The guillotine in pawn—Madame acquires the knife, lunette, and chopper. It is no part of our concern to trace the course of the Revolution throughout, or to dwell too long upon its horrors. Nevertheless before Madame Tussaud passed into tranquil days she had to suffer the severest ordeal of her life, the memory of which she could never wholly efface. We can hardly imagine her bitter experience when compelled to employ her young hands in takin

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CHAPTER VIII

CHAPTER VIII

Madame dines with the Terrorists Marat and Robespierre, models their figures, and subsequently takes casts of their heads—She visits Charlotte Corday in prison—Death of Curtius—Madame marries—Napoleon sits for his model. One of the most bloodthirsty of all the red Terrorists was Jean Paul Marat, who was slain in his bath by Charlotte Corday on the 13th of July, 1793. CHARLOTTE CORDAY Marat, as a young man, had lived in this country for some time, and was well known to Madame Tussaud through visi

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CHAPTER IX

CHAPTER IX

Madame Tussaud leaves France for England, never to return—Early days in London—On tour—Some notable figures—Shipwreck in the Irish Channel. Madame Tussaud arrived in this country with her Exhibition some time in May, 1802. There is considerable difficulty in tracing her movements during the first few years after her arrival. The information points to her having remained in London with her Exhibition for some six or seven years. In London there is some amount of evidence of her having shown her e

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CHAPTER X

CHAPTER X

The Bristol riots—Narrow escape of the Exhibition—A brave black servant—Arrival at Blackheath. The Bristol riots in the autumn of 1831 again brought the Exhibition into serious jeopardy. Madame Tussaud had just arrived in the city of the West Country, when the Recorder, Sir Charles Wetherell, came to open a Special Commission for the trial of certain political offenders associated with the agitation for reform. Judge Wetherell was heartily disliked by West-country folk, and there was strong oppo

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CHAPTER XI

CHAPTER XI

An old placard—Princess Augusta’s testimonial—Great success at Gray’s Inn Road—Madame initiates promenade concerts—Bygone tableaux. An old placard now in our possession informs us that at Blackheath the Exhibition was housed in the Assembly Room at the Green Man Hotel. The exact date when it left there is not known, but we do know that it had previously found a temporary abode in the Town Hall, Brighton. There it was visited early in 1833 by members of the Royal Family, then in residence at the

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CHAPTER XII

CHAPTER XII

Placard ( continued )—The old Exhibition—Celebrities of the day—Tussaud’s mummy—Poetic eulogism—Removal to Baker Street—The Iron Duke’s rejoinder—Madame de Malibran. DANIEL O’CONNELL The old placard next proceeds to enumerate some of the then modern celebrities in the Exhibition as follows: Portrait likeness of the Rev. John Clowes, of St. John’s Church, Manchester, and late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, taken (with permission) from life within the last ten years; the Artist, Mr. J. P. K

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CHAPTER XIII

CHAPTER XIII

How the Waterloo carriage was acquired—A chance conversation on London Bridge—The strange adventures of an Emperor’s equipage—Affidavit of Napoleon’s coachman. The account of how we became possessed of the Waterloo carriage reads like an interesting chapter from fiction. In the collection are two other Napoleon vehicles, namely, the Milan and St. Helena carriages. They are all strongly built, ponderous, and suitable for a great campaigner. NAPOLEON’S MILITARY CARRIAGE, CAPTURED ON THE RETREAT FR

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CHAPTER XIV

CHAPTER XIV

Napoleon’s Waterloo carriage—Description of its exterior. Some account must be given of this most interesting relic. Ever since it first came to the Exhibition it has excited the most lively interest, and, until it was covered in by a glazed case, visitors enjoyed the privilege of sitting inside—a proceeding which would not have mattered had not unscrupulous souvenir hunters abused this favour by pilfering portions of the fabric that lined it. Time-worn, it now stands before us, a thing of gaunt

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CHAPTER XV

CHAPTER XV

Description of the Waterloo carriage ( continued )—Its interior and peculiar contrivances—Brought to England and exhibited at the London Museum. NAPOLEON’S MILITARY CARRIAGE The interior. The interior of the carriage is even more interesting than the exterior. Glancing within, we immediately find ourselves in closer touch with things personal to the great Emperor. We find therein provision for a couple of passengers only. Here are two deep and roomy seats, divided by a tall movable arm-rest, off

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CHAPTER XVI

CHAPTER XVI

The St. Helena carriage—Napoleon alarms the ladies—Certificates of authenticity. NAPOLEON’S BAROUCHE The carriage used by Bonaparte during his exile at St. Helena. This is the last carriage in which Napoleon is known to have ridden. On his first arrival at St. Helena he took much exercise in the saddle, but during and after the year 1818, until he ceased venturing beyond the precincts of Longwood, he made constant use of this vehicle. The following extract from Mr. Norwood Young’s very valuable

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CHAPTER XVII

CHAPTER XVII

Father Mathew sits for his model—Tsar Nicholas I takes a fancy to Voltaire’s chair—A replica sent to him—The Rev. Peter McKenzie’s exorcism. FATHER MATHEW, “THE NOBLE PRIEST OF CORK” A great temperance leader whose striking resemblance to Napoleon I. caused an odd confusion in the Museum when in renovating the wax figures a servant put the head of Father Mathew on the shoulders of the deposed Emperor. One of the greatest of all temperance reformers was Father Mathew, “the Noble Priest of Cork,”

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CHAPTER XVIII

CHAPTER XVIII

Landseer and the Count d’Orsay visit the Exhibition—A fright—Norfolk farmer’s account of Queen Victoria’s visit. About the year 1845 the celebrated Count d’Orsay, being, as usual, in a desperate state of impecuniosity, was absolutely afraid to venture out of Gore House (where now stands the Royal Albert Hall), except on Sunday, for fear of being arrested and imprisoned for debt. It so happened that a portrait of one of the members of the Royal Family, painted by the Count, was just then in proce

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CHAPTER XIX

CHAPTER XIX

Wellington visits the effigy of the dead Napoleon, and sits to Sir George Hayter for historic picture—Paintings from models—Is the photograph “taken from life,” or——? Wellington gazing upon the effigy of Napoleon is one of the many instances of a really fine picture being produced from an original work executed in our studios. Upon it hangs an interesting story. WELLINGTON VISITING THE EFFIGY OF NAPOLEON From the celebrated picture by Sir George Hayter. Early one morning, soon after the Exhibiti

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CHAPTER XX

CHAPTER XX

The story of Colour-Sergeant Bates’s march through England to prove Anglo-American goodwill—Start from Gretna—The dove of peace. An ephemeral celebrity of a bygone day, who fittingly comes into the picture at the present time—for we are still dealing with events that happened in the seventies—was Colour-Sergeant Gilbert H. Bates, of the 24th Massachusetts (U. S. Artillery) Regiment. COLOR-SERGEANT GILBERT H. BATES OF THE 24TH MASSACHUSETTS (U. S. ARTILLERY) REGIMENT His famous pilgrimage, in Nov

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CHAPTER XXI

CHAPTER XXI

Sergeant Bates’s journey finishes in London amid a remarkable demonstration—His gift to Madame Tussaud’s. In this chapter we conclude the story of the gallant sergeant’s historic march with the American flag from Gretna Green to London. At Bolton he was presented with a piece of silver-plate, and a pedestrian gave him a pocket-knife; but this gift was followed immediately afterwards by a letter in which the writer said that as the giving of a sharp instrument was regarded as a bad omen and porte

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CHAPTER XXII

CHAPTER XXII

My first model—Beaconsfield’s curl—Gladstone’s collar—John Bright and the Chinaman. We now come to a period when I may well speak of my own personal knowledge concerning men and events in association with Madame Tussaud’s Exhibition. The year 1872 was remarkable for several noteworthy events. Two or three, in addition to the National Thanksgiving Day for the recovery of the Prince of Wales from serious illness, vividly recur to memory. Among them was the assassination of the Earl of Mayo, Vicero

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CHAPTER XXIII

CHAPTER XXIII

The Tichborne “Claimant”—Nearly an explosion—The big man’s clothes—The real heir—The Claimant’s release from prison—Confession and death. I can hardly allow this period to pass without making some reference to the fact that from 1872 till 1874—when he was sentenced, on the 28th of February, to fourteen years’ penal servitude—the name of the “Claimant” to the Tichborne baronetcy and estates was on every lip, and it seems to me that no trial in my time has ever engrossed public attention to such a

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CHAPTER XXIV

CHAPTER XXIV

H. M. Stanley sits to Joseph Tussaud—The story of his life—How he found Livingstone—A mysterious veiled lady—The Prince Imperial. In 1873 the nation was saddened by the death at Ilala of Dr. Livingstone, the great missionary-explorer, who, some time before, had disappeared in the trackless wastes of Central Africa while preaching the gospel to savages and making surveys of the great continent. The name of Livingstone will always be bracketed with that of H. M. Stanley, who, as the emissary of th

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CHAPTER XXV

CHAPTER XXV

Count Léon—The Shah of Persia’s visit—A weird suggestion; no response—King Koffee—Cetewayo. About this time I met Count Léon, the natural son of Napoleon the Great. The Count was then nearing seventy years of age, and had taken refuge in this country after the great débâcle of 1870. He lived in modest lodgings at Camden Town, and to pay his way set about selling the last remaining relics of the Imperial Family he had in his possession. In a diary I now have before me I find that my father visite

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CHAPTER XXVI

CHAPTER XXVI

The Berlin Congress—Lord Beaconsfield and the “Turnerelli wreath”—“The People’s Tribute” finds a home at Tussaud’s—The sculptor’s despair—He constructs his tombstone and dies. The year 1876—in which we find the Prince of Wales arriving at Calcutta, the commercial metropolis of India; “Empress of India” added to the royal titles of Queen Victoria; and Disraeli’s elevation to the Upper House as Earl of Beaconsfield—gave us subjects that kept our studios extremely busy, and also brought a constant

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CHAPTER XXVII

CHAPTER XXVII

The Phœnix Park murders—We secure the jaunting-car and pony—Charles Bradlaugh—General Boulanger—Lord Roberts inspects the model of himself. The requirements of the business have often necessitated our sending fairly far afield in quest of exhibits, and this has seldom been done without success, as people with desirable relics to dispose of appear to have recognised the claims of Madame Tussaud’s. Between seven and eight o’clock on Saturday evening, the 6th of May, 1882, Lord Frederick Cavendish,

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CHAPTER XXVIII

CHAPTER XXVIII

My favourite portrait—Lord Tennyson poses unconsciously before my wife—“This beats Tussaud’s”—Sir Richard Burton—His widow clothes the model. Of all the portraits of my own modelling, I think, if I may be permitted to express an opinion, I like that of Lord Tennyson as well as any. It revives pleasant memories, and I will ask my readers if I may bring my wife into this part of my story. By a coincidence, as I raised my eyes at this moment, my glance fell upon a bust of Tennyson resting on a shel

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CHAPTER XXIX

CHAPTER XXIX

Removal of the Exhibition to the present building—Sleeping “figures”—History of the Portman Rooms—The Cato Street Conspiracy—Baron Grant’s staircase. After fifty prosperous years at the old Baker Street Rooms—now known as the Portman Rooms—it became necessary that Madame Tussaud’s should find more commodious premises to meet the growing popularity of the Exhibition. The removal to the present well-known red building was made in July, 1884, and the change took about a week, during which the staff

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CHAPTER XXX

CHAPTER XXX

King of Siam’s visit—The Shahzada’s clothing—King of Burmah’s war elephant—Tale of two monkeys. The King of Siam and the Shahzada of Afghanistan are linked in my memory because of the peculiar interest King Chulalongkorn took in the Afghan Prince, whose model appeared in all the splendour of one of the Shahzada’s own State dresses. The moment the King of Siam was confronted by this portrait he exclaimed in surprise: “How did the uniform come here? Where did you get it?” “Oh,” I replied, “we purc

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CHAPTER XXXI

CHAPTER XXXI

Queen Victoria’s copperplates—Another Royal Persian visit—“Perished by fire”—“Viscount Hinton” and his organ—The Coquette’s jewels lost and found. In the early part of 1898 we purchased from an enterprising journalist four interesting copperplates—three of them etched by Queen Victoria and one by the Prince Consort. Of the four plates, three were done by the Queen within a year of her marriage. Although not altogether faultless from an artistic point of view, the work is most conscientiously exe

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CHAPTER XXXII

CHAPTER XXXII

Royal visitors—King Alphonso and Princess Ena—The late Emperor Frederick—A penniless trio—Princess Charles—The Prince of Wales and Prince Albert. Madame Tussaud’s was one of the last places visited by the King of Spain and Princess Ena before they left this country for their wedding at Madrid in May, 1906. Somehow there seemed to be at the time an atmosphere of anxiety attending the visit of this vivacious royal couple, and I feel sure this uneasiness was felt by many who observed them pass free

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CHAPTER XXXIII

CHAPTER XXXIII

The Begum of Bhopal pays us a visit—Lord Rosebery and Lord Annaly—Lord Randolph Churchill—Lady Beatty, Lady Jellicoe, and Mrs. Asquith. It was on the 29th of June, eight years ago, that we had a visit from the Begum of Bhopal, a lady who rules over millions in India. She was in London for the coronation of King George and Queen Mary. As the Begum was a Moslem, we were somewhat concerned as to how we should receive Her Highness, it being rumoured that she could not be chaperoned by one of the opp

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CHAPTER XXXIV

CHAPTER XXXIV

Tussaud’s as educator—Queer questions—Wanted, a “model” wife—Quaint extract from an Indian’s diary. An American visitor to the Exhibition once said to me, “You know, this show is a liberal education, a history of Europe in kind. I never learned so much history in any one afternoon. Why don’t you write your reminiscences?” I told him that I probably should do so one day, and he replied characteristically: “There is no time like the present. Get on with it, and put me down as a subscriber.” A Fren

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CHAPTER XXXV

CHAPTER XXXV

Stars of the stage in my studio—Miss Ellen Terry has a cup of tea—Sir Squire and Lady Bancroft—Sir Henry Irving and the cabby—We comply with a strange request. People sometimes ask me how my portraits are taken, and how my subjects sit to me. It is very much with my work as it is with the work of a sculptor. There is practically only this distinction in principle—the sculptor reproduces his work in marble or bronze, and I execute mine in wax, both working from a first impression in clay. Added t

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CHAPTER XXXVI

CHAPTER XXXVI

Literary sitters—George R. Sims’s impromptu—His ordeal in the Chamber of Horrors—George Augustus Sala’s masterpiece. Mr. G. R. Sims was a cheery, entertaining sitter; not, perhaps, what most artists would consider a helpful one. His active mind busied itself with every object of interest around him. He would know all about them, and tell each off with some droll quip or whimsical jest. I have spent many a bright hour with “Dagonet”—yes, even including those spent with him in the Chamber of Horro

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CHAPTER XXXVII G. A. SALA ON MARIE ANTOINETTE

CHAPTER XXXVII G. A. SALA ON MARIE ANTOINETTE

The Royal Family—The Queen—Her “trial,” condemnation and death—The Sansons—Sala’s impressions. GEORGE AUGUSTUS SALA From a photograph. There are some stories so dreadful in the immensity of human misery which they reveal—there are some tragedies of which the catastrophe is one of such unmitigated horror, that the reader who has general impressions of what will be the end of the dismal tale, but who is unfamiliar with its particular circumstances, is unable to follow, without some kind of impatie

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CHAPTER XXXVIII

CHAPTER XXXVIII

More sitters—Mr. John Burns walks and talks—We buy his only suit—Mr. George Bernard Shaw has to work for his living—General Booth—Four leading suffragettes—Christabel’s model “speaks”—The Channel swimmer. The most restless of all my sitters was the Right Honourable John Burns, when he was plain John Burns. I modelled him in the year 1889 or 1890, at the time of the great Dock Strike. Mr. Burns was then throwing all his magnetic personality into the cause of the workers, and he brought some of th

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CHAPTER XXXIX

CHAPTER XXXIX

Bank Holiday queues—Cup-tie day—Gentlemen from the north—Bachelor beanfeasts—The Member for Oldham—A scare. The four regular Bank Holidays of the year are great occasions at Madame Tussaud’s. On each of them the precincts of Tussaud’s show signs of activity long before the average Londoner is astir. The length of any of the queues has never been actually measured, but it is no exaggeration to say that the people have frequently waited four and five deep in a line extending almost a quarter of a

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CHAPTER XL

CHAPTER XL

The mysterious Sun Yat Sen’s visit—His escape from the Chinese Legation—The Dargai tableau—Sir William Treloar entertains his little friends. Once in its long history Madame Tussaud’s Exhibition opened on a Sunday—not, however, to the general public. The occasion was special and, in a way, mysterious. It had to do with one of the most dramatic personalities of the Chinese Empire and Republic. A message reached me late on a Saturday night that Dr. Sun Yat Sen, the first President of the Chinese R

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CHAPTER XLI

CHAPTER XLI

A miscellany of humour—Our policeman—The mysterious lantern—The danger of old Catalogues—Stories of children—Sir Ernest Shackleton’s model. Many of our visitors will remember the model of the policeman which stands at the entrance to the main gallery in the Exhibition. Hundreds—I might say thousands—of visitors have been “taken in” by this lifelike officer, who is the embodiment of a genial bobby prepared at any moment to show the way or tell the time. The fame of this nameless policeman has ext

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CHAPTER XLII

CHAPTER XLII

The lure of horrors—Beginnings of the “Dead Room”—Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A., sketches a suicide—Burke and Hare—Fieschi’s infernal machine—Greenacre—Executions in Public—“Free at last!” Crime may be secret, but never secure. — Old Proverb. In citing the old aphorism that society itself creates the crimes that most beset it, we shall in no way be tempted to regard the popularity of the Chamber of Horrors as due to any desire on the part of the people to visit the place with the object of gazing

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CHAPTER XLIII

CHAPTER XLIII

“The Chamber of Horrors Rumour”— No reward has been, or will be, offered —The constable’s escapade—A nocturnal experience—Dumas’s comedy of the Chamber—Yeomen of the Halter. We have speculated much upon the origin of what has come to be called “The Chamber of Horrors Rumour,” relating to a popular delusion that Madame Tussaud’s will pay a sum of money to any person who spends a night alone with the criminals assembled therein. It need hardly be pointed out that no such ridiculous challenge was e

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CHAPTER XLIV

CHAPTER XLIV

Anecdotal—“Which is Peace?”—Mark Twain at Tussaud’s—Dr. Grace’s story—Mr. Kipling’s model—Filial pride—Bishop Jackson’s sally—German inaccuracy. As I proceed with my narrative, having already travelled through the memories of many years, there seem to crowd at my heels, so to speak, a great collection of humorous and curious incidents which, although unrelated to each other, are yet worthy of a place in this chronicle. They come of their own free will readily enough when I want to engage in seri

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CHAPTER XLV

CHAPTER XLV

Enemy models—A hostile public—Banishment of four rulers—Our reply to John Bull —Attacks on the Kaiser’s effigy—Story of an Iron Cross. We now come to the eventful period that began in August, 1914. COUNT ZEPPELIN Model of the inventor of the Zeppelin airship on view at Madame Tussaud’s. At the beginning of hostilities the Kaiser, Count Zeppelin, and other German objectionables were relegated to a less conspicuous position than they had formerly occupied. The enemy had not at that time gained the

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CHAPTER XLVI

CHAPTER XLVI

Tussaud’s during the war—Chameleon crowds—The psychology of courage—Men of St. Dunstan’s—Poignant memories—Our watchman’s soliloquy. Under the stress of war many strange things revealed themselves at Tussaud’s—things by no means easy to define, subtle, illusive, immaterial, difficult to comprehend and hard to describe. At the outbreak of hostilities the attendance suffered a severe check. This disquieting effect was in the main, I believe, due to the great wrench suffered by the public mind thro

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CHAPTER XLVII

CHAPTER XLVII

Three heroes of the war: Nurse Cavell, Jack Cornwell, V.C., and Captain Fryatt—Lords Roberts and Kitchener—Queen Alexandra’s stick and violets—The Duke of Norfolk’s tip. There are three figures, added during the past few momentous years, which possess the rare distinction of being models of abiding interest. Out of the many portraits placed in the Exhibition, there are few that stay there very long. EDITH CAVELL, THE MARTYR NURSE A Portrait Study by John T. Tussaud. Nurse Cavell, Jack Cornwell,

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CHAPTER XLVIII

CHAPTER XLVIII

A crinoline comedy—Mr. Bruce Smith’s story—An American lady’s shilling—My father’s meeting with Barnum—The “cherry-coloured cat”—Paganini and the tailor—George Grossmith poses. In the dressing of the models attention must naturally be paid to the varying styles of both sexes. For this reason visitors are able to mark the changes Dame Fashion has decreed. The crinoline period known to our mothers was, curiously enough, anticipated in the days immediately preceding the French Revolution, as exempl

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CHAPTER XLIX

CHAPTER XLIX

We visit the Old Bailey for mementoes—A mock trial—Relics of Old Newgate—Two famous cells—The Newgate bell. As soon as I learned in the winter of 1903 that the Old Bailey was to be demolished and its mementoes sold by auction, I hastened to the historic court-house, armed with a catalogue, to tick off such articles as might be wanted for Madame Tussaud’s. The grim building brought many impressive scenes to my recollection, and it struck me as a curious freak of fate that the place where house-br

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CHAPTER L

CHAPTER L

Tussaud’s in verse—Tom Hood’s quatrain—“Alfred among the Immortals”—A refuge for Cabinet Ministers—Two dialogues—“This is fame!” On very many occasions Madame Tussaud’s has been the subject of prose and verse in the public Press. I have already given a few extracts. Here are other quotations, some of which will surely raise a smile. TOM HOOD Tom Hood was one of the first of a long line of authors and editors who paid tribute to Madame Tussaud’s. Tom Hood, the prince of punsters, honoured us with

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CHAPTER LI

CHAPTER LI

Last scene of all—Madame Tussaud’s appearance and character—Her Memoirs , published in 1838—Her last words. If I have recounted many stories relating to incidents that have taken place long after Madame Tussaud passed away, it is because the flow of anecdote prompted by her genius has continued in an unbroken course down to the present times. But the atmosphere of romance that pervades this history belongs in the main to her days, and it is only fitting that with the close of her days it should

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