About this Item
Two volumes. London: Printed for J. Debrett, Piccadilly, 1801. First edition. [iv],339,[1]; [iv],475,[1]pp.,+4pp. ads. Engraved illustration (man suspended from gibbet) to vol. 1. Contemporary calf with neat 20th century reback, gilt lettering, blind decoration, original endpapers preserved. Outer corners a little soft, occasional minor browning. Early ink shelf-mark to f.f.e.p. of each volume. A very good set. LOOSELY INSERTED is an A.L.S. from Hanger to the military poet Major Charles James (1757/8-1821), dated January 1st 1813. §The Gloucestershire-born Hanger, who was to succeed to the Irish peerage on the death of his brother in 1814, was a distinctive figure in London society in the late 18th Century & Regency. One of the Prince Regent's boon companions, conspicuous in the fields of pugilism, the turf, & at the gaming table, he was a gift for caricaturists with his distinctive hooked nose, fashionable dress, and trademark cudgel, & was regularly depicted by Gillray, Rowlandson et al. His military career included spells fighting for the King in the Southern states in the American War of Independence at Charleston SC, & Wahab s Plantation & Charlotte NC; variously as aide-de-camp to Sir Henry Clinton, and under Banastre Tarleton - between 1778 and 1783. The autobiography - reputedly compiled by William Combe (see Hamilton p.324) from manuscripts written by Hanger during a spell in the King's Bench prison for debt in 1798-99 includes in the final chapter Interesting Particulars relative to Col. George Hanger when in America a 90 page section on his military exploits there. His predominant claim to fame may be his well-known prophecy (p.427) in answer to General Dickenson who had asked Hanger's opinion of the U.S. government and its stability: '[t]he Northern and Southern powers will fight as vigorously against each other, as both have united to do against the British.' Hanger contributed a series of publications, chiefly on military and sporting subjects between 1789 & 1814, and his career with spells as brawler, man-about-town, soldier, cock-fighter, coal-merchant, author - has been a staple for those interested in the curiosities of English history since the day. At his death the barony became extinct. The A.L.S., written on New Year's day, is a spirited invitation to an evening gathering at Colonel William Bosville's town house, with a quotation from a political song by Captain Charles Morris and Hanger's emendation as a P.S., and includes an ink sketch of a hanged man next to the words 'I hope this will not be your fate' (c.f. the engraving of the hanged man in vol. 1: clearly a favourite punning motif). Like Hanger, Bosville, society host & radical, had served in the American War of Independence. '[He] established a reputation as a generous, if somewhat inflexible, host at his house on Welbeck Street. On each weekday he received no more than twelve guests to dine with him at 5 p.m. precisely. Visitors who missed the appointment by even a couple of minutes were refused entry. Among his regular guests. were Sir Francis Burdett, the Revd Charles Este [1753-1829], lords Oxford [possibly Edward Harley, 5th Earl of Oxford & Mortimer, 1773-1848] and Hutchinson [either General John Hely-Hutchinson 1757-1832 or Richard Hely-Hutchinson 1756-1825], & the radical and philologist John Horne Tooke', (ODNB). Parson East in Hanger's letter is is Charles Este; 'Cobett' is William Cobbett. The curiosity of the gathering would only have been enhanced by the sartorial trappings of the host, conspicuous for maintaining the fashions of his youth, 'the outmoded powdered wig and frock coat of a mid-18th-century courtier,' (ODNB). The A.L.S. is a single sheet (38 x 27 cm. approx.), variously folded, written on two sides, addressed & stamped at rear. Letter age-toned with several discreet repairs in archival tape, but in good condition.
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